Firsah's Guide to the Glorious World of

Lichdom

H
ello amateur necromancers, cultists, and
religious zealots bent on killing what you may
call "undead monstrosities". I, Rana Lévesque
Firsah, renouned necromantic researcher and
sole heir to the Firsah house, have compiled
this tome of observations and in some cases,
instructions in the ways of those we call
"Liches". If you are reading this volume purely in hopes of
destroying "evil", set the book down right now, and walk away.
The zombies are already on their way, and this tome is
inscribed with explosive runes which, if you read at the
average speed of a grown, intelligent humanoid, will detonate
in 10 seconds.
Well, now that all the undesirables have been taken care of,
I shall continue. If you're here to discover the beautiful truth
of undeath, of the second life we all deserve, read on. As a
side note, please forgive my lack of artistic talent.
A World of Beautiful Variety
While the average dumb, bumbling paladin may think of
liches as one kind of undead (namely, an evil, powerful wizard
who only wishes to gather knowledge and mindlessly destroy
the living out of some sort of unfounded jealousy), the truth is
far more interesting, complex, and beautiful. In truth there
are a plethora of lich types.
Really, the word "lich" better describes a group of beings
than one kind of being. Just as how "humanoid" describes
anything from Gnomes to Goliaths, "lich" can be used to
describe anything from the previously mentioned eccentric
arcane researcher to the Siabrae (or Druidic lich).
Liches are no more monsters than any person you know.
They are talented people from a variety of backgrounds with
a variety of goals and philosophies. While a number of liches
fall into the cliche of going mad with lonliness or being
irrideamable, indescriminate killers, there are a large number
who break this mold, many of which I know personally, and
many of which I have been personally mentored by.
In the following sections, I will attempt to categorize the
variety of liches I have encountered into simple divisions
based on the exact nature of their undeath, and even outline
the measures you may take to follow in their necrotic
footsteps.
Table of Contents
Lich Page
Arcane Lich 2-5
Divine Lich 6-8
Druidic Lich 9-12
Bardic Lich 13-15
Pact Lich 16-19
Sorcerous Lich 20-22
Lich Spells 23
Additional Notes 24

PART 1 | INTRODUCTION 1
 The Academic Arcane Lich

I
will begin with the most well known kind of lich: Hit Points
those who have aquired their improved forms Hit Dice: 1d8 per lich level
through careful study and practice of magical effects, Hit Points: 1d8 + your Constitution modifier per level
who then used their knowledge in order to become
undead. In short, these are your wizard liches, your Phylactery
nerds.
For a wizard, an integral part of becoming a lich is having a
phylactery (or container) which holds your soul. Without a
phylactery, the lich is but a mortal in a rotting body held
Arcane Lich together by weak magical fragments. This makes the
phylactery both the lich's strongest attribute, and their
Level Features
Total Spells
Learned
greatest weakness.
1st Phylactery, Lichdom 2
Phylactery Creation
2nd Paralyzing Touch 3 Creating a phylactery is a risky feat indeed, as the process
3rd Frightening Gaze 4 often involves preparing the container for an extensive period
4th Disrupt Life 5
of time, perhaps even decades, and then killing oneself in
some way and hoping that your long laid plans and
5th Protection of the Grave, 7 calculations will work.
Truesight The process of creating a phylactery in preparation for
whatever ritual you have engineered or discovered involves
creating or using a container of some description (which
must be 2 size categories smaller than you are) and
enscribing complex runes onto the inside of it.
Prerequisites
15th Level Spellcaster. One does not simply become a
lich. Completing the rituals necessary to become a lich
requires an incredible knowledge of the inner
mechanations of the universe. The majority of these levels
(min 8) must be in Wizard with a total of 15 spellcasting
levels.
16 Intelligence. The complex spells and rituals necessary
to become a lich require a high degree of intelligence to
master.
Arcana Proficiency. Knowledge of the arcane nature of
life and death are needed in order to achieve lichdom.
Forbidden Arcane Knowledge. You must find or aquire
the specific knowledge of a ritual that will allow you to
ascend to lichdom. This is never an easy task and can
involve anything from voyaging to far off dimensions for
ancient scrolls to making deals with death gods for such
knowledge.
Phylactery Resources. All academic liches have one
thing in common: a phylactery. Phylacteries are not cheap
or simple to make and cost anywhere from 100,000 gp to
500,000 gp depending on various factors such as
additional enchantments and intricacy of craftsmanship.
Lichdom
As a lich you are no longer a mortal creature and gain the
following traits:
Undead Nature. You do not age and do not require air,
food, drink, or sleep. To gain the effects of a long or short
rest you must still rest as normal. You are immune to
poison and all non-magical diseases.
Dead Eye. You have darkvision to a range of 120 ft.
Necrotic. You are healed by necrotic damage and take
damage from healing effects.
2 PART 2 | ARCANE LICH
All phylacteries are different and unique, and can even be
enchanted for additional protection to their hosts.
Phylacteries all, however, cost inordinate amounts of money
to create, with the cheapest and most rudimentary of
phylacteries costing 100,000 gp to create.
A simple metal box with no special protections may cost
100,000 gp, but if you would like a more ornate gilded jewlery
box with the ability to set those who try to break it on fire,
that will cost you significantly more to create.
Soul Ties
As a powerful undead, you will have many adventurers and
do-gooders after your "life" (regardless of your true morality).
Anyone who wishes to kill a lich will likely know of their
greatest weakness: their phylactery. Liches can automatically
sense when your phylactery is being harmed. If your
phylactery is destroyed, you feel an overwhelming sensation
of pain which will stun you (for 1d6 rounds).
As long as your phylactery has not moved from where you
have placed it, you can always sense where your phylactery is.
If your phylactery moves in some other way and you use the
spell Locate Object to discern its location, gaining an
additional 2 miles to the range of detection.
Reformation
Where the real power of a phylactery lies, is in its power to
bring a lich back to unlife if it is destroyed. When you are
killed as a lich, your body turns to ash and your perspective
switches to that of your phylactery.
Over the course of anywhere from 1 to 10 days your body
regrows around the phylactery as described below. While
your body reforms you have no control over it but your mental
faculties are under your control. You have blindsight up to 5 ft
while reforming and can communicate telepathically up to 30
ft but none of your other senses work. I have observed the
reformation process following these phases during the
reconstruction of several different liches.
Lich Regeneration
Lich Regeneration
Stage Description
1 Negative energy begins to pool around the
phylactery in a large, shapeless glob.
2 The glob of negative energy begins to form into
your previous shape.
3 The glob darkens and flesh begins to grow within it.
4 From within the mass of flesh, bones grow. Vital
organs begin to form.
5 Organs and bones are fully formed but are
unconnected.
6 Nerve tissue and ligaments form connections
between body parts, but remain inert.
7 Flesh forms over the body and begins to revert you
to your apperance before you became a lich,
including deformations and scars.
8 Hair, fingernails, and pigmentation form. Blood and
other fluids form.
9 The soul begins to reconnect itself to the body.
10 Your soul connects to your body and you awaken. A
glob of negative energy with your phylactery in the
center are in the place of your heart, which can then
be removed. The body then seals itself.
Negative Energy Aquisition Via Soul
Consumption
Liches are simply put, not perpetual motion machines.
Because they are no longer mortal and cannot digest food,
they must regenerate the negative energy which fuels their
body in some other way. Most commonly this means using
mortal souls to continue ones own existance. When a lich
kills another mortal with an intelligence of 5 or higher, once a
week, they may choose to send the creature's soul to their
phylactery, where it is absorbed and eventually drained out of
existence over the course of one month.
A lich must consume at least one soul every two months in
order to remain in peak condition. If a lich does not consume
souls at this frequency, they begin to degrade into what is
known as a demilich, their body slowly crumbling to dust as it
attempts to conserve energy in order to protect the head. If a
lich degrades into a demilich, they may no longer cast spells
and must feed on at least one soul before they are restored to
their lich form.
I have observed the degredation only once, and have yet to
witness a repeation of the process. From what I observed in
the case study, the degredation process is very painful, as well
as mentally traumatic, so those looking to become a lich of
this nature should be wary and always consume enough
souls.
Spellcasting
As an academically arcane lich you have delved deep into the
secrets of the arcane and are a powerful spellcaster.
PART 2 | ARCANE LICH 3
 Spell Slots
As an arcane lich, you use the multiclass spellcaster table on
page 165 of the Player's Handbook. Every lich level you learn
a number of spells designated by the Total Spells Learned
section on the class table.
You may learn a spell of any level for which you have spell
slots and that are from either the lich spell list or the spell list
of your other class(es).
For instance, a level 17 character who is wizard 10/
sorcerer 5/ arcane lich 2 would have access to any spell from
the wizard, sorcerer, and lich tables and have access to spells
up to the 9th level, where if they only had 1 level in arcane
lich, they would have access to spells up to the 8th level.
Spellcasting Ability
Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your lich spells.
Ritual Casting
You may cast a spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag
and you have the spell prepared.
Spellcasting Focus
You may continue using the same spellcasting focus as you
have in the past. The focus may be used to cast spells from
your previous levels as well as your lich levels.
Paralyzing Touch
Once you reach 2nd level as an arcane lich, you gain a
paralyzing touch. Once per long rest you may make a melee
spell attack for 4d6 cold damage. The target must succeed on
a Constitution saving throw against your lich spellcasting DC
or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target may repeat the
saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect
on itself on a success.
Frightening Gaze
When you reach 3rd level as an arcane lich, your eyes inspire
fear in your enemies. Once per long rest you may fix your
gaze on a creature that you can see within 100 feet of you.
The target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your
lich spellcasting DC or be frightened for 10 minutes. The
frightened target may repeat the saving throw at the end of
each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. If a target's
saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the target
is immune to your gaze for the next 24 hours.
Disrupt Life
When you reach your 4th level as an arcane lich, you gain a
powerful necrotic power to drain the life energy of those
around you. Once per long rest, you may use an action to
drain the life force of all living creatures within 40 feet of you.
These creatures must make a Constitution saving throw
against your lich spellcasting DC, taking 8d6 necrotic
damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a
successful one.
4 PART 2 | ARCANE LICH
Protection of the Grave
When you reach your 5th level as an arcane lich, you gain
immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from
nonmagical weapons. In addition, thrice per long rest, you
may reroll any failed saving throw and use the higher number.
Truesight
In addition, when you reach your 5th level as an arcane lich,
you gain truesight up to 120 feet.
Notes on Wizard-Liches
The following section is filled with various information on
this classification of lich and tips on surviving as one.
Learning from the mistakes and triumphs of those before you
can only benefit you in the long-run.
Methodology
Although, as I have previously stated, all liches I have
encountered have been highly unique individuals, there are
certain methodologies which liches of certain types tend to
share, purely because they are effective in keeping the lich in
question alive.
One particular habit, I have noticed, is that of the members
of a group or organization of like-minded necromancers
which are on friendly terms to trade phylacteries with one
another in order to confound those who may be after their
"lives".
The average lich may hide their phylactery deep
underground within a labyrinth of deadly traps and monsters,
or relegate the object to a dimention full of nothing but
objects imbued with magic which all look identical to the
phylactery, but the above average lich will plot with another
lich and hide each other's phylacteries in similarly
inpeneterable strongholds.
This way if Mr. Big Dumb Paladin comes waltzing in
expecting to destroy the phylactery of one lich and succeeds,
going on his merry way to attempt the murder of a lich which
still has a phylactery intact and wins the fight, he has still lost.
The lich who the phylactery truely belonged to has now felt
its destruction and, unobserved by Mr. Paladin, has time to
reconstruct it while his cohort regenerates in safety.
On Choosing Your Phylactery
Please, refrain from making your phylactery a large and
obvious amulet you wear around your neck at all times. There
is a certain individual I know who made this mistake. She's
dead now. For real. So, what kind of containers make the best
phylacteries? Well, really use your imagination. Any small
container.
Make it an opaque bottle which you keep on an
unnoteworthy shelf full of bottles. Make it a jewlery box with
a false exterior compartment. The adventurers routing
through your posessions will likely be so distracted by the
simple magic amulet you keep in it that they will take that
and leave the box. The possibilities are endless.
On Picking a Fight
As powerful a spellcaster as you are, there is likely always
going to be someone out there who can best you in a basic
fight. I don't care how much you care about "honor" in
combat, you are a higher being. Those out to destroy you are
beneath you. Use whatever tactics keep you in one piece.
Mr. Big Dumb Paladin may be dumb, but give him an
enchanted warhammer, get him close to you and he's going to
break your bones like twigs.
For all your arcane power you are a rotting corpse and
those tend to fall apart rather easily. Make a habit of
practicing and learning spells which teleport and conceal you,
and find or create clothing which augments this ability.
Learn long-ranged offensive spells, practice those, do not
let a BDP get too close to you with that hammer of his.
Mental Health
Stereotypes often exist for a reason. I cannot stress the
importance of this section enough. Being mentally and
emotionally unstable is a one way ticket to becoming the
irrational, obsessive villian that this kind of lich is well known
for being. Often, if a wizard-lich is not already alone in the
world, and has a few friends, they die eventually, and the lich
succumbs to a solitude-induced madness. Do not let this
happen to you.
Almost every humanoid race is social at its very core, and
needs interaction with peers to remain stable and happy. As
much of a genius as you think you are (or actually are), take a
step back from your research and personal persuits on a
regular basis in order to socalize in some way. As the ages go
by and your friends die, find new ones. If you don't know
fellow liches, disguise yourself and venture into civilization
regularly. It may seem like quite a risk to do so, but being
lonely is an even greater risk to you than the average city
guard.
In my opinion, this should be as much of a priority to you as
consuming souls. You may live forever, but do you want to do
so as a raving lunatic?

