Phylacteries and AMFs

[TeslaJr]

Would a lich reform if its phylactery is stored in an AMF?

[TuggyNE]

The rules are not terribly clear. On the one hand, a lich always reforms unless its phylactery is not merely damaged, dispelled, or suppressed, but outright "destroyed". On the other hand, phylacteries are magic items, and do not function normally within AMFs. Of course, their normal function is not, as such, actually tied to lich reformation in any way other than the mere fact of their existence; it is not even written that liches reform near their phylacteries in 3.5, so far as I know.

It's probably best to compromise on something like having 1 hour on the 1d10-day timer pass for every week in the AMF, or something like that, and making the lich reform outside the AMF. If you e.g. suppress reformation completely, SBG's AMF stronghold space becomes perhaps too strong, no-save eliminating a lich essentially for good. And if you have the lich reform inside the AMF, it is similarly trivial to lock them in a well-nigh inescapable trap, inside an AMF and in a location of its enemies' choice with 1d10+ days to prepare it. Neither is exactly good design.