Liches¶

Immortal Masters of Undeath and Arcana

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Liches are mortal necromancers who defied death, binding their souls to the Mortal Realm through dark rituals and dreadful will. Rather than accept the inevitability of death, they craft soul anchors that lash their spirit in defiance of the natural order. The dark arts necessary to craft such a soul anchor are unique to each twisted soul that contemplates the heinous act, but in each case it involves unspeakably evil acts and cruel sacrifices. Countless aspiring liches have failed, but those who succeed attain unspeakable power.

A lich's body is a hollow mockery of life, sustained only by necromantic power and the iron force of its own will. Its flesh rots and bones blacken while the cruel intellect and dread will of the newly formed Lich are honed to dreadful heights. If its body is ever destroyed, the soul of the cursed mage is cast into the Styx, but the soul anchor prevents it from being dragged to oblivion. Using the anchor as a tether, the deathless mage pulls their way back into life.

This immortality comes at a steep price. The soul anchor must continually be fed fresh souls, lest the River Styx gnaw at the tether binding the lich to life. Though the undying wizard cannot be killed, the effects of the river still twist and warp the mind. Over time, even the mightiest liches lose their last traces of humanity, becoming cold engines of calculation, cruelty, and ambition.

Some seek to conquer kingdoms or ascend to godhood. Others retreat into sunken tombs, dreaming in silence as the world decays around them. A rare few, like the Archlich Karklaz the Withered King, embrace entropy itself, seeing beauty not in life, but in the endless, inevitable ruin of all things.

Lich Lore¶

• Unlike the still-mortal Necromancer Mage, a Lich has traded their connection to mortality for eternity
• Every lich crafts their soul anchor through a unique, perilous ritual
• Many aspiring liches seek bargains with dark powers to discover the secret to lichdom
• A lich cannot be truly destroyed while its soul anchor persists
• Each soul anchor is intimately tied to the lich's former life and guarded by dire wards
• Liches are powerful masters of undeath and command vast armies of Skeletons, Zombies, Ghouls, Specters, Wights, Wraiths, and even the occasional apprentice Necromancer Mage

Lich Tactics¶

Liches are cunning, cruel, and ruthless. With its incredibly high intelligence, the lich is prepared for any foes that attempt to attack it and is not easily caught off guard. In combat, a lich will use its fly speed to begin hovering into the air to distance itself from melee attackers. It also keeps its distance using its Teleport legendary action.

At the start of combat, the lich will prioritize deploying one of its reality-altering abilities that creates a Token effect. These abilities are also fun and flavorful and lead to lots of interesting interactions.

The lich also keeps a concentration ability active at all times, either attempting to separate the party with a Prismatic Wall or Wall of Force, protecting itself with Greater Invisibility, or dropping a Cloudkill to disrupt enemy positions and line of sight. If its concentration is dropped on a lower-level spell, it uses its next legendary action to cast a new, different concentration spell (to keep things interesting).

If it does defeat its enemies, it will look for a way to enforce its will upon the defeated foes, such as by magically contracting the defeated party to perform a deadly quest for it. If the party appears unwilling to negotiate, it will use Disintegrate or Finger of Death on the most vocal dissenter and continue its negotiation.

Karklaz the Withered King¶

Long ago, a prideful sorcerer-king named Karklaz was the first to discover a dark truth - that life beyond death was possible for those with the power and will to take it. He became the first Necromancer Archmage, mages who specialize in creating and binding undead spirits to their service.

Karklaz ruled the mageocracy of Narvothir, a thriving metropolis of arcane wonder and gleaming crystalline towers in the far north that he had helped construct and bring to splendor. As he grew older, he sought out the secret to immortality, hoping to grow the grandeur of his name and city. His methods became increasingly vile, and it is due to one of his failed experiments on his lieutenants that the dark blessing and curse of Vampirism was born.

Eventually, he uncovered blasphemous magicks that allowed him to anchor his soul to the mortal plane at great cost. Some say that Karklaz wept when he learned of the sacrifice his immortality demanded - not in pity for the souls he would condemn, but for the beauty of the city he would have to cast aside. For immortality's sake, Karklaz sacrificed every living being and the very memory of Narvothir itself. His treachery blackened and shattered the once-pristine towers of Narvothir and trapped the city in endless winter and freezing fog.

Unconcerned with the destruction he initiated, Karklaz arose as an Archlich. He is more force of entropy than mortal mind now, dreaming in the dark while the city crumbles around him. Life, he declared, is but a brief fever. An illusion of order atop the endless, hungering dark. Only death and decay are honest. Only ruin is eternal.

Karklaz's Personality¶

• Ideal: Entropy - "Entropy is inevitability itself; Life and all of its pointless trappings of order are an illusion"
• Bond: Narvothir - "In my youth, I thought to build up a grand city; Now, Narvothir crumbles at my feet, a daily reminder of my foolishness"
• Flaw: Hubris - "I alone shall witness the stars wither and die at the end of time"

Karklaz Quotes¶

Lich Statblocks¶

Lich¶

Liches are powerful undead sorcerers who have bound their souls to the Mortal Realm through dark rituals and soul anchors. These immortal necromancers command devastating magic and legions of undead, making them deadly threats to any world they haunt.

