LichCR 21 · Medium Undead · Stat Block & Encounter Builder

Medium undead, Challenge 21. AC 17, 135 hit points.

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Armour Class

Hit Points

135

Speed

30 ft.

Challenge

21 · 33,000 XP

Alignment

Any Evil Alignment

The card

Stat Block

Medium Undead · Any Evil Alignment

Lich

135

18d8 + 54 · 30 ft. · AC from natural armor

Truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 19

Languages: Common plus up to five other languages

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
11 (+0)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)	20 (+5)	14 (+2)	16 (+3)

Traits

Damage ResistancesCold, lightning, necrotic

Damage ImmunitiesPoison, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons

Condition ImmunitiesCharmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Poisoned

Legendary ResistanceIf the lich fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.

RejuvenationIf 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.

SpellcastingThe lich is an 18th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 20, +12 to hit with spell attacks). The lich has the following wizard spells prepared: - Cantrips (at will): mage hand, prestidigitation, ray of frost - 1st level (4 slots): detect magic, magic missile, shield, thunderwave - 2nd level (3 slots): acid arrow, detect thoughts, invisibility, mirror image - 3rd level (3 slots): animate dead, counterspell, dispel magic, fireball - 4th level (3 slots): blight, dimension door - 5th level (3 slots): cloudkill, scrying - 6th level (1 slot): disintegrate, globe of invulnerability - 7th level (1 slot): finger of death, plane shift - 8th level (1 slot): dominate monster, power word stun - 9th level (1 slot): power word kill

Turn ResistanceThe lich has advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead.

Actions

Paralyzing TouchMelee Spell Attack: +12 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (3d6) cold damage. The target must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

How to actually run it

Tactics

The stat block tells you what it can do. This tells you what to do with it.

1Legendary Resistance means it can auto-pass failed saves a few times a day. Expect your first control spells to be shrugged off — plan around it.

2It is a legendary creature with 4 legendary actions between turns; fight it in its lair and it is far more dangerous than the stat block alone.

3It casts spells — read its spell list before the fight and hold a Counterspell or a way to break concentration.

Pitch the fight

Encounter Difficulty

Encounter Builder

How bad is this fight?

Real DMG maths — XP thresholds by level, and the group multiplier that makes crowds so much worse than the raw total suggests.

Lichs4Party size4Party level3

Could kill someone — and at high enough numbers, the whole party.

Difficulty

Deadly

264,000 adj. XP · ×2

deadly at 1,600

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Counsel

Lich, Answered

What is Lich's challenge rating in D&D 5e?

Lich is Challenge 21, worth 33,000 XP. Encounter maths multiplies XP by the number of monsters, so a group is deadlier than the raw total — use the calculator on this page.

What are Lich's stats?

AC 17 (natural armor), 135 hit points (18d8 + 54), speed 30 ft.. Ability scores: STR 11, DEX 16, CON 16, INT 20, WIS 14, CHA 16.

What is Lich resistant to?

Lich is immune to poison and bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons damage, and resistant to cold, lightning and necrotic. Pick a damage type it does not shrug off.

Put It On The Table

Set your party, read the difficulty, and build the encounter around it. Your first is free.

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