A character can pull off ∞ with perfect rolls (or as many nets as you have)
Thanks to @Ko_sct in the comments for this strategy
The Character
Any level 17 Wild Magic sorcerer can accomplish this using:
- Wild Magic Surge
- time stop
- the Dual Wielder feat
The Loop
- Cast time stop
- Trigger Wild Magic Surge
- Roll a 1 on the d20
- Roll a 59-60 on the d100
- Throw nets throughout time stop until the last turn of time stop
- Draw two nets (possible because of Dual Wielder) as part of your movement when necessary.
- On the last turn of time stop repeat steps 1-4
As long as you continually roll 59-60 and never run out of nets, you can do this forever.
How many nets?
The highest carrying capacity a level 20 sorcerer can get is:
- A goliath, bugbear, orc, firbolg, centaur, or loxodon
- with 30 Strength (gained through Epic Boons)
- the High Magic Epic Boon
- having used a 9th level spell slot to cast enlarge/reduce becoming Large.
This lets you carry 1,800 pounds which comes to 590 nets in 20 sacks.
Of course if you can just pull from a pile of nets, then the maximum number of nets is arbitrarily large.
However, if you are interested in a strategy to throw nets a little bit faster, see my previous strategy below:
The most a single character can throw is 37
The Character
The character, let's call her Celeste from here on out, that can throw the most nets is a level 20 character with the following classes:
- Sorcerer (Wild Magic) 17 ------ (for Wild Magic Surge, Flexible Casting, Quickened Spell, the Dual Wielder feat, and spells)
- Fighter 2 ------------------------ (for Action Surge)
- Cleric (War Domain) 1 --------- (for War Priest)
..., at least 20 Wisdom, and the Boon of High Magic
The Preparation
For Celeste's preparation round, she follows the following procedure:
- Cast haste with the Quickened Spell Metamagic.
- Roll a 1 on the d20 for Wild Magic Surge.
- Roll 01-02 on the d100 for Wild Magic Surge.
- Take the Ready action to throw a net at the start of the round.
- Use the effect of haste to take the Use an Object action and draw your first two nets of many.
The Throwing
Now that Celeste has prepared, she throws her nets:
- First off, she throw the net she had readied, then her turn begins:
Normal Turn
- Roll 81-82 on the d100 for Wild Magic Surge.
- Throw a net. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [total so far: 2]
- Draw two nets as part of your movement.
- Throw a net. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [3]
- Use War Priest to throw a net. ------------------------------------------------- [4]
- Use the effect of haste to take the Use an Object action and draw two nets.
- Use Action Surge.
- Cast time stop rolling a 4 on the 1d4.
Turn One of Time Stop
- Roll 81-82 on the d100 for Wild Magic Surge.
- Throw a net. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [5]
- Cast ray of sickness with the Quickened Spell Metamagic on an empty space (use Bend Luck)
- Roll 81-82 on the d100 for Wild Magic Surge to recover Bend Luck.
- Throw a net. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [6]
- Draw two nets as part of your movement.
- Throw a net at an empty space. ------------------------------------------------ [7]
- Use the haste action to throw a net at an empty space. --------------------- [8]
Turn Two of Time Stop
- Roll 81-82 on the d100 for Wild Magic Surge.
- Take the Use an Object action to draw two nets.
- Throw a net at an empty space. ------------------------------------------------ [9]
- Use War Priest to throw a net at an empty space. --------------------------- [10]
- Draw two nets as part of your movement.
- Use the haste action to throw a net at an empty space. --------------------- [11]
Turn Three of Time Stop
- Roll 81-82 on the d100 for Wild Magic Surge.
- Throw a net. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [12]
- Cast ray of sickness with the Quickened Spell Metamagic on an empty space (use Bend Luck).
- Roll 81-82 on the d100 for Wild Magic Surge to recover Bend Luck.
- Take the Use an Object action to draw two nets.
- Throw a net at an empty space. ------------------------------------------------ [13]
- Use the haste action to throw a net at an empty space. --------------------- [14]
- Draw two nets as part of your movement.
Turn Four of Time Stop
- Repeat steps 9-11. --------------------------------------------------------------- [18]
Turn Five of First Time Stop
- Roll 81-82 on the d100 for Wild Magic Surge.
- Take the Use an Object action to draw two nets.
- Use the haste action to throw a net at an empty space. --------------------- [19]
- Use War Priest to throw a net at an empty space. --------------------------- [20]
- Draw two nets as part of your movement.
- Repeat steps 8-26. -------------------------------------------------------------- [34]
Turn Five of Second Time Stop
- Roll 81-82 on the d100 for Wild Magic Surge.
- Take the Use an Object action to draw two nets.
