So I built the following lich as a BBEG for an adventure that I'll be running in the near future. He'll be backed up by a host of smaller undead and maybe another (lesser) lich. Anyway, this is the guy I've built so far (in the spoiler). I have access to the core book, the APG and whatever adventure paths are in Hero Lab. Advice on how to make him better optimized would be very appreciated. Thanks!
Male Elf Eldritch Knight 10/Fighter 1/Wizard 9
LE Medium Undead (Augmented Humanoid)
Init +4; Senses Darkvision (60 feet), Low-Light Vision; Perception +31
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DEFENSE
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AC 24, touch 14, flat-footed 20. . (+5 armor, +4 Dex, +5 natural)
hp 233 (11d10+9d6+120)
Fort +16, Ref +10, Will +10
Defensive Abilities Channel Resistance +4; DR 15/bludgeoning, 15/magic; Immune sleep, cold, electricity, mind-affecting, polymorph, Undead Traits; Resist Elven Immunities
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OFFENSE
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Spd 30 ft.
Melee Rapier of Puncturing +19/+14/+9 (1d6/18-20/x2)
Special Attacks Negative Energy Touch Attack 1d8+10 (DC 26)
Wizard Spells Known (CL 18, 15 melee touch, 19 ranged touch):
9 (3/day) Wail of the Banshee (DC 30), Energy Drain (DC 30), Meteor Swarm, Suffocation, Mass (DC 30)
8 (4/day) Polar Ray, Create Greater Undead, Detonate, Dazing, Disrup (DC 28), Scorching Ray, Dazing, Disrup, Empow, Stormbolts (DC 28)
7 (4/day) Finger of Death (DC 28), Finger of Death (DC 28), Finger of Death (DC 28), Waves of Exhaustion, Ray of Enfeeblement, Empow, Quick (DC 28)
6 (6/day) Circle of Death (DC 27), Circle of Death (DC 27), Create Undead, Chain Lightning (DC 26), Fireball, Empow, Select (DC 26), Summon Monster VI, Unwilling Shield (DC 27)
5 (6/day) Wall of Force, Cone of Cold (DC 25), Ray of Enfeeblement, Quick (DC 26), Magic Missile, Quick, Pain Strike, Mass (DC 25), Suffocation (DC 26), Suffocation (DC 26)
4 (6/day) Enervation, Enervation, Enervation, Dimension Door, Fireball, Select (DC 24), Contagion (DC 25), Detonate (DC 24)
3 (6/day) Wind Wall (DC 23), Ray of Exhaustion (DC 24), Vampiric Touch, Vampiric Touch, Burning Hands, Sicken (DC 23), Halt Undead, Pain Strike (DC 23)
2 (7/day) Command Undead (DC 23), Flaming Sphere (DC 22), Blindness/Deafness (DC 23), Spectral Hand, Darkness, Darkness, Summon Swarm, Fire Breath (DC 22)
1 (7/day) Burning Hands (DC 21), Chill Touch (DC 22), Mage Armor, Mage Armor, Ray of Enfeeblement (DC 22), Ray of Enfeeblement (DC 22), Ray of Enfeeblement (DC 22), Shield
0 (at will) Mage Hand, Read Magic, Detect Magic, Mending
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STATISTICS
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Str 10, Dex 16/18, Con -, Int 26/30, Wis 13, Cha 18/22
Base Atk +15; CMB +15; CMD 29
Feats Combat Reflexes (5 AoO/round), Craft Wondrous Item, Dazing Spell, Disruptive, Disruptive Spell, Elven Weapon Proficiencies, Empower Spell, Following Step, Persistent Spell, Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll, Selective Spell, Sickening Spell, Spell Focus: Necromancy, Spellbreaker, Step Up, Weapon Finesse, Wizard Weapon Proficiencies
Skills Bluff +26, Disguise +26, Intimidate +29, Knowledge: Arcana +33, Knowledge: History +33, Knowledge: Local +33, Knowledge: Religion +33, Knowledge: The Planes +33, Perception +31, Sense Motive +32, Spellcraft +33, Stealth +32
Languages Abyssal, Arcane Naduumian, Common, Dark Tongue, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Eriad, Giant, Infernal, New Skosian, Western
SQ Bonded Object: Ring of Counterspells (1/day) (Sp), Elven Magic, Enchantment, Fear Aura (DC 26), Grave Touch (13/day) (Sp), Illusion, Life Sight (9 rounds/day) (Su), Necromancy, Power Over Undead (13/day) (Su), Rejuvenation (Su), Ring of Counterspells, Ring of Evasion, Spell Critical (Su)
Combat Gear Rapier of Puncturing; Other Gear Belt of Incredible Dexterity, +2, Bracers of Armor +5, Cloak of Displacement, Minor, Darkskull, Headband of Mental Prowess, INT & CHA +4: Intimidate, Knowledge: Local, Ring of Counterspells, Ring of Evasion, Robe of Blending
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
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Bonded Object: Ring of Counterspells (1/day) (Sp) DC 20 + spell level to cast spells without the bonded object. Once per day, you can cast any spell in your spellbook for free.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Combat Reflexes (5 AoO/round) You may make up to 5 attacks of apportunity per round, and may make them while flat-footed.
