I have a 5 person level 18 party, in a homebrew campaign, I have created that has lasted a year. The bbeg is a Lich I have created, but I feel like he will not be enough of a challenge. They have each grown very powerful, at this point I’m having to home brew everything to stand a chance against them, they have killed 2 gods so far.
I need creative ways to kill high level, armed to the teeth players. Any suggestions are welcome-traps, monsters, curses, etc.
Bonus points if it is horror driven and breaks them mentally.
Mmm... if you like pancakes I hear the Tomb of Horrors reprinted for 5e in Tales from the Yawning Portal seems to have been made specifically with that intent in mind.
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“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
The Circle of Hedgehogs Druid Beholder/Animated Armor Level -20 Bardof the OIADSB Cult, here are our rules.Sig.Also a sauce council member, but it's been dead for a while.
You could make the lich have an "instant phylactery". When it's reduced to 0 hit points, it turns to dust before reforming at full health with some additional powers. Basically, make it a mythic monster from MOT.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Ok, a serious answer, and one that abides by the rules.
First, change up the Lich’s spell book. As it stands, it’s not effective against 18th level opponents.
Add Antimagic Field at 8th level and have this spell active before the party even starts combat. This is effective immunity from all damage for 1 hour, unless the party finds a creative way to disable him (stun), or hurt him (fire flasks). This could lead to interesting situations where the party just has to deal with his minions until they find a way to disable his field. Remember, whatever plans they have they have to hit fast because the Lich also regains spell slots. I’m pretty sure his Touch and Disrupt Life abilities will be hampered by it so he’ll need to rely on his army
Pre-prep Contingency - False Life cast at 5th level is a solid Contingency, if the Lich ever falls below 100hp.
Pre-prep 8th level Crown of Stars (9 motes), it’s no concentration required and you’ll regain the 8th level slot easily enough.
Summon an army of Undead and utilize Geased allies.
Geas is great for low level civilians that are forced to protect their master for fear of death and also provides a moral dilemma for anyone trying to get close to the Lich. A simple request like “kill anyone that lays a hand on me” would be effective. It works far better on low-HP minions that the 5d10 damage would kill instantly
Animate Dead and Finger of Death are also great ways to build an army. If this Lich has been around a while, you’d expect his army to be nearly unlimited in size, so when the big boss battle happens, decide on a number of “undead per round” that will arrive at the top of each round.
Oddly enough, True Strike Cantrip for 1 Legendary action may work here. Use it only if the Lich doesn’t have Antimagic Field active, and wants to attack on its turn (you can do it immediately before the Lich’s turn). Now motes from the Crown of Stars could hit a lot harder as well, and only using the bonus action. You could fire a mote and re-engage the Antimagic Field immediately after as well.
I have a 5 person level 18 party, in a homebrew campaign, I have created that has lasted a year. The bbeg is a Lich I have created, but I feel like he will not be enough of a challenge. They have each grown very powerful, at this point I’m having to home brew everything to stand a chance against them, they have killed 2 gods so far.
I need creative ways to kill high level, armed to the teeth players. Any suggestions are welcome-traps, monsters, curses, etc.
Bonus points if it is horror driven and breaks them mentally.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
I have a 5 person level 18 party, in a homebrew campaign, I have created that has lasted a year. The bbeg is a Lich I have created, but I feel like he will not be enough of a challenge. They have each grown very powerful, at this point I’m having to home brew everything to stand a chance against them, they have killed 2 gods so far.
I need creative ways to kill high level, armed to the teeth players. Any suggestions are welcome-traps, monsters, curses, etc.
Bonus points if it is horror driven and breaks them mentally.
Use an aura. Lichs are immune to cold and electric damage, so have the whole area be freezing, or electrified or both. At the start of their turn, characters take some damage. Maybe a con save for half. Enough to be persistently annoying and wear them down — and force concentration saves every round.
Have the liche take control of a number of mummy lords, then have them all just raise dead repeatedly, no matter how high the players are level wise hundreads of skeletons, zombies, and worse between them and the liche will make there lives difficult :)
I have a 5 person level 18 party, in a homebrew campaign, I have created that has lasted a year. The bbeg is a Lich I have created, but I feel like he will not be enough of a challenge. They have each grown very powerful, at this point I’m having to home brew everything to stand a chance against them, they have killed 2 gods so far.