PART 2 | ARCANE LICH 5

 The Divine Lich

D
ivine liches are those who were clerics or druids
in life, most likely in service to gods of life,
death, autumn, winter, time, magic, knowledge,
disease and night. They have made a pact of
loyalty with these divine forces in order to
become a lich so that they may continue their
service to greater powers.
The Pilgrimage (or Trial)
Once a Cleric has made their intentions of ascending into
undeath known to their diety through prayer, and the diety
finds the Cleric worthy, they may recieve visions leading them
on a trial to a far off place to fulfill some greater purpose in
order to prove that they are worthy of undeath.

Divine Lich
Level Features
1st Relic, Lichdom
2nd Blessed Undead
3rd Banish Good/Evil
4th Summon Spirits
5th Divine Armor, Soulsight

Prerequisites
15th Level Spellcaster. Completing the trials and proving
your loyalty and worthyness to your god(dess) necessary
to ascend to undeath requires much skill and hard work.
The majority of these levels (min 8) must be in Cleric with
a total of 15 spellcasting levels.
16 Wisdom. The trials required to prove oneself worthy of
ascension require a high level of wisdom.
Religion Proficiency. Knowledge of the divine nature of
life and death are needed in order to achieve lichdom.
Completion of a Trial. In order to ascend into undeath,
you must complete an arduous trial which your god(dess)
grants to you in order to prove your devotion and worth.
Relic Resources. The divine relic which will contain your
soul requires very difficult to aquire components to be
gathered outside of the Trial in order for your relic to be
shaped by your patron.

