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View Full Version : Make my lich tricky



Darcand
2013-10-29, 08:32 PM
A side project of mine for the last few years has involved an adventure against a half-orc lich cleric of Norgorber, the PF deity of knowledge, trickery, and death.

I want to open with an encounter against some sword (axe) wights, to get the PCs to burn off some of their turn/ smite uses. A later encounter will be with an armored flesh golem, again, to beat on the PCs a bit and hopefully trick them into burn off more smite and turns.

I need some help with the lich himself. He needs to be less combative and more luring the PCs into traps/ambushes, splitting the party, never being where he seems.

A bit of backstory, the lich's phylactery is being held by a blue dragon who is using it to force the lich into guiding him on the path to becoming a dracolich. He would love nothing more then to give the PCs the information they need to stop the dragon, but first he needs to be sure they are powerful enough to do it, lest he be destroyed for his betrayal. So the dungeon is something of a test for the would be dragonslayers.

The lich is a half-orc, cleric 11, and the adventure is for 3-5 level 12s built by Pathfinder Society rules. The catch is that this campaign is being written as something for the local PFS players to run their retired characters through, so I have no clue what I could be up against, and therefore need to be ready for anything.

So then, throw me some suggestions, inspiration, or scenarios you think I might come across and need to prepare for.

claricorp
2013-10-30, 12:14 AM
Well if the lich knows enough about the dragons hideout, he could model the traps/monsters to be similar to the dragons in a similar order that they would be encountered in the dragons lair. At the end the lich could reveal this(or not) to the party, as him "preparing" or "testing" them for the way towards the dragons lair.

As a smaller idea, a room that has many of the abilities of a blue dragon, flying monsters, lightning bolts, areas of electric damage, spell resistance monsters, monsters with terrific full rounders should be a given.

AMFV
2013-10-30, 12:38 AM
I would definitely make the Lich play some kind of Xanatos roulette game, he's ancient and very powerful, likely much older than the dragon. This would give him better foresight, he surely has to have planned for this sort of thing before. Basically he should test the players, with a dragon themed dungeon, lots of traps, electrical things, maybe even have them fight a summoned dragon, or illusory dragon at the end to test them. Then have them go off to their dooms...

Because for him they're only a diversion from his main plan, the main way to make those kind of master planners scary is to make sure that they have multiple winning conditions and are fine with just walking away, he'd certainly be able to cover his backside with the dragon if the party goes south, or destroy the party if they become too powerful, he'd never let them (a good or neutral as per PFS adventuring party) get a hold of his phylactery, make sure that he has some kind of backup plan for this.

Also he should be starting to try to corrupt some of the dragon's followers and servants, playing them against the dragon, giving him another angle to win by, he should have at least three plans going on simultaneously. Of course make sure that they don't fiat incapacitate the players, but maybe take away a little bit of the taste of victory, make sure that the players know he is for serious, yo! Especially since he's likely the adversary following the dragon, therefore he should be much scarier than the dragon. Nothing is scarier than good planning and foresight, nothing.

JeenLeen
2013-10-30, 11:15 AM
Do the players know they are in a lich's dungeon?

If not, I'd recommend having the lich pass himself as something else, perhaps with illusions if necessary. (You could have one room earlier in the dungeon have a peephole, through which he could use Detect Magic on the team to tell if they have True Seeing or not. Makes sense for a tricky lich.) Even if they see through the illusions, give him good bluff and have him lie and try to say he just didn't want to be discriminated against. Or good Disguise and he could possibly pass himself off as a living creature.

Have him truthfully tell the party that he set this up as a test to fight a blue dragon planning to become a lich. Give a false story so there's an alias.

Or if the party does know he's a lich, have him pretend to be a prisoner, a good cleric imprisoned by the lich, who happens to be away. Have the 'prisoner' have overheard about a blue dragon that the lich is working with. Then you have the plot hook fed to them, and if the players lose, the lich can lie and say he must've muttered something around his prisoner.

Fouredged Sword
2013-10-30, 01:36 PM
Actually, from the Liches perspective, he should go for a true resurrection. It would make him mortal again and turn his phylancry into a minor magic item.

Then he can wander off and reconvert himself to a lich after the party turns their back.

Rabidmuskrat
2013-10-31, 02:42 AM
That sounds like a great 'Plan B'. Reasons it wouldn't be Plan A, is the cost (Lich transformation is expensive, nevermind the true resurrection, nevermind the time investment) and the potential risk. After all, if you become alive, you can die!

Also, the Lich might be unsure what the aging effects would be if he was True Resurrected. He knows it SHOULD revive him to the age he was when he became a Lich, but he isn't sure. And nobody gets that old by taking chances.

InQbait
2013-10-31, 04:38 AM
This thread has made me more interested in Liches. Thank you, fellow playgrounders! I shall use a Lich in my nearest campaign...

supermonkeyjoe
2013-10-31, 06:19 AM
Sudden flashbacks to hours spent on SSX Tricky and the associated RUN-D.M.C song, Maybe give him max ranks in balance and perform (snowboarding)?

Really all he needs to do is throw on some sufficiently decent illusions, go up to the PCs and say "oh brave adventurers, I have been terrorized by this evil dragon, if you slay it you may keep all of its fabulous treasures" If they end up dying then he can simply find another set of morons adventurers

Dr.Gunsforhands
2013-10-31, 02:19 PM
One more contingency our lich buddy can take advantage of: if the adventurers do defeat him before he gets a chance to explain himself, he regenerates right in the clutches of his dragon master, who will probably twist his arm into starting the dracolich rituals at that point.

The rituals take a while, and he can have minions go out and secure the proper materials from scratch, insist on inspecting every piece of equipment in painstaking detail, and other such delaying tactics ("I would rather you blame me for delay than for failure") until the PCs show up.

To help make sure the PCs show up, he can keep on his person a map of the Dragon's complex to the best of his knowledge ("if I am to take you up on your proposal, I need to be able to get to you") and an indestructible note claiming his willingness to help bring the beast down out of... let's call it penance.

In the worst case scenario, he finishes the ritual before the PCs arrive. Which, all things considered, is fine for him! The dracolich may have been suspicious that it all took so long, but the guy got the job done after all, and as minions go that makes for a pretty solid résumé; it's just not as good as being free to work for the glory of Norgorber exclusively.