Lich Please!: My Undying Warlock Necromancer Guide

[LichPlease]

Warning: This is a very long guide to one archetype as I like to ramble and rant. Please do not comment about anything that does not relate back to the Undying Patron. Constructive criticism is very welcome. Overbearing try-hard over-optimization is not. Other than that, I hope you enjoy.

I have never written a “guide” or even really started a threat about D&D/Pathfinder since I tend to leave that to those with more experience, but I have been very bothered for a while now with how the Undying Patron for the Warlock has been overall ignored, misunderstood and underrated. Not only that, but people also seem to have a tendency to not realize how an Undying Warlock can make for a legit necromancer and they tend to go straight to untested homebrewing, which I am for to an extent, but I prefer an official source for balance (I know there are exceptions in both cases).

So, I decided to finally speak up for the Undying as I recently had a very successful experience with a Fighter 1/Undying Warlock 9 by single handedly defeating a Dire Troll (CR 13). I did have some ideal equipment (Weapon +3, Armor +1, Shield +2, Rod of the Pact Keeper +3, Ring of Spell Storing and Cloak of Protection) and I know 5e monsters are on the weak side, but I did not know what I was going up against and I was very close to dying……but true to the patron’s name, I just would not die.

Here’s how that fight went:
- I started with having a level 5 Bestow Curse (no concentration) loaded into my Ring of Spell Storing via Sign of Ill Omen and activated Cloak of Flies before initiative was rolled. Cloak of Flies ended up being useless due to poison immunity. I also cast Death Ward a few hours before the fight, so I could still get another short rest in.
- The Dire Troll went first on initiative and look 5 attacks on me. I think I dropped to half health in that one round.
- I took my chances and cast the level 5 Bestow Curse targeting Con. saves and the troll failed his save.
- The troll took another 5 attacks and put me into single digits.
- I used my Second Wind to buffer my health just a bit and successfully hit with Contagion, selecting Slimy Doom.
- The troll took another 5 attacks. My Death Ward absorbed a hit but the next attacks went through
and put me down. The troll, with disadvantage on Con. saves, failed his first save against Contagion.
- I failed my first death save and passed my turn. A party member offered to interfere and heal me, but I insisted he not because I needed this build/patron to prove itself to me.
- The troll believed me to be dead, so it passed its turn and failed another save against Contagion.
- I made my next death save, triggering Deny Death for 9 hp and got up and dodged.
- The troll took 5 attacks and missed each due to dodge. It failed its third save against Contagion and contracted Slimy Doom.
- I then proceeded to do probably the most irresponsible thing in this fight and instead of just casting Eldritch Blast to have a better chance of dealing damage and triggering the stun effect of Slimy Doom, I casted Enervation. Luckily, the troll failed the Dex. save and the fight is won as the troll is stun locked from me automatically draining its health every turn with Enervation.


So, is this character broken? I really don’t think so. I wasn’t trying to build a broken character. I believe a bit of luck was involved and I was probably a bit more than adequately equipped. But does that also mean that the Undying Warlock is actually weak? No way! In fact, I didn’t use any of the go-to abilities most people seem to rely on for their Warlocks and instead took advantage of abilities that a lot of people frown upon or avoid. So, all that being said, I am going to go over my opinion of the spells and features of the Undying Warlock, other base Warlock spells and invocations that are a good fit for a necromancer Warlock, multiclassing options for an Undying Warlock and a couple example builds showing how the Warlock can be a viable necromancer on its own.

A few last issues to address. Some people think a necromancer is always and only about raising undead. As much as I agree that undeath is a major theme of necromancers, I find that a proper necromancer could ignore the undead entirely and focus only on curses and debuffs. I say this because debuffs will be heavily emphasized and I think along with being difficult to kill, the Undying Warlock seems to specialize in debuffs.

Finally, a lot of people haven’t quite gotten used to how WotC has tried to give the players and DMs more liberties with the rules and stuff by simplifying and generalizing things. Whereas 3e/Pathfinder has a ton of spells, many of which are just very slight variations of each other, 5e seems to have one spell for one thing and then we should feel free to color those spells/abilities however we see fit when it will not affect the game mechanically. So, I encourage players in the future to try to take this into consideration and make little changes here and there so you can flavor the game to suit your needs and get more value out of the game.

