Lich

#### Prerequisites

In order to be a lich, you cannot be a race that is a construct or undead by default.

### Lich Introduction

It truly doesn't matter how you became a lich, what matters is what you choose to do now. Like any A properly created Lich will always have a powered phylactery that sustains the Lich and reconstructs their body when they die, and the proper method for creating a lich is a closely guarded secret. However, there are many ways a "lesser lich" can be created. These liches have phylacteries that are simply random objects that were near their body when they died, and they can be created in a wide variety of ways.

Ways a person could be a lich, or a lesser lich, which don't necessitate being evil:

* Turned into a lich to serve a greater purpose, willingly or unwillingly
* Succumbing to your fear of death and seeking immortality at any cost
* Dying in a haunted land where most are brought back as zombies and skeletons
* Created as a byproduct of a flawed human sacrifice, or a backlash from wild necromantic magic
* Transformed into a lich by a cursed artifact
* An ancient and once great evil lich, brought back after being sealed away from a long time and willing to turn over a new leaf

**A New Lease on Life**
Those who become a lich unwittingly may find themselves missing their humanity, but now they have new tools at their disposal to make the most of their situation. A lich can choose to branch out, focusing on spellcasting, fighting, or simply being an artist. Either way, they take advantage of their resilience as they do not have to fear the consequences of hitting 0 HP, as well as their ability to drain life from the living. Even as a dedicated spellcaster, a lich can be surprisingly hard to kill!

**Social Pariah**
That said, being a lich is not all fun and games. It takes a good number of great deeds to be able to walk around a town without inducing fear and suspicion amongst those that once considered you kin. Add on to the fact that you can only easily sustain yourself through grisly means and it becomes quite hard to earn trust.

### Creating a Lich

**Why play a lich?**

* You want to be a nightmare on the battlefield that feels supernatural in a way a warrior does not
* You want to be a morally ambiguous trickster and deciever
* You want to explore morality and make a character who might be good but selfish, or a character who suffers from a tramautic experience and still holds fresh scars
* You want to die and be brought back to life enough times it becomes a running joke
* You're kind of edgy

Quick Build
You can make a Lich quickly by following these suggestions. First, Intelligence should be your highest ability score, followed by Constitution if you plan on being a Dark Mage. If you plan on being a Death Knight, Strength should be your highest stat, followed by Constitution or Intelligence. Second, choose the Hermit background.

### Class Features

As a Lich you gain the following class features.

Hit Points
**Hit Dice:** 1d8 per Lich level

**Hit Points at 1st Level:** 8 + Constitution modifier

**Hit Points at Higher Levels:** 1d8 (or 5) + Constitution modifier per Lich level after 1st

Proficiencies
**Armor:** Light armor

**Weapons:** Simple weapons

**Tools:** None

**Saving Throws:** Constitution, Intelligence

**Skills:** Choose any two from Arcana, Deception, Investigation, History, Medicine, Nature, Persuasion, or Religion

Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

* (*a*) scholar's pack or (*b*) diplomat's pack
* (*a*) A short sword or (*b*) A light crossbow or (*c*) A quarterstaff
* (*a*) Leather Armor or (*b*) 15 gp's worth of unholy relics
* A spellbook

#### Phylactery

Starting a level 1 you become an undead who uses an unfinished phylactery, with the following advantages and disadvantages

* As an Undead, you are immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition. You do not require food, air, or sleep. You require a 4 hour trance to regain your spell slots, which you can do during a long rest.
* When an attack would reduce you to 0 HP, you may make a Constitution save with a DC of 8 + 1 per damage taken. If you succeed, you fall to 1 HP instead. You cannot use this ability again until you take a long rest.
* When you fall to 0 HP, you do not get any saving throws. You die. However, your soul gets stored in your phylactery.
* Your phylactery is not powered enough to bring you back on its own. A spellcaster can revive you by expending spell slots that total 5 levels or more on your phylactery. The spell slots can be expended over a long period of time. Doing so will cause you to revive in 1 hour with 1 HP after the last spell slot is used.
* Other methods of revival will cause you to lose your Lich status (see: losing your lichdom)
* You cannot use hit dice to regain health during a short rest.
* Your phylactery functions as an Arcane Focus, but you can acquire a second one.

Choose one of the following:

* You are remarkably well preserved. Other than a pale skin, and sunken eyes, there is little to distinguish you from a living member of your species... though the lack of breath and heartbeat is a dead giveaway. A Investigation check with a DC of 8 + your proficiency + your charisma modifier is needed to tell your are undead, unless someone knows to check your pulse.
* The only preservation you're interested in is self-preservation. Your flesh is falling off and you're rocking it. You gain proficiency in Intimidation. However, you are bound to be treated poorly for being a known Lich, and if your Lich status lowers someone's trust, you roll Persuasion checks towards them at a disadvantage.