Damage Reduction (15/bludgeoning) You have Damage Reduction against all except Bludgeoning attacks.
Damage Reduction (15/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Dazing Spell You can cast a spell that dazes those injured by it (duration = spell's level in rounds, Fort negates).
Disruptive +4 DC to cast defensively for those you threaten.
Disruptive Spell You can cast a spell that imposes concentration checks for those it affects to cast spells.
Elven Immunities +2 save bonus vs Enchantments.
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to Sleep effects.
Elven Magic +2 racial bonus on caster checks to overcome spell resistance. +2 to spellcraft checks to determine the properties of a magic item.
Empower Spell Numeric effects of a spell are increased 50%. +2 Levels.
Enchantment You must spend 2 slots to cast spells from the Enchantment school.
Fear Aura (DC 26) Creatures within 60 feet that look must pass Will save.
Following Step You may move 10' with Step Up, and still get a 5' step on your next turn.
Grave Touch (13/day) (Sp) Melee touch attack, shakes then frightens target.
Illusion You must spend 2 slots to cast spells from the Illusion school.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting attacks You are immune to Mind-Affecting attacks.
Immunity to Polymorph You are immune to Polymorph effects.
Life Sight (9 rounds/day) (Su) Blindsight 10'+ to detect living and undead for wizard level rounds / day.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Necromancy The dread and feared necromancer commands undead and uses the foul power of unlife against his enemies.
Negative Energy Touch Attack 1d8+10 (DC 26) 1d8+10 damage, plus Fort save or be paralyzed.
Persistent Spell You can cast a spell that requires targets to succeed at 2 saves or suffer the effects of the spell.
Power Over Undead (13/day) (Su) Receive Command Undead or Turn Undead as a bonus feat.
Quicken Spell Cast another spell in the same round you cast this one. +4 Levels.
Rejuvenation (Su) Liches can return after a few days.
Selective Spell You can cast a spell that does not affect some targets within its area.
Sickening Spell You can cast a spell that sickens those injured by it (duration = spell's level in rounds, Fort negates).
Spell Critical (Su) Cast a spell as a swift action when you confirm a critical hit.
Spell Focus: Necromancy Spells from one school of magic have +1 to their save DC.
Spellbreaker If an enemy you threaten fails to cast defensively, they provoke an AoO from you.
Step Up You may make a 5' step closer when your opponent makes a 5' step away from you.
Undead Traits Undead are immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, phantasms, and patterns), paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects
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His bonded object is the Ring of Counterspells. Also, his build is actually Wiz 5/Ftr 1/EK 10/Wiz +4. I might move the fighter level to the beginning for the additional 4 hp (though I don't think that'll be particularly necessary).
Yikes, that is a seriously scary BBEG. What level are your PCs? I worry about those 9th level save-or-dies, specifically Mass Suffocation. Your strongest PCs will be rocking an average fort save of +21 at level 20 (12 + 5 resistance + 4 constitution), with your weaker classes trailing ~6 points lower. Without serious magical support your PCs are looking at about a 50-75% chance of failing each of those saves- and lets be honest: If you fail one, you might as well have failed them all.
There will be 5+ level 15-16 PCs, with cohorts, boosted stats and boosted wealth. I usually consider each player to be Level +1.5 for the purposes of figuring APL. At level 16, their APL will be 21, so it would be a normal on-CR fight with just this guy. I plan to have them fight a CR 25 encounter when they actually try to face this guy down, but there will be lots of low CR (8-10) undead boosting that encounter CR.
