I am preparing the final showdown between my party and the BBEG, a lich. My initial plan is to have the lich cast time stop and, depending on how many rounds the lich gets, cast Platinum Shield, Mirror image, blink, and have mind blank already cast on himself. A lich is already a dangerous battle, but is this going to increase the effective CR too much, or would this be in line with how a lich would act?
Edit: it is a party of 4, 3 full casters and a paladin, at level 16. I also understand that these spells are not a lich RAW, but this lich was a powerful archmage in his day and would know any number of spells.
Pretty much any monster can pose a serious challenge if played intelligently. Only you know how much you need to compensate for your party's powerlevel.
As for prep:
<>Know how the battle will start.
<>Know the liches default behavior.
<>Know how the battle night end.
<>Have a strategy for adjusting the Encounter CR on the fly. (E.g. Adding minions in waves, environmental hazards, etc...)
Don't try to be too clever from round to round, sifting through the whole spell list every turn will just slow things down. Try to make a quick list containing a few spells you want to highlight and try to stick to those until you burn through your resources.
Seems like a reasonable plan. Liches are crazy smart, and have usually lived a long, long time. They should have a standard plan for when a bunch of adventurers come at them, and probably a couple contingency plans — at least a scroll of teleport. I’d say they would spare no expense to keep themselves alive. And if it’s your final fight, you don’t have to worry about the PCs getting powerful gear and wrecking the campaign. Give the lich an artifact if you want. Then the players can retire their characters with some extra bling. Oh, when the time stop is about to end, I’d feeblemind the cleric. Always take out the healer first.
One thing I’m unclear on, and I think will require a ruling, is if the PCs can perceive what’s happening while they are time stopped. Only because if they can see what’s happening, first thing would be a dispel magic to get rid of all those buffs.
One thing I’m unclear on, and I think will require a ruling, is if the PCs can perceive what’s happening while they are time stopped. Only because if they can see what’s happening, first thing would be a dispel magic to get rid of all those buffs.
I would assume the answer is no, but the presence of multiple high level buffs will be pretty obvious anyway.
My look at this leans towards: you will most likely be decreasing the CR of the encounter by burning these slots while buffing. As written, the Lich has a finite amount of spell slots available per long rest. If you burn off Time Stop, Fizban's Platinum Shield, Mirror Image, Blink and Mind Blank that results in a reduction in available spell slots from 2nd Level from 3 to 2, 3rd Level from 3 to 2, 6th Level from 1 to 0, 8th Level from 1 to 0 and 9th Level from 1 to 0. Most of it can be gotten rid of with Dispel Magic from one of the full casters.
CR is partially dependent upon DPR of the creature across three rounds of combat, as well as how survivable the creature is. And while these spells will make the creature more survivable, it will effectively decrease the DPR that can be projected over the first three rounds of combat. Granted, one Lair action allows the Lich to regain one spell slot of 8th or lower(per the result of a d8 roll) which might help some. Also, as written, the encounter will be well above deadly for the party you described. If you are trying to increase the CR of the encounter, I might suggest tweaking the Legendary Actions, adding Reactions or Bonus Actions and possibly adding a second Lair Action that triggers on initiative count 10.
Mobility might be one of your primary focuses for the Lich. If you were to give it a Bonus Action: Misty-Step-like ability to get it away from Melee and AOE that would go a good way towards survivability. And honestly, 135 HP is not gonna last long. Giving it a ranged attack Similar to the Disrupt Life Legendary Action or maybe some version of Enervation as a recharge (5-6 on a d6) action might help to regain some lost vitality. Regardless of all that, I agree with Memnosye: be prepared to dump CR to balance the encounter.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I mean, if you're going to burn a 9th level spell slot on Time Stop, use it for something that will actually kill the PCs. Like put down a killing zone of some sort (which does not end time stop because it doesn't affect targets until they actually get a turn) and then forcecage a few of them.
Ok, "Too much prep" is anything that will TPK the party without giving them a chance to be heroic. Nobody likes being taken out of a fight right off the bat, unless they can be brought back fairly quickly.
Set your Lich up to be terrifying and dramatic, but make sure that the party has at least one path to success. (Without making it about a "main character".)
Ok, "Too much prep" is anything that will TPK the party without giving them a chance to be heroic. Nobody likes being taken out of a fight right off the bat, unless they can be brought back fairly quickly.
Unfortunately, given the glass cannon nature of a lich, using any other sort of tactics will just make it a walkover. If the lich fails to take out half the party with its first action, it's not going to get a second.
That may be so, but as a BBEG that may call for more than mere prep. Give the Lich layers, so that it can survive a couple rounds.
Let the Lich have an Artifact-grade Phylactery that can ignore the respawn cooldown once per year. Or have it crumble into a Demi-Lich upon death.
The players need time to soak in the final battle, otherwise it won't have any real impact.
Even just having it flee for a few rounds could stretch out the encounter long enough to make it interesting. Let minions or environmental hazards be the first wave while the Lich's lair effects keep it present.
Kaavel is right to a degree with regard to spell slot usage. A lich has spent many years both keeping out of sight and winning through combat. Part of winning through combat is maximizing their actions through their action economy.
This maximization can manifest as the use of:
Minions - Summoned, employed, raised, and coerced/charmed.
Spells - that are prepped and deployed prior to combat (e.g. Clone, Demiplane, Foresight, Mighty Fortress, Sequester, Simulacrum, Symbol [multiple times], Contingency, Instant summons, Guards and Wards, Magic Jar, Programmed Illusion, and Transmute rock.)
Strategies that key on the parties weaknesses and play to the Lich's strengths.
