yeah your gunna wanna ignore CR, its literally worthless in 5e. most monsters after level 6 are horribly weak if you go on pure CR for balance. Wizards completely failed at the balance. Each of the cool immunitys or powers a monster has reduces its max hp. IN the dmg there is a chart. i just add that HP right the hell back, and its way more balanced. For demi liches i would have them at 300-500 hp for a more balanced encounter that you dont win in one turn on round one.
A single lvl 5 sorcerer can defeat one, using no weird gimmicks or feat / multiclass. If it dashes and uses legendary action, it can move a maximum of 75 feet per round. If the sorcerer casts extended haste on itself and uses its haste action to just run away, it can easily out pace the demilich.
Not only that, but none of the lich’s abilities have a range further then 30 feet, so even if he did almost catch up, nothing would happen.
From there the player can just cast strength / dex / con save spells against it, since it only has a -5 / +5 / +6 to those, respectively.
Some great options would be Arms of Hadar and Maxiliman’s earthen grasp, but regular old fireball also gets the job done, since it only has 80 HP and no resistance to elemental damage.
Have fun grinding them!
I suppose that it all depends on how the DM prepped everything. Most DM's just aren't as good with stuff like combat as you might think. Most are just story tellers/writers. At the same time, this is a game of heroes, not monsters. So we should expect heroes to have all of the advantages.
Fire ball is a bad choice it has evasion so you will do 0 damage because of legendary resistance and + 5 isn't a bad save. Earthen grasp can't target anything flying above 5ft. Arms of Hadar is necrotic which it is immune to. If you don't know how to target a Demilich it does basically have immunity to allot of things. A new player or uninformed player could easily burn through a bunch of spells and turns doing absolutely nothing.
I would note that the CR math is definitely tuned for encounters in dungeons, because it completely ignores range; there is no shortage of monsters that in an outdoors encounter could be killed long before they got into range of the party.
What is the math for a CR? I'm new to D&D. I know it couldn't be the Total Party Level, since four 10th level PC's would require a 40HD as a boss.
In most cases a CR X is a medium encounter for 4 level X PCs, but the details are in the creating encounters section of the DMG. Most people aren't terribly impressed by the results of those rules. My current rule of thumb is half the total levels of the PCs if I want a real challenge (this breaks down a bit for solo monsters).
And what tomb would be designed in such a way that would allow this to happen?
A dual wielding Level 15 Paladin solo that wins initiative one shots the demi-lich doing 92 hit points damage with at least a 50% chance to hit.
Its the standard problem of of CR balancing at higher levels. Its almost like the game designers didn't play a lot of the monsters in a fight with a an average party before publishing. Its a CR 10 monster as designed, not CR 18. If they move the Demi-liches hitpoints into the mid 200's its a CR18. The monster doesn't have the hit points to stay alive long enough to use its abilities.
Is that 92 damage after resistances? because if your paladin is doing the 184 damage with a magic weapon required to achieve that damage total, that pretty impressive. If either dual wielded weapon is non-magical, then that damage is negated because the demilich is immune.
Also, your stance assumes the paladin 1) wins initiative, 2) started combat close enough to the demilich to reach it without dashing, and 3) hits all its attacks (against AC 20). It also assumes that the paladin had a initiative >20 as otherwise it will have to deal with one of a number of nasty lair actions first, including the personal antimagic field which would effectively reduce that paladin's first turn damage to a big ol' zero. (since its weapons would be non-magical and it's spells wouldn't work)
A level 15 paladin will have two magic weapons and should have at least a +10 to hit at 15, if they are playing vengeance, as a bonus action they now have advantage on hits meaning they have a +14.25 to hit. The majority of the damage is coming from smites. He can do two level 4 smites 5d8 + 1d8 (undead) + 1d8 (class feature) so 7d8 X 2 and a 6d8 for a level 3 smite = 80 hp smit damage alone ignoring weapon damage.
The Demilich doesn't have the hit points to be a CR 18 let alone the hit points to use its lair actions, it needs to be in the mid 200's to be a CR 18.