With (Mass) Suffocation, making any of the three required saves keeps you from dying outright, so it's not quite as scary as it looks. Scary, yes, but not much more so than some of the other SODs out there. (Note: the duration is listed as 3 rounds, so making any of the saves keeps you from going to the bottom of the "suffocation track".)
Mauril, I get what you're saying, but I feel pretty familiar with the Suffocation spell. It's become one of my favorites on my wizard, and for good reason. It's effing powerful.
Yes, they get three saves, and yes, it takes three failed saves to die directly from the spell effects. However, it only takes 1 failed save to actually die as a cause of this spell, which means they actually have to succeed three times.
1 failed takes all of your hit points. All of them. With 0 HP, unless you can heal (or be healed), you're effectively out of the game. Feats like Diehard & the Half-Orc racial are helpful in this situation. Any action like spellcasting or anything requiring a standard will push you into the negatives, where you lose consciousness.
Working at zero hit points, it can be assumed that at least 1 or 2 PCs can cast healing magic, so all of your healing characters should be fine for 1 round. Keep in mind that even if they heal themselves after the first failed save, a second failed save immediately reduces them to negative, taking them out of the game. On top of that, most characters are probably working with 12-24 negative hit points, and most CR 8-10 mooks can hit for harder than that. Once your character is helpless, they stand no chance against even the weakest CR 1/4 enemies.
So all of this quickly becomes hopeless as they fight to make 3 DC 30 fort saves that half of the party doesn't stand a good shot at making, while battling the a horde of lower level enemies & an incredibly powerful caster as they gradually become useless and die as their hit points are sapped away.
Suffocation is AWESOME. Just make sure you realize what you're doing to your PCs before you throw that at them. You know their capabilities better than I do, so I trust your judgement. If they can reliably hit a DC 30 fort save, this is gonna be an awesome encounter. If not, it's gonna be hopeless unless you choose never to use it.
I think those saves should be within tolerance of a level 15~16 party especially if just one PC or cohort is a buffing type. With heroes feast or good hope (or whatever) on top of decent saves they should be able to rock that out without too much trouble.
Suffocation is nasty -- but a simple ioun stone or amulet and that ninth level spell is defeated without ever making a save -- elemental shape 3 should handle it too (iirc)... now if it does get someone with that many people around it should be quickly solved anyways (breath of life or dispel magic to counter... etc).
Just my thoughts.
My real worries are his defenses. Those are really weak in my opinion. Saves in the mid-teens with 15~16 level characters is asking for some sort of command undead effect (even with the channel resistance). That AC is low and so is the CMD.
The easy solution to both parts would be to take still spell and have him prep his spells with it while wearing some magic full plate and ditching the minor displacement cloak for a cloak of resistance +4.
Don't forget permanencied spells. I like see invisibility myself.
I concur on the weak defenses. 24 AC should be auto hit for all of your primary melees even with power attack, probably on the 2nd iterative and maybe even the 3rd. Mirror image and/or displacement should help against pure melees like fighters, but it won't help against battle clerics.
Higher saves is a must too.
Edit: didn't see the minor displacement cloak, but I still think regular displacement is necessary instead of minor at this level.
My reason for Minor Displacement over Major Displacement is that Major Displacement requires activation (a standard action) and only lasts a limited number of rounds. Yes, the 50% miss chance is really nice, but I'd rather have 20% and be able to drop a 9th level spell from range in that first round.
If Hero Lab would let me alter the magic items, I'd likely have bought him a Vest of Resistance +4. I'll add it in manually, so for now, just consider him to have +4 to all his saves.
Also, some info on the party and expected encounter. The party will consists of a Transmuter wizard, a cleric (good/sun domains), a fighter/rogue, a fighter and a paladin. The cohorts are a rogue-classed griffon, a dracolisk, a half-celestial unicorn and a half-dragon giant velociraptor. Each character will also have full WBL plus a "legacy" item worth (at this point) 128000 gold. The encounter will be Goron Ru, a CR 15-ish cleric lich, and a fist full of Wraiths, Shadows, Spectres and Devourers (basically the stuff you can make from Create Greater Undead).