I need creative ways to kill high level, armed to the teeth players. Any suggestions are welcome-traps, monsters, curses, etc.
Bonus points if it is horror driven and breaks them mentally.
You could make the lich have an "instant phylactery". When it's reduced to 0 hit points, it turns to dust before reforming at full health with some additional powers. Basically, make it a mythic monster from MOT.
This will make it a very difficult encounter, but not a completely unbeatable one. It's not an insta-TPK or an obviously rigged encounter. Here's an example that you can chose to use or adapt, if you want.
Read or paraphrase the following text when the lich finally uses its Instant Rejuvenation trait:
The lich crumbles to dust, bones deteriorating to nothingness before they reach the ground. But, in a crackle of dark lightning, the ashes of the skeletal creature swirl together, reforming into an unscarred version of the life-surpassing necromancer.
The lich gains the following trait:
Instant Rejuvenation (Mythic Trait; Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). If the lich is reduced to 0 hit points, it doesn't die or fall unconscious. Instead, it reforms, regains 135 hit points, and each creature within 30 feet of it takes 21 (6d6) necrotic damage.
Mythic Actions
If the lich's mythic trait is active, it can use the options below as legendary actions for 1 hour after using Instant Rejuvenation.
Spellcast. The lich casts a spell of 3rd level or lower. Wrath of the Dead (Costs 3 Actions). A burst of necromantic energy bursts out from the lich. Each creature that is not a construct or undead within 30 feet of it must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or take 10 (3d6) necrotic damage. The lich gains temporary hit points equal to the total damage dealt.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Do not kill your players. This can have a number of unpleasant consequences. Plus you might come to regret the loss of your friends.
Now, as far as their characters are concerned... for a level 18 party, I think I'd be tempted to strand them in some hell-scape prison. There are several interesting adventures around this theme, so why not combine all the worst parts into your homebrew?
Do not kill your players. This can have a number of unpleasant consequences. Plus you might come to regret the loss of your friends.
Now, as far as their characters are concerned... for a level 18 party, I think I'd be tempted to strand them in some hell-scape prison. There are several interesting adventures around this theme, so why not combine all the worst parts into your homebrew?
I am assuming the OP is asking for encounters that are tough enough to have the potential of a tpk, by level 18 in my opinion you need to set up encounters fully with the intention in mind of wiping out the party in order to make them challenging enough.
stagger the encounter.. have them deplete resources and spell slots on henchmen. stop them from having access to short rests or long rests by putting a timer to their need to kill the BBEG (if you give them the chance to flee, regroup, rest and try again, you solve nothing. force their hand by rising the stakes and giving them a time limit). use antimagic fields against their equipment, or targeted antimagic and debuffs. use lair actions. Give them more than one target to sink spellslots into, golems for instance... then have at it with Force cage, and similar nice ones.. use symbols to create a minefield for them, and instant trigger teleportation traps to shunt a few of them into acid pits, pools of lava, an elemental plane or simply the other side of the planet. when all of those fail or are finally defeated and overcome, have a last resort polymorph into an ancient dragon, so they have to start crunching hitpoints again.
mitigate all of the above on the fly to make it challenging but not partykilling.
I will say ultimately you want to make it tough but, you are telling a collective story so don’t feel if they reach level 20 and kill your bbeg that you have failed. The key thing is keeping a relentless assault. Buff your liche up giving him access to 3 meteor storms, or maybe even put him atop a dracoliche
I am new to dnd so I am not sure how useful these ideas are but my first thought is to make it so that the lich's plans will come to fruition if they don't kill it within a certain amount of time. So either beat the lich within x turns or give the party an hour to stop it since they enter the dungeon so that they can't take rests to recover spells or hp.
The second idea is to separate the party. Put some teleportation effects that take the lich and a party member to another room and make it a challenge to reach it (either with ability checks or puzzles). That reduces the party's offensive actions per turn, forces one to try to survive the bbeg on their own for a bit and raises tension as they scramble to save him.
