Immortality

[ZiggenTheLord]

Is there anyway to become immortal outside of being a lich ? I don't like playing spellcasters because my favorite roll in a group is DPS, but I willing to accept any and all forms of becoming immortal

[Crake]

Is there anyway to become immortal outside of being a lich ? I don't like playing spellcasters because my favorite roll in a group is DPS, but I willing to accept any and all forms of becoming immortal

there are plenty of other undead you could become to achieve immortality instead? Vampire, Necropolitan, mummify yourself, get bitten by a ghoul.

[AnachroNinja]

Elan in the expanded psionics handbook are clinically immortal. I think there's a feat called Wedded to History that has that effect as well.

[inuyasha]

Elans and Warforged are both immortal, so if you can find a way to become either one of those, you won't die of old age.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Without being a spellcaster, your choices are to become an elan (if you're human) and revert to a first level character or to become a cloud anchorite. That's pretty much it.

[Jack_Simth]

Well, there's also the Green Star Adept.
Contingent Last Breath + Suicide when you start to get old.
True Mind Switch (or doing it via shuffling with regular Mind Switch and/or Magic Jar).
Steal Life.
Hide Life.

... quite a few ways, really, depending on exactly what you mean by immortality, what lengths you're willing to go to, and a few other things.

Let's see... as a noncaster... Wedded to History (feat), Kissed by the Ages (spell, but you only need to cast it once, so get a scroll and UMD it), or Necropolitan (ritual) will get you basic immortality.

[Particle_Man]

Paying a group of friendly druids a lot of money in advance for long-term reincarnation on demand might help. You incarnate as a young adult so that solves the old age problem. A lot of the other immortal options don't helps so much with getting "ganked" so this one might be better for that.

I think there should be more "Druid insurance policies" out there.

Why is that forest left untouched for centuries? Because a lot of very rich and powerful individuals keep it that way, because that is part of the cost that the druids in that forest demand in return for their insurance policies.

It is win-win! :smallbiggrin:

[OldTrees1]

Ghosts are in some ways harder to get rid of than any other returning undead.

[Jack_Simth]

Ghosts are in some ways harder to get rid of than any other returning undead.

Yes, but there's little in the way of clearly-defined methods to become one (OK, there's that one Dragon Magazine spell, Putrefaction from Dragon 300.... but how often are you going to get a DM to permit a Dragon Magazine 3.0 spell?)

[OldTrees1]

Yes, but there's little in the way of clearly-defined methods to become one (OK, there's that one Dragon Magazine spell, Putrefaction from Dragon 300.... but how often are you going to get a DM to permit a Dragon Magazine 3.0 spell?)

You could start as one? The Savage Progression is well designed for early establishment and later growth of your ghostly nature. I could start as a Dwarf Rogue 2 / Ghost 1 for instance (alternate some class levels with a level of increased ghost as I progress).

[Uncle Pine]

There's a handbook for this. (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5996)

[ShurikVch]

Yes, but there's little in the way of clearly-defined methods to become one (OK, there's that one Dragon Magazine spell, Putrefaction from Dragon 300.... but how often are you going to get a DM to permit a Dragon Magazine 3.0 spell?)Well, #331 have Ghost Mantle, which is a way to go... that is - if you don't mind to be Chaotic Evil. Price: 100000 gp

Besides the Dragon, there are Shrouds of the Unholy (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20021031x): since RAW doesn't specify which kind of undead it makes, liberal interpretation is - "any"

[Gusmo]

As long as you can activate them with UMD or whatever, your could always just get scrolls of the spell steal life from the Book of Vile Darkness.

[Rhyltran]

Is there anyway to become immortal outside of being a lich ? I don't like playing spellcasters because my favorite roll in a group is DPS, but I willing to accept any and all forms of becoming immortal

You can get an item with Kissed by the Ages. One of my characters have one and you have biological immortality for as long as you have the item equipped. When it's unequipped you don't rapidly age you only begin to age normally. So put it on a ring or something and never take it off. You're immortal.

[Jack_Simth]

Well, #331 have Ghost Mantle, which is a way to go... that is - if you don't mind to be Chaotic Evil. Price: 100000 gp

Besides the Dragon, there are Shrouds of the Holy (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20021031x): since RAW doesn't specify which kind of undead it makes, liberal interpretation is - "any"

Hadn't run across the Mantle before. Checking... that Mantle basically gives you a form of lichdom: a clearly-defined method by which to cease to be, one item to destroy. Also goes well on a character who's chackra-bound The Strongheart Vest from Magic of Incarnum (if you don't want to be a ghost, but keep most the benefits of the cloak).