Excepts they won't do that, because a paladin will never have enough initiative to beat lair actions.
So the lich triggers antimagic, they lose their magical weapons and smiting, including the base damage provided by improved divine smite. Then you get nothing, because their weapons are non-magical, and your ****ed.
The improved divine smite does not get negated by anti-magic field. You obviously are very invested in the DemiLich being a CR 18, so congratulations to make you feel better I'll write its a CR 18. Everyone who read the basic stats I wrote, ignore it. The Demilich is a true CR 18, we all know it, it has been said.
I mean, even with that mistake, that’s still only 3d8 damage, assuming every attack hits.
At level 11, paladins get improved divine smite so they add an extra 1d8 radiant. Smites on undead add an extra 1d8. Smite base damage is 2d8 + 1d8 per spell slot over 1. A level 15 paladin gets two level 4 spell slots so:
1d8 improved
+
1d8 undead
+
2d8 base smite
+
+3d8 level 4 slot
= 7d8 base smite or 58 hit points, they get two of them so 116 max at level 4, then add in that level 3 smite at 48, max being 168 smite damage excluding weapon, cut that in half for average its 82 damage radiant excluding weapon damage, from a single PC vs a CR 18 that has 80 hps. The game designers didn't play test the demilich.
Finding a party without a paladin for campaign play is just about impossible. The charisma bonus to saves makes the Paladin a required class. I've run 3 long term 5E campaigns and at session zero they always make sure there is a paladin for saves.
All of that damage is based on if the Paladin waltz's in the Demilich's lair fresh right? Even walking into the Lair deals automatic damage to non-Evil beings. Before you get to this boss, the Paladin and others presumably already spent spell slots defending against his guardians. Not to mention don't Demiliches either win or tie for initiatives? I don't want to assume anything, especially since people have said something have changed, including the Demilich's hit points.
And what tomb would be designed in such a way that would allow this to happen?
A dual wielding Level 15 Paladin solo that wins initiative one shots the demi-lich doing 92 hit points damage with at least a 50% chance to hit.
Its the standard problem of of CR balancing at higher levels. Its almost like the game designers didn't play a lot of the monsters in a fight with a an average party before publishing. Its a CR 10 monster as designed, not CR 18. If they move the Demi-liches hitpoints into the mid 200's its a CR18. The monster doesn't have the hit points to stay alive long enough to use its abilities.
Is that 92 damage after resistances? because if your paladin is doing the 184 damage with a magic weapon required to achieve that damage total, that pretty impressive. If either dual wielded weapon is non-magical, then that damage is negated because the demilich is immune.
Also, your stance assumes the paladin 1) wins initiative, 2) started combat close enough to the demilich to reach it without dashing, and 3) hits all its attacks (against AC 20). It also assumes that the paladin had a initiative >20 as otherwise it will have to deal with one of a number of nasty lair actions first, including the personal antimagic field which would effectively reduce that paladin's first turn damage to a big ol' zero. (since its weapons would be non-magical and it's spells wouldn't work)
A level 15 paladin will have two magic weapons and should have at least a +10 to hit at 15, if they are playing vengeance, as a bonus action they now have advantage on hits meaning they have a +14.25 to hit. The majority of the damage is coming from smites. He can do two level 4 smites 5d8 + 1d8 (undead) + 1d8 (class feature) so 7d8 X 2 and a 6d8 for a level 3 smite = 80 hp smit damage alone ignoring weapon damage.
The Demilich doesn't have the hit points to be a CR 18 let alone the hit points to use its lair actions, it needs to be in the mid 200's to be a CR 18.
Excepts they won't do that, because a paladin will never have enough initiative to beat lair actions.
So the lich triggers antimagic, they lose their magical weapons and smiting, including the base damage provided by improved divine smite. Then you get nothing, because their weapons are non-magical, and your ****ed.
The improved divine smite does not get negated by anti-magic field. You obviously are very invested in the DemiLich being a CR 18, so congratulations to make you feel better I'll write its a CR 18. Everyone who read the basic stats I wrote, ignore it. The Demilich is a true CR 18, we all know it, it has been said.