Lichdom
As a lich you are no longer a mortal creature and gain the
following traits:
Undead Nature. You do not age and do not require air,
food, drink, or sleep. To gain the effects of a long or short
rest you must still rest as normal. You are immune to
poison and all non-magical diseases.
Dead Eye. You have darkvision to a range of 120 ft.
Necrotic. You are healed by necrotic damage and take
damage from healing effects.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d8 per lich level
Hit Points: 1d8 + your Constitution modifier per level
The
PARTPilgrimage
3 | DIVINE LICH (or Trial)
6
Records of these Trials vary widely depending on which
god(dess) the Cleric serves. A death god inclined to the side
of what most would call evil, for instance, may order their
servant to kill all the members of a village that (in the diety's
eyes) should not exist. A god of night may require the Cleric
to find a way to visit the heavens, or tame a giant, legendary
owl.
Once this Trial has been completed, the Cleric has proven
themself worthy of serving their god(dess) in undeath, and my
gather the parts of their relic.
Relic Creation (or Second Trial)
Much like a phylactery, a relic contains the soul of a lich.
However, the two are entirely different in nature. While a
phylactery is created by an intelligent mortal, a relic is created
by a patron diety when a Cleric who has passed their Trial
presents the necessary components to their god(dess).
Much like the journey asked of by a Trial, gathering the
parts of a relic often involves a grand quest of some kind,
leading the would be lich anywhere in the world in search of
items such as unicorn tears or dragon scales. Once three
items have been gathered, the cleric sets up a suitable altar to
their diety on which the items are presented.
After this step, the diety appears in some form before the
protolich, combines the items into a totally unique relic, and
rips the immortal soul from their loyal Cleric, storing it in the
divine object and disappearing.
If a Divine lich's relic is destroyed, they are rendered mortal
until they can present three more objects to be made into a
new relic. Because the relic is a Divine lich's greatest
weakness, it is important that they make appropriate
reliquaries to store their relics in, similar in the strongholds
and tombs that arcane liches create.
Reformation
When a Divine lich is destroyed, their body turns to ash, and
they travel to wherever their relic is located. They reform
much the way that an arcane lich, taking about the same
amount of time to do so and following the same basic stages.
They reform looking however their deity sees fit, and so the
apparance of a Divine lich does not change much over time. If
their deity wills them to be forever stuck in a certain stage of
decay, that is how they shall look. If the deity wishes for their
worshipper to always look as though they were still alive
(much like a vampire), then that is how they shall look.
Soul Ties
As a powerful undead, you will have many adventurers and
do-gooders after your "life" (regardless of your true morality).
Anyone who wishes to kill a lich will likely know of their
greatest weakness: their phylactery. Liches can automatically
sense when their phylactery is being harmed (or in your case,
relic). If your relic is destroyed, you feel an overwhelming
sensation of pain which will stun you (for 1d6 rounds).
As long as your phylactery has not moved from where you
have placed it, you can always sense where your phylactery is.
If your phylactery moves in some other way you will
occasionally recieve visions of its location. These visions can
range from very specific and helpful to extremely vague
depending on how your deity feels about you losing your relic.
Energy Aquisition via Holy Deeds
In order to be blessed with the energy to continue as a lich, a
Divine lich must continue to preform holy deeds that their
deity approves of. If they ever falter in their services, or
disobey their deity, their relic returns the soul to the lich's
body and they are left to slowly degrade into a kind of mortal
demilich unless they can attone for their actions.
Due to the nature of deities that these liches often serve,
these holy deeds often include killing mortals for one reason
or another. This is not the only service a lich can perform,
however. Those worshipping deities less fixated on killing
may simply need to retrieve an artifact every decade, start a
grand place of worship and vow to upkeep it, etc.
Because of this, Divine liches are always busy with
something. If they ever stop serving their deity, they will be
reduced to a shell of their former self. They're always on
some quest, upkeeping some organization, or out to murder
some important person. There is no rest for them.
Blessed Undead
The undead you create are blessed by your god or gods.
Because of this, their attacks count as +1 magical attacks
regardless of how they are attacking. They also gain +2 to
Armor Class. If you are of good or neutral alignment, their
attacks count as radiant damage. If you are of an evil
alignment their attacks count as necrotic damage. Undead
under your control have advantage on all saving throws to
resist turning.
Banish Good/Evil
As a powerful undead you are able to send your enemies to
the realm of the undead: Shadowfell, upon reaching your 3rd
level in Divine lich. As an action you may choose up to 3
creatures you can see which are within 30 feet of you and
within 10 feet of each other, and attempt to banish them to
the realm of Shadowfell.
The targets must attempt a Wisdom saving throw against
your Divine lich spell save DC. On a failure they are cast into
the dimension for 30 minutes. If they pass the saving throw
they remain in the material plane.
Once this ability has been used, it may not be used again
until you finish a long rest.
Summon Spirits
At 4th level you gain the ablility to call upon the departed to
aid you in one of two ways.
First, you may summon a ghost of someone you knew
when they were alive to speak to. This ghost cannot move
from where you summoned them and cannot make any attack
actions or harm anyone in any way.
Secondly, you may summon the ghost of a random
deceased to fight by your side until they are either dispelled,
reduced to 0 hit points, or until 1 hour has passed.
Once this ability has been used, it may not be used again
until you finish a long rest.
PART 3 | DIVINE LICH 7
 Divine Armor Because of this risk it is recommended to undersell your
own abilities to the congregation, take every step necessary
When you reach your 5th level as a Divine lich, you are now to ensure their focus remains on your deity lest your
healed by both necrotic damage and healing effects. In congregation become nothing more than a cult of personality.
addition you gain immunity to radiant damage and have a This piety, however, must be balanced with a healthy dose
permanent +3 to Armor Class. of self-interest. You must not allow these people to worship
you, but at the same time you must have enough of their
respect for them to give their lives protecting your reliquary.
Soulsight
In addition, when you reach 5th level as a divine lich, you gain
a passive ability called soulsight. Soulsight allows you to see
the souls and auras of those around you up to a radius of 120
feet. From gazing upon a soul you are able to discern the
target's allignment, and if they have commited any great acts
of evil or good in their lives. A soul who has murdered
hundreds of people but has since become a force for good, for
instance, will appear as a glowing golden form but with
deformations and bloodstains.
You must focus on a specific individual for at least 10
minutes to gain a full understanding of their soul. If you focus
on a soul for a shorter period than this, you gain less and
vaguer information.

Notes on Divine Liches

The following section is filled with a few notes on the few
divine liches which I have encountered. Keep in mind that
most of my exposure to this particular type of lich have been
those who worship... less savory gods. While a deity such as
Chang'e, a goddess of immortality and the moon is an
example of a kinder deity which would allow their followers
to become liches, most who I have encountered worship...
less forgiving powers.
Methodology
Not too much is to be said about the survival tactics of Divine
liches, as they often have to travel constantly in order to fulfill
quests for their deity. Because a Divine lich's relic is nearly
identical in function to your standard arcane phylactery,
similar measures should be taken to protect it.
Because they are embodiments of their deity's will and
powerful clerics, these liches often build great temples with a
reliquary to contain their relic. These temples are tightly
guarded by their followers, and their reliquary is often
enchanted with extremely powerful divine magic.
The most common type of reliquary is that shaped like a
coffin large enough to hold the lich's body. This way if the lich
is defeated it may regenerate within this coffin-reliquary with
all the added protections with wich the reliquary already has
installed.
Gathering a Following
Gathering a mortal following to worship your god within a
temple holding your reliquary is your best bet of protection.
However you should be sure as to not allow these followers to
worship you more than they worship your deity. If they end up
worshipping you more than your patron there is a strong
chance that the source of your power could interpret this as
an act of rebellion, grow jealous, and strip you of your power.

8 PART 3 | DIVINE LICH

Druidic Lich

L
iches who gain their undead status through the
power of natural magics are rather unlike any
other kind of lich. Really, a more specific name
for this kind of lich is a "Siabrae". Instead of
having their soul contained within a container,
a Siabrae instead performs a ritual in which it
gives its soul to the earth while in the center of
a henge which has stones engraved with necromantic runes.

Druidic Lich
Level Features Spells Learned
1st One with the Land, Lichdom 0
2nd Animal/Plant Spirit 1
3rd Stone Bones 2
4th Blight Creation 3
5th Archsiabrae, Earthsight 4

Prerequisites
15th Level Spellcaster. Completing the ritual necessary
to ascend to undeath requires much skill and hard work.
The majority of these levels (min 8) must be in Druid with
a total of 15 spellcasting levels.
16 Wisdom. The ritual required to become one with
nature and the material plane forever require a high level
of wisdom to perform.
Nature Proficiency. Knowledge of the natural cycles of
life and death are needed in order to achieve lichdom.
Completion of a Ritual. In order to become a Siabrae
one must complete a ritual, the nature of which remains a
tightly guarded secret held by only the eldest Druids and
other Siabrae.
Henge Construction. The ritual to become a Druidic lich
requires the construction of eight intricately carved
standing stones, which require master craftsmanship and
several decades of work for a single person to complete.
Lichdom
As a lich you are no longer a mortal creature and gain the
following traits:
Undead Nature. You do not age and do not require air,
food, drink, or sleep. To gain the effects of a long or short
rest you must still rest as normal. You are immune to
poison and all non-magical diseases.
Dead Eye. You have darkvision to a range of 120 ft.
Necrotic. You are healed by necrotic damage and take
damage from healing effects.

