Death Caster

Medium undead, any evil

Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points 202 (27d8 + 81)
Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
11 (+0)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)	18 (+4)	14 (+2)	16 (+3)

Saving Throws Con +8, Wis +7
Skills Arcana +9, Perception +7
Damage Resistances Cold, Lightning, Necrotic
Damage Immunities poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned
Senses passive Perception 17
Languages Common, plus up to three other languages, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 13 (33,000 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +5

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Ethereal Sight. The death caster can see 120 feet into the Ethereal Plane when it is on the Material Plane, and vice versa.
• Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the death caster fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
• Master of the Dead. The death caster can have any number of animated dead and ignores the time restrictions of the spell. For each Undead it has under its control, its hit point maximum is reduced by 5. Undead under direct control of the death caster gain +4 to attack and damage rolls and gain an additional 10 feet of movement speed. Whenever an Undead under the control of the death caster dies, the death caster regains 5 of its maximum hit points and then regains 10 hit points.
• Turn Resistance. The death caster has advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns Undead.
• Unusual Nature. The death caster doesn’t require air, food, or drink.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The death caster can cast a spell and use Ethereal Touch or use Ethereal Touch three times.
• Ethereal Touch. Melee Spell Attack: +12 to hit, reach 20 ft., one creature. Hit: 11 (3d6) necrotic damage. The target must roll a d20. On a roll of 9 or lower, the creature gains a Mark of Death. If the creature has three Marks of Death, it immediately dies. A creature with three Marks of Death cannot regain hit points or be resurrected. A remove curse spell can remove all marks from a creature.
• Spellcasting. The death caster can cast one of the following spells, using Intelligence as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 17):
• At will: detect magic, animate dead, prestidigitation
• 2/day each: antilife shell, blight, spirit shroud (necrotic or cold only)
• 1/day each: circle of death, finger of death, power word pain

BONUS ACTIONS

• Ethereal Shift. The death caster’s body dissolves into a puddle of roting sludge and the spirit enters the Border Ethereal, becoming incorporeal. It is visible on the Material Plane while it is in the Border Ethereal, and vice versa. While incorporeal, it cannot attack creatures unless they are on the Ethereal Plane, and it can’t affect or be affected by anything on the other plane. In this state, the death caster can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain, and it does not provoke opportunity attacks. The death caster takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.

ABOUT

The path to lichdom is fraught with peril and those who fail to complete the trials end up as incomplete abominations of undeath. One of these abominations has earned the name death caster, a spectral master of undeath who converts any deceased Humanoids into its thralls and can snuff out life with just a touch.

Master of the Dead The death caster can command legions of Undead, placing a piece of its essence in each Undead it resurrects. Those Undead gain unnatural speed and aggression, easily overpowering towns and villages that are in the death caster’s path. Those who die and don’t become the thralls of the death caster rise as wandering Undead, forming dangerous hordes that seek and attempt to destroy all nearby life.

Dark Magic The death caster has many dark powers that it used to rapidly kill masses of innocents, such as its ability to create a swarm of undeath around it or circles of necrotic energy that snuff out life. When challenged, the death caster creates an area of anti-life around it that only the dead can enter. Most terrifyingly of all, the death caster can send its ethereal hands forward and mark living creatures with its rune of death. When the rune is completed upon a creature’s flesh, they instantly die.