Lich Bard

[Varnithis]

My friend was reading the thread on evil acts, and it has inspired a question as to a character he thinks he would like to make.

Is it possible for an evil bard to become a Lich?

The only thing I see in the monster manual about the Lich transformation is to be an 11th level spellcaster and the craft wonderous item feat.

Inspiration came from the story of the bard leveling a town with a song and dance number.

[Rachel Lorelei]

It certainly is! And a paralyzing touch, for example, goes a long way towards making a bard more fearsome.

You might want to think about using the Inspire Awe bardic music variant from Dragon Magic instead of Inspire Courage.

[pantoffelheld]

it would look awesome with the haunted melody feat. 'Look, it's a Lich! He's singing a song! Run for your lives!'

[Xefas]

I had a Lich Bard as a villain once. I think he had levels in Sublime Chord too...although it might have been Seeker of the Song; I'm not sure.

Anyway, the thing was that he was a traveler. He didn't like having minions or strongholds or any of that jazz; he just hid his phylactery somewhere and went out to see the world (under various magical disguises).

Now, the most fun part I had with him was that he performed his bard power with Perform (Whistle). Ergo, whistling always precluded him leveling a building or incinerating someone from the inside out. When the PCs first got on his bad side, he was a good deal stronger than them, so they rightly feared a direct confrontation. So, from then on, every time they heard a whistle sound of any kind, they'd immediately duck for cover and ready their defenses. Plus, since the Lich could change his shape via magic, they could never tell if whoever was whistling was just a random person or the Lich in disguise.

Since the Lich had a good sense of humor, he'd occasionally charm some random child, cast Magic Aura on them so they'd radiate horrible necromantic energy, and then ask them to run around town whistling.

[Varnithis]

it would look awesome with the haunted melody feat. 'Look, it's a Lich! He's singing a song! Run for your lives!'

Bard walks in, offers to sing a song in a tavern for a few drinks. He strums out a tune and everyone in the tavern goes stark-raving mad with terror. Later, when the guard ask what happened, the proper response is "The best damn song you ever heard."

[Xuincherguixe]

As you open the door to the inner sanctum you are struck by the smell of dead bodies. You see before you a skeleton, dressed in wizards robes.

"I will make you suffer interlopers!" It exclaims as it's teeth chatter. He reaches into his robes and draws... a Harp?


Player: Do I need to roll will vs uncontrollable laughter?
GM: You do now smart alec.

[Zincorium]

From my point of view, the most interesting thing about a bardic lich as the BBEG is not the mechanics but rather the twisted and disturbing backstory that is nearly required from such a character. Think about it, and I'm sure similar evil thoughts will pop up.

Bards in general are well known as hopeless romantics and very emotional people in general. Combine this with an aptitude for magic and the beginnings of very serious problems arise. Consider a bard whose proclaimed 'one true love' dies in either a tragic accident or a vicious murder. To what ends does such a person go in order to make good on their promise of everlasting faithfulness?

An undead bard can truly be a tragic villain, tugging at the (somewhat callous) heartstrings of the players while nonetheless disgusting them with depravity and malice.

[lukelightning]

Of course it is. You might have trouble playing wind instruments without lungs (can things without lungs blow air?), but instead you can just play your ribcage like a xylophone. Yes, it is a magic ribcage that can play multiple notes...

[Evil DM Mark3]

I used one once. Unlike most Liches he stayed looking young and alive (even fooled detection spells) via a nasty little evil ritual I invented as a McGuffin that required the souls of children.

Pied Pipper of Doom Ho!

Also there was the whole "sung deamons up form hell" bit (magical deamon calling lute.)

My 7th scaries villain by last count.

[SpikeFightwicky]

Of course it is. You might have trouble playing wind instruments without lungs (can things without lungs blow air?), but instead you can just play your ribcage like a xylophone. Yes, it is a magic ribcage that can play multiple notes...

I don't know about you, but if I entered a room and saw a robed skeleton playing his ribs like a xylophone, I'd be 'fascinated', whether it was a bard or not :smallbiggrin:

This reminds me of 2nd Ed. Ravenloft. There was a bardic lich creature (it was unique, but they gave you the stats to make your own) that was good aligned (it kept whatever alignment it had in life).

[Person_Man]

Lich Template Class (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20031212a). Once he reaches 11th level and takes the Craft Wondrous Item feat, he needs to start building his phylactery, and he can begin taking levels of the race as if it were a prestige class.