PART 4 | DRUIDIC LICH

9
 Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d8 per lich level
Hit Points: 1d8 + your Constitution modifier per level
Henge Sculpting
The circle of eight standing stones necessary for a druid to
become a lich require an astounding level of craftsmanship
and dedication to complete. Although there are acceptions to
the rule, Druids often spend several decades in solemn
isolation creating their henge if they are to ascend. At least,
this is what I have heard from my extremly limited sources.
From what I have gathered, a Siabrae remains tied to the
henge at which they were created and if this henge is
demolished, the Siabrae will truly die upon destruction.
Because of this simple fact, Siabrae will often grow thick,
insurpassable foliage around their henge, or place a number
of traps and enchantments around it.
Ritual Secrets
Among those very few Druids who do know of the rituals
necessary to become a lich, very few of them have
transcribed these secrets or would ever dare to give them up.
Part of this is due to the already hyper-secretive nature of
Druidic circles, and the other part is due to the unique nature
of the Siabrae ritual.
From my limited knowledge of the ritual, I can entirely
understand why a Siabrae would hold the specifics of it so
tightly. Due to the ritual's mechanisms, it is entirely possible
for one to make a henge and then force another to become a
Siabrae against their will. I have yet to hear of a first hand
account of this happening, however.
Thankfully for you, the reader, I have a singular source of
this ritual knowledge. Although he was extremely vague
about the specifics of how he personally completed the
process, he was willing to release enough information to me
in the interest of others being warned against the process.
The Ritual
The vague outline of the ritual process is as follows. A henge
is constructed, druidic runes are carefully enscribed into
eight unique stones, each representing a cardinal direction.
The design of the stones must integrate the likeness or
general aesthetic of an animal or plant that they feel
particularly drawn to.
The Druid then must recite a number of incantations,
charging the circle for a full year with natural energy. The
purpose of this stage is to imbue the stones with aspects of
the seasons, each stone now representing a stage in the year
(the icy chill of winter, the melting of snow, the blossoming of
spring, etc.). This stage helps tie the stones to the cycle of
nature, and in turn time itself.
After the year has passed the Druid may step into the
center of the henge and begin their transformation, giving
their soul to the earth. The Druid then collapses into the
earth and reemerges after the passing of one lunar cycle as a
skeletal version of their mortal form.
PART 4 | DRUIDIC LICH
10
The exact nature of the druidic runes needed, the
incantations, and the process of giving ones soul to the land
was barred from my knowledge. Anyone looking to become a
Siabrae must gain this knowledge from elsewhere, much to
my displeasure.
Reformation
Upon destruction a Siabrae collapses into a pile of bones if
they sculpted their henge with the design of an animal, or a
pile of leaves, flowers, etc. if they chose to sculpt their henge
with the design of a plant.
The Siabrae then begins to reform its skeletal body deep in
the earth anywhere within a ten mile radius of its place of
destruction. This regeneration process takes one full lunar
cycle to complete, and little is known about the exact
reconstruction process past this.
My source tells me that he has had to reform only once and
while he was, he could hear and see through the eyes and
ears of plants within a one mile radius of his location. Given
that his henge was attuned to the spirit of a maple tree, one
can assume that if the Siabrae had been attuned to an animal,
they would be able to see and hear through the animals
within a one mile radius of their location.
Once the Siabrae's skeleton has reformed, they may
emerge from the earth fully formed but without any clothing
or equipment they had when they were bested.
Energy Aquisition via Soul
Consumption or Blighting
Much like the arcane lich, Siabrae may consume souls in
order to upkeep the energy needed for day to day function. In
order to do this they must simply kill an intelligent humanoid
(5 or more intelligence) with the purpose of consuming their
soul and returning their body to the earth. They need only
one soul every three months in order to upkeep their body.
Unlike the arcane lich, however, a Siabrae also has the
option to blight and curse an area of land in order to drain the
natural energy from it. This option provides a constant
stream of energy for a Siabrae to utilize so that they do not
need to supplement with souls or additional blighted land.
One must keep in mind, however, that as a Siabrae's power
grows, so does the amount of land they must keep blighted in
order to upkeep their energy.
Blighted land will appear sickly and dead. Plants will be
twisted and blackened, and animals will appear sickly. A
desert will be devoid of any life at all. In reality what is truly
occuring is that, when the land produces natural energy,
rather than that energy being used to grow the plants or
nourish the animals, the land gets only enough energy to stay
alive while you take the rest for yourself.
In order to blight an area a Siabrae must preform (once
again, secret) rituals over the course of one lunar cycle for
every ten square miles they blight. Keep in mind more
mortally-inclined druids, do-good paladins, etc. will work to
find ways to ruin your hard work and restore this land to
normal, often requiring some artifact of "goodness" or
preforming counter-rituals of some form.
Land Needed
Lich Levels Area (in square miles)
1 5
2 10
3 20
4 50
5 100
Spellcasting
As a Druidic lich you can channel the divine and raw essence
of nature itself, and can cast spells to shape that essence to
your will.
Spell Slots
As a Siabrae, you use the multiclass spellcaster table on page
165 of the Player's Handbook. Every lich level you learn a
number of spells designated by the Total Spells Learned
section on the class table.
You may learn a spell of any level for which you have spell
slots and that are from either the lich spell list or the spell list
of your other class(es).
For instance, a level 17 character who is druid 10/ sorcerer
5/ druidic lich 2 would have access to any spell from the
druid, sorcerer, and lich tables and have access to spells up to
the 9th level, where if they only had 1 level in druidic lich, they
would have access to spells up to the 8th level.
Spellcasting Ability
Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your lich spells.
Ritual Casting
You may cast a spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag
and you have the spell prepared.
Spellcasting Focus
You may continue using the same spellcasting focus as you
have in the past. The focus may be used to cast spells from
your previous levels as well as your lich levels.
One with the Land
Upon becoming a lich, you have a henge which includes
designs of an animal or plant which you are attuned to. If you
are destroyed, you regenerate underground within the stone
in a random location within ten miles of where you were
"killed" over the course of one lunar cycle.
Animal/Plant Spirit
After spending enough time in your new form, you gain an
attribute corresponding to the attuned plant or animal in your
henge at your 2nd level. A Siabrae attuned to a deer will gain
one attribute of the animal, such as antlers, the skeletal hind-
legs of a deer, or even an entire deer skull head. A Siabrae
attuned to ivy may continually find themselves covered with a
growth of the plant and so on. This attunement gives a druid
a unique ability depending on the creature they are tied to.
Spirit Powers
Spirit Powers
Creature Ability
Bird Grow skeletal wings, 30 ft. flight.
Deer +6 to Perception checks
Cat +6 to Stealth checks
Flowering Plant +6 to Persuasion checks
Tree Barkskin as a permanent effect
On Spirit Powers
The previous table was not intended to be a list of
all possible animal and plant spirit powers, but
rather as an example of the kinds of abilities that
should be granted to the Siabrae. If a player wishes
to have a unique spirit not listed here, collaboration
between the player and DM on choosing a suitable
power is of the upmost priority.
Stone Bones
Your bones gain an even greater connection with the earth. At
your thrid druidic lich level you gain a burrowing speed equal
to your land speed, melding with the ground. This innate
connection also grants you with 30 ft tremorsense.
Additionally, you may use an action while in the ground to
pull another creature down with you. When you attempt to do
this, you must successfully grapple the creature If they fail,
you may transport them through the earth with you to any
location within your land speed's radius.
Blight Creation
As an undying creature of the land, you may use your druidic
magic to create Blights (Monster Manual page 32) out of
plants using Animate Dead or Create Undead in place of
creating a zombie, ghoul or skeleton starting at 4th level.
If using Animate Dead, which normally creates one zombie
or skeleton under your control, you may create two Twig
Blights or one Needle Blight.
If using Create Undead, which normally creates up to three
ghouls, you may instead create up to six Vine Blights, twelve
Needle Blights, or twenty four Twig Blights.
Archsiabrae
At 5th level you have reached the peak of your growth as a
lich. You may now transform using Wild Shape an unlimited
amount of times.
Earthsight
Also at 5th level you have become so permanently attuned to
the natural energies of the material plane that you may view
the world through the plants and animals around you.
With 10 minutes of careful meditation, you may view the
world through the eyes of any plant or animal within 1 mile of
your position.
In addition, your tremorsense range expands to a 60 foot
radius.
PART 4 | DRUIDIC LICH
11
 Part of this is due to the fact that he is very young, and
Notes on Siabrae therefore has not lived long enough to see mortals around
The following is a list of observations and advice on "living" him die, but his efforts are commendable nonetheless.
as a Siabrae, mostly based on my observations of the two
Siabrae I have met and spoken to.
Protecting your Henge
Protecting your Henge is of the upmost importance. While
the arcane lich is simply able to reconstruct their phylactery,
once a Sinabrae's henge is destroyed, there is no fixing it. If
Big Dumb Paladin decides to demolish your henge, you are
no better than the abominations that are awakened skeletons.
At that point you are merely a shambling corpse with
intelligence.
This is why you must always keep the location of your
henge a secret, as well as take careful steps to safeguard it.
My sources tell me that the best way to do this is to be very
wary of diviners and psions, as well as to install a complex
web of traps, illusions, magical safeguards, and natural
labyrinths around the location of your henge, without
overdoing it in a fashion which would make it obvious that
something is being hidden there.
Don't, for instance, place obvious protective totems around
the area, or an obvious wall of brambles a mile high. Those
things just scream "there is an evil presence here, please kill
me".
Instead, use more subtle measures. Carve runes meant to
make it appear as if the area is empty, and cover the runes
with heavy foliage. Form the landscape to subtly direct
travelers around your henge rather than blatently bar them
from entering the area. Make sure to keep large game and
berries from growing in the area, as this may attract the
unassuming hunter or forager.
Be sure to take measures to ward the area against being
divined, and attempt to find or create magically enchanted
items which prevent others from reading your thoughts.

