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thecreaturecodex · 1 year

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Dracolich

“Undead Dragon” © Indigo Jenar. Accessed at their ArtStation page here

[Commissioned by @tar-baphon . The dracolich has been around for decades, first appearing as a vague plot hook in White Plume Mountain (”beyond to the land of Dragotha, the undead dragon...”) before being fleshed out in Dragon Magazine. As an Ed Greenwood creature, the original dracolich was overly complicated--if its soul couldn’t enter its own body, it could form a “pseudo-dracolich” which had some, but not all, of its original powers. Greenwood also didn’t think too much of the dracoliches in his own work; he seemed to be much more interested in the human Cult of the Dragon that makes them, and in his novel Spellfire, dracoliches are basically cannon fodder.

There are no canon dracoliches in Pathfinder, because the name is copyrighted. The ravener fills the same niche (undead dragon boss monster), but has the whole soul ward mechanic, which strikes me as being very fiddly. I’ve never run a ravener at the table, and I have avoided them for the extra paperwork. I can see both dracoliches and raveners existing in the same world, and thus have included a paragraph to that effect.]

Sample Dracolich CR 23 LE Undead This enormous dragon is clearly dead—its body is mostly skeletal, although patches of blue scales and mummified flesh are visible.

A dracolich is a dragon who has intentionally transformed themselves into an undead monster, to avoid death, as a shortcut to power, or both. Like a lich, a dracolich’s life force is tied to its phylactery, a reliquary in which it can store its soul. It requires the corpse of another draconic creature to rebuild its body, and so many dracoliches keep the bodies of their rivals as a combination of a trophy and a backup body.

Dracoliches and raveners view each other with mutual disdain and disgust. Raveners view the reliance on a phylactery to maintain undeath as a weakness, whereas dracoliches consider a soul ward to be too unreliable and inconsistent. The rituals to becoming a dracolich are longer, more expensive, and more intricate than those to become a ravener. Lawful dragons are somewhat more likely to take the path of dracolich, and chaotic ones slightly more likely to become raveners, but both types of undead can be found in either alignment.

A Dracolich’s Phylactery A dracolich’s phylactery requires the Craft Wondrous Item feat, 120,000 gp and a caster level of 11th to build. Some dracoliches build their own phylacteries, but others employ humanoid spellcasters to do this for them. This is rather shortsighted—if another creature builds the dracolich’s phylactery, the dracolich is controlled by them, as if it were just another undead they had created. Mortal spellcasters who know of this loophole do not tell the dragon they are trying to convince to pursue lichdom, of course.

Creating a Dracolich “Dracolich” is an acquired template that can be added to any evil true dragon of adult age or older (hereafter referred to as the base creature). A dracolich retains all of the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here

CR Same as base creature +2

Type The creature’s type changes to undead. Do not recalculate BAB, saves, or skill ranks. It keeps any subtypes possessed by the base creature

Armor Class The dracolich’s natural armor increases by +2

Hit Dice Change all of the base creature's racial Hit Dice to d8s. All Hit Dice derived from class levels remain unchanged. As an undead, a dracolich uses its Charisma to determine bonus hit points instead of its Constitution.

Saving Throws: As undead, a dracolich uses its Charisma modifier on Fortitude saves (instead of Constitution).

Defensive Abilities: A dracolich gains channel resistance +4 and all of the immunities derived from undead traits. It gains immunity to cold and electricity. Its damage reduction changes from DR/magic to DR/bludgeoning and magic. A dracolich also gains the following ability: Rejuvenation (Su) When a dracolich’s physical body is destroyed, its soul moves into its phylactery. If there is a corpse of a creature with the dragon type within 60 feet of the phylactery, the soul moves into the corpse, transforming it into a new body for the dracolich in 1d10 days. If the phylactery is destroyed, the dracolich cannot use this ability. If the phylactery is destroyed while the dracolich is rebuilding a body, the dracolich is also destroyed.

Special Attacks A dracolich loses the crush special attack if the base creature had it. Any special attacks with a DC based on Constitution become based on Charisma instead. It also gains the following special attacks: Admixed Breath (Su) A dracolich can choose at will to deal half of the damage from its breath weapon as negative energy. Gaze (Su) Range—30 ft.; Save—Will (Cha based DC); effect paralyzed 2d6 rounds. A creature that has been exposed to a dracolich’s gaze, whether it passes or fails the save, cannot be affected by the gaze of that dracolich for the next 24 hours.

Spell-like Abilities A dracolich gains control undead as a spell-like ability, usable 1/day. It uses its HD as its caster level for this SLA.

Abilities Str +4, Dex +4, Cha +6. As an undead creature, a dracolich does not have a Constitution score.

Feats A dracolich gains Toughness as a bonus feat

Skills A dracolich gains a +8 racial bonus on Perception and Stealth checks.

