Pimp My Phylactery (Pathfinder, 3.0/3.5 stuff generally allowed)

[Socksy]

Alright, there isn't really much to say here. I have a lich, who has Divine casting and Psionics, access to lots of Kobolds (think trained, Tucker types), and a phylactery (it's a necklace, if it matters) to hide. She can get someone to cast Arcane spells if necessary.

What to cast, how to hide it?

It has to stay on the same plane as the lich, I believe, although she's going to get a Contingency spell to drop her remains off on the right plane if she dies (Re-dies?).

[boxfox]

I've never tried to do this, but nobody else has posted, so what the hay....

-EDIT- This plan requires you to be really good at crafting stuff or creating stuff out of nothing....

Put the necklace in a lead box. Figure out what spells are used to make a Ring of Proof against Detection and enchant the box the same way.

Put it into a silver box, enchant it with the nastiest contingency traps you have access to.

Put the Silver box into a 1' thick chest of steel, cast the Proof against detection bit again.

Use divination magic to find a place where there are no underground denizens (preferably far from civilization) and also where the Crust of the planet is thickest (Earth's goes up to 22 miles thick).

Use magic to dig a 20 mile deep hole.

Inside said hole, conjure up enough stone to make a 5' thick stone wall, which you will enchant with all manner of protection from elements spells and any other protection you have access to.

Place big heavy boxes into stone room. Enchant with more anti-divination shenanigans.

Fill Stone room with The nastiest golems and undead that you have access to.

Get out of room and seal it with more stone, making sure to enchant that part just like the rest.

Craft contingency on the whole thing as many times as is legal for every damaging killing thing you have.

Get your butt out of hole.

Use your kobold minions and magic to dig holes all over the place surrounding the stone room in every direction where you will store a powerful anti-magic item that has an aura. This will take a lot of items, but you will end up essentially having your stone box inside of a virtual (insert aura diameter here) anti-magic box that won't ruin the spells you've used inside of it.

Seal up everything.

Camp there for 1 week, while you Kill EVERY sentient being living within 10 miles of the place and become very familiar with the area so that you can teleport there without error. Also kill any creatures who helped during the process so they can't be tortured for information later...

Rejoice that you're already dead, because this just took a very long time......

[iceman10058]

make it a effigy, of oh say, a dragon. it would require prestiging into effigy master, but that alone would make it something people avoid instead of hunt.

[iceman10058]

I've never tried to do this, but nobody else has posted, so what the hay....

-EDIT- This plan requires you to be really good at crafting stuff or creating stuff out of nothing....

Put the necklace in a lead box. Figure out what spells are used to make a Ring of Proof against Detection and enchant the box the same way.

Put it into a silver box, enchant it with the nastiest contingency traps you have access to.

Put the Silver box into a 1' thick chest of steel, cast the Proof against detection bit again.

Use divination magic to find a place where there are no underground denizens (preferably far from civilization) and also where the Crust of the planet is thickest (Earth's goes up to 22 miles thick).

Use magic to dig a 20 mile deep hole.

Inside said hole, conjure up enough stone to make a 5' thick stone wall, which you will enchant with all manner of protection from elements spells and any other protection you have access to.

Place big heavy boxes into stone room. Enchant with more anti-divination shenanigans.

Fill Stone room with The nastiest golems and undead that you have access to.

Get out of room and seal it with more stone, making sure to enchant that part just like the rest.

Craft contingency on the whole thing as many times as is legal for every damaging killing thing you have.

Get your butt out of hole.

Use your kobold minions and magic to dig holes all over the place surrounding the stone room in every direction where you will store a powerful anti-magic item that has an aura. This will take a lot of items, but you will end up essentially having your stone box inside of a virtual (insert aura diameter here) anti-magic box that won't ruin the spells you've used inside of it.

Seal up everything.

Camp there for 1 week, while you Kill EVERY sentient being living within 10 miles of the place and become very familiar with the area so that you can teleport there without error. Also kill any creatures who helped during the process so they can't be tortured for information later...

Rejoice that you're already dead, because this just took a very long time......

and the second you die, you are buried 20 miles underground reforming your body......

[Forrestfire]

And then you teleport out. Being buried really isn't much of a problem for a lich.

Don't forget to make sure it's covered in several layers of riverine, to completely ignore anything that isn't a disintegrate or rod of cancellation.

[Yawgmoth]

Just make the phylactery a gold coin. Drop the usual anti-divination/detection suite on it, and then spend it. Then have a big pile of gold coins in your lair so even if some band of do-gooders somehow find out what your phylactery is, they'll think it's in your huge pile of money and have an awful choice on their hands.

[Gwaednerth]

I had a lich as the big bad of a recent campaign who hid his phylactery in a dream plane, protected by a dragon. But here's the catch, the phylactery was hidden in the dragon's hoard. There was an item for each player, a magic ring which granted invisibility and some stat bonuses, and a little darkwood and adamantine box engraved with creepy pictures and exuding a necromantic aura. The party naturally destroyed the box and gave the ring to the rogue. Turns out the ring was the phylactery and, in addition to the above effects, it dominated the now invisible rogue. Wackiness ensued.