Combat
If you are to engage an enemy, do so in a place in which you
have the advantage. As a Siabrae, you are skeletal, and can be
easily broken with the right blunt object.
If you find yourself in a city, take all measures you can to
retreat into the wild, where you can confound, run, hide, and
overall take the upper hand on your enemy. This seems
obvious, but you would be surprised by the stupidity of...
certain people.
Mental Health
Do not lose your mind to lonliness, keep in touch with the
things that brought you happiness before you ascended. Keep
animal companions, make friends, garden, whatever.
Living forever can be a mentally and emotionally trying
ordeal. Don't become the mindless villian that do-good
adventurers expect you to be.
This is something that my main source is exceedingly good
at. Although his combative thinking and strategic planning is
laughable, he is at least smart enough to disguise himself as a
mortal and interact with people very frequently.

PART 4 | DRUIDIC LICH

12
The Bardic Lich

Q
uite possibly the rarest form of lich, the
bardic lich is formed from one who was Lichdom
a practitioner of bardic magic in life. As a lich you are no longer a mortal creature and gain the
Astoundingly, they aren't all complete following traits:
wrecks once they lose the ability to
become drunk. Rather, most bardic Undead Nature. You do not age and do not require air,
liches become what they are out of their food, drink, or sleep. To gain the effects of a long or short
love of the mortal planes, of a hunger to continue on through rest you must still rest as normal. You are immune to
the ages and observe history be made again and again. They poison and all non-magical diseases.
often simply never want the experience of life to end, or to Dead Eye. You have darkvision to a range of 120 ft.
miss out on what the future has to hold. Necrotic. You are healed by necrotic damage and take
damage from healing effects.
Bardic Lich
Bardic Lich
Level Features Spells Learned
1st Soul Instrument, Lichdom 0
2nd Syncopation 1
3rd Ritornello 3
4th Nocturne Sonata 4
5th Tutti, Artistic Vision 5

Prerequisites
15th Level Spellcaster. Pulling off the preformance
necessary to become a lich requires an incredible degree
of skill in bardic casting. The majority of these levels (min
8) must be in Bard with a total of 15 spellcasting levels.
16 Charisma. The complex performance necessary to
become a imbue your instrument with your soul and
become a lich require a high degree of charisma to master.
Arcana Proficiency. Knowledge of the arcane nature of
life and death are needed in order to achieve lichdom.
Performance Proficiency. You must have an
understanding of performance arts to complete the
performance to become a lich.
Arrangement of the Dead. You must find or aquire the
sheet music detailing the performance that will allow you
to ascend to lichdom. This is never an easy task and can
involve anything from voyaging to far off dimensions for
ancient tomes to making deals with death gods or art gods
for such knowledge.
Instrument Resources. All bardic liches have a musical
instrument which functions as a phylactery. The
instrument must be constructed to very specific
specifications are not cheap or simple to make and cost
anywhere from 200,000 gp to 1,000,000 gp depending on
various factors such as additional enchantments and
intricacy of craftsmanship.

PART 5 | BARDIC LICH 13

 Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d8 per lich level
Hit Points: 1d8 + your Constitution modifier per level
The Dance of Death
In order for an instrument to contain a bard's soul, they must
perform a specific magical arrangement which may be
passed down from a college of bards, or found in some
forgotten library far off in the multiverse. The specific piece
can be referred to by a multitude of names: "The Forbidden
Song", "The Grim Fandango", "The Great Dirge". No one has
ever been able to reverse engineer the song, and it is
unknown who wrote it.
Once the sheet music is attained, the bard must begin an
hour long performance which must remain uninterrupted
under risk of an instant, permanent death. The song must be
performed with an instrument made specifically for holding
the soul of the bard, similar in runic design to the arcane
lich's phylactery.
If a bard fails to perform the song perfectly, they die
permanently, their soul cast into the outer planes and chained
there by divine forces. If they succeed, they fall to the ground,
body ceasing function as their soul travels into the
instrument. The bard reawakens merely seconds later, now
undead.
Those who wish to perform this song must be aware that
all who hear it within 200 feet of you will be drained of their
vitality as though affected by the Blight spell continuously
(every round).
The Soul Instrument
A bardic lich's soul instrument is very similar to a lich's
phylactery. It contains the lich's soul and if destroyed, will
render the lich mortal as their soul enters their body. A bardic
lich may simply replace a broken instrument by preforming
the necessary song with a new one, which is a much easier
process than what is required of creating a new arcane
phylactery.
Unlike the academically arcane lich's phylactery, the
instrument does not need to be fed souls. The caveat of this,
however, comes in what does need to be done instead.
Energy Aquisition via Artistic
Creation
The downside of not needing to feed on souls to survive, is
the vulnerablility of needing to keep your soul instrument
with you at all times. This is because the instrument must be
preformed on at least once every three days for a duration no
shorter than 30 minutes in front of a minimum of one
intelligent, non-undead creature in order for the bardic lich to
retain enough energy to survive, lest they degrade into a
demilich.
The energy in question comes from a combination of
expressing creative energy, and feeding on the emotional
response of those who hear that release. Thus, being a bardic
lich is rather risky, as it requires the lich in question to
remain in constant contact with mortals, at constant risk of
being exposed to the, frankly uneducated masses as a
"monster".
PART 5 | BARDIC LICH
14
Reformation
Reforming from the soul instrument is a tricky ordeal for a
bardic lich. They follow the same, basic stages outlined in the
section on arcane liches, but the nature of their phylactery
makes reformation extreamly risky unless they have a trusted
ally to care for their instrument while they reform.
Because bardic liches must preform with their phylactery
consistantly, they must keep it on their person nearly all of
the time. The disadvantages of this are blantantly obvious.
While an arcane lich or a divine lich can hide their pylactery
or relic, and a druidic lich can protect their henge, the bardic
lich must keep their greatest weakness with them, relatively
in the open and unprotected.
This often adds to the social nature of bardic liches, who
nearly always have at least one confidant in which they can
entrust their soul to. In some cases this means their
biological decendants. In other cases the bardic lich has an
apprentice or fellow lich they can trust. Very rarely, a bardic
lich will even entrust their instrument to a mortal lover or
close friend (although I personally would not recommend this
method).
Spellcasting
As a bardic lich you have delved deep into the secrets of the
arcane and are a powerful spellcaster.
Spell Slots
As a bardic lich, you use the multiclass spellcaster table on
page 165 of the Player's Handbook. Every lich level you learn
a number of spells designated by the Total Spells Learned
section on the class table.
You may learn a spell of any level for which you have spell
slots and that are from either the lich spell list or the spell list
of your other class(es).
For instance, a level 17 character who is bard 10/ sorcerer
5/ arcane lich 2 would have access to any spell from the bard,
sorcerer, and lich tables and have access to spells up to the
9th level, where if they only had 1 level in bardic lich, they
would have access to spells up to the 8th level.
Spellcasting Ability
Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your lich spells.
Ritual Casting
You may cast a spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag
and you have the spell prepared.
Spellcasting Focus
You may use a magical instrument as your spellcasting focus.
This extends to your soul instrument.
Syncopation
At 2nd level you may add a section to your songs full of
unexpected, highly varying rhythms in order to produce a
magical effect which causes you to appear, smell, feel, and
sound like a mortal version of yourself.
You can feel and smell and taste as you did in life, but lack
the ability to metabolize food and drink. In essence you may
use a chaotic rhythmic pattern in order to mimic the chaos of
life, and temporarily bestow this chaos upon yourself for up
to 3 hours.
Ritornello
At 3rd level as an action you may play a short musical
interlude in order to temporarily transport yourself between
the fabric of the material and ethereal plane, recreating the
effects of the Etherealness spell.
Once this ability is used, it cannot be used again until after
a long rest.
Nocturne Sonata
At 4th level you may play a calming and heartfelt sonata
which fills all who hear it with an unearthly calm once per
long rest. All intelligent creatures within 200 feet of you who
can hear the song are tempted with the promise of a sleep as
deep as the blackness of death.
The targets must all make a Charisma saving throw
against your bardic lich spell save DC or fall into a deep
slumber until they are awoken by sufficient stimuli. If a target
passes the save DC, they are immune to this song for the next
week.
Tutti
At 5th level, you gain the ability to have your undead not only
flawlessly perform songs as a brilliant, professional level
orchestra, but also to cast spells with thier music as a 3rd
level bard would. They can preform any 1st or 2nd level spell
or cantrip you know, with four first level slots and two second
level slots.
Artistic Vision
By 5th level, you have an eye for all things artistic and
historical. Not only can your eyes and ears understand all
languages, but simply by studying an object for 10 minutes,
you may discern its entire history, from creation to the
present.
If you were to find a painting, for example, you would know
who made it, who comissioned it, every detail down to the
specific pigments used in the shade of red the artist used.
Notes on Bardic Liches
Although I have never personally encountered a bardic lich,
those who have existed have been kind enough to leave
behind detailed records of their thoughts and abilities. These
are some additional notes I have gathered.
Staying Undead
Because of your unique relation and dependance on living
people, you will find yourself "living" in a more precarious
situations than most liches do.
Unless you feel it is absolutely necessary, and that you can
absolutely trust a particular person. Do not, under any
circumstances, allow mortals to discover your true nature.
Although bardic liches may live peacefully umong the
living, as they do not need to collect souls, the living will
rarely be educated or intelligent enough to realize such a
nuance. If you are discovered, you will be seen as, at best, an
arcane lich, and at worst, a shambling monsterous corpse
which must be destroyed at any cost.
Live as someone who is well known in your place of
residence, where everyone is an aquaintence. At most have a
few distant friends and do not let anyone too far into your
personal life.
Have a plan for if you are discovered. Have a pack ready for
if you need to leave at a moment's notice. Install magical
security measures in your place of residence and be ready to
move at least two towns over with a new identity already
thought out.
Bar Fights
Don't get into bar fights. You need the living to upkeep your
energy. You don't want to get ostracized from every town you
try to stay in when they find out you're a corpse.
Because bardic liches must keep their soul instruments
with them, if you are to fall in battle you will most likely die
permanently rather than regenerate unless you have a
powerful and trusted partner who can retrieve your
instrument and flee in the heat of a battle.
Learn spells which let you teleport and escape from
dangerous situations, have someone you can trust who is also
very good at escaping from a battle. You are a rare creature.
It's time to abandon any notions of being a brave and
honorable opponent and accept that you cannot afford such
tactics.
Getting a Significant Other
Although I would like to simply be able to say: "Don't, just
don't." I've seen enough mortal bards to know why people call
them "spoony".
If you love life enough to never want to pass on, you
probably are the overly sentimental type who cries when they
see sunrises and devotes their eternal soul to at least one
person a year. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just
don't get too attached to one aspect of life, because it is bound
to change.
If you want to have... intimate relations with the living, I'm
not here to stop you. I am simply warning you to take
precautions to avoid disappointment. If your lover doesn't
know off the bat that you are undead, plan to tell them early
into the relationship. Don't have them "discover" it, as
beautifully dramatic as it may seem to your narrative-driven
head.
Unless your lover is devoted to you and plans to become
immortal in some way as well, don't get too attached to them.
And always, always make sure that your significant other isn't
some sort of undercover paladin zealot.
PART 5 | BARDIC LICH 15
 The Pact Lich