If money's not an object I'd throw on a hand of glory, with a nice ring of protection on it, as a ring of protection really is the mack-daddy of AC boosters. If you want to save 8,000 you can get an amulet of Natural armor- but it's inferior- it won't help touch AC's. Since you used up your ring slots, both aren't options. (I like to have both, but you can't have everything)
If money's not an object I'd throw on a hand of glory, with a nice ring of protection on it, as a ring of protection really is the mack-daddy of AC boosters. If you want to save 8,000 you can get an amulet of Natural armor- but it's inferior- it won't help touch AC's. Since you used up your ring slots, both aren't options. (I like to have both, but you can't have everything)
I had actually considered a Ring of Protection +4 instead of the Ring of Counterspells, making that ring both his bonded item and phylactery. One of my players never buys his own rings of protection, instead just picking up the first one that drops in an adventure. He'll likely pick up this one which, after 1d10 days, respawns Goron Ru to attack them again. It'd have some magic effect on it (to hide the strong necromantic aura), but the players rarely scrutinize the gear they pick up anyway.
If money's not an object I'd throw on a hand of glory, with a nice ring of protection on it, as a ring of protection really is the mack-daddy of AC boosters. If you want to save 8,000 you can get an amulet of Natural armor- but it's inferior- it won't help touch AC's. Since you used up your ring slots, both aren't options. (I like to have both, but you can't have everything)I had actually considered a Ring of Protection +4 instead of the Ring of Counterspells, making that ring both his bonded item and phylactery. One of my players never buys his own rings of protection, instead just picking up the first one that drops in an adventure. He'll likely pick up this one which, after 1d10 days, respawns Goron Ru to attack them again. It'd have some magic effect on it (to hide the strong necromantic aura), but the players rarely scrutinize the gear they pick up anyway.
Ring of protection is less interesting, but it's good.
Pretty much you never want the phylactery to be captured on the lich's death. Make them search for it, otherwise they get a nasty recurring enemy.
So I built the following lich as a BBEG for an adventure that I'll be running in the near future. He'll be backed up by a host of smaller undead and maybe another (lesser) lich. Anyway, this is the guy I've built so far (in the spoiler). I have access to the core book, the APG and whatever adventure paths are in Hero Lab. Advice on how to make him better optimized would be very appreciated. Thanks!
** spoiler omitted **...
Well you need to work on him a decent bit from the looks of it.
Rapier of puncturing is a fine weapon for an EK, but you don't have improved critical backing it up. That's a mistake as you want the crits to give you freely quickened spells.
Your defenses, as others have remarked, are bad. They need a good deal of work.
Your spell selection has a lot that could be done far better. There are a ton of spells there that this caster would never cast. Remove them and work on others instead.
Can I ask a question: are you starting the PCs off at this level or have they been playing up since 1st level? What is their makeup?
Give it a bit more work and it can start to shape up. High level is tough as its harder and harder to make NPCs,
James
The PCs have been playing since level 1. We started this campaign saga over a year ago. I mentioned the party make-up a few posts up, but to restate: The party will consists of a Transmuter wizard, a cleric (good/sun domains), a fighter/rogue, a fighter and a paladin. The cohorts are a rogue-classed griffon, a dracolisk, a half-celestial unicorn and a Giant Half-Brass Dragon Deinonychus (this is a correction). Each character will also have full WBL plus a "legacy" item worth (at this point) 128000 gold.
You mention that my spell selection is bad, but you make no mention of how to improve it. I'm looking for suggestions on what to do to improve my bad guy, not just people pointing out that he could be better.
Feats like Improved Crit and Crit Focus are on the docket for the Mk. II version. So is a Vest of Resistance +4 (if I can figure out how to create such an item in the Hero Lab Editor) and likely a Ring of Protection +4. I wanted to get some feedback on the build before I posted an update so that I wasn't posting minor changes every day or so.
Quick suggestion +5 mithril buckler would bounce your ac to 30 with no hinderences as it has no spell failure or armor check
I pimp this build all over the forums, but I will toss it down here as well.
Let me preface the build by saying that, as a BBEG, I think that if you are purposefully in melee, you are going to go down FAST against an optimized party like you describe. I think the best way to go is to have all the little crunchy critters you describe occupy the party, and then to rain down hell upon them from a distance.