It would ruin a normal spellcaster's progression, but it's actually not such a bad idea for a Skill Monkey.

FYI, Animate Objects is a Bard spell. A very useful tactic is to Animate a bunch of Picks or other high crit weapons, use Paralyzing Touch to incapacitate an enemy, and then have your animated weapons Coup de Grace it.

[namo]

Bards in general are well known as hopeless romantics and very emotional people in general.

Er, no ?

Anyway, I really like the idea. I shall stat a bardic Lich one of these days.

Also note the Requiem feat (Libris Mortis) that allows you to use your Bardic music to buff your undead minions.

[UglyPanda]

The dirgesinger in Libris Mortis isn't a strong class, but it can create some disturbing moments. If I remember correctly, its capstone ability allows it to turn corpses into zombies with class features so long as he keeps singing. Caution: Do not use "Living Dead Girl" as the resurrection song.

[Nerd-o-rama]

There are, of course, only two options here.

Perform: Death Metal
Perform: Organ

I can't really decide which is more awesome.

[lukelightning]

Actually a lich bard makes sense. Only a bard would be dumb enough to be a spellcaster saddled with a +4 LA. :smallwink:

[The Glyphstone]

I remember an idea for a Lich Bard I had a long time ago, never brought to reality. His motivation was the creation of the "perfect melody" - sort of like the ultimate Unfinished Symphony, so he sought undeath+immortality to give all the time he needed to complete it.

Or you could go the "Phantom of the Opera" route - Lich playing a pipe organ of doooooom....

[Person_Man]

There are, of course, only two options here.

Perform: Death Metal
Perform: Organ

I can't really decide which is more awesome.

How about Perform (Children's Music)? Two minutes of Barney would make everyone want to kill themselves. What's more Evil than that?

[Arbitrarity]

How about Perform (Children's Music)? Two minutes of Barney would make everyone want to kill themselves. What's more Evil than that?

Preform (Dismemberment)?, or various others in that line?

I like the idea. "I inspire courage in my allies by slowly removing parts of my body"

[MrNexx]

There are, of course, only two options here.

Perform: Death Metal
Perform: Organ

I can't really decide which is more awesome.

You can always go with Perform: Lead Guitar of Rolling Stones


Actually a lich bard makes sense. Only a bard would be dumb enough to be a spellcaster saddled with a +4 LA. :smallwink:

You see, people keep saying that. However, I would point out that a Lich Bard is, barring misadventure, going to be around a lot longer than even an elven bard.

If you're planning for a long-term career, then a lich is not a bad option.

[BardicDuelist]

You can always go with Perform: Lead Guitar of Rolling Stones


Actually, I always considered what happened there a Faustian Pact....

[Everyman]

You see, people keep saying that. However, I would point out that a Lich Bard is, barring misadventure, going to be around a lot longer than even an elven bard.

If you're planning for a long-term career, then a lich is not a bad option.
Crikey. I can see it now.

"I have died for my music...I sing now!"
...
CRAAAAWLING IN MY SKIIIIIIIN
THESE WOOOUNDS THEY WILL NOT HEAAAAL

Congrats. You've created an emo rock bard.

[YPU]

Now, what race should the bard be to start with before “horribly evil undead mage” kicks in? I go for elf, having the highest emo potential to start with.

[MrNexx]

Now, what race should the bard be to start with before “horribly evil undead mage” kicks in? I go for elf, having the highest emo potential to start with.

Half elves are more Emo.

[Person_Man]

Crikey. I can see it now.

"I have died for my music...I sing now!"
...
CRAAAAWLING IN MY SKIIIIIIIN
THESE WOOOUNDS THEY WILL NOT HEAAAAL

Congrats. You've created an emo rock bard.

I wish my lawn was emo. That way it would cut itself. Save me a lot of work.

For race, I would go with something Small. Bonus to AC and Hit. You can always ride a minion if you're worried about movement.

[Thinker]

You can always ride a minion if you're worried about movement.

Just like Yoda.

[SilverClawShift]

My all time favorite campaign my group played included a bard/trusespeaker/dirgesinger who wound up becoming a lich.

Mechanically it isn't the strongest villain ever, but that doesn't matter. The DM controls the world, and not all fights are straight on head-butting matches. Emotionally, and from a cinematic standpoint, she was one of the best villains i've ever seen in a game (or in a story.. or anything for that matter). She was empathetic and distraught and at the same time so viciously evil, and so STYLISH that she made it all seem so appealing.

