Hiding a Phylactery from an Artificer/Paladin

[Telonius]

I'm DMming a run of Shackled City, and I have an interesting problem. In the very near future, the group is going to be fighting a Dracolich. I'm planning for this lich to have in its hoard two items, a fake phylactery and a real one. Fake phylactery is going to be an ornate mundane box with Magic Aura cast on it to make it seem like it's radiating strong evil. The real one is going to be the ornate scabbard of a +3 Bane (Dragon) Adamantine Greatsword, also with Magic Aura to conceal the fact that it's magic. (I'm ruling that the lich can use Permanency on Magic Aura). The idea is that the Dracolich sets the scabbard as a trap for the character. They pick up the scabbard and sword, they use the sword to kill the next dragon they face, the Dracolich possesses the corpse and reforms its body.

However, I have a couple of questions. First, would a phylactery count as an "exceptionally powerful" item, therefore not subject to the Magic Aura spell?

Second, there's a member of the party who is a Paladin/Artificer. Obviously if they use Identify on the scabbard, the jig's up. (I'm hoping they examine only the Sword closely). But would the Paladin's detect Evil ability or the Artificer's Knowledge check be able to detect the ruse? From a short read of the abilities it doesn't seem like they would, but I'd just like to verify that.

[Duke of URL]

I think you'll be fine. Just slant your descriptions (truthfully, but deviously), so that anything that "pings" based on the scabbard will seem as if they're coming from the sword.

As far as "exceptionally powerful", a phylactery as far as I can tell is a wondrous item at the caster level with which it was created (minimum 11, for a standard lich, don't have dracolich handy). Use that as a guideline.

[Diarmuid]

I agree that the phylactery is not going to fall under the "exceptionally powerful" clause in Magic Aura considering the example it gives is an artifact.

That spell only deals with magic auras though, not with whether the item is evil or not.

Is there something that specifically dictates that a phylactery is evil?

Edit - So I went looking for items that actually detect as Evil and in my quick searching the only couple I found were the Talisman of Pure Good and the Talisman of Ultimate Evil. Nothing in the phylactery description says that the item itself is evil.



THE LICH’S PHYLACTERY
An integral part of becoming a lich is creating a magic phylactery in which the character stores its life force. As a rule, the only way to get rid of a lich for sure is to destroy its phylactery. Unless its phylactery is located and destroyed, a lich reappears 1d10 days after its apparent death.

Each lich must make its own phylactery, which requires the Craft Wondrous Item feat. The character must be able to cast spells and have a caster level of 11th or higher. The phylactery costs 120,000 gp and 4,800 XP to create and has a caster level equal to that of its creator at the time of creation.

The most common form of phylactery is a sealed metal box containing strips of parchment on which magical phrases have been transcribed. The box is Tiny and has 40 hit points, hardness 20, and a break DC of 40. Other forms of phylacteries can exist, such as rings, amulets, or similar items.

[Duke of URL]

The text is, as so often is the case, distressingly vague. I'd probably rule that a phylactery radiates strong (moderate if 11th level) necromancy.

[Diarmuid]

Necromancy |= Evil so in that case the Magic Aura is going to hide the necromancy on the scabbard.

If the scabbard enchants the sword in such a way that the sword is now capable of transferring the soul to the killed dragon well an Identify or new Detect Magic might be able to perceive that enchantment on the sword.

Edit - I think part of the problem is the complete vaguery of how a Lich comes back if their body is destroyed, how long it takes, etc.

[PinkysBrain]

However, I have a couple of questions. First, would a phylactery count as an "exceptionally powerful" item, therefore not subject to the Magic Aura spell?
DM call, you're the DM ... so no.

Second, there's a member of the party who is a Paladin/Artificer. Obviously if they use Identify on the scabbard, the jig's up. (I'm hoping they examine only the Sword closely). But would the Paladin's detect Evil ability or the Artificer's Knowledge check be able to detect the ruse? From a short read of the abilities it doesn't seem like they would, but I'd just like to verify that.
No, but that's not really the problem. Why would they assume something is the phylactery just because it radiates evil?

