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monster

Malakor, the Abyssal Lich

Malakor, the Abyssal Lich
Stat Block
CR 21
,
Reveal Stat Block
Armor Class
17
Hit Points
135
Speed
30 ft., swim 60 ft.
str
11
+0
dex
16
+3
con
16
+3
int
20
+5
wis
14
+2
cha
16
+3

Senses truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 14

Languages Common, Abyssal, Primordial

Abyssal Rejuvenation.If Malakor has a phylactery, a destroyed body gains a new body in 1d10 days, regaining all its hit points and becoming active again.
Amphibious.Malakor can breathe air and water.

Actions

Multiattack.Malakor makes two attacks with his spectral tentacles.
Spectral Tentacle.Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 30 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (6d6) necrotic damage. If the target is a creature, it is grappled (escape DC 18).

Legendary Actions

Crushing Pressure.Malakor chooses one creature he can see within 60 feet. The target must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or take 22 (4d10) bludgeoning damage.
Boiling Vents.Superheated water erupts in a 10-foot radius. DC 18 Dexterity save or 27 (6d8) fire damage.

Malakor, the Abyssal Lich

Ecology

Malakor is a true anomaly—an ancient arcanist who achieved lichdom not through traditional necromancy, but by bonding his soul to the crushing depths of the Midnight Trench and the corrupted Aether-Ribbons that flow through it. He exists in an environment that should instantly crush any physical body. He does not consume souls directly; instead, he feeds on the raw, geothermic magic bleeding from ruptured underwater leylines, slowly absorbing the world's magical lifeforce into himself.

Appearance

Malakor is a terrifying sight to behold. He wears no robes, for they would instantly shred in the deep currents. His skeletal form is fused with jagged, black volcanic rock and bioluminescent deep-sea coral. A massive, rusted diver's helmet (a remnant of a failed expedition he slaughtered) is welded to his skull, glowing with an eerie, sickly green light from within. Ghostly, translucent tentacles constantly writhe from his ribcage, testing the water around him.

Lair Actions (The Midnight Trench)

While in his sunken sanctum, Malakor commands the very ocean on initiative count 20:

  • Crushing Pressure: Malakor increases the ambient pressure. All creatures not native to the deep ocean must make a DC 18 Constitution save or take 4d10 bludgeoning damage and have their movement speed halved until the next initiative count 20.
  • Boiling Vents: Geysers of superheated, highly acidic water erupt. Malakor chooses three 10-foot radius areas. Creatures in those areas must make a Dexterity save or take 3d8 fire and 3d8 acid damage.
  • Sensory Deprivation: Malakor extinguishing all light sources, magical or otherwise, within 120 feet. The water becomes thick with blinding black ink.

Combat Mechanics

  • Abyssal Magic: Malakor casts spells, but their elements are altered. Fireball becomes a sphere of superheated steam. Magic Missile fires jagged shards of abyssal glass.
  • Tentacle Grapple: As a bonus action, his spectral tentacles can lash out up to 30 feet to grapple a target. A grappled creature begins to drown, losing air rapidly as the tentacles siphon the oxygen directly from their lungs.
  • Leyline Siphon: When Malakor takes damage, he can use his reaction to drain energy from a nearby Aether-node, healing himself for half the damage taken and causing an arcane feedback explosion in a 10-foot radius around the attacker.
  • Water Form: He has a swimming speed of 60 feet and can cast Dimension Door without components, dissolving into the water and reforming elsewhere.

Loot

Malakor's phylactery is not an object, but a specific, corrupted Aether-node on the ocean floor that must be physically destroyed. Defeating him yields the Helm of the Abyss (grants water breathing, a swim speed, and immunity to pressure damage) and the Trench-Lord's Staff, an artifact that allows the user to cast Control Water and Tsunami.