Lich Lord

[Talothorn]

So, the Dread Codex has a template called undead lord that gives:

1) the ability to summon other undead of it's kind up to 1.5 x the undead lord's HD, and
2) a Create Spawn ability, where any creatures killed by the undead lord rise as a creature of that kind under the undead lord's control.

The book mentions things like a zombie lord and a ghoul lord, but I want to slap this template on a lich. Is there any good evil reason not to?

[Afgncaap5]

Is there any good evil reason not to?

Depends on if the lich wants competition sometime down the line or not, I suppose.

More seriously, I'd say that depends on your campaign world.

[Talothorn]

High Fantasy spiraling towards Post Apocalyptic.

[Afgncaap5]

Okay. Liches tend to be very intelligent; I imagine the lich is creating these other liches as servants in some capacity? Is there an end goal, or is it just more power for the side of darkness to have at its disposal?

I don't have the book in front of me to check, but the primary problems I can think of from using this template would be story related ones. And even those are minor things given the anything-goes nature of dungeon denizens in D&D.

The other thing to consider is the nature of the lich and what lichdom means for you. Is it just a template to confer abilities (which is fine), or is it more defined by the world like the liches in The Adventure Zone or Voldemort's lich-like techniques in Harry Potter (which would also be fine)? Does the Lich Lord create his victims' phylacteries, or do the phylacteries just sort of materialize? Or do the phylacteries not exist, thus meaning each of his created minions won't regenerate? If he kills a Deer does it become a fully fledged Deer Lich or is it just a super zombie that has a ranged touch attack like a Lich, or does his ability only work on creatures that have met the prerequisites for being a creature to which the lich template applies?

And since the Lich template requires a kind of irredeemably evil act but since his victims don't have the chance to go through said act, does a Paladin slain by this Lich Lord have a shot at redemption, thereby becoming a Holy Grave Warden (or whatever) who can shine from beyond the shadows of death themselves to strike at the undead menace on their own turf with still-available holy powers, or does he just become a less-impressive Fighter Lich since he's apparently evil now and loses his paladin abilities?

-EDIT-

ARE THE NEW LICHES ALL THE PHYLACTERIES OF THE LICH LORD?!?!?! *Cough* Sorry, the idea just hit me. It's a fun one, but might not be right for every setting.

[Talothorn]

See? This is why I came here. Okay, greater consumptive field automatically kills any creature under 9 hp within 30' of the caster. Lasts one round per level. I want to have the lich lord walk through a crowded market or theatre or athletic stadium, but I'm really underselling it here. I need to start ant colonies. Millions of ant-liches with microscopic phylacteries. A lich horse as my steed, and a lich dog to hunt lich ducks with...

you never have to restock a lich duck hunting area.

[Avigor]

Personally, my take would be that the phylacteries don't form automatically. Instead, the newly created "liches" would be given the ability to create a phylactery if they qualified, basically making the spawn that lacked spellcasting into something akin to super-zombies.

As for paladins or other holy types, I'd probably take that on a case-by-case basis; some would get a second chance, some would get an extra limited chance in the form of having to make daily saving throws (plus saves if they perform evil acts) to resist the evil influence, etc.

Of course, now I'm wanting to see a Quell Lord creating an army to terrorize the clergy...

[noob]

It can be fun to have a lich lord.
Get a lich lord and someone with human heritage.
the lich lord kill over and over the person with human heritage and so that person gets to be a lich more and more times.
(Lord voldemort was totally a sorcerer who got the human heritage feat and then applied to itself the lich template 6 times)