Statistics for a sample dracolich are below the cut

Great Wyrm Blue Dragon Dracolich CR 23 XP 409,600

LE Colossal undead (augmented dragon, earth) Init +4; Senses dragon senses; Perception +37; Aura electricity (10ft., 2d6 electricity), frightful presence (360 ft., DC 33) Defense AC 42, touch 0, flat-footed 42 (-8 size, +42��natural) hp 406 (28d8+280) Fort +25, Ref +16, Will +22 DR 20/magic and bludgeoning; Immune cold, electricity, paralysis, sleep, undead traits; SR 32 Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, rejuvenation Offense Speed 40 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 250 ft. (clumsy) Melee bite +37 (4d8+24/19-20), 2 claws +36 (4d6+16), 2 wings +34 (2d8+6), tail slap +34 (4d6+24) Space 30 ft.; Reach 20 ft. (30 ft. with bite) Special Attacks admixed breath, breath weapon (140-ft. line, DC 33, 24d8 electricity or 12d8 electricity and 12d8 negative energy), desert thirst, gaze, mirage, sandstorm, storm breath, tail sweep (Medium creatures, DC 33 half, 4d8+22) Spell-Like Abilities CL 28th; concentration +37 (+41 casting defensively) At will—ghost sound (DC 19), hallucinatory terrain (DC 23), minor image (DC 21), mirage arcana (DC 24), veil (DC 25), ventriloquism (DC 21) 1/day—control undead (DC 26) Spells Known CL 17th; concentration +26 (+30 casting defensively) 8th (4/day)—greater prying eyes, horrid wilting (DC 27) 7th (6/day)—banishment (DC 26), ethereal jaunt, power word blind 6th (7/day)—create undead, disintegrate (DC 25), wall of iron 5th (7/day)—cloudkill (DC 24), polymorph, teleport, waves of fatigue 4th (7/day)—dimension door, enervation, fire shield, greater invisibility 3rd (7/day)—dispel magic, gentle repose, haste, vampiric touch 2nd (8/day)—blur, false life, glitterdust (DC 22), resist energy, scorching ray 1st (8/day)—alarm, mage armor, shield, true strike, unseen servant 0 (at will)—arcane mark, bleed (DC 19), detect magic, light, mage hand, mending, message, read magic, resistance Statistics Str 43, Dex 10, Con -, Int 22, Wis 23, Cha 29 Base Atk +28; CMB +52; CMD 62 (66 vs. trip) Feats Combat Casting, Craft Wondrous Item, Dazzling Display, Extend Spell, Flyby Attack, Hover, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Quicken Spell, Silent Spell, Shatter Defenses, Toughness (B), Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (bite) Skills Bluff +40, Diplomacy +40, Fly +15, Intimidate +40, Knowledge (arcana) +37, Knowledge (history) +37, Knowledge (local) +37, Knowledge (religion) +37, Perception +45, Spellcraft +37, Stealth +23, Survival +37; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception, +8 Stealth Languages Auran, Common, Draconic, Giant, Ignan, Infernal, Terran SQ sound imitation Ecology Environment warm deserts Organization solitary Treasure triple standard Special Abilities Admixed Breath (Su) A dracolich can choose at will to deal half of the damage from its breath weapon as negative energy. Desert Thirst (Su) A blue dragon can cast create water at will (CL 28). Alternatively, it can destroy an equal amount of liquid in a 10-foot burst. Unattended liquids are instantly reduced to sand. Liquid-based magic items (such as potions) and items in a creature’s possession must succeed on a Will save (DC 33) or be destroyed. Electricity Aura (Su) A great wyrm blue dragon is surrounded by an aura of electricity. Creatures within 10 feet take 2d6 points of electricity damage at the beginning of the dragon’s turn. Gaze (Su) Range—30 ft.; Save—Will DC 33; effect paralyzed 2d6 rounds. A creature that has been exposed to a dracolich’s gaze, whether it passes or fails the save, cannot be affected by the gaze of that dracolich for the next 24 hours. Mirage (Su) A great wyrm blue dragon can make itself appear to be in two places at once as a free action for 28 rounds per day. This ability functions as project image but the dragon can use its breath weapon through the mirage. Rejuvenation (Su) When a dracolich’s physical body is destroyed, its soul moves into its phylactery. If there is a corpse of a creature with the dragon type within 60 feet of the phylactery, the soul moves into the corpse, transforming it into a new body for the dracolich in 1d10 days. If the phylactery is destroyed, the dracolich cannot use this ability. If the phylactery is destroyed while the dracolich is rebuilding a body, the dracolich is also destroyed. Sandstorm (Su) As a standard action, a great wyrm blue dragon can create a sandstorm centered on itself with a radius of 1,200 feet. Creatures other than the dragon inside the storm take 2d6 points of damage per round in addition to the normal sandstorm penalties (Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook 431). This sandstorm lasts for up to 1 hour, but can be dismissed by the dragon as a free action. Sound Imitation (Ex) A very young or older blue dragon can mimic any voice or sound it has heard by making a successful Bluff check against a listener’s Sense Motive check. Storm Breath (Su) A wyrm blue dragon can use its breath weapon to create a storm of lightning. This functions as call lightning storm but the damage is 24d8. The dragon can call down 1 bolt per round as a free action for 1d6 rounds. The save DC is 33. Additional uses of this ability extend the duration by an additional 1d6 rounds.

#dracolich #dragon #blue dragon #pathfinder 1e #D&D #forgotten realms #undead #creature template #commissions

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