I mean, even with that mistake, that’s still only 3d8 damage, assuming every attack hits.
At level 11, paladins get improved divine smite so they add an extra 1d8 radiant. Smites on undead add an extra 1d8. Smite base damage is 2d8 + 1d8 per spell slot over 1. A level 15 paladin gets two level 4 spell slots so:
1d8 improved
+
1d8 undead
+
2d8 base smite
+
+3d8 level 4 slot
= 7d8 base smite or 58 hit points, they get two of them so 116 max at level 4, then add in that level 3 smite at 48, max being 168 smite damage excluding weapon, cut that in half for average its 82 damage radiant excluding weapon damage, from a single PC vs a CR 18 that has 80 hps. The game designers didn't play test the demilich.
Finding a party without a paladin for campaign play is just about impossible. The charisma bonus to saves makes the Paladin a required class. I've run 3 long term 5E campaigns and at session zero they always make sure there is a paladin for saves.
All of that damage is based on if the Paladin waltz's in the Demilich's lair fresh right? Even walking into the Lair deals automatic damage to non-Evil beings. Before you get to this boss, the Paladin and others presumably already spent spell slots defending against his guardians. Not to mention don't Demiliches either win or tie for initiatives? I don't want to assume anything, especially since people have said something have changed, including the Demilich's hit points.
They can take lair actions on initiative 20, losing ties. But you are right about the damage being done to non-evil beings and I think the Life Drain every turn could be pretty potent.
Life Drain. The demilich targets up to three creatures that it can see within 10 feet of it. Each target must succeed on a DC 19 Constitution saving throw or take 21 (6d6) necrotic damage, and the demilich regains hit points equal to the total damage dealt to all targets.
A single lvl 5 sorcerer can defeat one, using no weird gimmicks or feat / multiclass. If it dashes and uses legendary action, it can move a maximum of 75 feet per round. If the sorcerer casts extended haste on itself and uses its haste action to just run away, it can easily out pace the demilich.
Not only that, but none of the lich’s abilities have a range further then 30 feet, so even if he did almost catch up, nothing would happen.
From there the player can just cast strength / dex / con save spells against it, since it only has a -5 / +5 / +6 to those, respectively.
Some great options would be Arms of Hadar and Maxiliman’s earthen grasp, but regular old fireball also gets the job done, since it only has 80 HP and no resistance to elemental damage.
Have fun grinding them!
Jeremy Crawford has said that this will be addressed in MMM, CR is being kept and creatures will retain the same CR, but, it is accepted that some creatures need buffing up to make them match the current CR rating. I am very interested in seeing these changes, currently I either have to significantly increase the number of hit points, or the AC or add in extra abilities or features for some of my boss fights.
There's actually one spell that pretty much is game set match against a Demilich that's burned its Legendary Resistances or more or less assured to burn one:
Earthbind from a caster with maxed casting stat, something they SHOULD have when fighting one.
Earthbind is a strength save, and any caster with 20 in their main casting stat will probably have a spell save DC above 15. A Demilich LITERALLY cannot make the saving throw with -5 to its strength save and it has no immunity to Earthbind's effects. It HAS to use a Legendary Resistance in order to not get caught. If it DOES get caught, it's physically incapable of breaking out of it. The Lich's speed drops to zero and it falls to the ground, effectively rendering it helpless as the party sits outside its reach and opens fire.
And thing is, a mage's concentration on a spell is not effected by Anti-Magic Field which both confirmed by Jeremy Crawfordand by necessity of the spell itself: it's a concentration spell and thus if it DID work that way, you'd lose concentration on Anti-Magic Field and thus not be able to actually use it. So it doesn't counter Earthbind unless the caster was within ten feet of the Demilich, and why the heck would they do that? Best strategy would probably be to spread out as far as possible and stay out of reach of the Demilich.
