The Nagash, the Lich

Liches are what remains of powerful spellcasters who embrace the power of necromancy by being corrupted by its sweet delights or as a means of achieving immortality. Gaunt and skeletal, liches are the dead that walk and rule. These princes of undeath are tremendously feared throughout the realms of Orbis. Good fortune has it that only few have ever existed. Most notably the Lich King. But as the world enters into a new era of uncertainty where powerful arcanists further their own ambitions for power, the long feared and mythical may return. The Nagash may rule once again.

Class Features
Prerequisites: The ability to eventually cast 9th level spells.

Hit Points

 * Hit Dice: d6
 * Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d6 (or 4) + your Constitution Modifier per lich level after 1st

Proficiencies

 * Armor: None
 * Weapons: None
 * Tools: None
 * Saving Throws: None
 * Skills: None

Lichdom
At 1st level, upon becoming a lich, you gain the following traits, weaknesses and actions.

Traits

 * Your Intelligence or Charisma score becomes 18, and your Wisdom and Constitution scores become 16.
 * Damage Resistances: cold, lightning and necrotic. Bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks.
 * Damage Immunities: Poison
 * Condition Immunities: Poisoned
 * Undead Nature: Your creature type changes to undead. You don't require air, food, drink or sleep.


 * Phylactery: As a lich, you have successfully torn your soul from your physical body and trapped it in a suitable object. The object must be a trinket or item no larger than 1 square foot in size and must be somewhat hallow. This item becomes your phylactery. A phylactery is also a conduit for you to utilize souls that you capture.  While a soul, that isn't yours, is stored in your phylactery, it is considered charged. These are "soul charges". Its soul charge level is equal to the CR of all the creatures whose souls you have captured. The souls of creatures with a CR less than 1/2 are not powerful enough to charge your phylactery. Your phylactery has a maximum soul charge limit of 25.   If you are killed and your phylactery has 1 soul charge and is on the same plane of existence. A charge is consumed and your body is magically reconstructed 5ft from your phylactery 1d8 days later. If you are killed and have no remaining charges in your phylactery, you instead reanimate as a Demilich under the DM's control. (Your character has perished)  If your phylactery is reduced to 0 hit points, your soul is lost. You crumble to dust and are killed outright. No known way exists to resurrect you. Not even a wish spell.   Your phylactery has the following statistics:
 * Armor Class: 17
 * Hit Points: 20 + twice your character level
 * Damage Immunities: poison, psychic, bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from non-magical attacks.
 * Damage Resistances: necrotic, cold, thunder, lightning, fire

Weaknesses

 * Lifebane: When a creature casts a spell or uses a feature that restores hit points to you, you instead gain that many temporary hit points. Should these features or spells come from a good aligned divine source, they have no effect on you.
 * Consuming Rejuvenation: As an undead creature that has its own soul stored away in a phylactery, your body cannot heal and rejuvenate its energy on its own anymore. Whenever you take a short rest, you must consume a soul charge to use hit die. One soul charge is equal to 2 hit die. When you choose to take a long rest, you must expend 1 soul charge to gain the benefits of a long rest.

Actions

 * Paralyzing Touch: Melee Spell Attack, proficiency + spellcasting ability modifier to hit, reach 5ft, one creature. 3d6 cold damage. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. You must expend 2 soul charges to use this feature.
 * Siphon the Grave: As an action, you can concentrate for 1 minute to siphon souls away from up to 5 dead creatures within 60ft of you. Your phylactery gains a number of soul charges equal to the total CR of all the souls after you finish concentrating on this feature.

Continued Spellcasting
When you gain a level in this cursed class. Instead of progressing in the usual way as you would a regular cursed class (as if multiclassing) instead your spellcasting feature starts scaling based on the combined levels of lich and your regular base class. Whether it be wizard, sorcerer etc. Reason for this is the design of the lich is tied to spell casters and by doing this ensures the spell progression stays the same as you would normally.

Master of the Grave
Masters of the Grave command legions of undead. Favoring a soldier that does not need to rest or eat.

Puppet Master: At 2nd level, undead creatures that you animate and raise from the dead with spells or abilities become permanently under your control. Additionally, other creatures cannot gain control of undead creatures you have raised. Additionally, if you do not already know the Animate dead spell, you do and always have it prepared when you have access to 3rd level spells.

