An Easy 3.5 Question (Additional Question Added In)

[Brom]

I am making a Lich and I am thinking that it could, fluffwise, feasibly be Lawful Neutral or Neutral. He is a member of the order of Wee Jas. I was thinking fluff wise, his order considered him to be a seeker, a protector, and a keeper of magical secrets and lore. I was wondering if there is anywhere that it is explicitly said "a Lich must be evil." If there is something that implicates such, quote it here and state the source and page number.

Thanks.

EDIT: While I have a thread up, I have a question about Craft Wondrous Item.

So, if I'm reading this right, Boots of Teleportation cost 49, 000 GP.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#bootsofTeleportation

Prereqs are CL 9th, Craft Wondrous Item, and Teleport. As a Cleric with the Travel domain, I meet these.

To make a pair, I must work for 49 days, spend 1960 XP (49, 000 divided by 25 = 1960) and spend 24, 500 gold pieces. Is this correct?

[kamikasei]

The Lich monster entry just says that "the process of becoming a lich is unspeakably evil". There's more detail on what that might entail in other sources, but there's no reason you shouldn't play it differently if your DM is amenable.

[Douglas]

The process of becoming a lich is unspeakably evil and can be undertaken only by a willing character. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/lich.htm#lichCharacters)

While this technically does not absolutely rule out the possibility of a non-evil lich, it pretty strongly implies that only evil characters would be willing to go through the process. Of course, that says nothing about the possibility of the lich going through a change of heart afterwards.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Lich Characters
The process of becoming a lich is unspeakably evil and can be undertaken only by a willing character. A lich retains all class abilities it had in life.
Yeah, that's about it. The reason it's evil is never defined, but probably falls into the 'all undead are EBILL' thing WotC loves(except when it doesn't). There are good or neutral Liches, like the Baelnorn, but most are setting specific.

[lsfreak]

Ask your DM. By the fluff you can have lawful good necromancers, and by the fluff creating undead is always evil. And by the fluff undead are a rift in the negative energy plane, which is and is not an inherently evil act.

Basically, all the fluff surrounding undead is the 2-year-old playing next to the mansion of cards that is the alignment rules.

[Keld Denar]

There is the slight fluff issue with the fact that WeeJas specifically HATES undead.

Other than that, Ebberon has the Deathless and FR has the Baelnorn, the latter of which is specifically a non-evil lich. The issue with liches is that the ritual traditionally involves rites of "unspeekable evil" that no non-evil character could commit without having an alignment change.

That said, you could work with your DM to create a new method of ataining lichdom without such rites. Such a method might involve showing devotion to a deity, recovering some artifact, or other sufficently difficult task.

Alternatively, your character may have attained lichdom the traditional way, only to have a change of heart after a few centuries of contemplation. He realizes that he just doesn't have the heart to be evil (pun intended), and he'd rather just go about his studies of the universe with a side of adventuring thrown in for good measure.

As far as page numbers, I don't have any off the top of my head, but I'd encourage you to search through some of the FR campaign material such as the PGtF, or one of the more obscure books like Lost Empires or whatnot.

[JeenLeen]

I'd see it as similiar to casting an evil spell.

This is how my DM considers it:
The action itself is evil and twists the soul, slightly altering one's alignment. A good person can do evil things for good purposes if in an extreme situation, but if they continue in it, their alignment will shift. To cast an evil spell is to accept that taint and distortion, knowing that it alters your mind. (Good spells, if used more often, might remove or heal this, but it's hard to recover commonly using evil spells and hard to justify why your character could care once he starts drifting neutral.)

So to become a lich is a very evil act, causing a great and real impact upon the soul. Perhaps a strong devotion to Wee Jas could justify it and it could be seen as a neutral act to your character--worth the cost to honor the deity. So it wouldn't natually turn you evil, but it would be hard to be exactly the same person you were before.

Also, remember that "always evil" in the MM something more like "has an inherent leaning towards evil but there's a minute chance the alignment can change." A demon can become lawful good.

[Brom]

Awesome replies by all of you. I was thinking fluff wise the character wouldn't do it out of a desire for personal power but rather for a desire to help his church. I presented my DM with the idea of a group of Lich's who form the upper echelons of the order without really having political power, but being noted as preservers, seekers, and defenders of Lore.

If you're familiar with the Gray Guards, it'd be sort of like that. They do the work that no one else can or will do and those who come to serve as a Lich are there for the long haul.

[JellyPooga]

The Book of Bad Latin (aka: Libris Mortis) lists a variant Lich called, rather unimaginatively, the Good Lich. So yeah, not even setting specific there's precedent for them.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Non-evil liches all over various sourcebooks, supplements, background, fluff, yadayadayada. We cover this one like once a week, don't we?

[Devils_Advocate]

There is the slight fluff issue with the fact that WeeJas specifically HATES undead.
Woah, really?! Is this one of those things that's different in Greyhawk, like St. Cuthbert being Lawful Good? I would have assumed that she liked undead.

I checked the Living Greyhawk deities list, and apparently she has the Repose domain in LG. (She has Death in the PHB.) So I guess so.

[Coidzor]

That's one of the things listed for her specifically in the 3.5 PHB, if I'm remembering reading it correctly. Something along the lines of being a goddess of death that gets her panties in a twist if one seeks to taunt her by creating undead or seeking undeath for one's self..

[lsfreak]

EDIT: While I have a thread up, I have a question about Craft Wondrous Item.

So, if I'm reading this right, Boots of Teleportation cost 49, 000 GP.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#bootsofTeleportation

Prereqs are CL 9th, Craft Wondrous Item, and Teleport. As a Cleric with the Travel domain, I meet these.

To make a pair, I must work for 49 days, spend 1960 XP (49, 000 divided by 25 = 1960) and spend 24, 500 gold pieces. Is this correct?

Assuming you have CL9 and the Craft feat, yes.