3.5 Epic Lich Variant

[nickia]

So for a game I'm running in an lawful neutral society with a long cultural heritage of necromancy. For the game one of the shadowy leaders of the elder council of the country of Rathi will be the one who has been giving the PCs their orders all along. I plan to reveal him soon in the final climatic battle as he comes to the aid of the PCs, but he is my first attempt at creature design so I'm wondering if I could get some pointers. It would be very much appreciated.

Spoiler

Show

RATHIAN BONECLAW (LICH)
Large Undead
Hit Dice: 10d12+40 (105 hp)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 16 (–1 size, +4 Dex, +3 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +5/+14
Attack: Piercing claw +7 melee (2d6+7)* + (1d8+5 negative energy)
Full Attack: 2 piercing claws +7 melee (2d6+7)* + (1d8+5 negative energy)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./20 ft.
Special Attacks: Reaching claws, damaging touch, fear aura, wield the core, osteophage, spells
Special Qualities: +4 turn resistance, damage reduction 5/bludgeoning, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to cold, undead traits, unholy toughness, bone spurs, surgical bones
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +9
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 18, Con —, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 19
Skills: Hide +13, Intimidate +17, Listen +15, Move Silently +17, Search +15, Spot +15
Feats: Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack (claw), Power Attack
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary, skeleton
Challenge Rating: 12
Treasure: None
Alignment: Any
Advancement: 11–22 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: 13

This large skeletal humanoid’s claw-like fingers are at least two feet long. Worse, the slender, knife-sharp claws contract and extend in length from moment to moment, sometimes instantly reaching a length of 10 or more feet, before slowly contracting.


A Rathi boneclaw is a powerful lich who was a master of the ways of oesteomancy during his natural life and as such, in undeath, possesses exceptional control over the length of its claws as well as all bones in general. At will, a boneclaw can extend one or two of its finger-claws out to a distance of 20 feet, neatly skewering fleshy creatures that stand in the way.
A boneclaw stands about 8 feet tall and weighs about 260 pounds.
Boneclaws speak Common.

COMBAT

A boneclaw likes to get the drop on its enemies, especially when its foes are still at range, surprising them with an attack of opportunity by extending its claws as its enemies close to melee range. With its Combat
Reflexes, this can occur often within the same fight. A boneclaw normally attacks using its Power Attack feat, taking a –2 penalty on its attack rolls and gaining a +2 bonus on damage rolls.

Turn Resistance (Ex): A boneclaw lich has +4 turn resistance.

Reaching Claws (Ex): A boneclaw can make melee attacks with its bone claws, instantly extending them as part of an attack to a distance of up to 20 feet (thereby allowing the boneclaw to threaten more squares than even its Large size would otherwise indicate).

Unholy Toughness (Ex): A boneclaw gains bonus to its hit points equal to its Charisma modifier plus its Hit Dice.

Fear Aura (Su): Boneclaw liches can shroud in a dreadful aura of awesome mind numbing fear. Creatures of less than 5 HD in a 60-foot radius that look at the boneclaw lich must succeed on a Will save (DC 20) or be affected as though by a fear spell from a sorcerer of the boneclaw lich’s level. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the same boneclaw lich’s aura for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Paralyzing Touch (Su): Any living creature a boneclaw lich hits with its touch attack must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 20) or be permanently paralyzed. Remove paralysis or any spell that can remove a curse can free the victim (see the bestow curse spell description). The save DC is Charisma-based.
The effect cannot be dispelled. Anyone paralyzed by a lich seems dead, though a DC 20 Spot check or a DC 15 Heal check reveals that the victim is still alive.

Bone Spurs (Su): The protruding spikes of bone act as armor spikes and spiked gauntlets. The boneclaw is automatically proficient in the weapons forged directly from his own skeleton, but not the normal weapons of the same type.
He may use this ability at will. As natural weapons, the boneclaw’s bone spurs cannot be sundered.