Lord of Death: At 5th level, whenever a creature within 30ft of you is reduced to 0 hit points, you may use your reaction to immediately reanimate it from the dead under your command. At the beginning of its next turn is when it reanimates, following your verbal commands. Additionally, when a creature under your control is reduced to 0 hit points, it may immediately move up to its full speed and make an attack before dying. This has no effect if they were reduced to 0 hit points by radiant damage.

Master of the Arcane
Masters of the Arcane relay on their powerful magics to manipulate souls to dominate and rain carnage.

Soul Flare: At 2nd level, when you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a spell or cantrip that deals necrotic or cold damage, you can use your reaction to immediately cause the soul of the creature to erupt. Every creature within the a 15ft radius of the detonation must make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC, taking necrotic damage equal to twice the CR of the creature slain + your spellcasting ability modifier, or half the amount of damage on a successful save.. You can choose to originate the soul detonation from the slain creature, or yank the soul to yourself and have the radius originate from you.

Soul Hurricane: At 5th level, you can cause the souls in your phylactery to leave and surround yourself in an arcane whirlwind of souls. When you cast a spell that requires concentration, you can expend up to 4 soul charges to swirl around you in a damaging aura. Each soul charge expended increases the radius by 5ft. Every creature that starts its turn within your aura takes necrotic damage equal to your character level. This aura persists while you are concentrating on the spell. However, the DC to maintain concentration increases to from 10 to 12, or half the damage taken, which ever is higher.

Advanced Lichdom
At 3rd level, the effects lichdom has on you becomes harder to maintain but promises more power if you succumb to its needs.

Traits

 * Your Wisdom and Constitution scores becomes 18, but your Dexterity and Strength scores are reduced by 2
 * Condition Immunities: Exhaustion, Charmed, Frightened
 * Turn Resistance: You have advantage on saving throws against any effects that turns undead.
 * Phylactery: The maximum soul charge limit for your phylactery increases to 35.

Weaknesses

 * Advanced Lifebane: Now should healing from a good aligned divine source, you take damage equal to half of the hit points restored.
 * Soul Hunger: This feature replaces your Consuming Rejuvenation feature. Now during a short or long rest you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw DC 10 or your character level, which ever is higher, to force yourself to not indulge further souls than you need. Should you fail this saving throw, the soul charge cost increases by 2 souls. But you gain no additional benefits from the extra souls.

Actions

 * Harvest for Life: As an action, you can harvest the souls of the dead to revitalize yourself. You heal 1d6 hit points for for every slain creature within 30ft of you. The creature must have been slain in the last minute for the soul to be potent enough to instantaneously heal you. Once a slain creature is used in this way, you cannot siphon its soul for your phylactery and its soul is consumed by you.

Secret Privilege
At 4th level, you choose a privilege to further increase in power and capability in becoming a full lich.

Occult Curator
Occult Curators gather and horde as much knowledge as possible. Often keeping their finding secret from others. Compendium: You gain proficiency in the Arcana and History skills. If you already have proficiency, your proficiency bonus for these skills are doubled. All necromancy spells are added to your spell list. If you are a wizard, you learn and always have prepared two necromancy spells of your choice for which you have spell slots available. Every time you increase in level, you may choose to replace up to two spells granted by this feature with others.

Rector
Rectors gather followers, alive and dead, and bestow upon their servants magical teachings to further their goals.

Circle of Disciples: Should you raise a creature from the dead that once was a spellcaster, they instead raise as an undead Thayan Apprentice. You control them like a regular undead.

Skull Lord
Skull Lords utilize the excess souls in their phylactery to aid them in their study and tedious tasks.

Skull Servants: As long as you have 3 soul charges in your phylactery, you may have up to 3 unseen servants indefinitely as long as the souls remain in your phylactery. However these unseen servants are visible, spectral skulls. But follow the other rules of the Unseen Servant spell.

Royal Nagash
Legends say that the Lich King had a personal bodyguard of liches that were known as the Royal Nagash. They were formidable in a fight.

Armor of Nagash: You learn the Armor of Agathys spell.