Additional context the party only has one fullcaster and is otherwise very martial. The demilich also has access to powerful minions and traps.What spells would he prepare? Also I dont want to make it a full dungeon crawl so as little preamble as possible would be best leading up to the demilich
How would a demi-lich in its lair prepare for a level 18 party if he knows they are coming and also is aware of their capabilities.
AdviceI love this mindset. Dart traps degrade and are poorly aimed, a golem guardian that is actually just inactive, a few things still work for the challenge of it. Give the PCs an opportunity to trick or deceive the boss rather than fight.
It may actually not be a hugely difficult encounter but will be super memorable.
don't forget the "not originally a trap, but because it's falling apart, it now is" traps as well."
My personal favorite is "this was a trap, it triggered and killed something, so here's the very unhappy undead victim have fun"
"GO MY GOBLIN SERVANTS! SERVE YOUR MASTER!"
*a side door opens and a pile of bones from centuries dead goblins gently clatters to the floor*
"Oh for God's sake...."
Agreed, a Demi lich's entire thing is that it spends its time in torpor and stopped caring about the material plane unless disturbed. It is no longer a crafty foe with tons of contingencies and meticulous planning. It's prep was all done back when it was a lich and it probably doesn't bother to check on them, it's busy exploring the planes searching for deep secrets.
Traps are what have lasted or ancient experiments that have become unstable.
Creatures are either immortal guardians or things that have snuck in to try and learn from the lich's libraries or from its murmurs as it stirs in torpor.
"What, where are my Kobold guards? What do I allow them to live for?" (The guarding tribe wandered off centuries ago. He just never checked back or forgot he didn't find them the last three times he looked).
Or, he forgot that one time he suched them all dry for thier souls!
The Demi-lich is patient and extra careful, never wanting to take any risks.
So he just fucking Leaves lol.
He knows the parties coming so he takes whatever important valuables he has, his phylactery, and bolts.
He of course leaves behind all of his undead minions and trapped rooms to keep the party occupied but there's no way he's staying behind to fight them directly. You don't get to be a 1000 year old level 18 lich by fighting every scrappy human child that comes after you.
They definitely have more than one hideaway prepared.
I feel like that would be the wise thing to do. This lich became a demi-lich through carelessness. To me -2 wisdom screams complicated and genius plan to take down the adventurers.
"I CAME UP WITH A MASTERFUL PLAN AND WAS STILL THWARTED!" "Couldn't you just leave?" Lich jaw drops
That's a regular lich's thing. A Demi lich stopped caring about the world and spends its time in torpor projecting its mind across the planes in search of deep secrets, only really becoming aware of the material plane if someone disturbs it.
Even a regular lich probably wouldn't be quick to bolt. They are incredibly smart and calculating, but also incredibly arrogant. The PCs would have to be overwhelmingly powerful for the lich to decide to flee.
If the lich knows they're coming and considers them a threat, it would tailor additional defenses based on what it knows about them. It's a wizard with prep time and resources, the scariest thing in Pathfinder. It's not gonna assume the newest group of adventures to decide to hunt it down is going to succeed, the last group is probably serving as skeletal guards now.
If the lich is really worried, it would probably just send its phylactery somewhere safe and preps a good exit plan. Lairs take a lot of work to replace and that's time the lich doesn't get to spend on projects it actually cares about.
Bonus points if they leave a simulacrum and a fake copy of their Phylactery behind, just so the party has a chance to think they've won
Exactly this.
Your lich is in another castle.
It doesn't need to breathe and is immune to poison and disease. Make them fight it in an inhostpitable area, like a cavern that floods at the start of the fight with contaminated water.
Demiliches don't get to prepare or change spells.
They're not proper casters anymore, a demilich is not a desirable fate, it's a lich whose Soul Cage (phylactery) is gone and who spent too long doing nothing, aloowing their body to decay away and mind to wander.
The only spells they have beyond their innate ones are those from a single staff they absorbed as part of becoming a demilich.
They also get to trigger a contingency as soon as combat starts, then cast a spell as a free action each time their turn starts, so really don't need any prep.
A demilich doesn't even become aware of the world until something disturbs either the treasure it's resting on or the skull itself. They are not the sort of creature that has a well defended lair and actively prepares for a coming fight.
It sounds like you might be better off using an actual lich.
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polish up his soul gems. then single mindedly try to grab all the souls.
Using int I'd say they would likely prepare traps for example the rune trap ritual
My understanding of demi-liches is that they don't pay attention to the mundane world around them until something directly draws their focus back to it. Adventurers entering their home isn't enough, it's more like someone hitting them with a sword is required. So, I don't think the demi-lich will do anything at all. Whatever defenses were in place when the lich moved beyond the standard undead body into its mostly catatonic state while its spirit explores other realms, well, they're still in place and the party will need to deal with them.
They would plan some well hidden and strong spells meant to split the party.tempt them with potions that have a false identification of their effects. Like a hidden chest for employees only of vulnerability. (Cuz trusting a hidden chest with potions at endgame dungeon is smart) Then have a rival party fight them. Like make a replica of them at a lower level. Do not make them same level, you wanna burn their supplies not kill them fully. Knock them out if they would die to give a chance to escape or if that fails to be death, since a tpk would be a bad end this far along. Then depending on setup. Seen a game where they fought in space using naval combat rules. Then when barely making it planetside they had a base fortification made that could hold out for a certain amount of time while their allies were scattered and needed to be collected and powerful things to be found. (Like a potion that grants another 9th level spell slot, or a full restore) they had to split up with allies they brought with them to gather and return with their army for the final assault.
If your curious of the stream. High rollers dnd last about 5 or 6 episodes.
Gotta reward the culmination of their choices to give a chance, but also make it grit down to the teeth.
If you want a fun boss fight. Give the boss a second form elder ring style.
Demilichs are at -2 WIS from decaying mind and are focussed on grabbing souls to repower themselves.
I would say: It did preparations when it was still a full Lich. It is overly confident in those pre-existing preparations. But between faulty memory, arrogance in it's own intelligence and long inactivity, it might not be aware several of them have been spent, decayed or otherwise become lost.
"What, where are my Kobold guards? What do I allow them to live for?" (The guarding tribe wandered off centuries ago. He just never checked back or forgot he didn't find them the last three times he looked).
"Get off my lawn. I have a shotgun." (Isn't aware the wood of the shotgun has rotted and the powder decayed, making it unusable).