Dracolich

A dracolich is an undead dragon monster. It resembles a normal, living dragon at first, but as time goes, it ages and begins to partially decompose, so a very old dracolich really looks like a corpse, and may even be part skeleton.

Despite its wretched appearance, however, a dracolich is a very powerful opponent, with a very high challenge rating, since firstly it possesses both many weapons and plenty of minions. Conseqeuntly, it should be noted that only evil chromatic dragons like black, blue and red become dracoliches.

Dracoliches are created from evil dragons through some powerful necromantic magics. Basically, it consists of the dragon first dying and then taking over its own corpse. However, it also gains a vessel in which its spirit is actually stored as well as retreats if the dracolich's body becomes destroyed. Thus, it is important to destroy both the dracolich's body and its vessel or the monster will be back.

It should be noted that the Cult of the Dragon - the organization that is responsible for the invention of the dracolich process - has also created several other undead dragon varieties as well as other dragon-like monsters including the dracimera and the mantidrake.