Undying Patron Spells:

1st Level:

False Life – Ok, so, after all my talking up the Undying Warlock, the 1st level spells are pretty lame, ESPECIALLY False Life. False Life is mostly STRICTLY WORSE than Armor of Agathys. I don’t even think it really has any sway in terms of flavor except for it being a necromancy spell versus AoA being abjuration.

Ray of Sickness – It’s not as dramatically worse than other base Warlock spells and it’s got a good theme and feel too it, but yeah….it’s easily out classed by other Warlock spells that can still hold to the right theme.

2nd Level:

Blindness/Deafness – I REALLY wish this was as good as the Pathfinder version, but that would be broken all to hell. Deafness in 5e is almost entirely useless. Blindness would almost be not worth it but when its number of targets scales with spell level, it’s pretty alright. I take it just because I like debuffs and it’s on theme. I really wish it didn’t allow consecutive saves. Choosing this or not is pretty much all personal preference.

Silence – I know this is a great spell, but I don’t use it because I don’t want to take the chance of not allowing myself to cast spells.

3rd Level:

Feign Death – Again, 3rd level spells for the Undying Warlock are not very supportive of my argument. Feign Death seems like it would be GREAT in the right situation, but it’s a little too situational. Also, this is a ritual spell, so it can be learned through Book of Ancient Secrets. Let me know if you find a great regular use for this.


Speak with Dead – This is great utility for advancing the plot and finding clues and is very on theme. In fact, this spell is the very definition of necromancy. That being said, if you can afford it, take the Whispers of the Grave invocation instead to cast this at-will and learn a different spell.

4th Level:

Aura of Life – Alright, this here is, to me, one of the big selling points as well as one of the most misunderstood aspects of the Undying Warlock. People tend to confuse the Undying Patron with a healer archetype. I think this is mostly due to confusing the Undying Patron with the Undying LIGHT patron from UA, but also because, yes, the Undying Warlock does have spells and abilities that heal. However, this Warlock should not be viewed as an alternative to the Life Domain Cleric. It is supposed to be a necromancer. Aura of Life shouldn’t be seen as some weird out of place Paladin spell that blesses your party with life giving positive energy. No. You might as well call this spell Aura of Unlife. Do you know why the Undying Warlock didn’t get Animate Dead other than it being an arguably broken spell for the Warlock? Because, who needs to raise a bunch of chump zombies when you can reanimate your own fallen comrades over and over and over again. Yeah, sure you don’t have control over your team and they only come back with 1 hp each time, but whatever. It’s also fun when your party is in range of Aura of Life while also stuck in an AoE like Cloud of Daggers. At that point they practically are undead in that they’re not really dead, they’re not really alive and they’re existence is, at the moment, meaningless and miserable.

Death Ward – This spell is great. Lasts 8 hours. Requires no concentration. Take a few short rests at the beginning of the day to cast on each party member and save everyone from an instant kill or going down once.

5th Level:

Contagion: This is good. It’s great. It’s one of my favorite spells and is a lot more usable than the 3e/Pathfinder version. Will the fight be practically over by the time it takes effect? Maybe. But when it takes effect, WOW!

Legend Lore – I haven’t used it yet, but I can definitely see the potential of it if your DM isn’t stingy with information. I would have been happy with something else like Cloudkill or Insect Plague, but I’ll deal.

Features:

Among the Dead – Spare the Dying, resistance to disease, and pseudo-protection from undead. I’m happy with that at 1st level.

Defy Death – I do wish this ability was once per short rest instead of per long rest but combined with Death Ward and whatever other spells or abilities you want to use, you will be very hard to kill for a caster.

Undying Nature – At this point, congratulations, you’re pretty much undead. Nothing too mechanically significant but it’s nice for when your DM enforces rules about eating and sleeping or you just like to brag to your party that you can all beat them at fasting or going without sleep. Also, maybe go take a stroll on the ocean floor. You can find many uses for this if you think about it.

Indestructible Life – Another healing ability to emphasize to your enemies that it would be more productive for them to yield or retreat because you are just not going down. This is also fun to use as part of an intimidation check when you cut off a limb in front of your victim and laugh maniacally as you reattach it shortly after. This sort of act combined with the advantage on intimidate with Cloak of Flies should be counted as an automatic critical success if that’s a thing in your game. What’s better is the one actually recharges on a short rest.