This could be combined with enviromental hazzards tailored to the players. You in theory know what is in their spell books. Is there a player that wouldn't do well in a flooded room or vacuum? There is also the cold as someone mentioned above or Bridges that appear and disappear at random if they can't fly. You could give it lair actions to justify any effects you want, like making anyone but the lich roll on a wild magic table of your own, turning them into children, swap their equipment, have them hallucinate, take them to a mirror world with clonesof the lich, etc
Or just summon the strongest creature innthe MM a few times? I am not sure how a level 18 partybcompares to a terrasque but if they killed two gods they should be able to handle it, right? Or have the bbeg turn into the lich version of that.
Use more monsters. A lich who has "lived" for a long time will likely have plenty of thralls and minions that it can throw at the characters on their way to stop it. It may also make a deal with an equally powerful entity, like a dragon, to mutually benefit each other by attaining more power and treasure. You may also use a monster that can destroy magic items to lower AC, minimize damage output, et cetera. Things like walls made of mimics or shriekers (acting as an alarm system) may also work, also providing environmental hazards.
Use terrain as an advantage. You can place traps to lower character HP and entrap characters before they actually reach the lich. You could also place the lich in a hard-to-reach area so it can snipe at them unharmed, then eventually come out for a more even fight. You can also put the characters in a small place to take advantage of any AoE spells the lich has and prevent the use of them by the characters.
Play the intelligence well. Liches have an intelligence of 20 for a reason, and they should use it. A smart monster is a deadly monster, and they would value their own life and schemes dearly, so they would be creative in their tactics. They would also know who to target based on how they look (a wizard will wear robes, while a fighter would have armour). It will milk the legendary actions and lair actions as much as it can.
Add new or alternate spells, hit points, and magic items. 135 HP is not a massive total for 18th-level characters to beat, so you might want to add some extra hit dice on. You could also give it magic resistance to tone down the character's spell attacks. As for spells, liches would be boring with the same spells every time. Power word kill may not be the best choice, since some high-level characters will have over 100 HP. You may want to use something like Wish (this can be a huge help, and can also help a lich with low hit points). The lich will also have a significant collection of magic items, and even have a trait titled Magic Collectors. They will use these to their advantage in combat, and may also have some sort of scrying device to watch the party.
Hinder the players with magical effects. If it takes place in the monster's lair, the lich will have things like slowness spells, hit point degradation effects, spell traps, alarms, and more to add a layer of protection.
Keep the plot moving after the lich's death. Even if they kill the lich, it will likely have contingencies in place, including traps designed to kill its killers. Also consider that it gets resurrected 1d10 days after its death if the phylactery isn't destroyed, so it could keep on plotting without the characters' knowledge. They could also have to fight something else that has the power to keep the plans rolling beyond the lich's death immediately after it gets killed since it has many minions.
***Do not use traps to kill the PCs, if they do die, it should be in the fight with the lich***
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I have a 5 person level 18 party, in a homebrew campaign, I have created that has lasted a year. The bbeg is a Lich I have created, but I feel like he will not be enough of a challenge. They have each grown very powerful, at this point I’m having to home brew everything to stand a chance against them, they have killed 2 gods so far.
I need creative ways to kill high level, armed to the teeth players. Any suggestions are welcome-traps, monsters, curses, etc.
Bonus points if it is horror driven and breaks them mentally.
Mmm... if you like pancakes I hear the Tomb of Horrors reprinted for 5e in Tales from the Yawning Portal seems to have been made specifically with that intent in mind.
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
The first thing on my mind is the one and only blue slaad.
This.
The Circle of Hedgehogs Druid Beholder/Animated Armor Level -20 Bard of the OIADSB Cult, here are our rules. Sig. Also a sauce council member, but it's been dead for a while.
You could make the lich have an "instant phylactery". When it's reduced to 0 hit points, it turns to dust before reforming at full health with some additional powers. Basically, make it a mythic monster from MOT.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
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If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Ok, a serious answer, and one that abides by the rules.
First, change up the Lich’s spell book. As it stands, it’s not effective against 18th level opponents.
