Trapping/releasing a lich for plot feasible?

[jeice]

So I'm working on some possible BBEGs for a campaign and I really love the old school D&D monsters. Lich is one of my favorites and I'd love to introduce one at some point and have the players try to kill it. I'm trying to come up with some ideas on how to introduce them to it and give them reason to hunt it down but I'm running into some issues. Here's what I'm hoping is plausible, though it might be a bit cliche.

Basically my players are about to start working for a very rich, eccentric noble who enjoys collecting things. I'm thinking about him coming across a rather old, and long forgotten box/chest that is locked with some sort of impenetrable magic but luckily has a keyhole. Someway or another he will find word of the key, which will be split into multiple(probably 3) pieces spread out around the land. The PC's task will be to locate each part of this key and will give them 3 separate adventures and allow them to level up a bit.

Once they acquire the final piece and are handed the reward they will be invited to a special ceremony that night in which the employer plans to open the box. My plan however will be that opening the box releases the lich who has been long forgotten(cliche anyone?) and does his obligatory evil laugh, calls them all fools for releasing him and then teleports away not before killing a few bystanders for fun.

Obviously due to either the collector's guilt(if he survives.. why not after all he DID the lich a favor), the PC's guilt in helping or a promise of more riches they will be tasked with taking out this lich. I might even give some sort of clue to where his phylactery may be hidden inside the box itself to give them some a starting point and the story can take off from there.

Basically is this even feasible, in regards to standard rules, or would it just have to be a suspension of disbelief moment for the plot? I'd really like to do something that's believable in regards to actual rules than just doing a DM hand waive. I know it's a bit cliche but I think they'd enjoy it because who doesn't love some old school monster hunting?

[TuggyNE]

Basically is this even feasible, in regards to standard rules, or would it just have to be a suspension of disbelief moment for the plot? I'd really like to do something that's believable in regards to actual rules than just doing a DM hand waive.

Sure. Just make sure the box is (near-)impossible to destroy and has a dimensional anchor effect on anything trapped inside, which wears off 1d4 rounds after exiting. Pretty standard "sealed evil in a can" provisions, really, and easy if you assume it's a minor artifact. (Not impossible even without that, but requires a lot of funky stuff with e.g. hardened matter manipulated Livewood, so as to be immune to disintegrate and heavily resistant to all other spells the lich would have).

[Blackstorm]

Except for the evil laugh and random kills, I don't see problems. the chest may be something like a trap soul artifact, created to specifically trap that lich, as centuries ago nobody could find and destroy his philactery , so they trapped the lich. the key was meant to exist to release and kill the lich after the destruction of the philactery. But this is a long forgotten knowledge, so nobody knows it. the key itself is a miracle spell trigger that dispel the soul trap effect. Regarding the initial senseless kill worth attached laugh, play the lich as a cold planner, not a sadistic mad.

[jeice]

Except for the evil laugh and random kills, I don't see problems. the chest may be something like a trap soul artifact, created to specifically trap that lich, as centuries ago nobody could find and destroy his philactery , so they trapped the lich. the key was meant to exist to release and kill the lich after the destruction of the philactery. But this is a long forgotten knowledge, so nobody knows it. the key itself is a miracle spell trigger that dispel the soul trap effect. Regarding the initial senseless kill worth attached laugh, play the lich as a cold planner, not a sadistic mad.

I was joking mostly about the laugh and kills, I realize liches aren't your typical evil villains that just want to kill for the fun of it. They have motives and unless killing something serves a purpose they likely wouldn't waste the time. Most likely the lich would simply teleport away as quickly as possible instead of trying to fight after being locked up all of those years.

I think I remember reading that a wizard as early as 10th level can actually become a lich so long as he has the resources available to do it. This particular lich would be less powerful than many others and something a lower level party could probably deal with. Now I just have to come up with something for him to do while the PC's figure out how to deal with the problem.

[Andreaz]

If the Lich is aware of the scheme (trap him, destroy phylactery, release and destroy him), odds are he wouldn't even be noticed upon release, teleporting or going invisible immediately save for some generic dazing and stunning the backlash might give him.

[jeice]

If the Lich is aware of the scheme (trap him, destroy phylactery, release and destroy him), odds are he wouldn't even be noticed upon release, teleporting or going invisible immediately save for some generic dazing and stunning the backlash might give him.

Possibly true, but I'm not sure of the logistics of what the lich would sense about what is going on outside the box. Can he see or hear? Would he instantly react to being suddenly released after possibly hundreds of years of captivity? Has he been driven mad due to being locked up for that long with no way to study his magic, most likely his original reason for becoming a lich? Etc..

Either way he'd have to at least let himself be noticed long enough for the PC's to understand what happened but not long enough for them to actually react. I doubt even the barbarian would be in any rush to foolishly charge what comes out of the box.

[Aharon]

I was joking mostly about the laugh and kills, I realize liches aren't your typical evil villains that just want to kill for the fun of it. They have motives and unless killing something serves a purpose they likely wouldn't waste the time. Most likely the lich would simply teleport away as quickly as possible instead of trying to fight after being locked up all of those years.