Base Warlock Spells:

Since a lot of spells are obviously good or useful choices no matter what sort of Warlock you play, I am only going to go over the base Warlock spells that I find particularly ideal/flavorful for a creepy necromancer build.

Chill Touch – It’s necromancy and it deals necrotic damage. What’s more is it does decent damage for a cantrip on top of preventing healing for a turn and it gives you a bit of protection against affected undead.

Poison Spray – In some ways this seems to be pretty on theme, but it only deals damage. It’s good damage, but when you’re limited on cantrip choices, it’s probably better to go with Toll the Dead.

Frostbite – There are times when I envision a necromancer having an affinity for cold damage and I like this spell because it also imposes a nice disadvantage on its victim’s next weapon attack.

Infestation – I really want to like this spell because it’s gross and creepy, but it’s really bad. Then again, sometimes flavor beats mechanics. Another spell that I’d like to hear some positive input on.

Toll the Dead – This may not be my go-to cantrip for a Warlock because, duh, Eldritch Blast. However, this does some great damage for a cantrip, and it has the advantage over Poison Spray because necrotic damage is resisted less often.

Witch Bolt – Another spell I really want to like simply based on something as meaningless as its name, yet it is mostly terrible. If you want to get your Emperor Palpatine on, go for it.

Cause Fear – A necromancy control spell. I personally don’t like fear spells because I feel less in control when my enemies start running around out of range of my party. I see it as mostly a temporary solution to recover from a bad situation.

Darkness – Some necromancers like to work with shadow, so this can be justified beyond the obvious combo with Devil’s Sight.

Hold Person – If you know about Ghoul Touch, this is pretty much the generalized version of it. Maybe try to get your DM to modify it a bit to give it a range of touch in exchange for a similar effect to Stinking Cloud but with a smaller radius and you have Ghoul Touch.

Ray of Enfeeblement – I want to like this, but I think it’s been too watered down since previous versions. A monster that is using strength for attacks is probably very competent in Con. saves and since it allows consecutive saves I usually pass on this.

Spider Climb – This is great utility and easy to get creepy with.

Fear – See Cause Fear.

Gaseous Form – The scene in Bram Stoker’s Dracula when the titular character turns into a green mist comes to mind.

Vampiric Touch – A weaker Enervation with a range of touch.

Blight – I love the theme of this one, but I avoid this on a Warlock since it only targets one creature and spell slots are as limited as they are. That’s not to say this is a bad choice by any means. It’s just not for me.

Shadow of Moil – If your Undying Warlock is going with Pact of the Blade, this is pretty much a must have. This combined with Devil’s Sight (if even necessary – is this considered magical darkness?) and Armor of Agathys is awesome. Plus it’s a necromancy spell so it’s on theme.

Sickening Radiance – Mechaically, I don’t really like how it deals radiant damage and it’s not even a necromancy spell. However, the description of the spell on top of it being an AoE DoT spell that imposes exhaustion over time makes this awesome for an Undying Warlock.

Hold Monster – See Hold Person (though technically Ghoul Touch wouldn’t affect non-humanoids so….maybe don’t).

Danse Macabre – I am sort of surprised XGtE didn’t have an invocation similar to Sign of Ill Omen that would let you cast Animate Dead once a day. I am still expecting something along those lines in the future, but I also wouldn’t be surprised or too disappointed if that didn’t happen. Danse Macabre is all a Warlock necromancer really needs if they want to reanimate some bodies. Yes, it is mostly worse than Animate Dead, but if you want a horde of zombies bad enough, just multiclass into Divine Soul Sorcerer and get an unnecessarily large number of undead under your control. Seriously, I did the calculations. If you want all the zombies, do this. It’s by far the most zombies you can have under you control. Otherwise, learn to settle with this because it’s probably one of the most reasonable ways a Warlock should be raising the undead.

Enervation – I was curious before XGtE how WotC would implement negative levels if they even brought back Enervation. They simply didn’t, but this is still a great use of a spell slot for a Warlock necromancer.

