Dragon Lich Template

Some dragons seek to defy death, becoming undead dragon liches. Such a dragon channels its inherent magical nature into an arcane spark that grants it a semblance of life beyond death. Scales and flesh slough off the dragon lich, eventually leaving nothing but a skeletal dragon brooding over moldering treasure.

In order to become a dragon lich, a dragon must imbue its spirit into a soul vessel. The vessel is usually some treasured item from the dragon’s hoard, such as a particularly valuable gem or piece of jewelry. The dragon can’t bear to be apart from its soul vessel and keeps it close among its hoard. The only way to permanently defeat a dragon lich is to destroy both the dragon and the soul vessel.

Any adult or older dragon with spellcasting ability may become a dragon lich. Chromatic dragons most often become dragon liches. A dragon lich retains all the statistics of the original dragon except as noted below.

Type. The dragon’s type is Undead (dragon).

Breath Weapon. When the dragon uses a breath weapon that deals damage, half of its damage is the original damage type and half is necrotic damage.

Expanded Spell List. The dragon can cast animate dead  with no material components three times per day. An ancient or older dragon can cast create undead with no material components three times per day.

Immunities. The dragon gains immunity to necrotic and poison damage. It can’t be charmed , fatigued ,  frightened , paralyzed , or poisoned .

The dragon lich’s Legendary Resistance trait is replaced with the following:

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). When the dragon fails a saving throw , it can choose to succeed instead. When it does, it loses its Undead Telepathy trait until the end of its next turn. Until the end of its next turn, undead creatures under its control are incapacitated .

The dragon lich gains the following traits:

Rejuvenation. If it has a soul vessel, a destroyed dragon lich gains a new body in 1d10 days, regaining all its hit points. The new body forms within 10 feet of the soul vessel.

Turn Resistance. The dragon lich has advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead.

Undead Nature. A dragon lich doesn’t require air, sustenance, or sleep.

Undead Telepathy. The dragon lich can communicate telepathically with undead creatures within 120 feet.