That's why I suggest:
Fighter 1/Conjurer 6/Eldritch Knight 10/Arcane Archer 3
Take the Teleportation focused school as it will give you a 15 foot teleport as a swift action (just use it at the end of your turn as it ends your turn when you do it).
Drop Spells on them from afar, and when you want damage, just UNLOAD with archery. Take all the buff spells you can, he should probably start off with False Life, Heroism, Magic Circle against Good, Stoneskin, Overland Flight etc etc.
Just fly around invisible, do what you want, and then teleport back behind something. Next turn, 5 foot step out, do your thing (even a full attack) then teleport to another place with cover.
Have the battle in some giant old church with all sorts of rafters up above and statues with alcoves and such, have him just going guerilla all around the ceiling.
Just a few suggestions.
Okay, so here is Mk II of Goron Ru. I'm keeping him with the melee options for now, even though that ranged option does look pretty fun. Any other thoughts/critiques?
Male Elf Eldritch Knight 10 Fighter (Free Hand Fighter) 1 Wizard 9
LE Medium Undead (Augmented Humanoid)
Init +4; Senses Darkvision (60 feet), Low-Light Vision; Perception +31
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DEFENSE
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AC 30, touch 14, flat-footed 26. . (+5 armor, +6 shield, +4 Dex, +5 natural)
hp 233 (11d10+9d6+120)
Fort +21, Ref +15, Will +15
Defensive Abilities Channel Resistance +4; DR 15/bludgeoning, 15/magic; Immune sleep, cold, electricity, mind-affecting, polymorph, Undead Traits; Resist Elven Immunities
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OFFENSE
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Spd 30 ft.
Melee Rapier of Puncturing +19/+14/+9 (1d6/15-20/x2)
Special Attacks Negative Energy Touch Attack 1d8+10 (DC 26)
Wizard Spells Known (CL 18, 15 melee touch, 19 ranged touch):
9 (3/day) Wail of the Banshee (DC 29), Energy Drain (DC 29), Meteor Swarm, Suffocation, Mass (DC 29)
8 (4/day) Polar Ray, Create Greater Undead, Detonate, Dazing, Disrup (DC 28), Scorching Ray, Dazing, Disrup, Empow, Stormbolts (DC 28)
7 (4/day) Finger of Death (DC 27), Finger of Death (DC 27), Finger of Death (DC 27), Waves of Exhaustion, Ray of Enfeeblement, Empow, Quick (DC 27)
6 (6/day) Circle of Death (DC 26), Circle of Death (DC 26), Create Undead, Chain Lightning (DC 26), Fireball, Empow, Select (DC 26), Blindness/Deafness, Quick (DC 26), Unwilling Shield (DC 26)
5 (6/day) Cone of Cold (DC 25), Ray of Enfeeblement, Quick (DC 25), Magic Missile, Quick, Twilight Knife, Sicken, Pain Strike, Mass (DC 25), Suffocation (DC 25), Suffocation (DC 25)
4 (6/day) Enervation, Enervation, Enervation, Dimension Door, Fireball, Select (DC 24), Contagion (DC 24), Detonate (DC 24)
3 (6/day) Wind Wall (DC 23), Ray of Exhaustion (DC 23), Vampiric Touch, Vampiric Touch, Burning Hands, Sicken (DC 23), Halt Undead, Pain Strike (DC 23)
2 (7/day) Resist Energy, Command Undead (DC 22), Flaming Sphere (DC 22), Blindness/Deafness (DC 22), Spectral Hand, Darkness, Darkness, Fire Breath (DC 22)
1 (7/day) Hydraulic Push, Chill Touch (DC 21), Ray of Enfeeblement (DC 21), Ray of Enfeeblement (DC 21), Ray of Enfeeblement (DC 21), Grease (DC 21), Grease (DC 21), True Strike
0 (at will) Mage Hand, Read Magic, Detect Magic, Mending
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STATISTICS
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Str 10, Dex 16/18, Con -, Int 26/30, Wis 13, Cha 18/22
Base Atk +15; CMB +15; CMD 34
Feats Combat Reflexes (5 AoO/round), Craft Wondrous Item, Critical Focus, Dazing Spell, Defensive Combat Training, Disruptive, Disruptive Spell, Elven Weapon Proficiencies, Empower Spell, Improved Critical: Rapier, Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll, Selective Spell, Sickening Spell, Spellbreaker, Step Up, Weapon Finesse, Wizard Weapon Proficiencies
Skills Bluff +26, Disguise +26, Intimidate +29, Knowledge: Arcana +33, Knowledge: History +33, Knowledge: Local +33, Knowledge: Religion +33, Knowledge: The Planes +33, Perception +31, Sense Motive +32, Spellcraft +33, Stealth +32