Negative Energy Flood – Again, my spells slots are too valuable for me to justify single target damage. That and this just makes me wish Inflict Wounds also healed undead like it used to. The zombie it creates is out of your or anyone else’s control. If you just love zombies and don’t care, go for it I guess.

Circle of Death – It’s mostly just a Fireball that deals necrotic damage, but it also has a larger radius so it can affect more enemies. However, for a 6th level spell…..it’s meh.

Create Undead – Considering, as a Warlock, your spells will stop scaling at this point, this is another spell that is primarily for those necromancers that just have to desecrate and raise all the bodies. I did find that a nice combo with this spell is Demiplane. Create some ghouls, put them in the Demiplane and just stockpile them until you’re ready to release them all. Then get out of the way because you have now unleashed a swarm of hungry uncontrolled ghouls into the world.

Eyebite – I like to see this as a parallel to the hexes for the Pathfinder Witch. However, the Witch is lucky enough to get these sort of abilities at-will all day every day at level 1. Going off topic real quick, I really wish they made Hex a better debuff instead of just extra damage and disadvantage on ability checks….. Anyway, it takes forever to obtain, but I think this is my preference for the first Mystic Arcanum.

Soul Cage – This is evil and creepy and great utility. Definitely one of the better 6th level spell options for a Warlock necromancer. Also, you can pretty much think of this as your phylactery refill spell.

Finger of Death – Aww yeah! I know the logic of my judgement of this spell is very unsound since I have never actually used it and it is a single target damage spell which I have already stated I avoid, but this is a lot of damage and you may possibly get a zombie permanently under your control. If your DM is giving you a lot of downtime and you can find enough victims, this is a great way to build an army of undead.

Power Word Pain – It’s not a necromancy spell, but as I have said, I find that any debuff that makes your opponent miserable is still on theme. I really hate consecutive saves on spells at this high of a level, but it is what it is and overall this is pretty damn good.

Demiplane – See Create Undead.

Feeblemind – Another great debuff, especially against any casters that rely on intelligence or charisma . Also, it has a duration that may as well be permanent for most enemies you’ll be fighting.

Maddening Darkness – Flavorful for the same reason as Darkness, but it also acts as an AoE DoT. Definitely worth a consideration.

Astral Projection – I always saw this as more akin to a conjuration teleportation spell. It’s necromancy but I’m just not feeling it. If anyone can come up with a legit creepy use for it let me know.

Power Word Kill – Another single target “damage” (really just instant kill) spell. It’s surprisingly not necromancy and it’s technically not a debuff (though death is kind of the ultimate debuff) but when it works…..

Invocations:

Again, I’m going to go ahead and skip over all the invocations that are easy choices or have great overall utility but lack the proper theme. That cut’s it down to three invocations.

Sign of Ill Omen – Bestow Curse is another spell that I think would be broken if it was simply put on the Warlock spell list. I would love for it to be just another spell known because I think it is thematically the perfect spell for every Warlock, but once you’ve gotten to the point of no longer needing to concentrate on it, having access to at least 2 castings every short rest would become maybe a bit too powerful. Level 9 is a good time to take this as you will be casting it as a 5th level spell. Try to use it wisely on the biggest monster of the day. When it lands and when used correctly, it is devastating.

Whispers of the Grave – I think this is the third time I’ve said this but: Speak with the Dead is the literal meaning of necromancy. This invocation makes it at-will and it can be a consistently useful spell as long as you’re regularly killing things.

Cloak of Flies – I mainly like to choose this just for the creepy grossness of it but advantage on intimidate and DoT in your immediate area is cool too.

Multiclassing:

Barbarian – Barbarian + any caster class = probably a bad idea. If you do it just right though, you may have one of the most durable characters.

Bard – Honestly, I think Lore Bards can make decent necromancers all on their own and splitting between Bard and Warlock probably wouldn’t be very synergistic beyond both being charisma casters. Also, this is a good opportunity to mention how I think it’s incredibly bizarre that Bards did not receive DANSE Macabre on their spell list.

Cleric – I don’t see much of a point to dip into Death Cleric or any other cleric. Death Clerics seem to focus mainly on necrotic damage and the Warlock is dealing enough damage on its own and already has plenty of access to necrotic damage. Plus, casting stats are going to make this multiclass MAD.

