Why Do Liches Rot?

[White_Drake]

Honestly, I you were a Lich, why wouldn't you just craft yourself an eternal wand of Gentle Repose and just cast as necessary?

[Ravens_cry]

Honestly, I you were a Lich, why wouldn't you just craft yourself a wand of Gentle Repose and just cast as necessary?
At first, the vainer liches just might, but you are busy with magical research, weeks, years, even decades can fly by before you get up from your desk.
Over time, these missed castings add-up.
Of course, a ring then would be better than a wand.
Alternately, it is the process of becoming a lich that creates the typical appearance.

[Righteous Doggy]

I've never seen anything saying they couldn't keep their corpse well preserved, but that tends to be more work than its worth to most I'd imagine. If you want a lich with a good looking corpse go for it! Just remember the corpse is definitely dead, and they can always get another.

[Toliudar]

I like the idea that the extra flesh slows them down, gets in the way. If the burning points of light in their eye sockets are now how they see, it would be a complete paint to have to peer through all this aqueous stuff, the weird distortions of the iris, just for the privilege of having eyeballs that still glow from inside.

[Piggy Knowles]

To me, a more pressing question is if the flesh rots off, why doesn't it come back when the lich reforms?

[White_Drake]

You know what would be hilarious? demi liches don't need to be skulls, they can be any body part; Foot of Evil!

[Ravens_cry]

You know what would be hilarious? demi liches don't need to be skulls, they can be any body part; Foot of Evil!
I think there is one in at least one adventure that is only a hand.
Like Thing from 'The Addams Family but exponentially creepier.

[Alefiend]

My take:

Liches are consumed with the accumulation of power and secrets—they sacrifice their humanity (or elfitude, or whatever) to get immortality and more arcane prowess. They don't take pleasure in food, drink, sex, or anything carnal. Once they become liches, they simply don't care about their physical bodies anymore. It provides no benefit to keep their flesh unrotted, and they might even look down upon mortals. Rotting away to just bones (and remember, "lich" is an old word for skeleton) is fine for them, and in fact has the benefit of making them more fearsome.

[Torben Raibeart]

Might be due to the fact that Gentle Repose technically only work on 'corpse touched', and a lich is not a corpse, but an undead. Same way you couldn't use Soul Bind to imprison a lich without killing it first.

[JoshuaZ]

I think there is one in at least one adventure that is only a hand.
Like Thing from 'The Addams Family but exponentially creepier.

There's one such mentioned in the Epic handbook. Sharlee, who uses all her time to constantly inscribe spells into a book. Actually one of the cooler characters in that book.

[Big Fau]

A large part of it is metabolism. Without constant energy provided by natural bodily functions or proper preservation, skin cells decay fairly quickly. Liches lack the normal metabolism to do this, and as stated above Gentle Repose does not help a Lich (due to being Undead).

[Ravens_cry]

There's one such mentioned in the Epic handbook. Sharlee, who uses all her time to constantly inscribe spells into a book. Actually one of the cooler characters in that book.
That does sound rather neat.

[Alienist]

I thought that they dried up and shrivelled, not rotted.

[Particle_Man]

I suppose one could be an eberron changeling lich. :smallcool:

[Voyager_I]

Even assuming Gentle Repose worked to prevent decay, the Lich's body no longer has any means of self-repair. Every cut, scrape, scratch, and stain is there for keeps. Without even considering the sorts of hazardous situations they might end up in, it wouldn't be very long by the timescale of an immortal being before that skin suit starts getting a bit threadbare.

[Ravens_cry]

I thought that they dried up and shrivelled, not rotted.
Po-TAY-toe, po-TAH-toe in my opinion.

[Wavelab]

Well if you consider liches are usually high level wizard, they don't need to preserve their bodies. They just use magic to hide it. I mean a hat of disguise is extremely cheap(And most necromancers should have one anyway).

Usually when I play a lich I always make sure there's a way that he can appear in public without scaring people.

[Analytica]

There is an item of gentle repose in City of the Spider Queen, intended for undead, so I think the intention is that it indeed does work on them. As for self-repair, they have a negative energy touch that can heal them.

[The Dark Fiddler]

If we're just giving our preferred explanation (since I think we have more or less discovered there is no single reason), I like to think that it's a consequence of the ritual.

[Yawgmoth]

Because the smart lich bathes in Oil of Timelessness right before performing the ritual. The instant he dies, bam! Corpse is an object, it soaks in, pretty forever.