Languages Abyssal, Arcane Naduumian, Common, Dark Tongue, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Eriad, Giant, Infernal, New Skosian, Western
SQ Bonded Object: Ring of Counterspells (1/day) (Sp), Elven Magic, Enchantment, Fear Aura (DC 26), Grave Touch (13/day) (Sp), Illusion, Life Sight (9 rounds/day) (Su), Necromancy, Power Over Undead (13/day) (Su), Rejuvenation (Su), Ring of Counterspells, Ring of Evasion, Spell Critical (Su)
Combat Gear Rapier of Puncturing, +5 Mithral Buckler; Other Gear Belt of Incredible Dexterity, +2, Bracers of Armor +5, Cloak of Displacement, Minor, Darkskull, Headband of Mental Prowess, INT & CHA +4: Intimidate, Knowledge: Local, Ring of Counterspells, Ring of Evasion, Robe of Blending, Vest of Resistance, +5
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
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Bonded Object: Ring of Counterspells (1/day) (Sp) DC 20 + spell level to cast spells without the bonded object. Once per day, you can cast any spell in your spellbook for free.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Combat Reflexes (5 AoO/round) You may make up to 5 attacks of apportunity per round, and may make them while flat-footed.
Critical Focus +4 to confirm critical hits.
Damage Reduction (15/bludgeoning) You have Damage Reduction against all except Bludgeoning attacks.
Damage Reduction (15/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Dazing Spell You can cast a spell that dazes those injured by it (duration = spell's level in rounds, Fort negates).
Disruptive +4 DC to cast defensively for those you threaten.
Disruptive Spell You can cast a spell that imposes concentration checks for those it affects to cast spells.
Elven Immunities +2 save bonus vs Enchantments.
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to Sleep effects.
Elven Magic +2 racial bonus on caster checks to overcome spell resistance. +2 to spellcraft checks to determine the properties of a magic item.
Empower Spell Numeric effects of a spell are increased 50%. +2 Levels.
Enchantment You must spend 2 slots to cast spells from the Enchantment school.
Fear Aura (DC 26) Creatures within 60 feet that look must pass Will save.
Grave Touch (13/day) (Sp) Melee touch attack, shakes then frightens target.
Illusion You must spend 2 slots to cast spells from the Illusion school.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting attacks You are immune to Mind-Affecting attacks.
Immunity to Polymorph You are immune to Polymorph effects.
Life Sight (9 rounds/day) (Su) Blindsight 10'+ to detect living and undead for wizard level rounds / day.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Necromancy The dread and feared necromancer commands undead and uses the foul power of unlife against his enemies.
Negative Energy Touch Attack 1d8+10 (DC 26) 1d8+10 damage, plus Fort save or be paralyzed.
Power Over Undead (13/day) (Su) Receive Command Undead or Turn Undead as a bonus feat.
Quicken Spell Cast another spell in the same round you cast this one. +4 Levels.
Rejuvenation (Su) Liches can return after a few days.
Selective Spell You can cast a spell that does not affect some targets within its area.
Sickening Spell You can cast a spell that sickens those injured by it (duration = spell's level in rounds, Fort negates).
Spell Critical (Su) Cast a spell as a swift action when you confirm a critical hit.
Spellbreaker If an enemy you threaten fails to cast defensively, they provoke an AoO from you.
Step Up You may make a 5' step closer when your opponent makes a 5' step away from you.
Undead Traits Undead are immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, phantasms, and patterns), paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects
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Heroic Stat Array (15/14/13/12/10/8), Elf base (+2 Int/Dex, -2 Con), all level boosts went to intelligence.
The DCs are listed as whatever Hero Lab is calculating them to be. It might be missing something, but I am not sure what.
Boots of Speed are a good idea. I'll get those.
I went with Int/Cha +4 over Int +6 because the Charisma adds to his hit points, AC, Fort Save, Paralyzing Touch DC and Channel Energy.
