Power Word Kill (Lich fight) interactions

Party could use:

1. Death Ward will protect from PWKill. 
2. Aid spell, 5 HP per level cast at. 
3. Barb to grapple.
4. Counterspell
5. Heal (keep party above 100 HP)

Lich could use (outside of PWKill):

1. Contingency spells, lots. 
2. Lots of his own magic items to help him. 
3. Minions. Think MUD GOLEMS of the arcade Tower of Doom Lich, Demeos. 
1. https://www.arcadequartermaster.com/ddtod_bosses.html
2. Spells from arcade:
1. Animate Dead
2. Conjure Mud Golem
3. Fire Ball
4. Lightning Bolt
5. Meteor Swarm
6. Mirror Image
7. Teleport
8. Wall of Fire

https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/1c4rfdu/how_to_run_a_lich/

 Just whipping out a PWK and striking a player dead with no warning isn't terribly fun, if admittedly dramatic and maybe not a huge deal if the players have clerics (though the Lich would be smart enough to try and hit those first.)

But, if you foreshadow it - maybe terrified and cowed people who have surrendered to him, or one of his fanatic lieutenants speak of how he can strike all but the hardiest of warriors dead with but a single word, and if they're newer players maybe even pull back the DM veil to inform them roughly how it works as they research this ability. Now it goes from something just killing a player out of the blue, to something they can try and prepare for by doing things like:

• Maybe they beg a favor from a priest they helped earlier for a Death Ward on one of their most vulnerable members, or cast their own

• Upcast Aid to give them more of a buffer so the frontliners can take damage and still be safe, or the spellcasters are safe themselves

• Keep the tanky Barbarian in the Lich's face grappling him while the frailer party members make sure to take cover on their turns (truesight lets the Lich see through invisibility and illusions and into the ethereal plane, but not through walls, and he has to see them to PWK them)

• If they have multiple spellcasters who can, save their reactions to spam counterspell

• The cleric knows to save their 6th level slot for Heal if the front-liners drop under 100HP

Now it's an actual challenge to plan around, instead of something that just happens and takes out a player.