Remember if the Lich has the slightest notion that the Party is coming for it, it will study them like any other project to see how they work.
I am preparing the final showdown between my party and the BBEG, a lich. My initial plan is to have the lich cast time stop and, depending on how many rounds the lich gets, cast Platinum Shield, Mirror image, blink, and have mind blank already cast on himself. A lich is already a dangerous battle, but is this going to increase the effective CR too much, or would this be in line with how a lich would act?
Edit: it is a party of 4, 3 full casters and a paladin, at level 16. I also understand that these spells are not a lich RAW, but this lich was a powerful archmage in his day and would know any number of spells.
Pretty much any monster can pose a serious challenge if played intelligently. Only you know how much you need to compensate for your party's powerlevel.
As for prep:
<>Know how the battle will start.
<>Know the liches default behavior.
<>Know how the battle night end.
<>Have a strategy for adjusting the Encounter CR on the fly. (E.g. Adding minions in waves, environmental hazards, etc...)
Don't try to be too clever from round to round, sifting through the whole spell list every turn will just slow things down. Try to make a quick list containing a few spells you want to highlight and try to stick to those until you burn through your resources.
I feel a temptation to have PCs fight a bunch of constructs inside Maddening Darkness.
Seems like a reasonable plan. Liches are crazy smart, and have usually lived a long, long time. They should have a standard plan for when a bunch of adventurers come at them, and probably a couple contingency plans — at least a scroll of teleport. I’d say they would spare no expense to keep themselves alive. And if it’s your final fight, you don’t have to worry about the PCs getting powerful gear and wrecking the campaign. Give the lich an artifact if you want. Then the players can retire their characters with some extra bling.
Oh, when the time stop is about to end, I’d feeblemind the cleric. Always take out the healer first.
One thing I’m unclear on, and I think will require a ruling, is if the PCs can perceive what’s happening while they are time stopped. Only because if they can see what’s happening, first thing would be a dispel magic to get rid of all those buffs.
I would assume the answer is no, but the presence of multiple high level buffs will be pretty obvious anyway.
My look at this leans towards: you will most likely be decreasing the CR of the encounter by burning these slots while buffing. As written, the Lich has a finite amount of spell slots available per long rest. If you burn off Time Stop, Fizban's Platinum Shield, Mirror Image, Blink and Mind Blank that results in a reduction in available spell slots from 2nd Level from 3 to 2, 3rd Level from 3 to 2, 6th Level from 1 to 0, 8th Level from 1 to 0 and 9th Level from 1 to 0. Most of it can be gotten rid of with Dispel Magic from one of the full casters.
CR is partially dependent upon DPR of the creature across three rounds of combat, as well as how survivable the creature is. And while these spells will make the creature more survivable, it will effectively decrease the DPR that can be projected over the first three rounds of combat. Granted, one Lair action allows the Lich to regain one spell slot of 8th or lower(per the result of a d8 roll) which might help some. Also, as written, the encounter will be well above deadly for the party you described. If you are trying to increase the CR of the encounter, I might suggest tweaking the Legendary Actions, adding Reactions or Bonus Actions and possibly adding a second Lair Action that triggers on initiative count 10.
Mobility might be one of your primary focuses for the Lich. If you were to give it a Bonus Action: Misty-Step-like ability to get it away from Melee and AOE that would go a good way towards survivability. And honestly, 135 HP is not gonna last long. Giving it a ranged attack Similar to the Disrupt Life Legendary Action or maybe some version of Enervation as a recharge (5-6 on a d6) action might help to regain some lost vitality. Regardless of all that, I agree with Memnosye: be prepared to dump CR to balance the encounter.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I mean, if you're going to burn a 9th level spell slot on Time Stop, use it for something that will actually kill the PCs. Like put down a killing zone of some sort (which does not end time stop because it doesn't affect targets until they actually get a turn) and then forcecage a few of them.
Ok, "Too much prep" is anything that will TPK the party without giving them a chance to be heroic. Nobody likes being taken out of a fight right off the bat, unless they can be brought back fairly quickly.
Set your Lich up to be terrifying and dramatic, but make sure that the party has at least one path to success. (Without making it about a "main character".)
Unfortunately, given the glass cannon nature of a lich, using any other sort of tactics will just make it a walkover. If the lich fails to take out half the party with its first action, it's not going to get a second.
That may be so, but as a BBEG that may call for more than mere prep. Give the Lich layers, so that it can survive a couple rounds.
Let the Lich have an Artifact-grade Phylactery that can ignore the respawn cooldown once per year. Or have it crumble into a Demi-Lich upon death.
The players need time to soak in the final battle, otherwise it won't have any real impact.
Even just having it flee for a few rounds could stretch out the encounter long enough to make it interesting. Let minions or environmental hazards be the first wave while the Lich's lair effects keep it present.
Kaavel is right to a degree with regard to spell slot usage. A lich has spent many years both keeping out of sight and winning through combat. Part of winning through combat is maximizing their actions through their action economy.
This maximization can manifest as the use of:
Minions - Summoned, employed, raised, and coerced/charmed.
Spells - that are prepped and deployed prior to combat (e.g. Clone, Demiplane, Foresight, Mighty Fortress, Sequester, Simulacrum, Symbol [multiple times], Contingency, Instant summons, Guards and Wards, Magic Jar, Programmed Illusion, and Transmute rock.)
Strategies that key on the parties weaknesses and play to the Lich's strengths.
Remember if the Lich has the slightest notion that the Party is coming for it, it will study them like any other project to see how they work.
It. Will. Be. Prepared. Play it as such.
If you want the fight to last a decent amount of time, good uses for a 9th level spell slot are Gate and Prismatic Wall.