And of course, the DM can fudge numbers to make things work better for themselves. The phantom of the opera scene, where we enter a huge amphitheater litered with corpses. The villain sits on the stage at a huge pipe organ, and hits a single note. Half the bodies in the ampitheater twitch and convulse.
We stop for a second, we decide to charge, she starts playing full tilt (cue organ music playing in the background for ambience), and corpses just start springing from the seats and attacking us. For every one we kill, a new corpse stops being a lump of flesh and jumps up and starts attacking. We finally reach the stage, being swarmed, and the music cuts out, the villain drops through the floor laughing, and the corpses all fall where they stood.

Just too darn cool.

A lich bard PLAYER is another story, but i still say go for it on general principle. Even if it wasn't legal, i'd encourage pestering the DM :smallbiggrin:

[SurlySeraph]

Crikey. I can see it now.

"I have died for my music...I sing now!"
...
CRAAAAWLING IN MY SKIIIIIIIN
THESE WOOOUNDS THEY WILL NOT HEAAAAL

Congrats. You've created an emo rock bard.

Hey! Linkin Park isn't emo! ...*sigh* Okay, except when they are. But I... you just... favorite band... how dare you say... kill anyone that... I...

Okay, moving on.

Yes, a lich bard would be a pretty awesome tragic hero. What no one has suggested yet is a gnome lich bard. Forever wandering, pulling hideously evil gnomish pranks on people? It would work in a sort of twistedly comical way.

[Belteshazzar]

Oh, it's THRILLER!! lurking in the night
Wearing an orange jumpsuit just feels so right.

He's the thriller, he prepping for the fight
singing songs and raising throngs of Ghouls and Ghasts and Wrights.

He's a thriller, slide left and then slide right
Shamble down the sidewalk, then give her a kiss goodnight.

Ohh whooo *break to dance*

[MrNexx]

Crikey. I can see it now.

"I have died for my music...I sing now!"
...
CRAAAAWLING IN MY SKIIIIIIIN
THESE WOOOUNDS THEY WILL NOT HEAAAAL

Congrats. You've created an emo rock bard.

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=181

[Seatbelt]

Hey! Linkin Park isn't emo! ...*sigh* Okay, except when they are. But I... you just... favorite band... how dare you say... kill anyone that... I...


Quoted for truth. Except for the favorite band part.

[Nogard]

Oh, it's THRILLER!! lurking in the night
Wearing an orange jumpsuit just feels so right.

He's the thriller, he prepping for the fight
singing songs and raising throngs of Ghouls and Ghasts and Wrights.

He's a thriller, slide left and then slide right
Shamble down the sidewalk, then give her a kiss goodnight.

Ohh whooo *break to dance*

you have no idea what you just did to my players... they are going to hurt me.

[Tor the Fallen]

You can always go with Perform: Lead Guitar of Rolling Stones

Yeah, I wanted to make a Keith Richards joke, but I just didn't know where to put it.

[Collin152]

Oh, it's THRILLER!! lurking in the night
Wearing an orange jumpsuit just feels so right.

He's the thriller, he prepping for the fight
singing songs and raising throngs of Ghouls and Ghasts and Wrights.

He's a thriller, slide left and then slide right
Shamble down the sidewalk, then give her a kiss goodnight.

Ohh whooo *break to dance*

Huzzah, you win!

[MrNexx]

I wish my lawn was emo. That way it would cut itself. Save me a lot of work.

Problem with that is that your front lawn would likely only be cutting itself for attention. Your back lawn, on the other hand, might be serious about it, would mess up, and wind up dead.

But, yes, if you're looking into a lich bard, small isn't a bad idea.

[geek_2049]

A while ago I considered a bardic lich and came up with The Phantom Lich of the Opera. Perform: Organ

[mostlyharmful]

perform: tapdance and castanets, who needs an instrament

[Thrivol]

Oh man, this gave me great ideas.

Imagine...


Four skeletons are on a stage, each in black studded leather. One has drums, another has a guitar, another has a bass guitar, and the last has nothing. People at first run from them, but they are oddly attracted to it once they start playing their odd music.