Add Antimagic Field at 8th level and have this spell active before the party even starts combat. This is effective immunity from all damage for 1 hour, unless the party finds a creative way to disable him (stun), or hurt him (fire flasks). This could lead to interesting situations where the party just has to deal with his minions until they find a way to disable his field. Remember, whatever plans they have they have to hit fast because the Lich also regains spell slots. I’m pretty sure his Touch and Disrupt Life abilities will be hampered by it so he’ll need to rely on his army
Pre-prep Contingency - False Life cast at 5th level is a solid Contingency, if the Lich ever falls below 100hp.
Pre-prep 8th level Crown of Stars (9 motes), it’s no concentration required and you’ll regain the 8th level slot easily enough.
Summon an army of Undead and utilize Geased allies.
Geas is great for low level civilians that are forced to protect their master for fear of death and also provides a moral dilemma for anyone trying to get close to the Lich. A simple request like “kill anyone that lays a hand on me” would be effective. It works far better on low-HP minions that the 5d10 damage would kill instantly
Animate Dead and Finger of Death are also great ways to build an army. If this Lich has been around a while, you’d expect his army to be nearly unlimited in size, so when the big boss battle happens, decide on a number of “undead per round” that will arrive at the top of each round.
Oddly enough, True Strike Cantrip for 1 Legendary action may work here. Use it only if the Lich doesn’t have Antimagic Field active, and wants to attack on its turn (you can do it immediately before the Lich’s turn). Now motes from the Crown of Stars could hit a lot harder as well, and only using the bonus action. You could fire a mote and re-engage the Antimagic Field immediately after as well.
That 13th level spell is a killer.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
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If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Summon Rick is probably too much.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Use an aura. Lichs are immune to cold and electric damage, so have the whole area be freezing, or electrified or both. At the start of their turn, characters take some damage. Maybe a con save for half. Enough to be persistently annoying and wear them down — and force concentration saves every round.
Have the liche take control of a number of mummy lords, then have them all just raise dead repeatedly, no matter how high the players are level wise hundreads of skeletons, zombies, and worse between them and the liche will make there lives difficult :)
Verbal components:
Neverus Givi Upus
Supreme Cat-lover Of The First Grade
I AM A CAT PERSON. /\_____/\
She/her pronouns please. (=^.^=)
This will make it a very difficult encounter, but not a completely unbeatable one. It's not an insta-TPK or an obviously rigged encounter. Here's an example that you can chose to use or adapt, if you want.
Read or paraphrase the following text when the lich finally uses its Instant Rejuvenation trait:
The lich gains the following trait:
Instant Rejuvenation (Mythic Trait; Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). If the lich is reduced to 0 hit points, it doesn't die or fall unconscious. Instead, it reforms, regains 135 hit points, and each creature within 30 feet of it takes 21 (6d6) necrotic damage.
Mythic Actions
If the lich's mythic trait is active, it can use the options below as legendary actions for 1 hour after using Instant Rejuvenation.
Spellcast. The lich casts a spell of 3rd level or lower.
Wrath of the Dead (Costs 3 Actions). A burst of necromantic energy bursts out from the lich. Each creature that is not a construct or undead within 30 feet of it must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or take 10 (3d6) necrotic damage. The lich gains temporary hit points equal to the total damage dealt.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Do not kill your players. This can have a number of unpleasant consequences. Plus you might come to regret the loss of your friends.
Now, as far as their characters are concerned... for a level 18 party, I think I'd be tempted to strand them in some hell-scape prison. There are several interesting adventures around this theme, so why not combine all the worst parts into your homebrew?
I am assuming the OP is asking for encounters that are tough enough to have the potential of a tpk, by level 18 in my opinion you need to set up encounters fully with the intention in mind of wiping out the party in order to make them challenging enough.
stagger the encounter.. have them deplete resources and spell slots on henchmen. stop them from having access to short rests or long rests by putting a timer to their need to kill the BBEG (if you give them the chance to flee, regroup, rest and try again, you solve nothing. force their hand by rising the stakes and giving them a time limit).
use antimagic fields against their equipment, or targeted antimagic and debuffs. use lair actions.
Give them more than one target to sink spellslots into, golems for instance... then have at it with Force cage, and similar nice ones..
use symbols to create a minefield for them, and instant trigger teleportation traps to shunt a few of them into acid pits, pools of lava, an elemental plane or simply the other side of the planet.
when all of those fail or are finally defeated and overcome, have a last resort polymorph into an ancient dragon, so they have to start crunching hitpoints again.
mitigate all of the above on the fly to make it challenging but not partykilling.
