Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the lich fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Rejuvenation. If it has a phylactery, a destroyed lich gains a new body in 1d10 days, regaining all its hit points and becoming active again. The new body appears within 5 feet of the phylactery.
Spellcasting. The lich is an 18th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 20, +12 to hit with spell attacks). The lich has the following wizard spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): mage hand, prestidigitation, ray of frost
1st level (4 slots): detect magic, magic missile, shield, thunderwave
2nd level (3 slots): acid arrow, detect thoughts, invisibility, mirror image
3rd level (3 slots): animate dead, counterspell, dispel magic, fireball
4th level (3 slots): blight, dimension door
5th level (3 slots): cloudkill, scrying
6th level (1 slot): disintegrate, globe of invulnerability
7th level (1 slot): finger of death, plane shift
8th level (1 slot): dominate monster, power word stun
9th level (1 slot): power word kill
Turn Resistance. The lich has advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead.
Paralyzing Touch. Melee Spell Attack: +12 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (3d6) cold damage. The target must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
The lich can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The lich regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Cantrip. The lich casts a cantrip.
Paralyzing Touch (Costs 2 Actions). The lich uses its Paralyzing Touch.
Frightening Gaze (Costs 2 Actions). The lich fixes its gaze on one creature it can see within 10 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw against this magic or become frightened for 1 minute. The frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a target’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the target is immune to the lich’s gaze for the next 24 hours.
Disrupt Life (Costs 3 Actions). Each non-undead creature within 20 feet of the lich must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw against this magic, taking 21 (6d6) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
A Lich’s Lair
A lich often haunts the abode it favored in life, such as a lonely tower, a haunted ruin, or an academy of black magic. Alternatively, some liches construct secret tombs filled with powerful guardians and traps.
Everything about a lich’s lair reflects its keen mind and wicked cunning, including the magic and mundane traps that secure it. Undead, constructs, and bound demons lurk in shadowy recesses, emerging to destroy those who dare to disturb the lich’s work.
A lich encountered in its lair has a challenge rating of 22 (41,000 XP).
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the lich can take a lair action to cause one of the following magical effects; the lich can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:
- The lich rolls a d8 and regains a spell slot of that level or lower. If it has no spent spell slots of that level or lower, nothing happens.
- The lich targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. A crackling cord of negative energy tethers the lich to the target. Whenever the lich takes damage, the target must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the lich takes half the damage (rounded down), and the target takes the remaining damage. This tether lasts until initiative count 20 on the next round or until the lich or the target is no longer in the lich’s lair.
- The lich calls forth the spirits of creatures that died in its lair. These apparitions materialize and attack one creature that the lich can see within 60 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw, taking 52 (15d6) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a success. The apparitions then disappear.
its a secret. only orcus knows
Why can't you just sprinkle holy water on them? They are undead
"The lich rolls a d8"
Nicely put.
how many players do i need to have a fair fight with a lich and what level should these players have? i am currently in the process of writing my own campaign and am considering using one as a late opponent
Our DM just committed a tpk via Lich, I have a grudge for life
they are p[owerful which is why most DMs won't let players be a lich. as far as becoming one, you need a character that can cast up to 7th level spells
It doesn't, but if you're on good terms with with a god (celestial or infernal), you could hypothetically have a fully grown clone in the celestial plane, and it'd never age until it enters the primaterial plane
It depends on how much thought you are putting into it. A lich is only as strong as the person using/designing it. For example, I like giving my liches backup plans to protect their phylacteries, usually involving complex mechanisms, demiplanes that are linked to personal items the lich carries, demiplanes within demiplanes, false phylacteries within those demiplanes, and every inch of those demiplanes being glyphed to hell and back with the likes of Cloudkill, Feeblemind, Counterspell, Wall of Force, et cetera. I make sure it has access to an array of artefacts like Staff of Power, Arcane Grimoire, and Robes of the Archmagi, to name a few. I also give it a few spell scrolls in addition to everything it carries, such as Scrolls of Reality Break, Soul Cage, Animate Dead, and Greater Invisibility, to list just a couple of options. Hell, I might even throw in a Scroll of Wish if I'm feeling particularly sadistic.
If you've read this far, you've noticed something: these tactics probably seem cruel. And that's because a lich will be absolutely cruel realistically. It has no intention of leaving its opponents alive if they desire a fight, and will have contingency plans so absurd and paranoid it would make a Beholder blush. The goal is to overwhelm and force the players to outthink the lich. You can't brute force a lich if you want it to be satisfying, because then it's "just another enemy". It shouldn't feel like that when you defeat a proper lich. A lich's downfall should feel rewarding, and outwitting a highly calculating opponent who is throwing everything at you will be so for most players. (Little tip: ensure the lich's downfall concerns its pride and hubris, which drove it to undeath. Give it a subtle and clever oversight that the players will figure out if they think about it for a few minutes, and let your players be creative with how that oversight plays to their advantage.)
My favourite way to play a lich is to portray the scenario as only having a few options when in reality, some lateral thinking will allow you to realise that you don't need to pick those options at all. Rather, you can make your own options. The instant you start playing the lich's game, the lich has won because all of the options presented will be rigged in the lich's favour. If you never play the lich's game, the lich is now on the backpedal and is closer to losing, because instead of the lich "making the rules", the players are, and that will give your players the rewarding feeling of outwitting a lich.
And that's that. Terribly sorry how long-winded this is. If you want to disregard this entirely and treat a lich as another monster, that's fine. You can then expect players to handle a lich easily around levels 9-10. But if you want the lich to truly use its fullest capabilities, then you can crank up the challenge as much as you want. I did it once to the point where I had a group of level 15 players on the ropes because they started to play the lich's game, only for them to think carefully and not play into its hands, thus securing a narrow but grand victory. And truthfully, you could probably make it even stronger. However, I think you're probably bored of reading this by now, and anything more will be overkill.
i ain't reading that
how powerful do you think a squad of liches would be
It's fully dependent on how intelligent the DM and the players are. If the players and DM are all intelligent, it can provide great entertainment and be a fun and powerful experience. If the players are intelligent but the DM isn't, it will be a one-sided game with the players being very overpowered and the DM struggling to provide a challenge. If the DM is intelligent but the players aren't, it too becomes a one-sided game as the DM will produce clever challenges and tactics that will leave the players feeling overwhelmed and lacking in power. If neither the DM nor the players are intelligent, it is a slog that none will enjoy, and you won't get to experience the true power a group of liches can pose.
paladin.
Lich betta have my money