#### Drain Touch

At level 1, you also get the ability to siphon health from living creatures. At the cost of one hit dice, you may make a melee spell attack, or drain a willing creature. On a successful hit, you deal 1d8 plus your Constitution modifier Necrotic damage and heal for the same amount of damage dealt. You may increase the cost of this ability by one hit dice to increase the damage by 1d8, a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus.

#### Archetype

At level 1, you may choose an archetype for yourself; either Death Knight or Dark Mage.

#### Ability Score Increase

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

#### Greater Phylactery

When you reach level 7, your power increases to the point that your unfinished phylactery can no longer support you. You augment your phylactery, gaining new abilities, but at a cost. You must power your phylactery.

Upon reaching level 7, you get 10 days worth of power in your phylactery for free. After spending a number of days equal to 3 + your Constitution modifier with no power in your phylactery, you begin taking one level of exhaustion damage per day. If you die while your phylactery is powered, you revive after 24 hours with 1 hit point. Each phylactery uses its own unique resource pool.

Choose one of the following

#### Soul Phylactery

* This is the path that is traditional amongst liches. If you consume souls from non-evil creatures, your alignment becomes evil.
* As an action, you may trap the soul of a creature that has died in the last minute in your phylactery. Doing so allows you to consume its soul over a number of days equal to the creatures Challenge Rating plus your proficiency bonus.
* **Soul Protection:** As a reaction to failing a save, you may choose to roll a d10 and add the result to your saving throw. This reduces your phylactery's power by 7 days, and cannot be done if there is less than that amount in the phylactery.

#### Blood Phylactery

* Your phylactery is powered by blood. It requires 10 pints of blood from any living creature every 7 days. Blood from a creature with magical origins or innate spell-casting, (elves, dragonborn, etc...) lasts for 14 days instead.
* Powering your phylactery requires you to perform a ritual during a short or long rest where you dip your phylactery into the required blood. You cannot use less than the required amount.
* **Arterial Slash:**  As a bonus action when dealing slashing, piercing, necrotic, or force damage to a creature with blood (that requires it), you can magically reduce their ability to clot. They take a bonus 1d6 damage immediately, and must make a Constitution save with a DC equal to your spell save at the start of each turn or take the same amount of damage. If the creature fails any constitution save, it takes one level of exhaustion damage. After 3 successful saves, consecutive or not, the bleeding ends and it regains its lost exhaustion level. You can only use this ability once, regaining its usage after a long rest.
* You can drain the blood from a creature by placing the phylactery on a restrained, paralyzed, or incapacitated creature's chest. If the creature is alive it makes a constitution save or becomes paralyzed and loses a pint of blood. It can remake save on its turn to not be paralyzed. Creatures dead or alive lose 1 pint per round.

#### Magic Phylactery

* Your phylactery is powered by magic; either yours or others.
* **Drain Magic:** Whenever you drain a target with Drain Touch, you may also steal a spell slot with a level up to or equal to your Int modifier, but never higher than your highest level spell slot. Doing so returns your spell slot of that level if you have not used it. You may only use this ability 3 times, regaining all usages after a long rest.
* **Ritual of Sustenance:** When making a long rest, you can choose to lose half of all spell slots in each level, rounded up, until your next long rest. Performing this ritual powers your phylactery for 14 days.

#### Ethereal Walk

Starting at 5th level, you can use your bonus action to hover off the ground as per the levitation spell. If you are attacked while levitating this effect ends until you use it again. You can use a reaction to reduce fall damage to 0.

#### Improved Drain

Starting at 11th level, you may add your Constitution modifier to the damage of Drain Touch for each hit dice used. As a bonus action, you can apply Drain Touch to a weapon of your choice, allowing you to drain the next target you hit.

#### Paralyzing Touch

At level 15, whenever you drain touch an enemy, you may expend a spell slot. For a number of rounds equal to the level of the spell slot consumed, the enemy is paralyzed.

#### Absence of Life

At level 20 hostile creatures within 10 feet of the Lich take 1d6 necrotic damage per round. This damage is increased to 1d6+6 if the creature is below half health and is a living creature.

### Death Knight

Magic has brought you great strife and you've given up the pursuit of maddening power. Instead, you take up a weapon and focus more on honing the unholy body you reside in. Any magic that you naturally acquire from now on? So be it, but only as an aside when taking up arms.

#### Warrior's Proficiency

When you take this archetype at 1st level, you gain proficiency in Medium armor, heavy armor, shields and all martial weapons.

