How do you make a lich?

[j_spencer93]

Trying to port a 3.5 lich villain into 5.0, however this edition lacks a proper template system. So what do you do when a villain or a pc want to become a lich? Do you just give them undead and the extra abilities of the lich or is there more to it then that?

[Morcleon]

I like this lich homebrew (http://img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1423/59/1423599298219.pdf). It doesn't specify good or evil, and it allows for that in the mechanics of becoming a lich too.

[j_spencer93]

Strictly no Homebrew at the moment though. Actually trying to create these old "template" creatures is where 5.0 fails, bad.

[Morcleon]

Strictly no Homebrew at the moment though. Actually trying to create these old "template" creatures is where 5.0 fails, bad.

The entirety of "becoming a lich" in 5e is homebrew. There's no way to do it without homebrew, as there are no rules for templates currently.

[j_spencer93]

That was how I saw it to. Great. :smallconfused:

[Morcleon]

That was how I saw it to. Great. :smallconfused:

If you're the DM, go ahead and homebrew something for how liches are created. :smallbiggrin:

[Demonic Spoon]

Strictly no Homebrew at the moment though. Actually trying to create these old "template" creatures is where 5.0 fails, bad.

Step 1: Apply lich-like abilities to the NPC of your choice.

Step 2: Compare to table in the DMG to determine CR

That's it. A rigid template system is unnecessary, and CR modifications were always a terrible way of judging how the stat adjustments affected the creature's power.

[Joe the Rat]

PC into Lich: Yeah, homebrew necessary.

NPC into Lich: BAM! He's a Lich.

For the villain, it would be simpler to start with the MM Lich, then tweak the stats and spells (and other abilities) to fit your villain. If you think your final version is significantly more or less powerful than the stock version, you can always try running the numbers for monster creation to redefine how much XP he's worth.

[Plus1Sword]

The entirety of "becoming a lich" in 5e is homebrew. There's no way to do it without homebrew, as there are no rules for templates currently.

Page 83 of the MM has a way to turn a Dragon into a Dracolich, that method could be used pretty easy. Might need a buff if you want an enemy humanoid to become thebomb.com afterwards, but there's nothing stopping you from applying the process to say, an archmage and changing the spellist to have a necromantic theme.