For detection spells, he's going to know that the PCs are coming and he will have caster support (a CR 15 cleric lich) for a lot of the buffs and defenses. Are you seeing a couple of "must have" spells that are not on his list that wouldn't be better cast by a companion cleric? If so, please let me know and I will add them to his prepared spells.
False Life, Heroism are two really good ones.
Since you have more spell slots than he will get to cast in this fight, it might even be good to prepare an Empowered or Maximized False Life.
Greater Heroism is really nice if he has a buff round or two before they actually enter.
Greater Magic Weapon cast on his Rapier by him will be better than a 15th level cleric can do (provided you bump his CL to 20 with Magical Knack trait and orange ioun stone)
Greater Invisibility (to at least make the PCs have the capability to see him or waste actions gaining that capability)
Basically go through the Wizard spell lists and look for buffs that the cleric doesn't have. Then take all of them, especially if they are longer term ones. Also, it may be cool to give him some custom spells. He is an extremely old and very magically adept character, chances are he has researched some custom spells of his own. Especially since he is a melee based caster and there really aren't any good high level buff spells...wouldn't he have invented at least a couple? It would be an awesome prize for PCs too. (I would suggest like a 7th level Mage Armor spell that also had additional benefits aside from a +6 or +8 Armor bonus, or a spell that converts spilled blood within 10' of him into healing for him...then take bleeding critical or something that lets him do bleeding damage...cool and powerful effects like that will also help make the fight memorable and unique)
Also, why even bother to mention that he is a Free Hand fighter....you get nothing from it considering he only has 1 level in Fighter. Or is it just for flavor?
Fighter 2/Wizard 8/Eldritch Knight 10 might work better as it will get you the BAB for all of your iterative attacks without losing 9th level spells. Give him the Magical Knack trait and an orange ioun stone and he has CL 20 still.
Also, you have imp. critical and critical focus without any of the awesome feats that happen on a critical hit. Toss at least one in there to further mess with the players.
Your DCs are off because the Hero Lab seems to be calculating spells with metamagic applied to them as the Slot they are taking up, and not what actual level spell they are. For example, a Fireball is a 3rd level spell, unless you use Heighten Spell, the DC stays as a 3rd level spell even if it takes up higher level slots due to metamagic. That's why your DCs are too high for some spells.
Hmm, seems like you really loaded up heavy on the offensive necromancy there. I'm assuming the cleric's gonna load up on death wards/ other anti negative energy spells when they go to fight him. You might want to ditch some of those spells you got three times (finger of death, etc) and put in some other spells for more variety. A Greater Dispel Magic or two might be a good surprise to take down some of those death ward protections.
OTOH, if you decide to keep all that necromancy and the PCs aren't likely to be impressed, you can always use the Enervation and energy drain for some minor buffs to your lich w/ temp hp.
Trade out those Headband of Int/Cha +4, bracers of armor +5, robes of blending and that vest of resistance +5 and cloak of displacement(minor) for Archmage Robes(evil), headband of Int +6, Circlet of Persuasion, and an eversmoking bottle, and some scrolls of buffing spells.
The robes give almost as good bonuses (+5 armor, +4 resistance) but also gives him better spell penetration.
The cloak of minor displacement is useful -- but instead I recommend the eversmoking bottle -- it won't block the lich's lifesight ability but it will stop true seeing which means the players are -- in a word -- screwed.
The Circlet of Persuasion will give a better bonus than the Headband of Int/Cha +4 while costing less and using the head slot instead of the brow slot which leaves the brow slot open for a headband of Int +6.
With buffing scrolls and a simple Alarm/Misdirection(or some similiar spell combo) the lich will know the players are coming and will have buffs ready without sacrificing combat spells.
Speaking of which: Change up that spell list some -- I like the save or die effects but only having necromancy spells is begging for them to use death ward, and there are so many other good spells to use -- baleful polymorph, etc.
Instead of Dazing Spell I would take Persistent Spell it's cheaper and fits more with your "I'm going to make you suffer" spell theme -- but I like the disruptive -- it would go great on some contagious flames (apg spell) or acid fog.
Consider some of the enchantment spells -- since the lich is immune to all of them things like Mind Fog, are great for him -- he can move through them with no ill effect but the party probably can't.