Lichdom

Transformation

Lichdom

Lichdom is not a curse inflicted by another, nor a fate stumbled into by ignorance.

It is a conclusion reached deliberately.

Where mortals pray for mercy, bargain with gods, or cling to fragile reincarnation, the lich rejects the premise entirely. Death is not an ending — it is a flaw in design. The soul is not sacred — it is movable, containable, and expendable.

To become a lich is to dismantle one’s own humanity by choice. Compassion is abandoned because it clouds judgment. Fear is excised because it implies failure. Hope is discarded because it presumes an end. What remains is intellect, will, and the certainty that all living things exist as fuel.

A lich does not cling to life.

A lich masters it.

Becoming a Lich

There is no accidental path to lichdom.

No infection.

No lineage.

No redemption after the fact.

A creature becomes a lich only by choosing to die correctly, with preparation, precision, and absolute commitment. Those who hesitate fail. Those who fail are erased.

A lich does not slowly lose their humanity over time.

They destroy it in a single, irreversible act.

The Ritual of Severance

The knowledge required to achieve lichdom is fragmented, forbidden, and actively suppressed. Gods erase it. Celestials hunt it. Even liches hoard it jealously. Though details vary, all true rituals follow the same immutable structure.

Prerequisites

• Ability to cast spells of 6th level or higher
• Proficiency in Arcana
• Access to forbidden necromantic lore (DM discretion)

Required Components

The Phylactery

A non-magical object worth at least 25,000 gp, chosen deliberately and prepared over 30 uninterrupted days. The object must be engraved with necromantic sigils.

The Catalyst

The heart, core, or equivalent soul-anchor of a creature of CR 20 or higher, slain personally by the would-be lich. The organ must retain lingering vitality during the ritual.

The Killing Act

At the ritual’s climax, the caster must be slain by something capable of killing them in a single round. This death must be intentional and unavoidable.

The Rite

The ritual takes 1 hour uninterrupted hour. During this time:

• The phylactery is bound to the caster’s soul
• The catalyst is consumed or destroyed in a necromantic working
• The caster prepares the exact conditions of their own death

At the moment of death, the soul is tested.

The Final Test

The caster makes an Intelligence (Arcana) check, DC 30.

• Failure
  
   Death. The soul departs. Resurrection is impossible.
• Success
  
   The soul binds to the phylactery. The body rises as a lich.

On a success, roll 1d4 and apply the corresponding backlash:

1. Necromantic Coma – You are unconscious for 1d100 days
2. Arcane Severance – You are unable to cast spells for 1d100 days
3. Soul Fracture – You permanently lose 1d2 character levels
4. Mental Collapse – You gain a permanent madness (DM discretion)

There is no flawless lichdom. Only survival.

Lich Appearance

A lich resembles a corpse sustained by intellect and necromantic will alone. Flesh may be skeletal, mummified, or unnaturally preserved depending on preparation. Their presence chills the air and dulls emotion.

These changes are largely cosmetic, but never subtle.

Lich Traits

When you become a lich, you gain the following traits.

Undead Nature

• Your creature type becomes Undead
• You no longer need to breathe, eat, drink, or sleep
• You are immune to disease

Immunities

• Poison damage
• Poisoned condition
• Paralized condition
• Charmed condition
• Frightened condition
• Exhaustion

Resistances

• Necrotic damage
• Cold damage

Ability Score Increase

When you become a lich:

• Your Intelligence score increases by 4, to a maximum of 24
• Your Constitution score increases by 2, to a maximum of 20

Life Force (LF)

Life Force is the fuel that sustains lichdom.

Whenever a creature dies within 30 feet of the lich or their phylactery, or when a creature is killed directly by the lich, the lich may claim the creature’s Life Force, storing it in their phylactery.

Life Force gained is equal to the experience the creature would normally grant.

For example, a CR 5 creature grants 1,800 LF.

LF Consumption

At the end of each long rest, you automatically consume Life Force equal to 100 × your character level.

LF Capacity

Your phylactery can store a maximum amount of Life Force equal to:

100 × your daily LF consumption

Starvation and Demilich State

If you cannot pay your daily LF cost, you gain one level of exhaustion per long rest, this exhaustion bypasses your immunity.

If you reach 6 levels of exhaustion due to LF starvation:

• You do not die
• You enter a demilich state
• Your character becomes an NPC under the DM’s control

While in this state, the demilich is immune to further exhaustion from LF starvation and behaves as a maddened, predatory remnant obsessed with devouring nearby creatures. If sufficient LF is later supplied, the demilich state ends and it loses one exhaustion level

LF Conversion

Life Force is expended immediately when used.