As their music reaches its climax, fire shoots forth from the guitarists' hands, killing all of the audience. The drummer and singer move their hands in strange formations, and black tentacles shoot forth from the ground, killing the rest of the doomed watchers. The drummer and singer jump to the ground, put black onyx gems into the eyes of the dead listeners, and animate them.

The skeletons are all lich bards, determined to play music until the end of time. The guitarists are Seekers of the Song, while the singer and drummer are sublime chords. Their phylacteries? Music hidden underneath the stage they play on, all of them under a Nystul's magic aura effect.

[NephandiMan]

My first reaction when I saw this thread's title was "This NEEDS a playlist." "Living Dead Girl," "Thriller," Linkin Park's catalog, and The Phantom of the Opera have been mentioned/alluded to already, so here's my further contribution:

"Highway to Hell" and "Back in Black" - AC/DC
"No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "Poison" - Alice Cooper
"Take My Breath Away" - Berlin
"Going Under" - Evanescence
"Behind Blue Eyes" - The Who

Also, I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed that Perform: Organ has two relevant meanings here.

[Tor the Fallen]

Too much rock. You need some sick Orchestral stuff. I'm thinking modern, Stravinsky style violins. You know, music to riot to :smallwink:

[NephandiMan]

Good point (although I think we can all agree that if anything in D&D rocks, it's a lich bard).:smallbiggrin:

How about Nightwish? They've got some pretty good orchestral-sounding stuff.

[The Gilded Duke]

Despite having a pretty well fleshed out ravenloft adventure ending with a battle against a fiendish fallen paladin dread lord in a chapel beginning with her playing an organ...

I didn't think of giving her bard levels.
Interesting.

I like the dirgesinger idea, going to have to look over the class again.

[MrNexx]

Good point (although I think we can all agree that if anything in D&D rocks, it's a lich bard).:smallbiggrin:

How about Nightwish? They've got some pretty good orchestral-sounding stuff.

Apocolyptica... Metallica played on cellos.

[Tor the Fallen]

There's a chain of feats in a Dragon issue that, instead of buffing allies, a Bard's songs debuff enemies. The final feat in the chain makes everyone who's listening sickened (or nauseated?).

Always wanted to play a Brown Note (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_note) Bard.

[Matthew]

Apocolyptica... Metallica played on cellos.

S&M, don't you mean?

[MrNexx]

S&M, don't you mean?

Nope. Apocolyptica is a tribute band, of sorts, made of cellists (and, apparently, a drummer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalyptica)

[Matthew]

Oh yeah, I actually have heard of them. In fact, if it's the band I'm thinking of, I once watched an AD&D Player chase a Battletech Player out of our Games Club for daring to play their music...

[Edit]
Hmmn, no that's not the band I was thinking of, but I have heard the name mentioned before. Still, good story.

[MrNexx]

Oh yeah, I actually have heard of them. In fact, if it's the band I'm thinking of, I once watched an AD&D Player chase a Battletech Player out of our Games Club for daring to play their music...

Now I'm curious as to who they were playing that made the AD&D player chase the BT player out...

[Saint George]

I assume Lich Bards gain access to the skill "Power Chord: Kill"?

[Matthew]

Now I'm curious as to who they were playing that made the AD&D player chase the BT player out...

Hmmn. Yeah, now that's playing on my mind too. It would have been some time between 1990 and 1995.

[Kaelaroth]

I had a Lich Bard as a villain once. I think he had levels in Sublime Chord too...although it might have been Seeker of the Song; I'm not sure.

Anyway, the thing was that he was a traveler. He didn't like having minions or strongholds or any of that jazz; he just hid his phylactery somewhere and went out to see the world (under various magical disguises).

Now, the most fun part I had with him was that he performed his bard power with Perform (Whistle). Ergo, whistling always precluded him leveling a building or incinerating someone from the inside out. When the PCs first got on his bad side, he was a good deal stronger than them, so they rightly feared a direct confrontation. So, from then on, every time they heard a whistle sound of any kind, they'd immediately duck for cover and ready their defenses. Plus, since the Lich could change his shape via magic, they could never tell if whoever was whistling was just a random person or the Lich in disguise.

Since the Lich had a good sense of humor, he'd occasionally charm some random child, cast Magic Aura on them so they'd radiate horrible necromantic energy, and then ask them to run around town whistling.

I love this. It is now the basis for my next campaign.

[NephandiMan]

Another good addition for the playlist would be Trans-Siberian Orchestra's rendition of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.