The Heroes are leaving and I need YOU to...

[Eldhusgaur]

Ok, So my (Good Aligned) group of (Level 4) Adventurers are leaving Saltmarsh (DMG2) with a bunch of the town's local Clerics, Paladins and a pair of mages. They are headed for the lair of a recently formed lich (that needs a slaying, like most evil liches) who (in becoming a lich) murdered and sacrificed most of the local forest's dryads. Also, My group failed to kill a baby (atropal or whatever scion) that can control undead, so it sided with the lich.

So, my plan is to have the evil lair empty, save for a bunch of hard to kill/turn undeads that will swarm the heroes once they have reached the bottom of the place.
In the meantime, the lich meets up with a small cult inside the town and set up shop in catacombs under Saltmarsh and start terrorizing the town.

Now, my plan is/was to make this into a horror-themed Nightwatch thing, where the heroes are searching for the lich/cultists/traitor during the day, and fighting undead monstrosities during the night.

So, I have Heroes of Horror, Libre Mortis and Book of Vile Darkness, which has given me a bunch of ideas, but I feel like I'm missing something. If you have any ideas to help me make this scarier, freakier and overall better, you can see a gaping hole in my plan or know what I´m missing, feel free to contribute! I will try to respond to every idea, but I suck at quoting multiple people so I MIGHT multipost :(

[Flickerdart]

Dude, an Atropal is CR30. A bit out of the league of a few level 4s.

[snoopy13a]

Isn't a lich a little on the tough side for a bunch of level 4 characters?

[arguskos]

It's an epic adventure (with the usage of "awesome sweeping heroic" epic). Also, they have a small army of paladins, clerics, and a pair of mages with them. :smalltongue:

On topic, at the bottom, have a skeleton dressed up as the lich and a magical voice recording of the lich saying, "Welcome, heroes, to your doom!" (or something else equally contrived and corny). When they get there, spring your trap, have the "lich" do some cool looking spells that target NPCs (and have them die screaming or something) and then the players get to smite him down for justice while the other NPCs deal with the undead baddies. That way, they are all victorious and stuff, so that when the real lich attacks the next night with a horde of monsters or whatever, it's a huge surprise!

It's the old bait-and-switch maneuver. :smallcool:

[Flickerdart]

Isn't a lich a little on the tough side for a bunch of level 4 characters?
Being a Lick only adds 2 CR, and all you need is spell casting, CL 11, Craft Wondrous Items and some XP and GP to burn. The latter two can be GM-waved away, and the CL can be spoofed. A Lich could be low enough to kill with some effort in a few levels.

[jcsw]

Dude, an Atropal is CR30. A bit out of the league of a few level 4s.

Atropal Scion, in libris mortis. It's like a lesser version of an Atropal, CR 9 I think, but very scary for its level.

[Eldhusgaur]

Dude, an Atropal is CR30. A bit out of the league of a few level 4s.
Uhm, not atropal Scion then, it had Scion in its name.
Its basically a fetus that turns into an undead controlling thing due to bad vibes while in uterus. Not that CR 30 dead deity flesh thing.
Edit:


Isn't a lich a little on the tough side for a bunch of level 4 characters?

They won't be fighting the lich until MUCH later, when things have started spiraling WAY out of control in the town, when most of the population has died or fled.

[arguskos]

Being a Lick only adds 2 CR, and all you need is spell casting, CL 11, Craft Wondrous Items and some XP and GP to burn. The latter two can be GM-waved away, and the CL can be spoofed. A Lich could be low enough to kill with some effort in a few levels.
Hmm... a Lick... is that a delicious kind of undead that is made from candy? :smalltongue: I may have to go homebrew some stuff up now. Ack! Forgive the pun.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Uhm, not atropal Scion then, it had Scion in its name.
Its basically a fetus that turns into an undead controlling thing due to bad vibes while in uterus. Not that CR 30 dead deity flesh thing.

Sounds like the evil baby deal from Heroes of Horror - I totally forget the name. Atropal scions, IIRC, are formed from detritus left over when an atropal is destroyed.

[Eldhusgaur]

It's an epic adventure (with the usage of "awesome sweeping heroic" epic). Also, they have a small army of paladins, clerics, and a pair of mages with them. :smalltongue:

On topic, at the bottom, have a skeleton dressed up as the lich and a magical voice recording of the lich saying, "Welcome, heroes, to your doom!" (or something else equally contrived and corny). When they get there, spring your trap, have the "lich" do some cool looking spells that target NPCs (and have them die screaming or something) and then the players get to smite him down for justice while the other NPCs deal with the undead baddies. That way, they are all victorious and stuff, so that when the real lich attacks the next night with a horde of monsters or whatever, it's a huge surprise!

It's the old bait-and-switch maneuver. :smallcool:

Perfect! Although most of my players are familiar with liches, and they have an Archivist with them, so a bait and switch will be tricky unless I use a Eye of Fear and Flame or Huecawhateva, and something that could pass as a phylactery. (Ok, how come lich gets a red underlining hinting I misspelled it but not phylactery?)