You may expend stored LF to cast spells according to the following table:

Spell Slot Level	LF Cost
1st	100
2nd	200
3rd	400
4th	800
5th	1,600
6th	3,200
7th	6,400
8th	12,800
9th	25,600

 

Reconstitution

Liches do not linger on the edge of death.

When a lich is reduced to 0 hit points, they do not fall unconscious and do not make death saving throws. Instead, their physical body is instantly reduced to inert dust, leaving behind only their carried equipment.

All items the lich was wearing or carrying fall to the ground in the space where they were destroyed.

The Reconstitution Process

After their destruction, the lich’s soul remains bound to their phylactery.

After 1d10 days, at midnight, the lich may attempt to reconstitute a new body within 5 feet of their phylactery.

To do so, the lich must expend Life Force equal to 1,000 × their character level.

•If the required Life Force is expended, the lich reforms a new body.

•The lich returns to existence as if they had completed a long rest.

•The lich reforms without any equipment; all items must be recovered separately.

Failed Reconstitution

If the lich does not have sufficient Life Force to pay the cost:

•The reconstitution attempt fails automatically

•The lich must wait another 1d10 days before attempting again

A lich without access to sufficient Life Force may become indefinitely trapped, unable to act, cast spells, or influence the world without outside intervention.

Core Lich Features

When you become a lich, choose two of the following core features. These choices represent how you shaped your undeath.

Bone Sovereign

Your body is reinforced by necromantic architecture.

• You gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks

Freezing Touch

You wield entropic cold through physical contact.

Freezing Touch

• Melee spell attack using your spell attack modifier
• On a hit, the target takes 3d6 cold damage + your Intelligence modifier
• The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or be paralyzed until the end of your next turn

Turn Resistance

Your existence is anathema to divine authority.

• You have advantage on saving throws against effects that turn or destroy undead
• You have resistance to radiant damage

Indomitable Phylactery

Your soul’s anchor refuses annihilation.

• When you fail a saving throw, you can choose to succeed instead.
• You can use this feature twice per long rest.

The Phylactery

Your phylactery is the anchor of your soul.

• The phylactery has the same hit points, resistances, and immunities as you

Reconstitution

If your phylactery is destroyed, your soul is forcibly expelled and returns to your body.

If you are resurrected while in this state, you return to life as a mortal creature.

If you die again before creating a new phylactery, your soul is permanently destroyed.

Rebuilding a Phylactery

Creating a new phylactery requires:

• 25,000 gp
• 30 uninterrupted days of ritual work

During this time, the lich is vulnerable to discovery and interruption.

Lifting Lichdom

Lichdom is not a curse.

It is a completed act.

Only the destruction of the phylactery and the restoration of the soul can end it — and even then, what returns is rarely whole.

Lich Masteries

When a creature completes the Ritual of Severance and rises as a lich, it immediately gains one Lich Mastery.

This choice is permanent and cannot be changed.

A Lich Mastery defines the fundamental expression of the lich’s undeath. Only one mastery may be possessed at a time.

Necromancer

You wield death as raw, annihilating force.

• Necrotic damage you deal ignores resistance.
• Necrotic immunity is treated as resistance instead.
• When you roll damage for necrotic damage and roll a 6 on any damage die, you may reroll that die and add the new result to the damage.
  
   This process repeats until no 6s remain.

Nigromancer

You are a sovereign of undeath, an architect of corpses and bone.

• Undead you create or control use your spellcasting ability modifier in place of their own for attack rolls and damage rolls.
• Undead under your control are permanently bound to you and do not require concentration, spell maintenance, or reaffirmation of control.
• There is no limit to how long undead remain under your control.

Scholar of Death

You possess absolute understanding of the boundary between life and oblivion — and how to sever it.

• Creatures you kill cannot be resurrected by any means short of divine intervention.
• A creature that takes necrotic damage from you cannot regain hit points for 1 minute.
• When a creature is reduced to 0 hit points by damage you deal, it cannot benefit from any feature that would cause it to instead drop to 1 hit point, avoid death, or immediately heal.
• When you damage a creature, if its remaining hit points are less than or equal to your character level, it is instead reduced to 0 hit points.

Arcanist

You are an immortal engine of spellcraft.

• You can concentrate on two spells at the same time.
• When you expend Life Force to cast spells, the LF cost is halved (rounded down).
• When you succeed on a saving throw against a spell or magical effect, or when a spell attack misses you, you may become immune to that spell or magical effect.
  
   You may be immune to only one spell or magical effect at a time.
  
   This immunity can change whenever you succeed on another such saving throw or cause another spell attack to miss.

Immortal Snake

You embody eternity without decay — survival without compromise.

• Your daily Life Force consumption is halved.
• You have advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
• When you are reduced to 0 hit points, you immediately reconstitute without delay, provided you have sufficient Life Force to do so.