A
t first glance, one would think a warlock could
never become a lich. Becoming a lich often
requires an extreme commitment to learning
secrets on the part of the to-be lich. A warlock,
on the other hand, becomes a lich by making
this desire known to their Patron and, if the
Patron approves and the warlock proves
themself worthy, the Patron may transform them. This is, of
course, if the Patron has some sway over the forces life and
death in the first place.

Pact Lich
Spells Invocations
Level Features Learned Learned
1st Fetish, Lichdom 0 0
2nd Mystic Arcanium 1 0
3rd Pins and Needles 1 1
4th Horrors of Undeath 2 1
5th Pact of Death, Vision of 2 2
the Ancients

Prerequisites
15th Level Spellcaster. Pulling off the test necessary to
become a lich requires an incredible degree of skill in pact
magic casting. The majority of these levels (min 8) must
be in Warlock with a total of 15 spellcasting levels.
16 Charisma. The level of power you must be capable of
displaying to impress your Patron requires a high level of
Charisma.
Persuasion Proficiency. In order to convince your Patron
to even consider bestowing such a wonderous power to
you, you must have a tongue of silver.
Test. The Patron of the warlock will likely be stingy with
handing out such a large power to just any servant of
theirs, and the warlock will need to prove themselves as
above average in the Patron's eyes. Sometimes this will
mean being pitted against other servants of the Patron in
a competition for power. Other times this will mean going
on some great, nearly impossible quest on the Patron's
behalf.
The Right Patron. In order for a warlock to become a
lich, they must be serving a Patron which has some power
and willingness to bend the rules of life and death.
Patrons such as Ancient Hags, The Queen of Air and
Darkness, Orcus, Tharizdun, Dendar, Erebus, Achlys,
Geras, The Moirai, Thanatos, Yanwang, Hēidì, and the
Entropic Lord are all theoretically capable of such a feat
along with any ancient liches and undead with a large
amount of power at their disposal.

