PC Lich

[Sudsboy]

In our current campaign, we received a recipe for lichdom as the treasure in one of the adventures. We then had to track down the instructions for crafting a phylactery, and are now searching for the recipe for a brewed potion to drink to finish the ritual.

Becoming a lich is one of the larger subplots of this campaign, but we haven't talked about how it will work for a PC mechanically. Does anyone have ideas on how to make this work in a way that won't a) overpower encounters and b) outshine characters who aren't the lich?

It's an evil campaign, so that's not a big deal. We all work for the same god of undeath, so the lich thing is thematic. It's a perfect setting to do it in, but I know it's something that could easily ruin our story if not handled correctly. Our long-time DM is very good about accepting rules advice, particularly when it's aimed at keeping our campaign healthy. My character, a half-elf hexblade warlock, is the one currently pursuing lichdom, but others may do so as well later. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[Sudsboy]

My initial thoughts are the Rejuvenation and Turn Resistance powers from the MM listing, plus maybe some limited version of damage resistance. Most of the other stuff is meant to represent the character's powers before lichdom anyway, and any sort of legendary saves or abilities would be ridiculous on a PC.

[Draken]

From some reverse engineering we can gather that this is what the Lich "template" would look like.

Creature Type. Your creature type changes to Undead.
Armor Class. Your armor class when unarmored equals 14 + your Dexterity modifier.
Saving Throws. You gain proficiency in Constitution saving throws.
Resistances. You gain resistance to Cold, Lightning and Necrotic damage.
Immunities. You are immune to Poison damage and to Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing damage from nonmagical weapons.
Condition Immunities. You are immune to the charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned
Senses You gain Truesight with a range of 120 feet.

Traits
Rejuvenation and Turn Resistance

(Being a Legendary Creature would be its own template I feel)

Actions
Paralyzing Touch (3d6 cold damage melee spell attack, forces a Constitution save against spell DC or Paralyzes for 1 minute, save every round to end)

In exchange, you sort of need to feed the phylactery a soul every who knows how long (Every week? Every month? Soul feeds the phylactery for a number of days equal to its HD? Who knows, your choice as the DM really) you must also ask the question of whether or not the souls can come from anything or if humanoids are the only viable option.

One or more PCs with this template changes a bit how you build and run encounters as a DM, mostly by making it so that enemies without magical attacks ignore the lich(es), or outright not using those enemies anymore because they are not a threat.

Rejuvenation means death is no longer a threat to that PC, merely an inconvenience, but at the levels you can expect a PC to have this template, that is already kind of true by default, and if anything, Rejuvenation is more inconvenient than a True Resurrection, because you will at most wait a day for the later, rather than an average of 5.5 days. Cheaper, however.

Turn resistance is meaningless to PCs.

Condition immunities are probably just not going to be meaningful either.

Truesight will be incredibly cool the one time it comes up.

Paralyzing Touch is, however, kinda good, if your lich is willing to wade into melee when his physical immunity is negated and all he's got going is above average armor class. It's crap damage, but non-concentration paralysis is just good. Big if on the wading into melee as the PC in question probably still has those d6 HPs from being a wizard.

Just saw it is you as a warlock, but the point on Paralyzing remains as any time you are poking them is a time you are not stabbing them with your hexblade features.

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Disclaimer: If we consider the Lich a direct upgrade from the Archmage stat block, the template also comes with +1 Str, +2 Dex, +4 Con and -1 Wis. Assuming the two +/-1 values are just different individuals having different ability scores of questionable relevance, +2 Dex and +4 Con it is.

[ruy343]

Take the following with this bit of salt: I would never allow my players to play a character who was truly evil to the point of wanting to be a Lich. I'm all about dramatic moments in D&D, and to me, there's nothing dramatic about trying to become super evil and super powerful for the sake of being evil and powerful...

That said...

Lichdom ought not to be an easy process, and ought to cost you something on a spiritual level, in addition to whatever material components might be required for the years-long ritual. It's not a path undertaken by many, even those desperate for power, so there ought to be a reason for that...

Were I the DM, I would make the creation of the phylactery involve one of the character's bond's, or barring a meaningful bond, someone or something that that character actually loves - its sacrifice would hold the power to preserve their immortal soul in eternal spiritual agony, preserving their life. This choice should hurt. Becoming a Lich should not be fun.

It might also be fitting to require the sacrifice of some celestial being or desecration of a sacred place. There's an adventure right there.

It might also )or alternately) require obtaining a "Book of Vile Deeds", destruction of a devil or demon of some stature, or creation of some kind of fortress among the lowest layers of the abyss to channel the dark energies of that place for your ritual.

A number of other esoteric ingredients might also be called for: the liver of a phoenix (see OOTS), the essences from an elemental of all 4 elements, a lock of hair from the head of Titania, Queen of the fae, the eye of a shadow dragon from the Shadowfell (must be fresh), and the secretions of a phase spider.

Finally, there should be other organizations or a band of plucky heroes that catch wind of what you're trying to do, and agents that they send just in the nick of time to try to stop you. Because that's what heroes do. They should probably always be a thorn in your side, trying to get these ingredients before you do, stealing what you've acquired, or disrupting the ritual at a key time, hoping to destroy you forever.

Again, I would never allow my players to attempt something like this - this is basically me writing a campaign in reverse, but hey, it would be kind of fun for the final encounter as the players get to be the DM, with their plans and preparations, while the DM takes on their preparations with his band of plucky heroes.

EDIT: Ah, you just want mechanical stuff. Just take the revenant background, say you have a phylactery, and grant yourself the ability to use 1st-3rd level slots at will each day - you've done all this work, so you've earned it.