- Throw a net at an empty space. ----------------------------------------------- [35]
- Use War Priest to throw a net at an empty space. -------------------------- [36]
- Draw your last net as part of your movement.
- Use haste action to throw a net. ---------------------------------------------- [37]
The Probability
First of all, your GM has to allow you to roll on the Wild Magic Surge table (to recover Bend Luck) every time you cast ray of sickness, and to have the chance when you cast haste. This is already extremely unlikely. Then there are the actual rolls.
I changed the procedure a few times to try to get the best odds of this completing. The rolls necessary are listed below (keep in mind that a high level Wild Magic sorcerer can roll twice on the table and choose either result via Controlled Chaos | Thanks for the mention in the comments @Speedkat):
- 1 on the d20 one time
- 1 or 2 on the d100 one time
- 81 or 82 on the d100 nineteen times
- 4 on the d4 two times
Multiplying these probablities comes to one chance in just over three nonillion (or 3,558,330,300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 in numerical (rounded))
If we take the average number of times we roll 81-82 on the d100, then our probability drops considerably to one in 8,081, but we only get an average of 20.6732 nets
Or we can take the average result for all Wild Magic Surges dropping our probability to one in sixteen, but we only get an average of 20.001 nets
1 You have to target an empty space with ray of sickness and the nets during time stop so that the spell doesn't end:
This spell ends if one of the actions you use during this period, or any effects that you create during this period, affects a creature other than you or an object being worn or carried by someone other than you.
Attacking empty spaces is perfectly valid according to the Making an Attack section of the Basic Rules (emphasis mine):
1. Choose a target. Pick a target within your attack's range: a creature, an object, or a location.
Best Answer
Under the DMG Diagonals variant (DMG 252)
55 attacks against ground-based Medium-sized enemies
175 attacks against flying Medium-sized enemies
181 attacks against tightly-packed, ground-based, Tiny-sized creatures
661 attacks against tightly-packed, flying, Tiny-sized creatures
Under the default rules for movement
63 attacks against ground-based Medium-sized enemies
263 attacks against flying Medium-sized enemies
213 attacks against tightly-packed, ground-based, Tiny-sized creatures
1013 attacks against tightly-packed, flying, Tiny-sized creatures
Build: Hunter Ranger 11/ Fighter 2/ Sorcerer 6
Ranger's features: Horde Breaker, Volley
Sorcerer's features and spells: Quickened Spell, Scorching Ray, Haste
Fighter: Action Surge
Feats: War Caster, Magic Initiate (Eldritch Blast)
Caster Level: Eleven (5 from Ranger, 6 from Sorcerer)
The Ranger is carrying all the weight here. Let's break it down.
Action: Volley. "You can use your action to make a ranged attack against any number of creatures within 10 ft of a point you can see within range." In a grid, this means you can choose a space as the center, and count two spaces from there to the up/down and left/right directions. This forms a cross that is 5 squares tall and 5 squares wide, which already contains 9 squares. If we count the diagonals as well, we can cover the tiles to the northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest of the center square; we can also get the "Knight squares," or the ones you can reach by going two squares in one direction and one square in the perpendicular direction. There's 4 of the first and 8 of the second, adding up to 21 squares in total that is within range of your Volley. This counting rule uses the DMG Variant in DMG 252 where diagonals are measured as 10ft every other square, and 5ft otherwise; without the variant, we can cover 25 squares.
Side Note: If you went up against packed Tiny-sized enemies, each 5ft x 5ft area can fit 4 creatures in 2 dimensions. This means a single Volley would allow 84 attacks (100 without the variant).
Side Note 2: If they are flying Tiny creatures and the center point was in the air, and we were able to cover a full sphere, a sphere with a 10 foot radius can contain 81 cubes, or 324 flying Tiny creatures. You can work this out by 3D symmetry: all the cubes in a larger 3x3x3 cube are in range of Volley, and 9 cubes on top of each face of the larger cube would also be in range due to the diagonal movement rule (and there are 6 faces); without the variant, we are looking at a 5x5x5 cube, for a total of 125 cubes in range. Against flying Tiny creatures, we can reach 500 of them this way.
Horde Breaker: after you make your first attack, you can attack a different creature within 5 feet of the first attack's target. This is one more attack.
Action Surge: Use Volley a second time, adding 21 more attacks.
Haste Action: Make one more attack.
Bonus Action: Quickened scorching ray at level 6. At this level, scorching ray will make 7 attacks.
Reaction: Trigger an Opportunity Attack with War Caster and cast eldritch blast, adding a further 4 attacks.
Final Notes
You cannot replace the Sorcerer levels with a ring of spell storing, or else you cannot cast scorching ray as a high level bonus action.
You don't need a spellcasting focus, as scorching ray and eldritch blast require only VS, and not M.