Lich 5e: Stats, Spells and Running an Undead Archmage

A lich is a CR 21 undead wizard (33,000 XP) and one of the few SRD monsters built to fight an entire level 17 to 20 party alone. The 2014 lich has AC 17, 135 hit points and a full 18th-level wizard spell list with slots up to 9th level. The 2024 lich is a different machine: AC 20, 315 hit points, a three-attack Multiattack built on Eldritch Burst and a Paralyzing Touch with no save, at-will 5th-level Fireball and Lightning Bolt, and a reaction that casts Counterspell or Shield. Both come back from destruction in 1d10 days, through a phylactery in 2014 or a spirit jar in 2024.

Table of Contents

• •Lich Stat Block (2014)
• •The Lich in the 2024 Rules
• •Phylactery vs Spirit Jar: What the SRD Says
• •How the Lich Fights
• •Running a Lich Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Lich
• •Lich Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Lich Stat Block (2014)

The SRD 5.1 lich:

The 2014 lich is a spell list with hit points attached. Its own action, Paralyzing Touch, is a +12 melee spell attack for 10 (3d6) cold damage plus a DC 18 Constitution save against Paralysis for up to a minute. Everything else that matters runs through its prepared spells at DC 20 and +12 to hit.

Its defenses are thin for its CR. A level 17 party can strip 135 hit points behind AC 17 in a round or two, and immunity to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing matters little once the party carries magic weapons. What keeps it alive is the spell list: Shield (four 1st-level slots), Counterspell, Mirror Image, Invisibility, Dimension Door and Globe of Invulnerability, plus three Legendary Resistances.

It also has a fixed budget: one slot each of 6th through 9th level, so one Power Word Kill, one Dominate Monster or Power Word Stun, one Finger of Death or Plane Shift, and one Disintegrate or Globe of Invulnerability. After those four turns it's down to 5th-level slots and below.

The Lich in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 lich (SRD 5.2.1) keeps the name, CR and XP and rebuilds almost everything else.

What changes at the table:

• •It survives round one. 315 hit points behind AC 20 is well over double the 2014 lich's durability before Shield even comes up.
• •It no longer runs out. Fireball and Lightning Bolt at 5th level (10d6, average 35, DC 20) and Dispel Magic are at will. The 2014 lich spends a slot every turn.
• •Paralyzing Touch got meaner. No save. A hit means the target is Paralyzed until the start of the lich's next turn. More on why that's deadly below.
• •Every legendary action costs one use. In 2014, Disrupt Life cost all three actions. In 2024 it costs one but can be used once per round, alongside a Fear and a Deathly Teleport.
• •Turn Resistance is gone, although a CR 21 creature with Wisdom +9 still shrugs off most Turn Undead attempts.

Phylactery vs Spirit Jar: What the SRD Says

2014 (Rejuvenation trait): if it has a phylactery, a destroyed lich gains a new body in 1d10 days, regaining all its hit points and becoming active again. The new body appears within 5 feet of the phylactery.

2024 (Spirit Jar trait): if destroyed, the lich reforms in 1d10 days if it has a spirit jar, reviving with all its Hit Points. The new body appears in an unoccupied space within the lich's lair.

That is everything either SRD says. Neither gives the object's AC, hit points, appearance or location, how it's made, or how to destroy it. Other books add lich lore, but none of it is in the SRD, so the object's rules are yours to set. Decide three things before the campaign reaches the lich: where the object is, what destroys it, and how the party can learn about it.

The two wordings change play in one concrete way. The 2014 lich reforms next to its phylactery. Move the phylactery and you move where the lich comes back. A party that steals it and carries it home has brought the lich with them in 1d10 days. The 2024 lich always reforms in its lair, wherever the jar is. Stealing the spirit jar doesn't move the lich's return point; the party has to destroy it or keep it out of reach.

How the Lich Fights

The lich has Intelligence 20 or 21 and should play like it. Detect Thoughts and Scrying (both editions) let it learn the party's plans before the fight. It fights in a room it chose and leaves when it's losing.