[Ravens_cry]

Because the smart lich bathes in Oil of Timelessness right before performing the ritual. The instant he dies, bam! Corpse is an object, it soaks in, pretty forever.
Well, not pretty, even a fresh corpse has certain qualities of wrongness.
See, well, pretty much any attempt at 'photorealistic' humans.

[Rubik]

Well, not pretty, even a fresh corpse has certain qualities of wrongness.
See, well, pretty much any attempt at 'photorealistic' humans.It's called the Uncanny Valley, and it's what our minds hit specifically so we WON'T mess around with corpses.

Them things're unsanitary.

[Ravens_cry]

It's called the Uncanny Valley, and it's what our minds hit specifically so we WON'T mess around with corpses.

Them things're unsanitary.
Yeah, I know about the Vale Uncanny.
Disease and bad mutations are other theorised reasons for the effect.
I'm not sure I agree completely the corpse avoidance sanitation theory though.
Corpses are bad enough, but it's much worse when they move.

[Solaris]

Corpses are bad enough, but it's much worse when they move.

Naw, then they're just playin' hard to get. Hur hur hurr.

Less brain-meltingly creepy, I'm going with the simple explanation that liches no longer care. Look at how little nerds pay attention to their personal hygiene and upkeep if given half a chance - now take away every biological imperative and leave them to get their geek on for eternity.

[Slipperychicken]

Look at how little nerds pay attention to their personal hygiene and upkeep if given half a chance

I don't think this is very accurate. I find that we nerds maintain our hygiene about as well as anyone else, on average. If a lich maintains its sense of smell, it'll likely wash (or use Prestidigitation, or make an Unseen Servant give it a sponge-bath while it works) every once in a while, to keep itself from being distracted, or to be presentable to any meatbags it needs/wants to deal with.

[Zilzmaer]

After a few months or so it wouldn't smell bad anyway. Everything that would rot has done so; without sweat or skin oils, there's no body odor. Undead would have no need to bathe after a few months unless they didn't like dirt.

[Shadowknight12]

Because artists thought it'd be spookier. Nobody in their right mind would actively want to be a rotting type of undead. In my campaign worlds, this is patently true, and all self-inflicted undead are perfectly preserved. Sometimes that preservation requires feeding (like vampires and wights), but sometimes only an item of Gentle Repose is necessary.

[Water_Bear]

I think a good fluff explanation would be that it has to do with Negative Energy itself.

Positive Energy is literally Life energy; growth, healing, youthful vigor. Negative Energy is literally the energy of Death; decay, harm, the silence of the crypt. So while living creatures rarely rot or putrefy while they are still healthy enough to move, Undead should logically be at their healthiest while seemingly falling apart from decay.

The only exception I can think of, an Undead creature which isn't depicted as a gaunt or rotting corpse, is the Vampire. Even then, it could have to do with their connection to the living through drinking blood.

Also the transformation into a Lich is supposed to be an irredeemably corrupt act, so having that corruption take a physical form is fitting in a universe with Objective Morality. Just look at Undying Councilors in Eberron; they're essential Good Positive-Energy liches and they look much less corpse-y.

[Calanon]

Might be due to the fact that Gentle Repose technically only work on 'corpse touched', and a lich is not a corpse, but an undead. Same way you couldn't use Soul Bind to imprison a lich without killing it first.

The same however cannot be said for Trap the Soul... but apparently it works for some reason... I always wondered if there was an innate reason for a Lich to be immune to this... that is RAW legal :smalltongue:


Less brain-meltingly creepy, I'm going with the simple explanation that liches no longer care. Look at how little nerds pay attention to their personal hygiene and upkeep if given half a chance - now take away every biological imperative and leave them to get their geek on for eternity.

I take insult to that :smallconfused: ...This can also extend from not only Liches but to most Wizards... that low Charisma score has to be explained somehow :smalltongue:


Well if you consider liches are usually high level wizard, they don't need to preserve their bodies. They just use magic to hide it. I mean a hat of disguise is extremely cheap(And most necromancers should have one anyway).

Usually when I play a lich I always make sure there's a way that he can appear in public without scaring people.