The ultimate anti-lich weapon (and frankly a weapon which needs to exist, lich's shouldn't be invincible) is legend lore. If I kill a lich I use legend lore to know what it's phylactery is and locate object to find it ... sequester can keep it safe for a while, but not indefinitely.

[Quietus]

Necromancy |= Evil so in that case the Magic Aura is going to hide the necromancy on the scabbard.

If the scabbard enchants the sword in such a way that the sword is now capable of transferring the soul to the killed dragon well an Identify or new Detect Magic might be able to perceive that enchantment on the sword.

Edit - I think part of the problem is the complete vaguery of how a Lich comes back if their body is destroyed, how long it takes, etc.

Dracoliches have a different method, involving taking control of a body nearby their phylactery. Dragon bodies in particular are easier to "hop into".

[Diarmuid]

That makes sense, I think I was assuming the sword somehow was involved in the body switch based on how the OP described the event. Also, I didnt check the dracolich entry, merely the lich one with regards to phylactery.

[Telonius]

Edit - So I went looking for items that actually detect as Evil and in my quick searching the only couple I found were the Talisman of Pure Good and the Talisman of Ultimate Evil. Nothing in the phylactery description says that the item itself is evil.

Just looked it up - Dracolich Phylactery is actually listed in Draconomicon. It only radiates Strong Necromancy. The thing I'm still a bit concerned about, is whether that's only when it's unoccupied. (Though that could be interesting as well - I'm expecting the party Warblade to pick up the sword, and having the Paladin suspect him of evil might lead to some interesting character development (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0201.html)).

[Diarmuid]

Well, a couple rounds of concentration would reveal the evil is in the item rather than in the Warblade.

If the phylactery is indeed housing the dracolich, then the dracolich itself would detect as evil. You've definitely got yourself a sticky wicket there.

[Violet Octopus]

So give the greatsword something like Unholy so it pings as evil too. Give it a history of being a weapon used to kill metallic dragons. The trick would be to make the weapon evil enough to plausibly cover for the scabbard, but not so evil the paladin is inclined to sunder it.

Unholy may be unsuitable, but maybe Profane from Magic Item Compendium? It needs a command word to do extra evil-aligned damage, so the party could very easily view the sword as not inherently wrong to use, as long as they didn't activate that ability.

edit: Profane also pings as necromancy, for bonus camouflage.

[Diarmuid]

As mentioned before...necromancy |= Evil.

The issue is that the phylactery all by itself wont ping to a Detect Evil, and a permanent Magic Aura will hide it from Detect Magic.

But...what happens when said phylactery is now housing the essence of a very evil dracolich?

Even if you could find an item that itself is inherently Evil and thought to use that as the phylactery...well the Paladin and his buddies are probably going to do everything they can to rid the world of such a heinous item anyway and will try to break it...something you really dont want happening to your phylactery. What about permanent Nondetection on the scabbard? That protects against all Detect spells. Then you put the big sword of dragonslaying in it and when they kill a dragon, Mr. Dracolich inhabits the body.

[Telonius]

Hm, looks like Nondetection is going to be the best option. Thanks!

[PinkysBrain]

Just curious ... what are you going to do if the artificer uses legend lore (or vision if he is high level enough) to get details about the phylactery?

[Diarmuid]

Well, I dont know that you'd be able to cast Legend Lore on the dracolich's phylactery, but if you could, you'd most likely fall into this casting of it.



If you know only rumors, the casting time is 2d6 weeks, and the resulting lore is vague and incomplete (though it often directs you to more detailed information, thus allowing a better legend lore result next time).


And if you can cast Legend Lore, I would imagine that unless this dracolich is of legendrary proportions you might be limited by this,



If the person, place, or thing is not of legendary importance, you gain no information.