#### Lich Fighting Style

At 2nd level, you may choose any of the following Lich Fighting Styles. You cannot take two Lich Fighting styles.

* Unholy Strength: You become able to wield up to one oversized weapon at a time even if you are not a Large creature, and your unarmed strikes now deal 1d4 damage. In addition, your lift, drag, and push capacity doubles.
* Nightmare Duelist: When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack. When you make a disengage action, you can attack with a single weapon as a bonus action.
* Immortal Body: Your unarmored AC is now equal to 10 + your Intelligence modifier + your Constitution modifier, and you gain resistance to Piercing damage. You may have a shield equipped and still benefit from this style.

#### Brutal Strikes

At level 5, your weapon attacks now deal a bonus 1d8 worth of damage.

#### Necrotic Smite

At level 11, your weapon attacks now deal a bonus 1d6 Necrotic damage. Whenever you strike an enemy, you can expend a spell slot to deal 2d6 Necrotic damage plus a further 1d6 for every level the spell slot was past the 1st. You can Attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on Your Turn

#### Slaughter

Starting at level 18, as an action, you materialize dark energy in your weapon, and you can strike all foes within a cone with a single melee attack. The range of the cone is equal to your weapon's reach + 10 ft. If you are wielding a ranged weapon, this attack instead strikes one target within range and all targets within 5 ft of it. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier, and you regain all uses after a long rest. You may expend one hit die for every enemy brought to 0 HP in this way to heal for 1d8 HP.

### Dark Mage

Fully embracing magic, you now work tirelessly to fill your bones with dimension rending power. Will you defy the mistakes that made you an abomination? Or wholly embrace them and become a dark god?

#### Pursuit of Power

When you take this archetype at 1st level, you become a three quarters spellcaster

#### Blood Magic

Starting at 2nd level, whenever you kill a living creature, you may cast a spell as a bonus action.

#### Strength of Will

At level 10, you may add your Constitution modifier to the damage roll of any cantrip you cast.

#### Potent Evocation

At level 14, you may spend an action empowering the next spell you cast. If you cast a spell as an action next turn, you may cast it as if it were 1 spell level higher.

#### Improved Strength of Will

At level 18, you may add your Constitution modifier to damage rolls of any spell you cast.

### Losing your Lichdom

There are two ways you can lose your status as a Lich: Either by being killed in battle and willingly revived with a Revive spell, or through a Wish. When this happens, you lose all of your levels in the Lich class as you are wholly alive again. However, if your phylactery is still intact, becoming a lich is easy again; all that requires is for you to die, and have your corpse be animated through an Animate Dead spell. Doing so will turn you back into a lich instead of its original effect. Should you be revived and your phylactery destroyed, you must perform a full lich ritual to regain your status.

### Multiclass Prerequisites

To multiclass as a Lich, you require 13 Intelligence, and 13 Strength. You must also be involved in an event that would cause you to become a lich.

### Lich / Death Knight Spell List

You know all of the spells on the basic Lich spell list.

1st Level
*Alarm, Bane, Bodysnatch, Chromatic Orb Detect Evil and Good, Detect Magic, Entangle, Facsimile of Life*, Magic Missile, Magechain, Net of Shadows, Protection from Evil and Good, Shield, Sleep, Thunderwave, Venomous Ray

2nd Level
*Acid Arrow, Blindness/Deafness, Detect Thoughts, Enhance Ability, Enlarge/Reduce, Enthrall, Fiendish Claws, Flaming Sphere, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Moonbeam, Pulling Shade, Ray of Enfeeblement, Sonic Implosion*

3rd Level
*Animate Dead, Bestow Curse, Bonesword, Crushing Despair, Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Fireball, Glacial Pass, Phantom Steed, Protection from Energy, Frostball, Speak with Dead, Vampiric Touch*

4th Level
*Arcane Eye, Banishment, Black Tentacles, Blight, Blood Rain, Dimension Door, Hold Monster, Ice Storm, Private Sanctum, Resilient Sphere*

5th Level
*Animate Objects, Antilife Shell, Cloudkill, Contagion, Dimension Door, Dispel Evil and Good, Hold Monster, Insect Plague, Iron Flesh, Mislead, Raise Dead, Scrying, Telekinesis*

### Dark Mage Spell List

If you take the Dark Mage archetype you may also learn these spells.

Cantrips
*Acid Splash, Chill Touch, Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost, True Strike*

6th Level
*Create Undead, Circle of Death, Demonic Visage, Disintegrate, 5e SRD:Globe of Invulnerability, Harm, Mass Suggestion, Wind Walk, Zone of Power*

7th Level
*Etherealness, Facsimile of Undeath, Finger of Death, Plane Shift, Simulacrum, Teleport, Wall of Souls*