PART 6 | PACT LICH

16

Lichdom
As a lich you are no longer a mortal creature and gain the
following traits:
Undead Nature. You do not age and do not require air,
food, drink, or sleep. To gain the effects of a long or short
rest you must still rest as normal. You are immune to
poison and all non-magical diseases.
Dead Eye. You have darkvision to a range of 120 ft.
Necrotic. You are healed by necrotic damage and take
damage from healing effects.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d8 per lich level
Hit Points: 1d8 + your Constitution modifier per level
The Fetish
Upon passing whatever test their patron required of them,
the warlock is gifted with a fetish. This fetish can be made of
stone, gemstone, twigs, etc. it can even be a small painting of
the warlock but in some way it will resemble them.
This is their phylactery, and it serves nearly an identical
purpose to an arcane lich's phylactery, only that it may be
used to produce various magical effects, and must remain
within a certain distance of the warlock in order for the
warlock to retain their powers.
If the warlock leaves the fetish's zone of influence, they will
not regenerate if they are killed, and lose all spellcasting
abilities and invocations granted to them by being a lich.
Having a fetish, however, is not without its upsides. As a Pact
lich grows in power, they may learn to use their fetish in
powerful ways.
Allowed Distance from Fetish
Lich Level Distance in Miles
1 3
2 6
3 12
4 25
5 50
Reformation
When a Pact lich is defeated, its body erupts into a suitable
material corresponding to their Patron. A lich who serves a
devil, for instance, will erupt into flame. If they serve a deity of
shadows they will erupt into waves of darkness and so on.
Their fetish, likewise, erupts in a similar way and the soul of
the lich is transported into a pocket dimension aesthetically
and thematically representative of their Patron.
From there the lich follows a nearly identical reformation
process to what I have described in the section on arcane
liches, except with a new fetish acting as a temporary heart.
Once the body is ready, the new fetish can be removed from
the position of the heart and the hole is resealed.
The warlock then appears in the place where it died,
teleporting from the pocket dimension to the material plane.
Because of the nature of this process, the only way for a
Pact lich to be truly killed is for their fetish to be destroyed
before they are, as being killed transports both the lich and
the fetish to an inaccessible dimension until they are
restored.
Energy Aquisition via Sacrifice
In order to aquire more energy with which to survive, a Pact
lich must make sacrifices to their Patron. In most cases this
means following through with a complex ritual in which
captures not only the victim's soul, but their body into the
lich's fetish.
This ritual is a means of showing the lich's devotion and
takes at least 12 hours to perform. This ritual must be
completed at least once every 6 months. After the ritual is
complete the Patron will bestow upon their servant enough
energy with which to survive another half year.
Spellcasting
As a Pact lich you can channel the power from your Patron in
order to produce magical effects.
Spell Slots
As a Pact lich, you use the multiclass spellcaster description
on page 164 of the Player's Handbook under the Pact Magic
section. Every lich level you learn a number of spells
designated by the Total Spells Learned section on the class
table.
You may learn a spell of any level for which you have spell
slots and that are from either the lich spell list or the spell list
of your other class(es) and use the spell slots from your Pact
Magic feature to cast spells you know of have prepared from
other classes and vice versa.
Levels in Pact lich effect the levels of spells you are able to
cast as seen on the Multiclass Spellcaster table on page 165
of the PHB and count as a class in the same category as
wizard, bard, etc.
For instance, a level 17 character who is warlock 10/
sorcerer 5/ Pact lich 2 would have access to any spell from
the warlock, sorcerer, and lich tables and have access to
spells up to the 5th level, and have 2 spell slots from their
warlock class.
In addition their 5 levels in sorcerer and 2 in Pact lich
would make them a 7th level multiclass spellcaster on the
respective table, giving them the amount of slots normally
allocated to someone of that level.
If you take this class as a level 8 warlock (the minimum
amount required of the class), your slot level becomes 5th
level upon taking your first level in this class.
Spellcasting Ability
Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your lich spells.
Ritual Casting
You may cast a spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag
and you have the spell prepared.
Spellcasting Focus
You may continue using the same spellcasting focus as you
have in the past. The focus may be used to cast spells from
your previous levels as well as your lich levels.
PART 6 | PACT LICH
17
 Mystic Arcanium
Upon reaching your 2nd level in Pact lich, you a magical
secret known as an arcanium. If you have not previously
gained an arcanium, you gain the 6th-level spell version of the
arcanium as described in the Player's Handbook. If you
already have an arcanium, you gain the next stage in the
arcanium.
For example, if you have already been bestowed up to the
7th-level spell arcanium, the arcanium you gain from this
feature will be of 8th-level. If you have gained the 8th-level
arcanium, you gain the 9th-level spell arcanium and so on.
Pins and Needles
Upon reaching your 3rd lich level, you gain the ability to use
your fetish offensively in a variety of ways. By focusing on a
creature for three rounds, you may attune their body to your
fetish, and harm them.
By poking the fetish with a needle, you can inflict 3d6
piercing damage. By placing the fetish in fire, you can light
the target on fire, inflicting 3d6 fire damage. Freezing the
fetish induces 3d6 cold damage and so on.
Horrors of Undeath
Upon reaching your 4th level, you may envoke a terrifying
illusion which may affect any senses you wish. Any creature
within 150 feet of you which perceives this illusion must pass
a Charisma saving throw against your Pact lich spell save DC
or be stricken by an otherworldly terror for 5 minutes.
Pact of Death
At your 5th Pact lich level, you have reached a level of power
which allows you to make pacts with mortals, becoming a
Patron yourself. As you make pacts with young warlocks, you
may use them as you please, even summoning them to your
side in times of need.
Vision of the Ancients
Also at 5th level, your eyes have gained the ability to see
through time in a variety of ways. Upon observing a creature
for 10 uninterrupted minutes, you may discern their entire
heritage, their family tree, and vague details of any people of
interest represented in their blood. You may also see in
darkness, magical or otherwise, as though you were in broad
daylight.
New Eldrich Invocations
If an eldrich invocation has prerequisites, you must meet
them to learn it. You can learn the invocation at the same
time you meet these prerequisites. All of the following
Invocations require at least one level in Pact lich to be used.
Clone of Shadows
You may split your essence in half, channeling your being into
a duplicate of yourself. For every time you split your being,
the amount of spell slots, ability uses and both maximum hit
points and current hit points is distributed evenly among
them.
PART 6 | PACT LICH
18
Your clones are still connected and cannot travel more than
500 feet from you without dissapating and returning their
power into the original. When one uses a class ability which
has only one use per long rest or a simlar ability, that use is
used up and no other clone can use it until the clones are
dispersed and the original rests the necessary amount.
Dark Flock
As an action, you may transform in to a flock of crows once
per long rest.
Deception Barrier
After preparing for one full minute, you gain truesight up to
20 feet and can discern all lies you hear. The effects last for
10 minutes, and a long rest is needed before this invocation
can be used again.
Eyes of the Oracle
You gain blindsight up to 60 feet and can cast Scrying once
without using a spell slot. You can't do so again until you
finish a long rest.
Forceful Polymorph
Prerequisite: Polymorph or True Polymorph spell
When you cast Polymorph or True Polymorph on an
unwilling victim, you may choose to augment the effect.
When the victim makes a Wisdom saving throw against the
polymorph, and fails by 8 or more, the polymorph
automatically becomes permanent, and can only be fixed by
the target being polymorphed again, or by a Wish.
Shapechangers are still immune to the permanence.
Ghost Step
As a bonus action, you may become incorporeal as described
in the Etherealness spell for 3 rounds once per long rest.
Psionic Mind
Prerequisite: 15th level
You may cast Telekinesis once per long rest without
expending a spell slot.
Notes on Pact Liches
The following section contains general information on
"living" as a lich in a pact with a Patron. My main source was
in a Pact with Dendar, the Night Serpant.
Methodology
Because your fetish is such a vulnerability, it is often the
wisest course of action to do your best to disguise the fact
that you have one at all. If an enemy out for your life already
knows of your undead nature, but not of too many specifics,
pretend you are an arcane lich and that your phylactery is
elsewhere.
If they already know that you are a Pact lich and of the
mechanics of fetishes, play it off as if you have it safely stored
somewhere miles away where they'll never find it. Actually
letting your fetish out of your sight is, of course, a terrible
idea, but if you are a convincing enough liar this trick should
work.
If your opponent does know that you have your fetish with
you, whether it is because you were forced to use it or they
called your bluff, always keep in mind that if you are
destroyed before they destroy the fetish, you can come back.
In the worst case scenario, where they have the fetish in their
palm and the knowledge of how to destroy it, simply kill
yourself and flee into your Patron's pocket dimension to
reform.
Gathering your own Warlocks
Once you become a powerful enough lich, you will be able to
assemble your own servants to which you bestow power. In
order for you to gather power to give to these warlocks, you
will need to constantly perform twice as many sacrifices for
your Patron until you find a way to make their power your
own.
This, of course, is extremely risky, as Patrons often have a
seemingly supernatural ability to guess at your true
intentions, and at any sign of betrayal they can strip all of
your aquired power from you. In cases like these you must be
extraordinarily cautious. Be sure to grow some reserve of
backup magical power to fall back on if you are caught.
In order to become a true Patron you must find a way to
either kill your Patron, or persuade them to pass on all of
their power to you. How one chooses to go about such a
monumental task is up to them.

PART 6 | PACT LICH 19

 The Sorcerous Lich

T
he sorcerous lich, at first glance, has no
phylactery. This is only partially true. They do
indeed have something which serves the basic
function of a phylactery (that is, to contain
their soul) but this object is their heart. Almost
through sheer force of their innate magical
power alone, Sorcerous liches are those who
have forced their souls into their hearts, transforming the
organ and allowing the rest of their body to die.

Sorcerous Lich
Total Spells Sorcery Points
Level Features Learned Added
1st Immortal Heart, 0 +1
Lichdom
2nd Necromantic Affinity 1 +1
3rd Enhanced 2 +1
Necromancy
4th Bone Armor 3 +2
5th Vampiric Casting, 4 +2
Arcane Vision

Prerequisites
15th Level Spellcaster. Pulling off the magical display
necessary to become a lich requires an incredible degree
of skill in spell casting. The majority of these levels (min 8)
must be in Sorcerer with a total of 15 spellcasting levels.
16 Charisma. The level of power you must be capable of
displaying to convert yourself into a lich requires a high
level of Charisma.
14 Intelligence. A high level of intelligence is required to
complete the research and testing needed to become a
lich.
12 Consitution. Because the sorcerer will need to put
themselves through countless experiments in order to
become a lich, they will need to be strong enough to
survive failures.
Arcana Proficiency. In order to become a lich you must
have a high degree of understanding of the arcane
mechanics of life and death.
The Method. In order for a sorcerer to become a lich, they
must first do extensive research to discover how to do so.
Often times this means they will need to try to channel
their soul into their heart several times and under several
different circumstances before the process finally works.