[Flickerdart]

Perfect! Although most of my players are familiar with liches, and they have an Archivist with them, so a bait and switch will be tricky unless I use a Eye of Fear and Flame or Huecawhateva, and something that could pass as a phylactery. (Ok, how come lich gets a red underlining hinting I misspelled it but not phylactery?)
Because phylactery is a real word, and lich is not?

[arguskos]

Perfect! Although most of my players are familiar with liches, and they have an Archivist with them, so a bait and switch will be tricky unless I use a Eye of Fear and Flame or Huecawhateva, and something that could pass as a phylactery. (Ok, how come lich gets a red underlining hinting I misspelled it but not phylactery?)
Phylactery is a real word. It's a small package containing holy writings. Christians use them. :smalltongue:

Use a magic image of a lich too. :smalltongue: That way, if the Archivist makes some Knowledge (religion) checks to see what it is, he can find out that it looks like a lich. :smallwink:

[Eldhusgaur]

Phylactery is a real word. It's a small package containing holy writings. Christians use them. :smalltongue:

Use a magic image of a lich too. :smalltongue: That way, if the Archivist makes some Knowledge (religion) checks to see what it is, he can find out that it looks like a lich. :smallwink:

Huh, I always thought Phylactery was just a fancy name some writer thought up for the "Lich Cradle". Funny how the word has a COMPLETELY different meaning to the D&D players :P
Magic Image as in "Major Image"? Or just find a skeleton and Disguise check the marrow out of its bones? :smalltongue:

[Sinfire Titan]

Sounds like the evil baby deal from Heroes of Horror - I totally forget the name. Atropal scions, IIRC, are formed from detritus left over when an atropal is destroyed.

That would be an Unholy Scion.

[Colmarr]

Because phylactery is a real word, and lich is not?

Having said that, it is an example of just how weird word-processor dictionaries can be.

I never would have guessed that phylactery would be in one. It's not exactly a common term, even among christians.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Huh, I always thought Phylactery was just a fancy name some writer thought up for the "Lich Cradle". Funny how the word has a COMPLETELY different meaning to the D&D players :P

How's that? A lich's phylactery is a small metal box with arcane writing inside it. I think Libris Mortis is even pretty specific about this, but that's how it's always been.

The word also means, more generally, an amulet or talisman (including the protective connotation).


Having said that, it is an example of just how weird word-processor dictionaries can be.

I never would have guessed that phylactery would be in one. It's not exactly a common term, even among christians.

Dictionary being the key word here. I really doubt anyone's going to write up their own dictionary for a spellcheck, and the word is in the AHD and Webster's, for sure.


That would be an Unholy Scion.

That's the one. They make for awesomely vicious plots. "Well, you need to kill this pregnant woman because her baby is evil." And that's assuming the PCs even figure out it's the baby, and not the parents...

On the other hand, it can just devolve into an episode of South Park. "So we need to abort a devil baby? I summon a mountain lion..."

[arguskos]

Huh, I always thought Phylactery was just a fancy name some writer thought up for the "Lich Cradle". Funny how the word has a COMPLETELY different meaning to the D&D players :P
Magic Image as in "Major Image"? Or just find a skeleton and Disguise check the marrow out of its bones? :smalltongue:
Here's a hint, from an old DM to a newer one: just make it up. If they call you on it, say it was a Major Image, but really, the specifics aren't relevant. Just make it do whatever you want and call it something after the fact. Just make it some magic glamer that disguises the skeleton as a lich and lets him cast a few decent spells (just enough to trick the players).

It's the Golden Rule of DMing: the specifics don't matter, as long as people have fun.

[Killer Angel]

That's the one. They make for awesomely vicious plots. "Well, you need to kill this pregnant woman because her baby is evil." And that's assuming the PCs even figure out it's the baby, and not the parents...


Very intriguing, and also cool in a twisted way.
But I classify this in the "Mean Things a DM Shouldn't Do". :smallwink:
(specially if in the group there is a paladin)

[vicente408]

Because phylactery is a real word, and lich is not?

To be fair, they're both real words, though lich is currently obsolete in normal English.

[JellyPooga]

To be fair, they're both real words, though lich is currently obsolete in normal English.

and, correct me if I'm mistaken, is correctly spelled "lych" and has its etimology in the Old English "lic", which literally means 'corpse'.

[paddyfool]

Phylactery is a real word. It's a small package containing holy writings. Christians use them. :smalltongue:


Kind of. It's a pretty standard practice in Judaism described in the Torah/Old Testament, which some Christians also adhere too (Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_phylacteries)). But let's not get into discussing this too much...

What's interesting about this was that I always used to think a phylactery was the same as a portable reliquary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliquary), which would fit even better with a D&D lich. I think I must have mixed it up with a philatory.

[Leon]

We've found a Lich, may we burn it