[boxfox]

make it a effigy, of oh say, a dragon. it would require prestiging into effigy master, but that alone would make it something people avoid instead of hunt.

Unless you're in any campaign I've been in ever, where it's considered the height of fun to be either a dragon slayer or a dragon rider....

Also there's the whole prestige thing, that wastes levels...

[CombatOwl]

Alright, there isn't really much to say here. I have a lich, who has Divine casting and Psionics, access to lots of Kobolds (think trained, Tucker types), and a phylactery (it's a necklace, if it matters) to hide. She can get someone to cast Arcane spells if necessary.

What to cast, how to hide it?

It has to stay on the same plane as the lich, I believe, although she's going to get a Contingency spell to drop her remains off on the right plane if she dies (Re-dies?).

My bardic lich put her phylactery inside a carved out & spell prepared hollow in one of the guest rooms in a random inn. Even if the inn burned down, who'd think twice about a mundane silver ring in the remains? Good luck, Paladins!

[One Step Two]

Okay, so for starters, a CL 20 scroll of Hardening will add +10 to the hardness, then the Matter Manipulation Psionic Power will add +5 hardness, and 15 more HP. I'll admit I am unfamiliar with the stacking of these spells, I think because they are each instantaneous that you can keep adding them.

With one casting of each on a the default Phylactery from the MM1, it will have 55hp, Hardness of 35, and a break DC of 40. Multiple castings of Matter Manipulation is recommended if it stacks, but there's an XP cost, so be wary.

Superior Resistance usually applies to creatures, so check with our GM, but it gives it a +6 bonus to all saving throws, and again, if you ask nicely, you may be able to permanence the spell onto it, in case they want to use spells onto it, like disjunction. Same deal for adding things like Power/Spell resistance, just to make sure. A permanent obscure object is also a must, keep those pesky scryers away.

Now, as for protecting it from others finding it, there's a few different schools of thought. Taking a page from Xykon, putting the thing in an elaborate death dungeon to mince-meat anyone who tries to find it, while also giving you a safe place to hide while you recover is always nice.

Alternatively, using a permanent Nystuls Magic aura to remove it's magic aura so it appears otherwise mundane, transmute it to make it look unimpressive, like a necklace made of tin, and give it to some random peasant, or someone who travels a lot, with a psionic modify memory so make them think it's a dear family heirloom. Now, I don't quite recall how, but I think there's a way to set up a memory triggered command, so as soon as your body is destroyed, they will remove the necklace and put it somewhere safe.

[Socksy]

She can't teleport. She can, however, Plane Shift in a couple of levels, which is roughly the same thing. I'll look into the tin necklace --> random traveller option.

... Which makes me think, what if that traveller eventually decided to become a lich and stick his soul into the "family heirloom"? Can two liches share a phylactery, and would they both know about the other?:smalltongue::smallwink::smallbiggrin:

[Windstorm]

new artifact, necklace of lichdom.

upon using it to become a lich, you gain the knowledge possessed by the occupants (they gain yours) and you have a permanent telepathic connection with all affected parties.
oh, there are several military orders of good deities actively seeking its destruction. good luck!

[what someone might do with that or why they might use it I don't know, but hey]

[Socksy]

new artifact, necklace of lichdom.

upon using it to become a lich, you gain the knowledge possessed by the occupants (they gain yours) and you have a permanent telepathic connection with all affected parties.
oh, there are several military orders of good deities actively seeking its destruction. good luck!

[what someone might do with that or why they might use it I don't know, but hey]

I'm... This is perfect. Perfect plot McGuffin!
Because liches totally needed a hive mind.
Its interactions with Metaconcert and similar effects could be pretty groovy, too.

I can imagine orders of Lawful and Neutral creatures trying to use the thing to accumulate all knowledge, possibly even wanting to study it to create an Archive, à la Dresden Files.

[One Step Two]

I'm... This is perfect. Perfect plot McGuffin!
Because liches totally needed a hive mind.
Its interactions with Metaconcert and similar effects could be pretty groovy, too.

I can imagine orders of Lawful and Neutral creatures trying to use the thing to accumulate all knowledge, possibly even wanting to study it to create an Archive, à la Dresden Files.

Don't forget, that in the forgotten realms, there are non-evil liches, some apparently are even good, so if there are multiple liches living off the thing, especially some who are aiding good organisations, they might be less willing to shatter it outright.

As an aside, what level Divine spells, and Psionic powers do you have access to? Long term goals are nice, the aforementioned matter manipulation power is power level 8 after all, but we can work around what you can do now if you prefer.

[Socksy]

Um. Fourth level Divine and first level Psionic at tenth level (She has CL11 on some spells, which we have decided qualifies her, especially since Animate Dead is >CL11 for her). The build does improve a lot at higher levels (Ninth level Divine and fifth level powers (augmented as heck) by 20th, using a more balanced cerebremancer homebrew found... Somewhere...) but she's deliberately not highly optimised.

Her phylactery, however, should be.

She can get wands and scrolls easily and has sorc and cleric minions. Psionics are uncommon enough that a dorje isn't easy to get hold of.

