D&D: The Path Of The Lich – Become An Undead Evil In Five Feats Or Fewer
The new Villainous Options Unearthed Arcana introduces a new concept to D&D: Paths to Villainy, which include five feats in Path of the Lich.
Technically, all you need to do to become a Lich is get to level 12 and pick three (of a possible five) feats, and you, too, can become one of the more terrifying monsters in the manual. Although you know, if you want to go all in on Lichdom, there’s a grand total of five different feats you can pick – at least that’s what WotC is exploring in a new feature called Paths to Villainy.
The Paths to Villainy are a new concept for D&D 5.5E, though looking at them, it sort of reminds me of a pseudo-prestige class in that they’re something you pick up as your character progresses, and you gain a few more features. It’s almost like putting a subclass on a subclass, Xzibit style, but without actually having to release the Lich as a subclass for, say, Wizard or something.
It’s actually a piece of design tech that WotC has played with before. In the Dragonlance adventure for 5E, Shadow of the Dragon Queen, WotC dabbled in feat chains that represented some of Dragonlance’s signature concepts like Mage of the Red Robes or Knight of Solamnia.
In older editions, these might have been Prestige Classes (3/3.5E) or Paragon Paths (4E). And in 5E (and now 5.5E), they were ways of mechanically representing something a little broader than a subclass, which could only ever apply to a single class.
And, truth be told, I like the idea, even if it does highlight some of the limitations of 5E and 5.5E’s design, which locks most of a PC’s customizability to choice of subclass or multiclassing. Especially if you’re trying to represent something a little weird.
Alright, that said, let’s take a look at one of the two new Paths to Villainy, D&D’s Path of the Lich.
D&D: Path of the Lich – Five Feats, One Ancient Evil
One thing I like is that the Path of Lichdom isn’t just a matter of taking the Feats. In order to take the first feat at all, you have to undertake a personal, profane ritual in order to bind your very own soul to a ‘spirit jar’ that will keep you returning to ‘life’ even if your body is destroyed. You might have to consume one hundred souls to strengthen your magic, or “corrupt your soul so completely no afterlife will accept it.”
In addition to being metal as hell, it also showcases that Liches aren’t good. And while they can vary in terms of their motivations and deeds (and even alignments) this is a path all about pursuing arcane power at the expense of your humanity.
Naturally you can start casting away your humanity at level 4. All you have to have, technically, is either the Spellcasting or Pact Magic feature and be a minimum of level 4. You also have to do your profane rite of some kind – though I think the rules could be clearer about where/when you have to do that. But the first feat in the chain, Lich Initiate means you create a ‘spirit jar’ (as well as increase one of your mental stats by +1).
In game terms, this is a tiny object of “great significance” to your character. You then anchor your soul to the jar after a Long Rest and gain the ability to consume the souls of the living to bolster your own power in the form of the Soul Siphon ability. Whenever you reduce a Humanoid enemy (so no eating your allies’ souls – which is actually pretty good for table cohesion) to 0 hit points, you can consume its soul, no action needed. Eating a soul fills you with arcane energy which you can use to deal an extra 1d6 + Spellcasting ability modifier Necrotic damage on your next turn.
It’s not really dramatic, but you’re only a Lichling. Not even – you’re an Initiate on the Path to Lichdom. But you’re on it. And that means you can take the other feats in the chain. You need a minimum of two Path of the Lich feats (including the Initiate feat) to take the final step in the path, so you only need to take one of the following three options:
- Arcane Restoration – Increase a mental stat by 1, and whenever you eat a soul with Soul Siphon, you can recover up to 4 levels of spell slots (in whatever configuration) once per Short or Long Rest
- Transfer Life – Increase a mental stat by 1, and whenever you use Soul Siphon, you can also choose a creature within 60 feet of yourself to gain bonus Temporary Hit Points, equal to your Proficiency Bonus + Spellcasting stat modifier
- Undead Grasp – You guessed it, increase a mental stat by 1, and also learn Chill Touch (or another cantrip if you already know Chill Touch); whenever you deal damage with Chill Touch you can spend a level 1+ spell slot to try to paralyze your target, dealing 1d10 per spell level extra Necrotic damage and leaving them Paralyzed if the target fails a Con save
Once you’ve done that (and possibly completed your Profane Rite), you can then take Lich Ascension. You must be at least level 12 (which tracks – older editions of the game used to require you to be a spellcaster of at least 11th level) and have two other Path of the Lich feats. When you complete your dark ascension you gain several benefits.
First you become fully Undead, no longer qualifying as a humanoid. You also increase a mental stat by 1, gain resistance to Necrotic and Poison Damage, as well as stop taking Exhaustion from not drinking, eating, or breathing. Fear becomes second nature to you, so you gain the Fear spell and can cast it up to your Spellcasting ability modifier times per Long Rest without spending a spell slot. But most importantly, if you’re killed, you reform in 1d10 days at full health next to your Spirit Jar.
All in all, it’s not a bad idea. And you certainly feel like a Lich more and more with each feat you take. I think it sells the core idea quite nicely. But WotC wants to know what you think – and you can tell them by taking the survey at the link below.
What do you think of D&D’s Path of the Lich?