Watery Sphere would be even better, as it restrains the target (Demilich isn't immune to Restrain) and let's you actually move it, making it easier for the party to hammer away at it. Earthbind just has the advantage of working no matter where the Demilich is and it's a low level spell you can spam. If you had both, swapping from Earthbind to Watery Sphere would be the best play.
...This does raise a question though: is the Demilich immune to its own Anti-Magic Field? If it's close enough to the ground or they have natural flight, would the person targetted by Anti-Magic Field be able to rush up and hit the Demilich with its own Anti-Magic Field? Given it can only do ANYTHING via magic, would that render it helpless?
This seems to be an entire 4-page thread dedicated to: If you play this INT20 monster unintelligently ...... like, if my skull-self was resting on a bejewelled pedestal and I let you walk right up to it and batter me down.
I mean, if I were a demilich, I'd have a nice traproom (as in, a room with nice big bronze doors that slam shut and lock when I feel like it) with a couple or more nice, solid golems I'd made in my days as a lich, some undead, maybe a good dozen or so annoying traps (poison gas, summon swarm, maybe some whirling blades for that traditional touch) that don't affect me, and a number of interconnected holes in the ceiling, where I could zoom out, do my stuff, and zoom back in cover and out of reach.
And then you could ready actions to try and get me, and my traps and golems would wear you down - and when you turn your attention back to those, I'm right back, doing my thing.
Alternatively: If you wanna get at me, well then you have to come into this crawlspace, where I have unrestricted movement ...... but you're on your hands and knees, crawling.
I propose an arena. Not that I'd want to run the Demilich, I'm not invested enough - and also, I'm crap - but sometimes the best solution is to just fight it out. In simulated combat to the death.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Sometimes a DM would give them a chance to prepare in advanced or one of the lair actions or effects of a Demilich might tip them off they're going into the lair of one, prompting them to fall back and prepare.
Watery Sphere is a more likely spell for someone to just have on them and while it can only remain ten feet about the ground, there's nothing saying it has to be CAST within ten feet of the ground. It'd just safely descend to ten feet, o you could just cast it around the Demilich in the air. The reason Earthbind is better for this specific situation, however, is that you can spam it whereas Watery Sphere isn't so easy to, so it Earthbind is easier to burn Legendary Resists with. If you've already burned those Legendary Resists or have push effects to keep throwing it into the Sphere, however, it's better, as the restrained condition is much better.
If you could somehow ground it, Entangle is also a good option.
And what tomb would be designed in such a way that would allow this to happen?
A dual wielding Level 15 Paladin solo that wins initiative one shots the demi-lich doing 92 hit points damage with at least a 50% chance to hit.
Its the standard problem of of CR balancing at higher levels. Its almost like the game designers didn't play a lot of the monsters in a fight with a an average party before publishing. Its a CR 10 monster as designed, not CR 18. If they move the Demi-liches hitpoints into the mid 200's its a CR18. The monster doesn't have the hit points to stay alive long enough to use its abilities.
Is that 92 damage after resistances? because if your paladin is doing the 184 damage with a magic weapon required to achieve that damage total, that pretty impressive. If either dual wielded weapon is non-magical, then that damage is negated because the demilich is immune.
Also, your stance assumes the paladin 1) wins initiative, 2) started combat close enough to the demilich to reach it without dashing, and 3) hits all its attacks (against AC 20). It also assumes that the paladin had a initiative >20 as otherwise it will have to deal with one of a number of nasty lair actions first, including the personal antimagic field which would effectively reduce that paladin's first turn damage to a big ol' zero. (since its weapons would be non-magical and it's spells wouldn't work)
A level 15 paladin will have two magic weapons and should have at least a +10 to hit at 15, if they are playing vengeance, as a bonus action they now have advantage on hits meaning they have a +14.25 to hit. The majority of the damage is coming from smites. He can do two level 4 smites 5d8 + 1d8 (undead) + 1d8 (class feature) so 7d8 X 2 and a 6d8 for a level 3 smite = 80 hp smit damage alone ignoring weapon damage.
