A question about liches

[PallentisLunam]

Reading the description provided for the lich template I had a thought. Why would a powerful spellcaster intent on living, or at least existing, forever allow their body to just rot away? As far as I can tell a lich doesn't have to be a skeletal undead or appear undead at all and the only reason they do is because over the years their body withers because their soul has been severed from it.

But hang on a minute, Gentle Repose is only a 2nd level spell for clerics or 3rd for wizards or sorcerers. I can definitely see some advantages to appearing human while possessing all the powers of a lich. Why wouldn't a spell caster who was preparing to become a lich have this spell handy and cast it every few weeks, 1 day/level doubled by a lesser metamagic rod of extend, and just continue on as if everything were normal? Or, the caster could become a lich and set up shop on the Astral Plane where natural aging doesn't occur and therefore his/her body wouldn't decay. One could even combine the two approaches, living on the Astral Plane and casting Gentle Repose before traveling to another plane to do business, adventure, or whatever?

Am I missing something? Is there any specific reason, besides skeletons are scary or liches are evil, for them to always appear as moldy, centuries dead bodies wearing rotted robes?

[Aldrakan]

Reading the description provided for the lich template I had a thought. Why would a powerful spellcaster intent on living, or at least existing, forever allow their body to just rot away? As far as I can tell a lich doesn't have to be a skeletal undead or appear undead at all and the only reason they do is because over the years their body withers because their soul has been severed from it.

But hang on a minute, Gentle Repose is only a 2nd level spell for clerics or 3rd for wizards or sorcerers. I can definitely see some advantages to appearing human while possessing all the powers of a lich. Why wouldn't a spell caster who was preparing to become a lich have this spell handy and cast it every few weeks, 1 day/level doubled by a lesser metamagic rod of extend, and just continue on as if everything were normal? Or, the caster could become a lich and set up shop on the Astral Plane where natural aging doesn't occur and therefore his/her body wouldn't decay. One could even combine the two approaches, living on the Astral Plane and casting Gentle Repose before traveling to another plane to do business, adventure, or whatever?

Am I missing something? Is there any specific reason, besides skeletons are scary or liches are evil, for them to always appear as moldy, centuries dead bodies wearing rotted robes?

There's at least one example of a lich doing exactly the Gentle Repose thing, although I believe he occasionally forgets and has started to rot. He's doing because he's pretending to still be alive though.

I think the main reason is that they don't care. They're immensely powerful, have no physical needs and few desires remaining to them, could use illusions if they needed to, and your average lich isn't exactly a people person.
Some lore indicates this kind of thing is a major problem for liches; because they don't need to eat or sleep they can easily lose track of time. I think there's an example given of a lich who found a distraction-free place, sat down to read a book, and when he'd finished reading it and considering everything it told him, discovered that generations had passed. Demiliches in Pathfinder show up when a lich has spent multiple decades or centuries doing basically nothing at all.

[FocusWolf413]

Goblinpunch had a very good segment on undead psychology (http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2015/06/undead-psychology.html?m=1). In that, there was this:



Originally posted by Goblinpunch
Lich Pychology

The prime example is the lich. After a lifetime of ambition and eldritch success, a wizard may become a undead creature of undeniable power. When a lich glares at the sun, it dims. When a lich feels frustration, a whole nation trembles in their sleep.

So that is the great frustration of liches: nothing brings them any enjoyment anymore.

And there is much to be frustrated about. Although liches reach one of their goals (immortality) and many others besides, it brings them no joy. The part of them that allowed them to enjoy those victories died along with their body. Apples turn to ashes in their mouths. They look at the face of their best friend and feel nothing except recognition.

Enjoyment and displeasure atrophy. They cannot enjoy a meal or a symphony. They pursue their goals, their happiness with all of the devotion of an addict, except without any of the succor when they achieve it.

Some liches are able to rekindle that flame of humanity: to return to life. Liches that actually achieve this are called Lords Revenant, but they are beyond the scope of this post.

And so liches become devotees of themselves. Combined with a frequent contempt for the gods (who have tried to stop them so many times and always failed), liches raise a skeletal middle finger at all of the pantheons and become worshipers of themselves.

Nearly every lich has a shrine to their old life somewhere. Their worship may be literal, with prayers, mythology, and rituals that pay homage to key moments in their former lives. This is also why they build phylacteries out of objects that they once held most dear. Childhood toys, favorite books, a father's cap, etc.

Liches have a difficult time caring about anything, even their own destruction. All liches die with a shrug and a sigh.

When someone truly cares so little for themselves, they stop taking care of themselves. They just care so little that it doesn't mtter when they break apart and fall to pieces.

[Bronk]

I think that if an evil spellcaster cared about how they looked, they would have plenty of other choices for longevity, like switching their mind into a longer lived creature, becoming a longer lived or even immortal creature, or using epic magic, epic feats (even non-epic feats) and so on.

Pathfinder has been mentioned, but in 3.5, a liches care so little for their original bodies that, if they get powerful enough, they leave them behind, leaving their former body parts to become a demilich while their minds go on walkabout.

[Fouredged Sword]

It's easy enough to polymorph any object your body into your old self before all the decay. You reset the decay at a moments notice and can keep it that way as long as you like. No need to sweep the house every day, just when company looks like they are going to show up.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Archliches retain a far more humanoid view of life if I recall correctly. Good liches from Libris Mortis probably have the same advantage but they never say.

[Segev]

People talk about swapping bodies being an option for wizards, but I'm not sure it really is. Not trivially, anyway. Magic jar is the closest spell, and that spell has a duration. Don't ever forget to re-cast it, and hope it never gets dispelled, if you haven't maintained your original body to return to!

Psions have true mind switch, which seems expensive at 10,000 exp a pop on a 9th level power, but 10,000 exp at level 17+ when you only have to do it every few decades isn't such a big deal. Choose your new body right, and it becomes every few centuries to every few millenia. (Easiest way to ensure willing hosts is to be a Thrallherd. Any of your Believers will be honored to swap bodies with you, so maintain amongst your cult some good-looking ones whose physical health is their top priority.

Heck, you could swap more often if you wished to indulge in all sorts of unhealthy activities and just keep enjoying the fruits of your Believers' self-denial and hard work. That wouldn't even require more than mind switch, as you put a Believer in your body to work out and eat right while you enjoy their healthy one for your own indulgence.)

I could see a wizard->lich using magic jar to maintain a human (or other) living host-body, or even to swap them around the way a fashionista swaps around clothes, though. But they still have a "real" undead body to which they'll ultimately return when the spell ends.


There is also the option of a magic item of continual magic jar; as long as it's never dispelled, it would effectively become the "real" wizard from then on, and would allow him to body-hop to his blackened heart's content.