Druid – Another MAD multiclass that has to split between casting stats. Also, until they make the Circle of Spores Druid official (I can’t wait!) I see very little to no point to this multiclass.

Fighter – This is great to dip a few levels into if you’re going with the Pact of the Blade. In fact, this combination makes the Oathbreaker Paladin somewhat obsolete.

Monk – Way of Shadow? Way of the Long Death? I don’t know. If you want it bad enough, I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it work.

Paladin – I know some people love their Paladin/Warlock combo but I just don’t care for it. It’s probably my disdain for Paladins in general. Oathbreaker can be a great one to multiclass into, but as I said before, dipping into Fighter is probably just as good if not better.

Ranger – I’m not even going to try to make any sense of this combination, but if you want to do me a favor, go for it. I’m always up to hear how someone could pull off a seemingly impossible/horrible concept. Gloom Stalker maybe?

Rogue – I haven’t ever actually written up a character based on this idea but….. an assassin who murders off entire communities with disease and undeath without anyone suspecting them? Definitely seems more like an NPC villain concept.

Sorcerer – For a necromancer, I have the Divine Soul Sorcerer in mind. If you still don’t understand how this combination will net you the greatest number of undead, look up coffeelock. This combination is broken enough that WotC may as well just give the Warlock Animate Dead, Bestow Curse and whatever other spell that would be busted with the Warlock’s short rest recharge at this point.

Wizard – Not as synergistic as the coffeelock and a bit MAD. The Wizard however has access to so many spells, this could definitely be worth it. Plus, since I’m pushing the Undying Warlock, your wizard may now actually get access to Contagion (yet another small issue I have with 5e).

Sample Builds:

“Arch-Lich Wannabe”

Class:
Warlock – Undying Patron 10

Race:
Variant Human

Background: Sage

Ability Scores:
STR – 8 DEX – 14 CON – 16 INT – 12 WIS – 8 CHA – 18

Skill Proficiencies:
Arcana, History, Intimidation, Perception, Religion

Feats:
War Caster, Resilient (CON)

Pact Boon:
Pact of the Tome

Invocations:
Agonizing Blast, Armor of Shadows, Book of Ancient Secrets, Sign of Ill Omen, Whispers of the Grave

Spells:
Cantrips – Eldritch Blast, Toll the Dead, Spare the Dying, Frostbite, Chill Touch, Resistance, Thaumaturgy
1st Level – Hex, Armor of Agathys
2nd Level – Blindness/Deafness
3rd Level – Dispel Magic
4th Level – Aura of Life, Death Ward, Sickening Radiance
5th Level – Contagion, Danse Macabre, Enervation
+ Whatever ritual spells I can afford

This guy is about as close to a true full on necromancer a Warlock can get without multiclassing.

“Death Knight”

Class:
Fighter 1 (at level 1)/Warlock – Undying Patron 9

Race:
Variant Human

Background: Soldier

Ability Scores:
STR – 16 DEX – 8 CON – 14 INT – 10 WIS – 8 CHA – 16

Skill Proficiencies:
Arcana, Athletics, Intimidation, Perception, Religion

Feats:
War Caster, Great Weapon Master, Polearm Master

Fighting Style:
Great Weapon Fighting

Pact Boon:
Pact of the Blade

Invocations:
Agonizing Blast, Devil’s Sight, Sign of Ill Omen, Thirsting Blade, Cloak of Flies

Spells:
Cantrips – Green-Flame Blade, Eldritch Blast, Toll the Dead, Spare the Dying
1st Level – Hex, Armor of Agathys
2nd Level – Blindness/Deafness
3rd Level – Dispel Magic
4th Level – Aura of Life, Death Ward, Shadow of Moil, Sickening Radiance
5th Level – Contagion, Enervation

This one, though very similar in spell selection has the option of going into melee at the cost of versatility via spell selection. I fight with a glaive and style it as a scythe when I’m not using a shield and a Rod of the Pact Keeper for spell slinging. Due to his access to heavy armor and shields on top of the Undying abilities, his survivability is very high. Other alternative options could make him even more unkillable such as going Half-Orc. His main weakness is probably his low Spell Save DC. Get yourself something that raises it or use something that drops your enemies' saves.

I hope you enjoyed this guide. Thank you for reading.