I think I remember reading that a wizard as early as 10th level can actually become a lich so long as he has the resources available to do it. This particular lich would be less powerful than many others and something a lower level party could probably deal with. Now I just have to come up with something for him to do while the PC's figure out how to deal with the problem.

Actually, you can become a lich far earlier. All you need is CL11 and money and xp. You can get the Caster Level via cheese (that cleric spell) or circle magic, and if you use collaborative crafting, don't have to spend the xp, but pay others to do so.

One RAW way to "trap" the lich might be having the box be an item that projects an AMF to the inside that ends when opened. The phylactery is a wondrous item, and the lich reappearence presumably doesn't happen while it is effectively non-magic.

[TuggyNE]

Possibly true, but I'm not sure of the logistics of what the lich would sense about what is going on outside the box. Can he see or hear? Would he instantly react to being suddenly released after possibly hundreds of years of captivity? Has he been driven mad due to being locked up for that long with no way to study his magic, most likely his original reason for becoming a lich? Etc.

Undead are immune to mental ailments such as insanity (and, in general, don't change much over the years; they're basically ossified mentally, no pun intended). So while he'd be annoyed no end, it wouldn't have any serious effect on him. In all likelihood, he'd have a bunch of plans made for what to do if ever released.

I would expect he'd be able to hear a bit, although that's not necessarily the case, but probably wouldn't be able to see anything.

[AzazelSephiroth]

While Lich are immune to Mind-affecting attacks... I see no reason they cannot suffer mental ailments... A thinking undead such as a lich or a vampire can acquire new levels in classes/new spells/new feats/new skills etc thus they are not just the old memories or thoughts. They can continue to think and make new thoughts and memories... 100 years of nothingness as its only memory...
After 100 years trapped in a box, with no access to any sort of diversion I have no doubt that the Lich would be a tad loony, and terribly angry! His/or Her first mission is probably revenge on the descendants of whoever imprisoned them!

I think it sounds like a fine adventure hook and as has been mentioned a few simple special spells on the box could have him trapped inside/especially if he had lost/used up his spells for the day.

[Drynwyn]

Really, any craziness from 100 years of isolation will be fairly hard to notice against the background insanity of your typical Lich. Also, a Lich could be a violent madman- lichs vary as much as the people willing to become lichs. While they tend towards planning carefullly, nothing requires them to be that way.

[Saidoro]

Rules-wise this is exactly what the Binding (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/binding.htm) spell is for, no weird constructions required. I can't say much about what effect time will have on his mind, though. That's really a campaign setting question, not a system one.

[mregecko]

Rules-wise this is exactly what the Binding (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/binding.htm) spell is for, no weird constructions required. I can't say much about what effect time will have on his mind, though. That's really a campaign setting question, not a system one.

It always bothered me that Binding is an enchantment / compulsion spell. I'd honestly put it as an Abjuration or even Transmutation (some of the options alter the target significantly).

But that said, sadly RAW a lich is immune to Binding. I'd house-rule it to work, or find a way to make it vulnerable like:


PF Sorcerer Undead Bloodline (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/bloodlines/bloodlines-from-paizo/undead-bloodline)
Nightmare Spinner Variant
Song of the Dead metamagic (+1, spell becomes necromancy, can affect intelligent undead. Dragon #312)
PF Threnodic Spell (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/metamagic-feats/threnodic-spell-metamagic) metamagic (+2 though, so need a reducer to get to 9th level)

[Zanthy1]

What if, instead of killing people and teleporting away, he casts a couple mind control spells maybe some contagion stuffs. Turning the guests at the party into slaves, corpses, and zombies (also slaves), then sicking them on the rest of the household. He would then probably use the fancy mansion of his new slave as a home base while he does whatever else he had planned. Maybe relocate his phylactery? (The reason why he just doesn't kill himself and just wait to respawn by it is because he is not sure what dangers it may be in, and would rather not risk dying a second time, or worse case, maybe it was destroyed, and while he was trapped he could not tell)

The PCs would not be subjects of his initial spells, so they would just have to fight there way out and regroup

[Toy Killer]

ArchDuke Baddie, A powerful wizard of the ancient times perfected a method that would seemingly grant him immortality. Baddie's method of immortality would require an item in which he could anchor his soul, so that upon death, neither heaven, nor hell could take him, and he would regrow in the presence of this 'Phylactery'. An item as simple as a single coin, used to buy a single scone in Placenondescript.

While he had good intentions, he went mad with power and wasn't able to withstand the horrific implications of his tampering with the divine measures that went beyond the hands of gods and mortals. Fearful for their lively hood the Kingdom of Goodietwoshoes devised a means to trap his body, circumventing the measure he put into place by hiding his body away in an extra-planar location (I personally like to imagine this ghost buster style). Alive, kicking and tormented with timelessness; He writhed within his prison.

until he learned how to project himself astrally. Able to move his mind into the material realm, he quietly whispered dark secrets into the ears of Orcs whom took the words into worship. Festering with centuries of agony and loneliness, he devised a plan to excavate his prison, present it to a noble ripe with curiosity and plucked with a simple question.

"What's within the Box?"