PART 7 | SORCEROUS LICH

20
Lichdom
As a lich you are no longer a mortal creature and gain the
following traits:
Undead Nature. You do not age and do not require air,
food, drink, or sleep. To gain the effects of a long or short
rest you must still rest as normal. You are immune to
poison and all non-magical diseases.
Dead Eye. You have darkvision to a range of 120 ft.
Necrotic. You are healed by necrotic damage and take
damage from healing effects.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d8 per lich level
Hit Points: 1d8 + your Constitution modifier per level
The Heart
The heart of the sorcerer, which acts as the lich's phylactery
must become immortal through a display of arcane power,
the secrets to which is different for each sorcerer and must
be independantly discovered.
Because of the nature of their abilities, no sorcerous lich
becomes as they are in the exact same way as another. The
end product may always be the same for the most part (the
heart will etherealize and begin to glow with a unique color,
taking on an otherworldly apperance) but the means to reach
this are different for every sorcerer.
One sorcerer, for instance, may need to drink a special
potion made of ground up dragon horns and the captured
souls of several intelligent humanoids before they may
attempt to channel their soul into their heart. Another may
simply need to attempt the transformation in a specific,
magically charged place.
If a method is close to working, but not quite right, the
sorcerer will feel their soul condense farther into their heart
before the transformation fails. Often times a sorcerer simply
needs to go through enough instances of trial and error to
discover how to become a lich.
Reformation
After a Sorcerous lich is killed, their heart remains floating
where they once stood. After a split second, the heart will
shoot into the air at a tremendous speed, breaking through
any ceilings, walls, or other barriers which would be in its
way.
It appears as a shooting star in the sky, flying around the
material plane as the lich regenerates around it over the
course of one to ten days as described in the section on
arcane lich reformation. Once the lich has regenerated, they
land in a random location on the material plane fully
rejuvenated, but drained. For the next month the lich has their
Strength reduced to 3 and hit point maximum halved. If they
are defeated once more in this state, their heart will be too
weak to escape and fly them to safety.
Aquisition of Energy via Soul
Consumption
In this respect, sorcerous liches work identically to arcane
liches. In order to maintain the proper amount of energy
needed for daily function, a sorcerous lich must sacrifice at
least one soul to their heart every two months. Faliure to do
so will result in degredation into a demilich. This, however,
has much more dire consequences for a sorcerous lich. After
all, where is your phylactery located?
If a sorcerous lich degrades into a demilich, they are no
longer able to cast spells and must consume a soul in order
to regain their body. This is extremely difficult for sorcerous
liches because their heart is their phylactery. If a sorcerous
lich degrades, their heart stays in place, floating below their
skull, completely exposed.
Because of this, sorcerous liches must never falter in their
aquisition of souls, lest they be left in such a vulnerable state.
Spellcasting
As a sorcerous lich you have delved deep into your well of
arcane power and are a powerful spellcaster.
Spell Slots
As a sorcerous lich, you use the multiclass spellcaster table
on page 165 of the Player's Handbook. Every lich level you
learn a number of spells designated by the Total Spells
Learned section on the class table.
You may learn a spell of any level for which you have spell
slots and that are from either the lich spell list or the spell list
of your other class(es).
For instance, a level 17 character who is sorcerer 10/ bard
5/ sorcerous lich 2 would have access to any spell from the
sorcerer, bard, and lich tables and have access to spells up to
the 9th level, where if they only had 1 level in sorcerous lich,
they would have access to spells up to the 8th level.
Spellcasting Ability
Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your lich spells.
Ritual Casting
You may cast a spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag
and you have the spell prepared.
Spellcasting Focus
You may continue using the same spellcasting focus as you
have in the past. The focus may be used to cast spells from
your previous levels as well as your lich levels.
Necromantic Affinity
At 2nd level your spells all become imbued with necromantic
energy. Any spell you cast which does damage can have their
damage type changed to necrotic damage. If a spell already
does necrotic damage, it now does an additional 2d6 damage.
Enhanced Necromancy
Once you reach 3rd level, at the cost of 2 sorcery points, you
may empower your spells further.
PART 7 | SORCEROUS LICH
21
 If you were a draconic sorcerer, any spell which deals Mental Health
necrotic damage can have an additional 2d8 elemental
damage applied corresponding to your draconic type (red Due to the reclusive nature that sorcerous liches can so often
sorcerers can imbue a spell with fire damage, etc.). If you fall into, they frequently fall into the same trap that arcane
were a wild sorcerer, you may instead add 3d6 force damage liches do and grow mad from lonliness.
to the spell. Because this is such a simple pitfall, it is as recommended
for sorcerous liches to make a point of having a healthy
Bone Armor amount of social interaction as it is for arcane and druidic
At your 4th level, you may spend 8 sorcery points in order to liches. Living forever can take an emotional and mental toll
cause your body to grow a thick exoskeleton of bony armor, on those who were once mortal.
adding an additional +6 to your Armor Class for 10 minutes. This is a weakness which you cannot erase without in turn
The exoskeleton of a draconic sorcerer will mimic the erasing who you are at the most basic level. You didn't
aesthetic of the dragon they share blood with. The become immortal to live forever as someone else. You
exoskeleton of a wild sorcerer will appear to be covered in became immortal to live forever. And that, on the most basic
glowing, swirling runes. level, requires you to continue experiencing life if you are to
survive as yourself.
Vampiric Casting
At 5th level you may channel the souls of the deceased into
your reserve of magical power, rather than absorbing the
power into your heart.
As an action you may activate your vampiric ability. For the
next 10 rounds, every intelligent humanoid you kill restores 1
of your sorcery points.
Arcane Vision
Also at 5th level, you gain an attunement to magic so strong
that it is as if you are under the effects of both the detect
magic spell and the identify spell.
In addition, you can sense the presence and direction of
any other sorcerers within a half-mile of you.

Notes on Sorcerous Liches

The following section contains a selection of observations of
the habits of sorcerous liches based on the few I have met.
Methodology
At first glance, the sorcerous lich seems to be the hardest to
destroy. They have their phylactery inside them which
escapes at an impossible speed and flies to a random place at
the moment of their death. Sure they're weak for a month
after regenerating as their heart recovers, but what's a month
to a being that lives forever?
The sorcerous lich, in actuallity, is rather easy to eliminate
once you know how to. Something as simple as a Forcecage
is enough to keep a heart from flying away. If enough magical
barriers are used preventing the heart from escaping, it will
simply reform its host where it is, effectively making the lich
completely helpless as it is killed a second time and its heart
is extinguished.
To stay alive, take advantage of the mystery around
sorcerous liches. Sorcerers are alien to the common person
in their own right, liches doubly so. It is highly unlikely that
whoever is fighting you knows of your true nature. Do your
best to hide the fact that you have any weaknesses at all. In
addition, take every measure you can to eliminate casters you
fight as soon as possible, in the rare case that whoever is
fighting you does know of the simple trick to destroy you.

22 PART 7 | SORCEROUS LICH

Lich Spells

B
ecause of there necromantic nature, there are 5th Edition Libris Mortis Spells
certain spells that all liches can cast, regardless
of type. I have attempted to convert a large number of the spells
within the 3e supplement book "The Libris Mortis" into 5th
edition. If your DM allows, the spells contained in this
spellbook may be used in addition to the list of lich spells in
this Compendium.
Lich Spells
Cantrips (o Level)
Chill Touch
Spare the Dying
1st Level
False Life
Inflict Wounds
Ray of Sickness
2nd Level
Blindness/Deafness
Gentle Repose
Ray of Enfeeblement
3rd Level
Animate Dead
Bestow Curse
Feign Death
Speak with Dead
Vampiric Touch
4th Level
Blight
5th Level
Contagion
6th Level
Circle of Death
Create Dead
Eyebite
Harm
Magic Jar
7th Level
Finger of Death
8th Level
Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting
Clone
9th Level
Astral Projection
Power Word Kill
Weird

PART 8 | LICH SPELLS 23

 Additional Notes

T
he following are some additional rules and
tables you may need to use as a lich. Keep in
mind that some of what has been mentioned in
this book is very flexible and subjective. In the
end, the DM has the final say, but always work
together!
Disguising Yourself
The longer you have been rotting, the easier it will be for
intelligent creatures to identify you as an undead. In the case
of liches such as a Siabrae, which is always skeletal, blending
in can be especially difficult. The upside is that, chances are,
as long as you don't do a particularly poor job disguising
yourself, most people won't even think to really observe you
the way they should.
The base DC for a creature with an intelligence of 5 or
more to recognize you is 12. This check can be a medicine
check, perception check, or even some other check
depending on circumstances. The following table lists a few
modifiers to this check.
Blending in
Circumstance Check bonus
Days since reforming +1 per every 3 days passed
Target checks pulse, breath, +7
etc.
Disguise Self -2
Alter Self -5
Disguise Kit -1/4 of the deception check
rolled

Source and Inspiration Credits

Complete Lich. by Maerok
Pathfinder's Siabrae
All D&D 5e Sourcebooks
Homebrew Warlock Invocations. by Deviston
My wonderful players
The D&D 3.5e Libris Mortis
Chinese, Greek, and Finnish mythology
Art
All of the shitty crayon drawings were created by me. All the
characters used are actual NPCs in my campaign. Insert
shameless Tumblr art blog plug here.

24 PART 9 | ADDITIONAL NOTES