The Demilich doesn't have the hit points to be a CR 18 let alone the hit points to use its lair actions, it needs to be in the mid 200's to be a CR 18.
Excepts they won't do that, because a paladin will never have enough initiative to beat lair actions.
So the lich triggers antimagic, they lose their magical weapons and smiting, including the base damage provided by improved divine smite. Then you get nothing, because their weapons are non-magical, and your ****ed.
The improved divine smite does not get negated by anti-magic field. You obviously are very invested in the DemiLich being a CR 18, so congratulations to make you feel better I'll write its a CR 18. Everyone who read the basic stats I wrote, ignore it. The Demilich is a true CR 18, we all know it, it has been said.
I mean, even with that mistake, that’s still only 3d8 damage, assuming every attack hits.
At level 11, paladins get improved divine smite so they add an extra 1d8 radiant. Smites on undead add an extra 1d8. Smite base damage is 2d8 + 1d8 per spell slot over 1. A level 15 paladin gets two level 4 spell slots so:
1d8 improved
+
1d8 undead
+
2d8 base smite
+
+3d8 level 4 slot
= 7d8 base smite or 58 hit points, they get two of them so 116 max at level 4, then add in that level 3 smite at 48, max being 168 smite damage excluding weapon, cut that in half for average its 82 damage radiant excluding weapon damage, from a single PC vs a CR 18 that has 80 hps. The game designers didn't play test the demilich.
Finding a party without a paladin for campaign play is just about impossible. The charisma bonus to saves makes the Paladin a required class. I've run 3 long term 5E campaigns and at session zero they always make sure there is a paladin for saves.
Funny, none of the campaigns I am in has a paladin in it. However, I see now that we were playing wrong and we must immediately stop and add a paladin. Everyone who plays without one, stop. No campaign shall be allowed to continue without a paladin, we all know it, it has been said.
I'm fairly new to DnD, ran into my first Demi lich tonight with 3 others and it was pretty much determined to be my first TPK from the initiative roll.
It surprised us and rolled highest on initiative, put 3/4 of us to sleep from the howl, (Dice Rolls allied it regened every turn).
Successful attempts to wake each other were quickly undon
We only ever had one person awake and alive to react but could do little other than try and save.
I'm fairly new to DnD, ran into my first Demi lich tonight with 3 others and it was pretty much determined to be my first TPK from the initiative roll.
It surprised us and rolled highest on initiative, put 3/4 of us to sleep from the howl, (Dice Rolls allied it regened every turn).
Successful attempts to wake each other were quickly undon
We only ever had one person awake and alive to react but could do little other than try and save.
Fun tho
Yeah, stuns can make a fight allot harder and less predictable. I've had similar encounters with much lower cr monsters like su-monster.
Ok, I'm not going to read three more pages of comments, but I want to put in my opinion. I actually fought a demilich, and I, and the rest of the party, almost died. This was the only time my party has had to retreat other than a fight against a young dragon at level four. It got a surprise round and howled, dropping most of us to 0 hp instantly. Those who succeeded were frightened, stopping them from getting closer and giving them disadvantage on attack rolls. This is a thirty feet in all directions save or suck ability, which even gives a nasty debuff if you succeed. (The second time, we silenced it, but lost concentration later in the fight and got some of us knocked down) It could fly, so we were stuck using ranged attacks, which had to be magical in order to even deal half damage and needed to hit a 20 AC creature. It has pretty powerful saves, legendary resistances, and evasion but for all save types. The demilich spammed energy drain and cloud of dust lair actions, dealing "damage" and giving us disadvantage on attack rolls if we failed. It used its life drain to hurt us while healing itself. Sure, maybe if they were lucky, a nova damager could take it down, but this thing is a very powerful boss that wrecked my party with its powerful howl ability, which can take down the whole party if they fail the saves.
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yeah your gunna wanna ignore CR, its literally worthless in 5e. most monsters after level 6 are horribly weak if you go on pure CR for balance. Wizards completely failed at the balance. Each of the cool immunitys or powers a monster has reduces its max hp. IN the dmg there is a chart. i just add that HP right the hell back, and its way more balanced. For demi liches i would have them at 300-500 hp for a more balanced encounter that you dont win in one turn on round one.
