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Zaydos
2015-06-21, 02:39 PM
Creating a Half-Lich
Half-vampire is an acquired or inherited template that can be added to any humanoid creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

A Half-Lich uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Armor Class: A half-lich has a +2 natural armor bonus, or the base creature's natural armor bonus whichever is better.
Attack: A half-lich has a touch attack that it can use once per round. If the base creature can use weapons, the half-lich retains this ability. A creature with natural weapons retains those natural weapons. A half-lich fighting without weapons uses either its touch attack or its
primary natural weapon (if it has any). A half-lich armed with a weapon uses its touch or a weapon, as it desires.
Damage: A half-lich's touch attack deals 1d8+2 negative energy damage to to living creatures, or heals a creature that is healed by negative energy 2 hit points. A Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 half-lich's hit dice + Cha modifier) halves this damage. A half-lich with natural weapons can use its touch attack or its natural weaponry, as it prefers. If it chooses the latter, it touch's damage to one natural weapon attack.
Special Attacks: A half-lich retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains a paralyzing touch.
Paralyzing Touch (Su): 3 times per day a half-lich may charge their touch attack with paralytic energy similar to that of a lich. Any living creature hit by this touch must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 half-lich's hit dice + Cha modifier) or be paralyzed for 1 round per hit die of the half-lich. A creature paralyzed this way seems dead, though a DC 20 Spot check or a DC 15 Heal check reveals that the victim is still alive.
Special Qualities: A half-lich retains all the base creature’s special qualities and gains those described below.
Damage Reduction (Su): A half-lich has damage reduction 5/magic and bludgeoning.
Energy Drain Immunity (Ex): A half-lich gains immunity to energy drain.
Resistances (Ex): A half-lich gains Cold and Electricity resistance 10. In addition they take 1/2 damage from negative energy effects and none on a successful saving throw.
Slow Aging (Ex): Upon reaching adulthood a half-lich ages at 1/4th the normal rate for their species.
Weakly Attached Soul (Su): A half-lich suffers a -2 on saves against spells or effects which remove their soul or exchange it (such as Magic Jar).
Abilities: A half-lich gains a +2 bonus to Intelligence and Charisma.
Skills: Half-liches have a +2 racial bonus on Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks. Otherwise same as the base creature.
CR Adjustment: +1.
Level Adjustment: +2.

How Half-Liches are Made: Sometimes when a lich loves someone very much :smallyuk: I will not go into details on how a lich manages to reproduce with a living creature. Occasionally a half-lich is the result of a pregnant woman transforming herself into a lich. In addition to these squicky possibilities half-liches can come about as the result of an improper version of the lich transformation (though this is much more likely to kill the would-be lich).

Debihuman
2015-06-23, 04:35 PM
Interesting. It's a bit like the dhampir.

You have "vampire" for half-lich in first line.

So these are not Undead and do not swap out their HD for d12. Gotcha.

What if the base creature has no charisma modifier or a negative one? Should there be a minimum of 1 for its Charisma modifier worth of damage? If not, it's cruising for a bruising if the PCs can deal ability drain or ability damage to it. The extra damage a normal lich does isn't tied to its Charisma score. I'm not sure why you added that bit. It seems more complicated than necessary. Just 1d8+2 instead of 1d8+5 would have been sufficient and simpler for DMs to use. The less math, the better.

This for example:

Damage: A half-lich's touch attack deals 1d8+2 points of negative energy damage to living creatures. A Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 half-lich's hit dice + Cha modifier) halves this damage. A half-lich with natural weapons can use its touch attack or its natural weaponry, as it prefers. If it chooses the latter, it deals its touch's damage to one natural weapon attack.

Rather than this:

Damage: A half-lich's touch attack deals 1d8 points of negative energy damage plus an additional amount of negative energy damage equal to its Charisma modifier ([minimum 1], maximum of +5) to living creatures. A Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 half-lich's hit dice + Cha modifier) halves this damage. A half-lich with natural weapons can use its touch attack or its natural weaponry, as it prefers. If it chooses the latter, it deals its touch's damage to one natural weapon attack.

The difference in damage is only 3 points but it saves a lot of time rather than having to do the math. Especially if its charisma modifier changes during battle. This is the K.I.S.S. principle. Keep it simple (and I don't think you're stupid either so I'm disregarding the final "S" in that.)

Debby

Zaydos
2015-07-07, 04:54 PM
I had it be based on Charisma because I was thinking of it as something to encourage the template on characters who are naturally magic, since being half-lich seemed like a good reason to be a sorcerer or dread necromancer from a fluff perspective and giving a mechanical tie helps tie the two together.

However I think you're right and it'd be better just to make it simpler and less fiddly.