[Envyus]

There is nothing stopping a Lich from putting it on another plane. The best spot would be somewhere random in the Negative energy plane as most beings can't go there with out dying.

[Vedhin]

First off, the biggest problem with hiding a phylactery is blocking divinations. The benchmark I use will be Metafaculty (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/metafaculty.htm#), because it's the most effective method of learning out there. Hypercognition (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/hypercognition.htm#) is a bigger long-term threat though.

First, the rules do not specify that you must regenerate near your phylactery. If this is the case, Step 7 below should take place inside a Rope Trick (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/ropeTrick.htm#) on a random plane, in order to further distance your phylactery from reachable places.

Step 1: Lead plate the phylactery. Scrying (magical and psionic) now fails against it.
Step 2: Never, ever, ever go near or speak about the location of your phylactery if you can avoid it. This stops Metafaculty, but is potentially broken for 8 hours if you do anything related to your phylactery.
Step 3: Get a skeleton/zombie of some utterly insignificant creature nobody will ever realize existed in the first place. It must be capable of wearing the necklace. It'll be part of our safeguard against Hypercognition and lesser divinations.
Step 4: Give the phylactery to the skeleton/zombie.
Step 5: Cast Sequester (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/sequester.htm#) on the skeleton/zombie, via scroll. No more divinations.
Step 6: Find the most out of the way place you can, and take the Sequestered (and temporarily inanimate) skeleton/zombie there with you.
Step 7: Cast Imprisionment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/imprisonment.htm#) one the skeleton/zombie, once again via scroll. The skeleton/zombie is now in permanent temporal stasis deep beneath the earth, and cannot be found with divinations of any kind, except for an 8 hour period after you regenerate, during which it is vulnerable to Metafaculty from a high level manifester.

You will need a method of teleporting away from the area. Remember, you'll be stuck deep beneath the earth, which may interfere with somatic components. On the other hand, nothing should ever find your phylactery, much less reach it.
It is possible you'll need a sorcerer minion to read the scrolls. In that case, invest in a scroll of Mindrape and have him erase the hiding of the phylactery from his memory. (Maybe even a second to erase it from yours, if you're that paranoid).

Total cost:
25gp (onyx for 1 HD Animate Dead)
Xgp (Lead plating)
2,275gp (Scroll of Sequester)
3,825gp (Scroll of Imprisionment)

6,125gp, plus cost of lead plating (for extra credit, lead plate the skeleton!), and 3,825gp for each scroll of Mindrape (9,950gp or 13,775gp).

Edit: also, this can be accomplished in under a minute, after the lead plating is done.

[deuxhero]

Just make the phylactery a gold coin. Drop the usual anti-divination/detection suite on it, and then spend it. Then have a big pile of gold coins in your lair so even if some band of do-gooders somehow find out what your phylactery is, they'll think it's in your huge pile of money and have an awful choice on their hands.

Nah, gold gets melted down often enough that's not safe in the slightest.

Negative energy plane is a good starting point.

If you go by strict RAW, the positive energy plane is even better, as it doesn't do jack to undead and it isn't as easy for pesky adventurers to wards against.

[toapat]

I'm... This is perfect. Perfect plot McGuffin!
Because liches totally needed a hive mind.
Its interactions with Metaconcert and similar effects could be pretty groovy, too.

I can imagine orders of Lawful and Neutral creatures trying to use the thing to accumulate all knowledge, possibly even wanting to study it to create an Archive, à la Dresden Files.

Myself and a person i met through DDO theorized that same item (granted the phylactery was an obsidian monolyth with 1' base and 10' tall) using a homebrewed version of Death Pact from DandDwiki.

[Captnq]

Make your Phylactery a psicrystal?

[Socksy]

There is nothing stopping a Lich from putting it on another plane. The best spot would be somewhere random in the Negative energy plane as most beings can't go there with out dying.

In Pathfinder, Liches can, but Dread Liches can't. This Lich is eventually going to become a Dread Lich, so I'm not entirely sure how that one would work, hence wanting to keep it on the same plane as she is for now. If anyone can offer any answers about the phylactery of a Lich who becomes a Dread Lich (does she need to make a new one upon re-lich-ifying herself? Does that mean she has two?) I would definitely be grateful.

[Vedhin]

In Pathfinder, Liches can, but Dread Liches can't. This Lich is eventually going to become a Dread Lich, so I'm not entirely sure how that one would work, hence wanting to keep it on the same plane as she is for now. If anyone can offer any answers about the phylactery of a Lich who becomes a Dread Lich (does she need to make a new one upon re-lich-ifying herself? Does that mean she has two?) I would definitely be grateful.

I'd say you'd spend 80,000gp putting some extra life force in the phylactery, reducing the regen time to 1d4 days (and getting the other benefits of Dread Lichdom (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/open-review/advanced-bestiary/dread-lich-cr-3)). Those would stack with normal Lichdom (https://sites.google.com/site/pathfinderogc/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/lich) whernever possible, and overlap otherwise (only one paralyzing touch, for example).

I'm not certain, but that seems like the best ruling to me.