I suppose that it all depends on how the DM prepped everything. Most DM's just aren't as good with stuff like combat as you might think. Most are just story tellers/writers. At the same time, this is a game of heroes, not monsters. So we should expect heroes to have all of the advantages.
Fire ball is a bad choice it has evasion so you will do 0 damage because of legendary resistance and + 5 isn't a bad save. Earthen grasp can't target anything flying above 5ft. Arms of Hadar is necrotic which it is immune to. If you don't know how to target a Demilich it does basically have immunity to allot of things. A new player or uninformed player could easily burn through a bunch of spells and turns doing absolutely nothing.
So what makes you think the demilich is just going to sit near the ground to let you melee attack it?
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Cuz...
I would note that the CR math is definitely tuned for encounters in dungeons, because it completely ignores range; there is no shortage of monsters that in an outdoors encounter could be killed long before they got into range of the party.
What is the math for a CR? I'm new to D&D. I know it couldn't be the Total Party Level, since four 10th level PC's would require a 40HD as a boss.
In most cases a CR X is a medium encounter for 4 level X PCs, but the details are in the creating encounters section of the DMG. Most people aren't terribly impressed by the results of those rules. My current rule of thumb is half the total levels of the PCs if I want a real challenge (this breaks down a bit for solo monsters).
All of that damage is based on if the Paladin waltz's in the Demilich's lair fresh right? Even walking into the Lair deals automatic damage to non-Evil beings. Before you get to this boss, the Paladin and others presumably already spent spell slots defending against his guardians. Not to mention don't Demiliches either win or tie for initiatives? I don't want to assume anything, especially since people have said something have changed, including the Demilich's hit points.
They can take lair actions on initiative 20, losing ties. But you are right about the damage being done to non-evil beings and I think the Life Drain every turn could be pretty potent.
Life Drain. The demilich targets up to three creatures that it can see within 10 feet of it. Each target must succeed on a DC 19 Constitution saving throw or take 21 (6d6) necrotic damage, and the demilich regains hit points equal to the total damage dealt to all targets.
Jeremy Crawford has said that this will be addressed in MMM, CR is being kept and creatures will retain the same CR, but, it is accepted that some creatures need buffing up to make them match the current CR rating. I am very interested in seeing these changes, currently I either have to significantly increase the number of hit points, or the AC or add in extra abilities or features for some of my boss fights.
There's actually one spell that pretty much is game set match against a Demilich that's burned its Legendary Resistances or more or less assured to burn one:
Earthbind from a caster with maxed casting stat, something they SHOULD have when fighting one.
Earthbind is a strength save, and any caster with 20 in their main casting stat will probably have a spell save DC above 15. A Demilich LITERALLY cannot make the saving throw with -5 to its strength save and it has no immunity to Earthbind's effects. It HAS to use a Legendary Resistance in order to not get caught. If it DOES get caught, it's physically incapable of breaking out of it. The Lich's speed drops to zero and it falls to the ground, effectively rendering it helpless as the party sits outside its reach and opens fire.
And thing is, a mage's concentration on a spell is not effected by Anti-Magic Field which both confirmed by Jeremy Crawfordand by necessity of the spell itself: it's a concentration spell and thus if it DID work that way, you'd lose concentration on Anti-Magic Field and thus not be able to actually use it. So it doesn't counter Earthbind unless the caster was within ten feet of the Demilich, and why the heck would they do that? Best strategy would probably be to spread out as far as possible and stay out of reach of the Demilich.
Watery Sphere would be even better, as it restrains the target (Demilich isn't immune to Restrain) and let's you actually move it, making it easier for the party to hammer away at it. Earthbind just has the advantage of working no matter where the Demilich is and it's a low level spell you can spam. If you had both, swapping from Earthbind to Watery Sphere would be the best play.
