Are lich corpse and or other undead bodies/corpses, valid targets for the spell animate dead or create undead?
Is the body of a Lich a valid target for Animate Dead or Create Undead
magicpathfinder-1espellsundead
Related Solutions
No, it does not.
The Dispel Magic description says:
Choose one object, creature, or magic effect within range. Any spell of 3rd level or lower on the target ends.
And Animate Dead has a duration of:
Duration: Instantaneous
So there is no spell effect to dispel as Animate Dead has a duration of instantaneous, so as Dispel Magic only works on a spell it has nothing to work on and does nothing. Also clearly stated here stated in this Sage Advice:
Can you use dispel magic on the creations of a spell like animate dead or affect those creations with antimagic field? Whenever you wonder whether a spell’s effects can be dispelled or suspended, you need to answer one question: is the spell’s duration instantaneous? If the answer is yes, there is nothing to dispel or suspend.
The control of the undead granted by the spell is a consequence of the spell being cast, not an on-going magical spell, in the same sense as the fires started by a fireball are an on-going non-magical effect. The zombies are strictly loyal to the caster for a period of time, bonded to them like ducklings are to their mother, and in the same way the fires and damage from a fireball last for a period of time and cannot be dispelled, neither can this bond.
They cannot be dismissed.
If you create them, you have either to control them, destroy them, or let them roam free. While setting them free can be considered an evil action, you don't need to lose much time to destroy them. As the 24h are about to expire, tell your undead to attack itself, or throw itself off a cliff.
If you prefer the party to assuredly kill them, you don't need to lose real-time to do it. Tell your DM the zombie is prone, and that everyone attacks it with melee advantage until it is dead. In-game, this should be less than a minute. Real-time, no point in rolling initiative for a one-sided slaughter. The DM can just wave it and say
Ok, after a few turns, the Zombie has been completely smashed to bits. The Paladin has a nice grin on its face.
Best Answer
A lich's body can be used for Create Undead, but the raised creature won't be a lich anymore.
Animate Dead won't work per RAW. When casting on a corpse, the creature raised is given the Skeleton template or Zombie template (chosen by the caster). There are some variations, such as burning skeleton or bloody skeleton, but none of them are a Lich.
Additionally, these templates have the restriction that they don't apply to undead creatures.
Since the lich was undead, they are excluded from receiving this template.
Maybe the GM deviates from the RAW and allows the lich's corpse to count as a dead humanoid wizard. Even so, the animated skeleton or zombie loses its mental ability scores, feats, class levels, and special abilities like regeneration or spellcasting. Any DR and resistances are replaced by those specified in the appropriate template. Using a standard human wizard Lich, the resulting creature would just be a mindless undead minion with a weak melee attack and 4 (1d8) hp.
Create Undead is different because the newly raised undead doesn't depend on the corpse's original creature statistics. The caster can use any corpse for the spell, but they must choose to raise it as one of the undead options in the spell description. None of those options are a lich. The caster could use a lich's body as part of the casting, but they can't raise it as a lich.