I'm running a middle earth campaign and Saruman has come back as an ethereal form. He wants to become the new dark lord. My party has encountered him once in a dream plane where he killed a party member. They then woke up from the dream after the battle and were very relieved that none actually died lol.
My question is, what recommendations do you guys have with dumbing down the lich stat block so it's more applicable to a mid/low level party? I want to use the lich stat block as the basis for his abilities and a little homebrew, I just don't want to bring a CR21 monster to the board with 5 PC's who are 4-6 level.
I would recommend lowering his hitpoints and giving him a weaker spell list, if he was in the dream plane maybe he is stuck there and must use a substantial amount of his power just to have a physical form, thus draining him of his powerful abilities and spell use. And if he ends up being killed it could destroy the form but not kill him.
I would also try to remove some of its legendary resistances as it is probably weaker in its form being outside of its home plane.
in the adventure Dead in Thay (Tales from the Yawning Portal) they call out "reduced threat monsters" that're simply half hit points and -2 to all checks (attacks, abilities, and saves). I don't see a Lich stat block spelled out, but for example they take Helmed Horrors (CR4) and become Reduced-Threat Helmed Horrors (CR2). well, that's a construct. for an example undead, this takes Wights (CR3) and becomes Reduced-Threat Wights (CR2). So, you can see the challenge rating isn't cleanly cut in half but it's maybe a rule of thumb.
alternatively, you could just stick a Necromancer Wizard (CR9) from Mordenkainen (surprisingly twice the hp of Volo's legacy Necromancer, also CR9) in there and reflavor it more boney.
good luck!
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I'm running a middle earth campaign and Saruman has come back as an ethereal form. He wants to become the new dark lord. My party has encountered him once in a dream plane where he killed a party member. They then woke up from the dream after the battle and were very relieved that none actually died lol.
My question is, what recommendations do you guys have with dumbing down the lich stat block so it's more applicable to a mid/low level party? I want to use the lich stat block as the basis for his abilities and a little homebrew, I just don't want to bring a CR21 monster to the board with 5 PC's who are 4-6 level.
You could start with a Demilich (CR 18) and remove its legendary stuff (or at least the damaging ones); reduce the DCs a couple of points.
Or half all the damage of the abilities.
I would recommend lowering his hitpoints and giving him a weaker spell list, if he was in the dream plane maybe he is stuck there and must use a substantial amount of his power just to have a physical form, thus draining him of his powerful abilities and spell use. And if he ends up being killed it could destroy the form but not kill him.
I would also try to remove some of its legendary resistances as it is probably weaker in its form being outside of its home plane.
Hope this was helpful!
Thank you for the help. I'll be lowering the overall numbers significantly and reorganize his spell list a bit.
in the adventure Dead in Thay (Tales from the Yawning Portal) they call out "reduced threat monsters" that're simply half hit points and -2 to all checks (attacks, abilities, and saves). I don't see a Lich stat block spelled out, but for example they take Helmed Horrors (CR4) and become Reduced-Threat Helmed Horrors (CR2). well, that's a construct. for an example undead, this takes Wights (CR3) and becomes Reduced-Threat Wights (CR2). So, you can see the challenge rating isn't cleanly cut in half but it's maybe a rule of thumb.
alternatively, you could just stick a Necromancer Wizard (CR9) from Mordenkainen (surprisingly twice the hp of Volo's legacy Necromancer, also CR9) in there and reflavor it more boney.
good luck!
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
Thankyou. I will take a look at the Necromancer Wizard