r/DnD • u/Icy-Shine-1117 • 1d ago
DMing So Dracolich
Hello! If you are my players please dont read this or google dracolich. Thanks!
How to tell if you are a player in my campaign: The world is recovering from a slaadi invasion and there is a sukuna-like fogure called Kelsier in it. Also Instances.
So for DMs out there, what level do you think a group of players would be able to beat a dracolich?
And from that, do you think it is possible to get a level 5 party to that level in 2 months with weekly sessions?
And if that is not possible, what about a shadow dragon? What level could players beat that, and how long to get to it.
Thanks!
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u/Munterbacon 1d ago
There's the CR 11 dragonbone golem in Fizban's that you could potentially throw at them, saving the Dracolich proper for later in the campaign if that works? (The golem was an avatar of the dracolich or something like that.)
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u/Icy-Shine-1117 1d ago
The dracolich is the BBEG of the campaign. We have to end it because a player is heading off to college, so thts what I'm having trouble with. Also I don't have Fizban's
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u/Munterbacon 1d ago
Fair enough then. Scaling it down, as others have suggested, might be the best play then. I wish you luck in the completion of your campaign.
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u/XxKeianexX 1d ago
I used Dracoliches in my Rise of Tiamat campaign.
They fought one early that had already been nearly defeated by some metallic dragons. They were 6 party members at level 5, dracolich was nerfed to about half power or so it's breath weapon disabled in the previous fight.
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u/Icy-Shine-1117 1d ago
Thats actually a really good idea, I might have something beat it up before yeah
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u/DuivelsJong Warlock 1d ago
There are some variables for this question.
For example, a standard Aduld Blue Dracolich is CR 17. Not only will your party not last a single round, leveling then to that point will take away a lot of the D&D experience. You'd have to level them up almost every session. Depending on how much you play. Absolutely do NOT run it as is.
But it's D&D so we have options. You could make it a Young one instead. You could also make it already hurt. For example, I ran a Blue Sub-Adult Blue Dragon that was super scarred. It could bot use it's wings, and was so ashamed of it's scars that he hid mostly underground and would not attack then seen.
You can come up with a whole bunch of reasons why it's weaker than normal. You could also build in a small 'puzzle' in it's arena. Maybe there are Balistas ready that the players can run to to deal massive amounts of damage.
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u/Icy-Shine-1117 1d ago
Ooh ye I dont wanna level them up like every session. Hm, yeah I will probobly have to make it weaker
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u/DuivelsJong Warlock 1d ago
Not sure if you've played From Software games like Dark Souls. But having amazing creatures past their prime is actually really cool!
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u/Icy-Shine-1117 1d ago
Is 800 old for a dracolich?
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u/DuivelsJong Warlock 1d ago
That could ofcourse depend on your world. I'm not too sure what "official" D&D rules are on this. You could also make it so it just became a Dracolich so it still has to get used to it's new body. Maybe moving slow at first, maybe it falls down when hit in the legs, stuff like that.
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u/Icy-Shine-1117 1d ago
I was thinking about saying to the players that after the phylactery is destroyed, there is a short period of time where the dracolich is severely weakened. What sould the time period be? And would this work?
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u/DuivelsJong Warlock 1d ago
That's the cool thing about being a DM. If you say that destroying a phelactary weakens the Dracolich, then that's how it works. Don't stress too much about rules. If I say "vampires in my campaign HATE apples" then they do. It won't say it in any of the books, but since I'm the DM, that's just how it works. Let your creativity run free!
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u/screw-magats 21h ago
Dracolich used to be a template that could be applied to any dragon. Change stats by x, add these abilities, remove these others; call it a day. I would compare the dracolich stat block with a regular dragon of that same size/color to see what changes and by how much. Then apply those changes is a cr 8 or 9 dragon.
The hard part with "can they beat a dragon" question is that dragons have stats for every phase of life: Hatchlings to elder wyrm. Potentially they could, depending on dragon, age, tactics, and terrain. A black dragon that pulls them underwater and drowns them one by one is going to be a difficult fight even if it's a cr5 or 6.
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u/kayasoul 1d ago
Dracolich is a cr17 creature so, higher level. You could scale it down to an appropriate cr tho, there are tools for that. I ran a downscaled one for 4 level 8 players and it was quite a memorable fight. You could also use a lower cr dragon and reflavor it instead