The 2024 lich: the paralysis combo

The 2024 Multiattack lets the lich mix three attacks in any order. Lead with Paralyzing Touch and the other two attacks change completely.

Against AC 18, the lich's +12 hits on a 6 or higher (75%). If the Touch lands, the target is Paralyzed: attack rolls against it have Advantage, and any hit from within 5 feet is a critical hit. The lich is within 5 feet, because Paralyzing Touch has a 5-foot reach. So the next two attacks are melee Eldritch Bursts:

• •Hit chance with Advantage: 1 - (0.25 x 0.25) = about 94%.
• •Damage on an automatic crit: 8d12 + 5, average 57.
• •Expected damage from both: about 107, plus 15 from the Touch.

That is roughly 120 damage to one character in one action. The paralysis lasts until the start of the lich's next turn, so any of the lich's allies who attack the target in between also get Advantage and automatic crits from within 5 feet, and the target automatically fails Dexterity saves against a Fireball. The party's answer is to keep the lich at range, which is why it also has Deathly Teleport and Dimension Door.

At range, three Eldritch Bursts against AC 18 average about 70 damage (3 x 31 x 0.75). Against a clustered party, an at-will Fireball deals 35 to everyone in a 20-foot radius who fails a DC 20 Dexterity save and 17 to those who succeed.

Legendary actions, 2024

The lich gets 3 uses (4 in its lair) after other creatures' turns:

• •Deathly Teleport: 60 feet away, and 11 (2d10) necrotic damage to everyone within 10 feet of where it was. It's an escape and an area attack at once. Use it right after the fighter closes in.
• •Disrupt Life: DC 20 Constitution save for every non-undead creature in 20 feet, 31 (9d6) necrotic damage on a failure, half on a success. Once per round.
• •Frightening Gaze: casts Fear (DC 20 Wisdom, 30-foot cone). Frightened characters drop what they're holding and run. Once per round.

A full round in the lair is Teleport, Disrupt Life, Fear and a second Teleport, spread across the party's turns.

The 2014 lich: spend slots in order

With few hit points and one big spell per turn, the 2014 lich lives or dies on the order of its turns:

1. •Before the fight: if it knows the party is coming, Mirror Image and Invisibility are already up.
2. •Round 1: Power Word Stun (8th level) on the character most likely to Counterspell, if that character has 150 hit points or fewer. A stunned caster can't take reactions.
3. •Round 2: Power Word Kill (9th) on anyone at 100 hit points or fewer, often a level 17 wizard or sorcerer at full health.
4. •Rounds 3 and 4: Disintegrate, Finger of Death (a humanoid killed rises next turn as a zombie under its command) or Globe of Invulnerability if the party's casters are winning.
5. •Reactions: Shield whenever an attack would hit (four 1st-level slots), Counterspell for anything 5th level or higher.

Spend legendary actions on Paralyzing Touch (2) against anyone in melee, Ray of Frost (1), or Disrupt Life (all 3) when several characters stand within 20 feet.

When to leave

Both versions carry Plane Shift and Dimension Door. A lich at a quarter of its hit points with no Legendary Resistances left has no reason to die here. It leaves, and the party now has an enemy who knows their spells.

Running a Lich Encounter

A lich is worth 33,000 XP (41,000 XP in its lair under the 2024 rules). The 2024 budget for four characters:

To fill a High budget at level 17 (46,800), a lich in its lair (41,000) plus four wights (2,800) comes to 43,800. A lich plus a CR 15 mummy lord (13,000) comes to 46,000 outside the lair.

Under the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines, which our encounter calculator uses, one lich against four level 17 characters is a Hard encounter (33,000 XP against a Deadly threshold of 35,200). Against four level 20 characters it is Medium, just short of the 34,000 Hard threshold.

A lone boss still acts on one initiative count. Against five or six characters, give the 2014 lich a few minions so it isn't stunlocked, or use the 2024 lich, whose 315 hit points and five Legendary Resistances in its lair can carry the fight alone.

How Players Beat a Lich

Strip Legendary Resistance with cheap saves. Make it spend them on spells you don't need to land, then cast the one you do.