PFFT! When I play a Lich I will openly walk into a town not giving a damn who or what cares... If the Paladins try and "arrest me" I will kill them and turn them into Swordwraiths :smallamused:

Anywho, when playing a Lich it is more about reputation and less about power... If everyone is afraid of you then there is a smaller chance of people trying to mess with you... Think about it. If Acererak had told everyone "Hey! there is a huge tomb that is filled with treasure in it and stuff... btw There is an Evil Demilich that will turn your soul into soup if you even touch the doorknob in there" would people have flocked to the Tomb of Horror so swiftly? Knowing adventurers? Yes they would have making this entire argument moot :smallannoyed: but would any sane person go? No they would not :smalltongue:

[Icewraith]

Casters who can become liches generally have no reason to worry about appearance.

Want to feel "alive" again and spend a night on the town in wine, women and song? Hat/headband/eyepatch/ whatever of disguise. If you want to emphasize the women bit, craft, buy or steal a hat/headband/ring/whatever of alter self, so anyone "interacting" with the disguise doesn't succeed on a will save and find themselves making out with the unholy abomination you are instead of the dapper being-on-the-town you've decided to be for the night. If you're showing off you can also polymorph any object, persistant alter self/polymorph yourself to alter whatever you want if you don't want to bother with items. Nystul's Magic Aura to negate magical auras if you REALLY don't want to give your disguise away to detect magic et al, True Seeing will still blow your cover.

If you're not going to be a social lich, there's no point in wasting the effort.

As a side note, if your body is destroyed and you regenerate, what does the regenerated body LOOK like? If you maintained your body perfectly for eons and then got dusted by the high chief Sun Priest when you were having tea with him and someone let zombies loose in the courtyard for a prank, does your preserved body regenerate or the body you'd have if you hadn't bothered with the effort?

[Psyren]

Target: Corpse touched

When you're a lich, you're no longer a corpse (an object) - you're a creature. That's why.

[Leon]

Po-TAY-toe, po-TAH-toe in my opinion.

Boil em, mash em, cook em in a stew.... a dead good feed no matter what

[kabreras]

I wols say that you regenerate all new like at the moment you made the philactery.

[gomipile]

My take:

Liches are consumed with the accumulation of power and secrets—they sacrifice their humanity (or elfitude, or whatever) to get immortality and more arcane prowess. They don't take pleasure in food, drink, sex, or anything carnal. Once they become liches, they simply don't care about their physical bodies anymore. It provides no benefit to keep their flesh unrotted, and they might even look down upon mortals. Rotting away to just bones (and remember, "lich" is an old word for skeleton) is fine for them, and in fact has the benefit of making them more fearsome.


Naw, then they're just playin' hard to get. Hur hur hurr.

Less brain-meltingly creepy, I'm going with the simple explanation that liches no longer care. Look at how little nerds pay attention to their personal hygiene and upkeep if given half a chance - now take away every biological imperative and leave them to get their geek on for eternity.


So liches becoming skeletons is comparable to extremely extreme poopsocking? "I only became a lich so I wouldn't have to keep a chamber pot next to my desk."

[Manga Shoggoth]

I thought that they dried up and shrivelled, not rotted.

Po-TAY-toe, po-TAH-toe in my opinion.

Actually, there is a significant difference: A corpse cannot rot without water being present.

The (real world) process of mummification is an example of this - ultimately the mummy is a highly dessicated corpse. The ancient Egyptians went to great lengths to get this effect, and around the world there are numerous examples of this happening (naturally or otherwise).

If exposed to damp, the tissues can soften and rotting process can restart, albiet not very quickly.

[Righteous Doggy]

When you're a lich, you're no longer a corpse (an object) - you're a creature. That's why.

Kind of, the corpse is actually possessed. The liches soul is free to move around and create/possess more bodies(after relinquishing one). Or at least thats how I understand it. The books don't say they can't do it, and magic jar and phylacteries are weird objects too. its a corpse and a creature? :smalltongue:

On a different note, We did have a lich one time with a very well kept corpse. He was just an old pale elf with slightly stretched skin. Not too lich like.. Him and his wife and neighbors were all types of undead and liked to keep themselves together(Evening Glory was a primary diety). And I did play one once who magically kept his heart beating to give himself a semblance of life.

[Hand_of_Vecna]

There are numerous examples of gentle repose being used on undead both official adventures and in rule books. The answer really is that most don't care. As several people have pointed out there are plenty of ways for a lich that's "let themselves go" can fake it so gentle repose is no more damaging to the fabric of the game.

Just remember that a lich that cares about it's appearance should be the exception, but is fine for a PC or NPC under a hundred years dead. You do still need to decide how he repairs his appearance after being wounded. I ruled my player lich had to cast mending after every fight he was hurt in. Essentially his body was a well preserved corpse and he was skeleton.