Surgical Bones (Su): A boneclaw’s bone spurs and bone claws act as adamantine, cold iron, and silver weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Wield the Core (Su): A boneclaw can telepathically control the physical actions of any creature with a skeleton. The target creature must be within 30 feet, and is allowed a Fortitude save (DC 15 + Charisma modifier) to negate the effect. On a failed save, the boneclaw can control the movements of the subject by forcing its bones to move however the boneclaw wills.
The effect only allows the boneclaw to control the movement of the creature's bone structure, and not its mind. Thus, the bone claw cannot make the controlled creature speak, but he can cause the creature's jaws to clench shut, which would prevent a character from casting a spell with a verbal component or using an item that has a command word. This effect lasts for a number of minutes equal to the boneclaws charisma modifier.
Obviously suicidal commands, such as forcing the creature to walk off a cliff or jump into lava, end the effect. Once control is established, the range at which it can be exercised is unlimited, as long as the osteomancer has line of effect to the subject. Because the osteomancer must remain in line of effect (and therefore potentially keeping himself in harm's way), commanding a creature to face an obviously superior foe does not end the effect. As this power targets the bone structure of a being, rather than its mind, corporeal undead are subject to its effect. The osteomancer can use this power three times per day.

Osteophage (Su): This loth-level ability is the most lethal power at the osteomancer's command. Once per day, an osteomancer can cause the skeleton of a target to liquefy in a matter of seconds, causing the target to collapse in on itself This collapse causes instant death on a failed Fortitude save (DC 15 + Charisma modifier); a successful save prevents skeletal collapse but still deals 10d6 points of damage.

THE LICH’S PHYLACTERY
An integral part of becoming a lich is creating a magic phylactery in which the character stores its life force. As a rule, the only way to get rid of a lich for sure is to destroy its phylactery. Unless its phylactery is located and destroyed, a lich reappears 1d10 days after its apparent death.
Each lich must make its own phylactery, which requires the Craft Wondrous Item feat. The character must be able to cast spells and have a caster level of 11th or higher. The phylactery costs 120,000 gp and 4,800 XP to create and has a caster level equal to that of its creator at the time of creation. All Rathi Boneclaw phylacteries require the involvement of bones of a descendent of the lich hopeful. For example, one prominent Rathi Boneclaw’s phylactery consists of the adamantine plated bones of his stillborn son covered in fine gold and silver traceries. Upon the regeneration of his body he can be found cradling the tiny body.

[Debihuman]

This thing breaks all kinds of rules.

First, you cannot apply lich template to a boneclaw since it is not a Humanoid. Second, it cannot be an osteomancer since it doesn't meet the prerequisites (missing toughness feat and spellcasting). Last of all, that wall of text makes it hard to read. Break up your paragraphs.

That said, I don't actually object to breaking (or at least bending the rules) so let's apply the lich template to a boneclaw to see what happens.

Natural armor should increase to +5 (lich's natural armor is better so use that). Liches have +4 turn resistance so that replaces the boneclaw's +2 turn resistance. I fixed the attack (Power Attack should not affect attack lines). Save DCs are equal to 10 + ½ lich’s HD + lich’s Cha modifier unless otherwise noted.

Boneclaw with Lich Template in spoiler

Spoiler

Show

Boneclaw Lich
Large Undead
Hit Dice: 10d12+40 (105 hp)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 18 (-1 size, +4 Dex, +5 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +5/+14
Attack: Piercing claw +9 melee (2d6+5 plus 1d8+5) or touch + 9 melee (1d8+5 negative energy)
Full Attack: 2 piercing claws +9 melee (2d6+5 plus 1d8+5) or touch +9 melee (1d8+5 negative energy)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./20 ft.
Special Attacks: Fear aura, paralyzing touch, reaching claws
Special Qualities: +4 turn resistance, damage reduction 15/bludgeoning and magic, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to cold, electricity, polymorph, and mind-affecting effects, undead traits, unholy toughness
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +9
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 18, Con -- , Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 21
Skills: Hide +21, Intimidate +17, Listen +23, Move Silently +25, Search +23, Sense Motive +8, Spot +24
Feats: Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack (claw), Power Attack
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary or troupe (1 boneclaw lich, plus 2-4 vampires and 5-8 vampire spawn)
Challenge Rating: 7
Treasure: Standard coins; double goods; double items.
Alignment: Any evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +4

This large skeletal humanoid's clawlike fingers are at least two feet long. Worse, the slender, knife-sharp claws contract and extend in length from moment to moment, sometimes instantly reaching a length of 10 or more feet, before slowly contracting.