[Specter]

Nice. While Undying isn't a hard number-cruncher, it's a cool concept, and a resilient one.

You're right on the money with that Fighter level; it can get you 21AC with plate, a shield and Defense. Another caster level (or Eldritch Knight) could land you Shield too.

[sophontteks]

Awesome. I love guides for obscure or path-less-traveled concepts. If you do not mind the critique, you tend to go off on tangents and your point gets lost in them.

Aura of life is the best example. You lost your point completely in a big runoff paragraph.

I think if you bold what you have underlined it woupd be easier to flip from section to section, and then underline every item you are listing. Colors would be great as well of course.

Great wealth of info here. Its a little hard to read but its clear you spend a ton of work on it and are very passionate about the subject. Thanks for giving the Undying a fair chance.

[MaxWilson]

Warning: This is a very long guide to one archetype as I like to ramble and rant. Please do not comment about anything that does not relate back to the Undying Patron. Constructive criticism is very welcome. Overbearing try-hard over-optimization is not. Other than that, I hope you enjoy.

Sorcerer – If you still don’t understand how this combination will net you the greatest number of undead, look up coffeelock. This combination is broken enough that WotC may as well just give the Warlock Animate Dead, Bestow Curse and whatever other spell that would be busted with the Warlock’s short rest recharge at this point.

I hope you enjoyed this guide. Thank you for reading.

I did appreciate your point about Aura of Life's utility, and I enjoyed the guide. Nitpick: Animate Dead is not a sorcerer spell, so Coffeelocks are no better at raising hordes of undead than pure warlocks are. In either case you still need to MC into some other class to get access to the spell.

[LichPlease]

Thanks for the comments and input so far!

To Specter: Yes, if I were to go further into fighter (Action Surge alone is a great reason to) it would be difficult to pick an archetype. More spells is always nice. Having the option of Shield brings to mind how Hexblade can also be seen as a viable way of making a Warlock necromancer due to the hexes and Accursed Specter. The spell list is overall too much of a turn off for me though.

To sophontteks: Apologies for the run ons. It's always been a bad habit of mine in my writing. I will make make changes based on some of your suggestions but I have chosen to avoid color coding things as I have a hard time making a firm judgement on some things.

To MaxWilson: Thank you for pointing out that the Sorcerer doesn't usually have Animate Dead on their spell list. I should have specified that it would have to be a Divine Soul Sorcerer.

[sophontteks]

I did appreciate your point about Aura of Life's utility, and I enjoyed the guide. Nitpick: Animate Dead is not a sorcerer spell, so Coffeelocks are no better at raising hordes of undead than pure warlocks are. In either case you still need to MC into some other class to get access to the spell.

Alternatively he could break it up into paragraphs and maybe even italicize that part.

[cintain]

Thank you for the guide! I just recently got back to playing and running D&D, and one of my players pointed to the Undying Warlock as a possibility for their character in a campaign intended to finish with Curse of Strahd. The player eventually chose to roll up something completely else, but I was left with wondering if I could roll one of these as a foil NPC that betrays the party at the last minute, and your ideas have been hugely helpful. Currently the NPC is unsuspectingly traveling with the PCs, deftly concealing her powers as much as possible, and everyone is still in the dark as to her class and level.

I look forward to advancing her, and the big reveal. :D

Cheers,

C

[Naanomi]

Nitpick: Animate Dead is not a sorcerer spell, so Coffeelocks are no better at raising hordes of undead than pure warlocks are. In either case you still need to MC into some other class to get access to the spell.

It is on the Cleric and therefore Divine Soul list

[LichPlease]

Thank you for the guide! I just recently got back to playing and running D&D, and one of my players pointed to the Undying Warlock as a possibility for their character in a campaign intended to finish with Curse of Strahd. The player eventually chose to roll up something completely else, but I was left with wondering if I could roll one of these as a foil NPC that betrays the party at the last minute, and your ideas have been hugely helpful. Currently the NPC is unsuspectingly traveling with the PCs, deftly concealing her powers as much as possible, and everyone is still in the dark as to her class and level.

I look forward to advancing her, and the big reveal. :D

Cheers,

C

Sweet! I'm glad it helped. I appreciate the feedback. If you remember, let me know how it all turned out.