I will say ultimately you want to make it tough but, you are telling a collective story so don’t feel if they reach level 20 and kill your bbeg that you have failed. The key thing is keeping a relentless assault. Buff your liche up giving him access to 3 meteor storms, or maybe even put him atop a dracoliche
Take your lich. Give it unlimited 9th level spell slots. Unkillable lich.
Frequent Eladrin || They/Them, but accept all pronouns
Luz Noceda would like to remind you that you're worth loving!
I am new to dnd so I am not sure how useful these ideas are but my first thought is to make it so that the lich's plans will come to fruition if they don't kill it within a certain amount of time. So either beat the lich within x turns or give the party an hour to stop it since they enter the dungeon so that they can't take rests to recover spells or hp.
The second idea is to separate the party. Put some teleportation effects that take the lich and a party member to another room and make it a challenge to reach it (either with ability checks or puzzles). That reduces the party's offensive actions per turn, forces one to try to survive the bbeg on their own for a bit and raises tension as they scramble to save him.
This could be combined with enviromental hazzards tailored to the players. You in theory know what is in their spell books. Is there a player that wouldn't do well in a flooded room or vacuum? There is also the cold as someone mentioned above or Bridges that appear and disappear at random if they can't fly. You could give it lair actions to justify any effects you want, like making anyone but the lich roll on a wild magic table of your own, turning them into children, swap their equipment, have them hallucinate, take them to a mirror world with clonesof the lich, etc
Or just summon the strongest creature innthe MM a few times? I am not sure how a level 18 partybcompares to a terrasque but if they killed two gods they should be able to handle it, right? Or have the bbeg turn into the lich version of that.
Time for a cataclysm level event. Straight out of Dragonlance, drop a mountain on them from space.
Here are a few ideas:
Use more monsters. A lich who has "lived" for a long time will likely have plenty of thralls and minions that it can throw at the characters on their way to stop it. It may also make a deal with an equally powerful entity, like a dragon, to mutually benefit each other by attaining more power and treasure. You may also use a monster that can destroy magic items to lower AC, minimize damage output, et cetera. Things like walls made of mimics or shriekers (acting as an alarm system) may also work, also providing environmental hazards.
Use terrain as an advantage. You can place traps to lower character HP and entrap characters before they actually reach the lich. You could also place the lich in a hard-to-reach area so it can snipe at them unharmed, then eventually come out for a more even fight. You can also put the characters in a small place to take advantage of any AoE spells the lich has and prevent the use of them by the characters.
Play the intelligence well. Liches have an intelligence of 20 for a reason, and they should use it. A smart monster is a deadly monster, and they would value their own life and schemes dearly, so they would be creative in their tactics. They would also know who to target based on how they look (a wizard will wear robes, while a fighter would have armour). It will milk the legendary actions and lair actions as much as it can.
Add new or alternate spells, hit points, and magic items. 135 HP is not a massive total for 18th-level characters to beat, so you might want to add some extra hit dice on. You could also give it magic resistance to tone down the character's spell attacks. As for spells, liches would be boring with the same spells every time. Power word kill may not be the best choice, since some high-level characters will have over 100 HP. You may want to use something like Wish (this can be a huge help, and can also help a lich with low hit points). The lich will also have a significant collection of magic items, and even have a trait titled Magic Collectors. They will use these to their advantage in combat, and may also have some sort of scrying device to watch the party.
Hinder the players with magical effects. If it takes place in the monster's lair, the lich will have things like slowness spells, hit point degradation effects, spell traps, alarms, and more to add a layer of protection.
Keep the plot moving after the lich's death. Even if they kill the lich, it will likely have contingencies in place, including traps designed to kill its killers. Also consider that it gets resurrected 1d10 days after its death if the phylactery isn't destroyed, so it could keep on plotting without the characters' knowledge. They could also have to fight something else that has the power to keep the plans rolling beyond the lich's death immediately after it gets killed since it has many minions.
***Do not use traps to kill the PCs, if they do die, it should be in the fight with the lich***