Boneclaw liches are bloodthirsty undead that enjoy using their extendable claws to bring death to the living.

The boneclaw lich is an intelligent skeletal undead that possesses exceptional control over the length of its claws. At will, a boneclaw lich can extend one or two of its finger-claws out to a distance of 20 feet, neatly skewering fleshy creatures that stand in the way.

A boneclaw lich stands about 8 feet tall and weighs about 300 pounds.

Boneclaw liches speak Common and Abyssal.

Combat

A boneclaw lich likes to get the drop on its enemies, especially when its foes are still at range, surprising them with an attack of opportunity by extending its claws as its enemies close to melee range. With its Combat Reflexes, this can occur often within the same fight.

Fear Aura (Su): Boneclaw liches are shrouded in a dreadful aura of death and evil. Creatures of less than 5 HD in a 60-foot radius that look at the boneclaw lich must succeed on a Will save (DC 20) or be affected as though by a fear spell from a sorcerer of the boneclaw lich’s level. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the same boneclaw lich’s aura for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Paralyzing Touch (Su): Any living creature a boneclaw lich hits with its touch attack must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 20) or be permanently paralyzed. Remove paralysis or any spell that can remove a curse can free the victim (see the bestow curse spell description). The save DC is Charisma-based.

The effect cannot be dispelled. Anyone paralyzed by a lich seems dead, though a DC 20 Spot check or a DC 15 Heal check reveals that the victim is still alive.

Turn Resistance (Ex): A boneclaw lich has +4 turn resistance.

Damage Reduction (Su): A boneclaw lich’s undead body is tough, giving the creature damage reduction 15/bludgeoning and magic. Its natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Immunities (Ex): Boneclaw liches have immunity to cold, electricity, polymorph (though they can use polymorph effects on themselves), and mind-affecting attacks.

Reaching Claws (Ex): A boneclaw lich can make melee attacks with its bone claws, instantly extending them as part of an attack to a distance of up to 20 feet (thereby allowing the boneclaw lich to threaten more squares than even its Large size would otherwise indicate).

Unholy Toughness (Ex): A boneclaw gains a bonus to its hit points equal to its Charisma modifier x its Hit Dice.

Skills: Boneclaw liches have a +8 racial bonus on Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks.

Now if you want to add classes to this creature. Those will add HD and other features making it more complex.

If you still want to add 10 levels of osteomancer, it will need a few levels in a spellcasting class (I'd recommend at least 2 levels of sorcerer). It's next feat should be Toughness (in order to meet the requirement for osteomancer). Once you figure out how you want to proceed, I'd be willing to help out.

Debby

[nickia]

Thanks for the input. I am trying to blend the lich and the boneclaw to create something new. my reasoning for the Rathian Boneclaw Lich is that anyone who has mastered the art of osteomancy during their natural life and then become a lich would then have greater control of the bone structure of their undead form.

[Debihuman]

Thanks for the input. I am trying to blend the lich and the boneclaw to create something new. my reasoning for the Rathian Boneclaw Lich is that anyone who has mastered the art of osteomancy during their natural life and then become a lich would then have greater control of the bone structure of their undead form.

The lich part makes sense. You'd start with a sorcerer or wizard for a few levels, then add osteomancy and then lich. The boneclaw is where it kinda breaks down. Boneclaws don't advance by class (and theoretically a character would lose all its class HD when it become a boneclaw). This is part of the reason that boneclaws don't have level adjustment. Often the act of becoming undead results in loss of class HD, such as ghouls, ghasts and wraiths.

That's not to say you couldn't have a unique creature that retained its class HD but then it makes it hard to assess.

Debby

[nickia]

That's not to say you couldn't have a unique creature that retained its class HD but then it makes it hard to assess.

Thanks, that's exactly why I submit this creation to the wisdom of you and those like you. I appreciate all your critiques and suggestions.