Target Strength and Charisma. Both liches have Strength +0. Charisma is +3. Dexterity is +3 in 2014 and +10 in 2024, and Constitution, Intelligence and Wisdom are all proficient. Banishment and effects that call for Strength saves are the best bets.

Pick the right damage. Force, radiant, fire, thunder and acid are untouched. Cold and lightning are resisted. Necrotic is resisted in 2014 and does nothing in 2024. Poison does nothing in either.

Don't count on conditions. Both liches are immune to Charmed, Frightened, Paralyzed, Poisoned and Exhaustion. Stunned, Restrained, Prone, Blinded and Incapacitated all work.

Counterspell carefully. Against the 2014 lich, Counterspell needs a 9th-level slot or a DC 19 ability check to stop Power Word Kill. In 2024 it forces a Constitution save, which the lich makes at +10 and can turn with Legendary Resistance. The 2024 lich's Protective Magic counters yours with no daily limit.

Protect against instant death. Death Ward negates an effect that would kill its target instantly without dealing damage, which covers Power Word Kill on a character with 100 hit points or fewer. Cast it on the lowest-hit-point caster before the door opens.

Fight at range, spread out. The 2024 Touch-and-Burst combo needs the lich adjacent to its target. Characters out of reach force it into ranged Eldritch Bursts or Fireball, but a clustered party is Fireball and Disrupt Life territory.

Invisibility won't help. Truesight 120 feet sees invisible creatures and sees through visual illusions.

Plan the second fight. Killing the body is half the job. If the party hasn't dealt with the phylactery or spirit jar, the lich is back in 1d10 days.

Lich Encounter Ideas

The heir. A noble family has paid a lich for three generations to keep its line alive. The current heir wants out. The lich isn't hostile; it wants what it's owed. The party is hired to negotiate, and the lich opens with Detect Thoughts to learn what the heir told them.

The stolen phylactery (2014 rules). Thieves looted a tomb and sold a carved iron reliquary to a collector who has no idea what it is. Within 1d10 days a lich's body will form within 5 feet of it, in a manor full of guests. The party has to find the reliquary, get it somewhere safe, and decide what "safe" means.

The scrying sensor. For three sessions a character has felt watched. A Detect Magic in camp finally finds the invisible sensor of a Scrying spell. The lich has watched the party plan its assault. The players can plan again somewhere it can't see, or feed it a false plan on purpose.

A lich campaign spans months of real time. Loreify can record your sessions and keep campaign notes, so the clue from session 4 about the phylactery's hiding place is still there in session 30.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a lich in 5e?

A lich is CR 21 in both editions and worth 33,000 XP. In the 2024 rules a lich encountered in its lair is worth 41,000 XP.

How much HP does a lich have?

The 2014 lich has 135 hit points (18d8 + 54) and AC 17. The 2024 lich has 315 hit points (42d8 + 126) and AC 20.

What is a lich's phylactery called in the 2024 rules?

The 2024 SRD calls it a spirit jar. If the lich is destroyed and has a spirit jar, it reforms in 1d10 days in its lair. In the 2014 SRD it's a phylactery, and the new body appears within 5 feet of it.

How do you kill a lich permanently?

Destroy its body and its phylactery or spirit jar. Neither SRD gives rules for destroying the object, so the DM decides what that takes. Until it's gone, a destroyed lich returns in 1d10 days with full hit points.

Can a lich cast Power Word Kill?

Yes, in both editions. The 2014 lich has one 9th-level slot for it. The 2024 lich can cast it once per day: a target with 100 hit points or fewer dies, and anyone else takes 12d12 psychic damage. Death Ward protects against the instant kill.

What's the difference between a lich and a mummy lord?

Both are undead bosses with legendary actions. The lich is a CR 21 wizard that fights with spells at range; the CR 15 mummy lord does its worst work up close, with a Rotting Fist whose curse stops the target from regaining hit points. A lich suits the final act of a level 17 to 20 campaign, a mummy lord a tomb a few levels earlier.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.