Archlich¶

Archliches are ancient undead spellcasters whose power and malice eclipse even that of lesser liches. These deathless kings of ruin are masters of entropy and command reality-warping magic. Some seek to conquer continents, ascend to godhood, or alter the very nature of reality.

Lich Encounter Ideas¶

Foe Foundry encounters are designed to be table-ready situations you can drop immediately into a session. For a legendary creature like a Lich, this isn't really appropriate. It would be silly to drop 1d4 + 1 Liches into a session with no context. Instead, these encounters will focus on ways you can build up to your legendary lich. These encounters reveal the influence of an ancient undead lich over its domain and can be dropped into any session to build tension, deepen atmosphere, and showcase the lich’s grim influence.

• A stone plinth floats midair in a field of frozen, dead grass. Upon it, a perfectly preserved Wight Fell Champion intones the dread decrees of a Lich, its ancient undead master who rules from afar, to a group of local villagers. The herald is flanked by incorporeal Wraiths and Specters
• A black-iron cage covered in powerful runic wards dangles from a twisted tree. An emaciated Questing Knight who dared to defy a Lich has been trapped inside for a week
• The players stumble upon a caravan frozen mid-flight, its horses and drivers dead, yet unnaturally preserved. In the center lies a black scroll carrying a cursed decree from a Lich
• A black-plated Iron Golem blocks the road, demanding a toll. Travelers must sacrifice a cherished secret to its unseen master. If provoked, a Lich speaks through the construct in a voice like cracking ice, warning that some debts are not so easily escaped

Lich Adventure Ideas¶

Foe Foundry adventure seeds are crafted to spark thrilling, open-ended campaigns filled with danger, choice, and discovery. These Lich-centered adventures explore the dark ambitions of undead sorcerers, immortal necromancers, and deathless kings. We hope these ideas inspire open-ended stories where peril, ambition, and grim discovery intertwine.

• An aging powerful ruler (Legendary Warrior) seeks immortality by performing horrible atrocities to curry favor with a dread Lich
• Various Nobles keep turning into statues. It turns out these are the former loved ones (family, friends, ex-lovers) of an exiled Necromancer Primagus who must sacrifice their love in order to craft the soul anchor they require to become a Lich
• Two competing Liches are engaged in a proxy war by hiring competing adventuring parties to acquire a long-lost relic
• A spectral library appears once a century, in a catacomb deep beneath a ruined city infested with undead. It is said the Lich who crafted the library will grant one Wish to any mortal champion who can brave the horrors of the dungeon

FAQ¶

What is a Lich in 5E?¶

A lich is a powerful undead spellcaster in Dungeons & Dragons 5e who achieves immortality by binding their soul to Soul Anchor. Some seek to conquer kingdoms or ascend to godhood. Others retreat into sunken tombs, dreaming in silence as the world decays around them. Discover more twisted Lich lore, powerful Lich statblocks, table-ready Lich encounter ideas, and Lich adventure hooks.

How does the Foe Foundry Lich compare to the standard 5E Lich?¶

The Foe Foundry Lich is designed to be a deadly, challenging, and ruthless foe for your party to face. The statblock is intended to deliver the appropriate threat for this iconic foe. The Foe Foundry Lich can deliver its threat simply by multiattacking, though of course the fight will be a lot more interesting if you use its unique abilities and powers, compared to the 2014 Lich where you have to carefully select which spells to utilize to have a chance at delivering the appropriate threat.

How does a Lich's Soul Anchor work?¶

The Lich's Soul Anchor is a blasphemous magical object that binds the Lich's soul to the Mortal Realm. The process to create an anchor, as well as the anchor itself, is unique to each Lich. There are two common trends though: the ritual always involves some unspeakably evil act, and the anchor itself is always tied directly to the lich in a deeply personal and emotional way.

In terms of game mechanics, the Soul Anchor enables the lich's body to reform if it is ever destroyed.

Lich Spellcasting

How do you destroy a Lich's Soul Anchor?¶

The Soul Anchor is a dangerous magical artifact that is almost always guarded with powerful protective magics, wards, and guardians. The anchor is often tied to some deeply personal, traumatic, or painful moment in the Lich's past mortal life, and for this reason many Liches prefer not to be near their Soul Anchor, often leaving it where it was first created and crafting a dark citadel or powerful wards around the location to protect it.

How do you permanently kill a Lich in D&D?¶

First, the Lich's Soul Anchor must be destroyed. Only then is the lich truly vulnerable. But, even with the anchor destroyed, the Lich maintains all of its magical might and cruel intellect, so aspiring lich-slayers beware!

What level should a party be to fight a lich?¶

Here are a couple possible encounters for a Lich:

• 4 level 13 PCs or 5 level 11 PCs can face off against a solo Lich if the PCs are reasonably well geared & optimized, but this is likely to be a deadly battle with a very high probability of at least one PC dying and a reasonably high chance of TPK. This is a good chance to introduce the lich to the party with a "test encounter", especially if there is a reason that the Lich needs to leave the party alive or can't stay long enough to fully finish them off.
• A more realistic encounter would involve 4-5 level 15 PCs facing off against a Lich with suitable minions, including armies of Skeletons and Zombies as well as several moderate-CR threats such as Zombie Giants, Wraiths, and Ghosts.
• For higher-level parties, the Lich can be replaced with the Archlich and the minions can include an undead Young Red Dragon mount with the Protection trait (on top of the army of undead mentioned above)