As the Shrouds of the Unholy... yeah, they're written poorly. The construction requirements make it reasonably clear that the intent is that it's just duplicating the associated spell used to make it... but the description and mechanics aren't actually written that way, and you can make a Devourer with the Animate Dead shroud.

[Grim Reader]

"Wedded to History" does not actually make you immortal. Thats an interpretation which read a lot into the feat that just isn't there. Its basically a gateway feat for King under the Mountain or Merlin in the Oak Tree type characters, who return from some kind of sleep of ages to save their nation in its greatest peril.

The legend is fairly common across cultures. In the US the character is usually named Rogers for some reason.

It qualifies you for a number of options related to having a special relationship with history. It does not, however, extend your lifespan in any way.

[Rijan_Sai]

One other method not mentioned yet (though I believe is is in the handbook mentioned,) if you would rather not die-to-avoid-dying, one of my favorites would be the Gray Portrait.

...AFB, and I don't remember the source off the top of my head, but it's a Major Artifact that IIRC prevents aging* and most damage effects from affecting you, transferring it all to the picture. (Keep it secret; keep it safe! If the Portrait get destroyed, everything it took transferrs back to you!)
Based on The Picture of Dorian Gray (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray) by Oscar Wilde.

*I may be misremembering this part...but I think so.

[hamishspence]

...AFB, and I don't remember the source off the top of my head, but it's a Major Artifact that IIRC prevents aging* and most damage effects from affecting you, transferring it all to the picture. (Keep it secret; keep it safe! If the Portrait get destroyed, everything it took transferrs back to you!)
Based on The Picture of Dorian Gray (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray) by Oscar Wilde.

*I may be misremembering this part...but I think so.

It does specifically say - does not age, does not suffer effects of raging - looks exactly the same as when they first took possession of the artifact, yes.

[Karmea]

"Wedded to History" does not actually make you immortal.
...
It qualifies you for a number of options related to having a special relationship with history. It does not, however, extend your lifespan in any way.

Debatable. The article itself presents the stasis-type as one of two options, the other being agelessness. "Your character, somehow, in the distant past, found a way to embrace immortality without altering her fundamental nature. Rather than become undead, she simply endured..."

Some backgrounds in the feat (wanderer, for example) do strongly imply agelessness, or at the very least an extended lifespan.

[Caelestion]

In Pathfinder, they introduced a feat (with no prerequisites other than taking it as your Wiz-20 bonus feat) which removes your maximum age and stops you ageing from that point on.

[Holcane]

In Pathfinder, they introduced a feat (with no prerequisites other than taking it as your Wiz-20 bonus feat) which removes your maximum age and stops you ageing from that point on.

What's the feat called, could be interesting to know for villains.

[Jack_Simth]

What's the feat called, could be interesting to know for villains.

It's an Arcane Discovery (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/arcane-discoveries/arcane-discoveries-paizo/immortality/).

[Caelestion]

What's the feat called, could be interesting to know for villains.

It's actually an Arcane Discovery (but much the same thing) and is simply called Immortality. You can find it under the wizard's alternative class features in Ultimate Magic.

[dhasenan]

Divine Rank 0 and greater gives you lesser immortality (you're not immune to pointy objects). The Demigod Epic Destiny, backported from 4e, turns you into a deity at level 30. I think there's a dragon-specific class that grants Divine Rank 0. A deity can invest you with power.

Divine Rank 11 gives you access to the Rejuvenation salient divine ability, which means that no mortal and no god with lesser divine rank can kill you.

[Bronk]

The Demigod Epic Destiny, backported from 4e, turns you into a deity at level 30. I think there's a dragon-specific class that grants Divine Rank 0. A deity can invest you with power.

Epic Destinies appeared in 3.5 first, and they all offered some form of immortality, even if it was a game ending form.

http://web.archive.org/web/20090218080723/http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080428

[Jack_Simth]

Epic Destinies appeared in 3.5 first, and they all offered some form of immortality, even if it was a game ending form.

http://web.archive.org/web/20090218080723/http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080428

The very article you linked pretty much tells you they're backported. Right up at the top, even:

One of the new concepts of 4th Edition D&D is the epic destiny, which determines what you are fated to become, your role on the stage of history, and how people across the planes will remember you for all time. Epic characters are incredibly powerful, but those with epic destinies go beyond what normal people can even imagine attaining. With an epic destiny, you might bind powerful artifacts to your will, fight back danger that would destroy the world, attain divine power, find your place in a cycle of great heroes, become a force of nature, or become a ghost story that gets told forevermore.

[Bronk]

The very article you linked pretty much tells you they're backported. Right up at the top, even:

It does say that! On the other hand, this article was published before 4th edition went live, so it appeared in 3.5 first.