...This does raise a question though: is the Demilich immune to its own Anti-Magic Field? If it's close enough to the ground or they have natural flight, would the person targetted by Anti-Magic Field be able to rush up and hit the Demilich with its own Anti-Magic Field? Given it can only do ANYTHING via magic, would that render it helpless?
That is the key bit. Earthbind is a terrible spell and how would the party KNOW they are going to fight one?
Three wands of magic missiles would work better.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
This seems to be an entire 4-page thread dedicated to: If you play this INT20 monster unintelligently ...... like, if my skull-self was resting on a bejewelled pedestal and I let you walk right up to it and batter me down.
I mean, if I were a demilich, I'd have a nice traproom (as in, a room with nice big bronze doors that slam shut and lock when I feel like it) with a couple or more nice, solid golems I'd made in my days as a lich, some undead, maybe a good dozen or so annoying traps (poison gas, summon swarm, maybe some whirling blades for that traditional touch) that don't affect me, and a number of interconnected holes in the ceiling, where I could zoom out, do my stuff, and zoom back in cover and out of reach.
And then you could ready actions to try and get me, and my traps and golems would wear you down - and when you turn your attention back to those, I'm right back, doing my thing.
Alternatively: If you wanna get at me, well then you have to come into this crawlspace, where I have unrestricted movement ...... but you're on your hands and knees, crawling.
I propose an arena. Not that I'd want to run the Demilich, I'm not invested enough - and also, I'm crap - but sometimes the best solution is to just fight it out. In simulated combat to the death.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Sometimes a DM would give them a chance to prepare in advanced or one of the lair actions or effects of a Demilich might tip them off they're going into the lair of one, prompting them to fall back and prepare.
Watery Sphere is a more likely spell for someone to just have on them and while it can only remain ten feet about the ground, there's nothing saying it has to be CAST within ten feet of the ground. It'd just safely descend to ten feet, o you could just cast it around the Demilich in the air. The reason Earthbind is better for this specific situation, however, is that you can spam it whereas Watery Sphere isn't so easy to, so it Earthbind is easier to burn Legendary Resists with. If you've already burned those Legendary Resists or have push effects to keep throwing it into the Sphere, however, it's better, as the restrained condition is much better.
If you could somehow ground it, Entangle is also a good option.
Funny, none of the campaigns I am in has a paladin in it. However, I see now that we were playing wrong and we must immediately stop and add a paladin. Everyone who plays without one, stop. No campaign shall be allowed to continue without a paladin, we all know it, it has been said.
I'm fairly new to DnD, ran into my first Demi lich tonight with 3 others and it was pretty much determined to be my first TPK from the initiative roll.
It surprised us and rolled highest on initiative, put 3/4 of us to sleep from the howl, (Dice Rolls allied it regened every turn).
Successful attempts to wake each other were quickly undon
We only ever had one person awake and alive to react but could do little other than try and save.
Fun tho
Yeah, stuns can make a fight allot harder and less predictable. I've had similar encounters with much lower cr monsters like su-monster.
Ok, I'm not going to read three more pages of comments, but I want to put in my opinion. I actually fought a demilich, and I, and the rest of the party, almost died. This was the only time my party has had to retreat other than a fight against a young dragon at level four. It got a surprise round and howled, dropping most of us to 0 hp instantly. Those who succeeded were frightened, stopping them from getting closer and giving them disadvantage on attack rolls. This is a thirty feet in all directions save or suck ability, which even gives a nasty debuff if you succeed. (The second time, we silenced it, but lost concentration later in the fight and got some of us knocked down) It could fly, so we were stuck using ranged attacks, which had to be magical in order to even deal half damage and needed to hit a 20 AC creature. It has pretty powerful saves, legendary resistances, and evasion but for all save types. The demilich spammed energy drain and cloud of dust lair actions, dealing "damage" and giving us disadvantage on attack rolls if we failed. It used its life drain to hurt us while healing itself. Sure, maybe if they were lucky, a nova damager could take it down, but this thing is a very powerful boss that wrecked my party with its powerful howl ability, which can take down the whole party if they fail the saves.
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