Acquiring templates: something I'm unclear on

[hushblade]

Suppose you're in a level 15 party. You, the wizard do everything to become a lich. Do you just acquire this LA 4 template and become ECL 19 when the rest of the party is still ECL 15? It just seems wrong to me.

[dethkruzer]

Suppose you're in a level 15 party. You, the wizard do everything to become a lich. Do you just acquire this LA 4 template and become ECL 19 when the rest of the party is still ECL 15? It just seems wrong to me.

There were material cosats associated with becoming a lich. Also, your ECL effects how much Exp. you get, so you're party would inevitably catch up, because the lich get's less exp.

[Shadowknight12]

Suppose you're in a level 15 party. You, the wizard do everything to become a lich. Do you just acquire this LA 4 template and become ECL 19 when the rest of the party is still ECL 15? It just seems wrong to me.

This is correct. Note that this is harming the wizard, not the party, as he's stuck at level 19 until the party catches up to him (he still earns experience, only he earns very little compared to what he'd earn if he was still level 14 like everyone else), and 4 levels of "nothing" is an absolute death sentence for any full caster (or anyone, really, but it hurts casters the most).

Very few templates or races are worth a +1 or +2 LA. No amount of abilities is going to make up for a LA of +3 or more. Whoever gets saddled with a template that is LA +3 or more is getting screwed.

[hex0]

Of course if the rest of the part is a bit behind power wise, become a lich might balance things out a bit. Also, you are at the point where you can easily buy off the LA (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm)

Then there is become a shadowalker so you can easily become a Telflammor Shadowlord, which is worth it.

[Answerer]

You can only buy off one of the LA +4, so you wind up at LA +3 and still suck. It does save your 9ths if you're a Cleric, Druid, or Wizard though...

The Lich's primary draw (becoming difficult to kill) is something full-casters of those levels already have (in spades). There are more powerful protections than Lichdom available for the low, low cost of some spell slots.

[hex0]

The Lich's primary draw (becoming difficult to kill) is something full-casters of those levels already have (in spades). There are more powerful protections than Lichdom available for the low, low cost of some spell slots.

But coolness factor? :smallamused:

[Answerer]

Well, OK, sure. You'd be better off with, say, Walker in the Waste, though.

[Absol197]

To answer your question, yes, the moment the character becomes a lich, he immediately becomes ECL 19.

However, this comes with a couple of drawbacks, some which others have noted, some which they have not. First, he gains experience as a 19th level character, meaning that the other characters will be gaining a lot more XP than him.

Secondly, when his ECL goes up, his XP total does not, meaning he has to gain all the experience necessay to go from 15 to 16, 16 to 17, 17 to 18, 18 to 19, and 19 to 20 before he can level up again (to level 16, ECL 20). That's five levels worth of XP needed before he gains another level, on top of the significantly reduced XP he's getting for being higher level than the rest of the party.