[Duke of URL]

Legend lore can't be used to divulge secrets like that. It's use is to provide information that can be cobbled together from what is known. What is "known" is that the dracolich kept his phylactery in his hoard -- the fact that the dracolich had a fake and used a different item wouldn't be a matter of legend or lore, unless there was good reason for someone to have known about it.

Now, divination and similar spells could be an issue, but that's only if the characters suspect they're being tricked in the first place.

[Diarmuid]

And the Nondetection should provide some amount of protection against various divinations.

[PinkysBrain]

Legend lore can't be used to divulge secrets like that. It's use is to provide information that can be cobbled together from what is known.
"or even information that has never been generally known"

[Telonius]

It would probably be the Bard casting Legend Lore, since the Paladin/Artificer is (unsurprisingly) a bit behind in Infusion levels. EDIT: Probably something like ... Throughout the ages, various heroes have defeated the Lich, and sometimes one group or another claimed to have finally smashed Bale's phylactery. But each time, their hopes were dashed. Sometimes it took a few weeks, other times, as much as a century passed. But always, Vittriss Bale returned to trouble the unhappy world. One dark prophecy spoke thus of the dragon: "Not till the sign of peace be sundered forevermore will Bale's evil be brought to an end."

I'm not looking to make the thing completely un-findable, just hard to figure out and not vulnerable to a Paladin1 or low-level Artificer effect. If the players are really paranoid about it, they'll be able to discover it and gain some bonus XP for figuring out the puzzle. If not, they'll be fighting a very perturbed and motivated Dracolich a second time later on.

[Diarmuid]

I think you'll be good with a DM Fiat Permanent Nondetection.

Though, would the Nondetection itself then be detectable via Detect Magic?

[Telonius]

I think you'll be good with a DM Fiat Permanent Nondetection.

Though, would the Nondetection itself then be detectable via Detect Magic?

Nondetection first, then Magic Aura, I suppose.

[Mikal]

You could also have the phylactery itself implement a ring of mind shielding into the scabbard, protected by the magic aura spell to just look like a shiny attachment to the scabbard itself.

There's no reason why a sufficiently talented mage couldn't use such a thing to protect its alignment, since its such a simple item to forge in the first place.

[kestrel404]

Simple modification. You have an exceptionally beautiful scabbard on the sword. Then you cover it in a thin layer of lead. Then you bind that with leather. You now have a nondescript leather scabbard for your sword which doesn't detect as anything, because magic doesn't detect through lead.

Make the phylactery out of Mithril and it even ends up weight about the right amount for a leather scabbard.

[Telonius]

Simple modification. You have an exceptionally beautiful scabbard on the sword. Then you cover it in a thin layer of lead. Then you bind that with leather. You now have a nondescript leather scabbard for your sword which doesn't detect as anything, because magic doesn't detect through lead.

Make the phylactery out of Mithril and it even ends up weight about the right amount for a leather scabbard.

Hmmm, that's not a bad idea. No magic involved at all. I think we have a winner!

[Diarmuid]

That is indeed quite a good thought. It goes completely against the whole "vessel" aspect mentioned (box with arcane writings, etc) but you could just make the scabbard slightly too long and have the tiny box hidden in the tip of the scabbard.

Heck, come to think of it..many scabbards have a metal covered end to account for being dragged on the ground, or through bushes that would eventually wear on the leather. A small mithril box hidden in there and lined by lead wouldnt throw off the weight much at all.

[Marnath]

That is indeed quite a good thought. It goes completely against the whole "vessel" aspect mentioned (box with arcane writings, etc) but you could just make the scabbard slightly too long and have the tiny box hidden in the tip of the scabbard.

Heck, come to think of it..many scabbards have a metal covered end to account for being dragged on the ground, or through bushes that would eventually wear on the leather. A small mithril box hidden in there and lined by lead wouldnt throw off the weight much at all.

Complete Scoundrel has rules for hidden compartments in boots and scabbard tips.