The Ultimate Guide to the Lich: D&D Lore

immortality is not a gift immortality is an achievement and only those who strive mightily shall possess it I do not think that Edgar Lee Masters was talking about lichdom when he wrote this but that did not stop Rudolph van rton from quoting him in his Guide to the Lich one of the most curious creatures in fact liches are one of the most powerful monsters in all of d and d and not just because of their high crr liches are the remains of great Wizards who Embrace undeath as a means of preserving themselves indefinitely having reached the height of what their humanoid shell can achieve they further their own power at any cost having no interest in the Affairs of the living except to where those Affairs interfere with their own they hunger for long forgotten knowledge and the most terrible of Secrets because the shadow of death doesn't hang over them they can conceive plants that take years decades or centuries to come to fruition liches are not all that unique as many types and races of people that are scattered over the lands of DnD there are so many things that separate them language custom beliefs Define all manner of races and regions but there is one characteristic common to every sentient being the quest for power every creature has at one time or another wish that it had more control over their destiny that they could fully realize their full potential in this quest for for knowledge one of the most susceptible peoples to this are of course Mages Wizards Sorcerers their entire existence is searching for the next spell the unfound spell the secret spells there are always more spells to learn more spells to know secret texts that remain buried in Arcane texts which have gone unread for thousands of years puzzles and Mysteries that tie the universe together and can lead to entirely new planes of existence for a mage who was foremost a scholar these are secrets that must be found the passion to learn more is a driving flame a part of what make them who they are knowledge equals power and the acquisition of unlimited knowledge often seems to be within grasp in this quest for knowledge some Mages pass a point where the unthinkable no longer exists they pursue for long years the secrets of a certain Arcane ritual which will grant them a two-fold prize knowledge of forbidden secrets and the acquisition of power that is unmatched power to be gained over the span of an eternal life or unlife this is lichdom the final step of a mortal's life for many do not survive the process of becoming a lich but those who both have the secrets the knowledge and the power to become one is the beginning of an entirely new existence so where does this power come from who grants the Lich such thing who wrote the secrets the rituals that the the Lich now practices there is some speculation across many DND books the fullest accounting of this comes from vanriet himself in his guide to liches he had found an ancient text himself one that did not give the secrets of becoming a lich but more where the power resides and he said I was also told during this nether spanning discussion this tanari name untranslatable had decided to take control of a world wherein humans and demihumans live together the tanari first plot to seed the world with his minions and take the World by force this proved unsuccessful yet intent upon acquiring the world the tanari said about creating Minions that were significantly more powerful and so it tempted the Mages of the world with the greatest power and knowledge and it gave them instructions on how to transform their bodies minds and even spirits to a higher form of existence one that would command great magic and allow the tanari to assume control of the world with subtlety and plotting as tanari still lives as do its higher minions toes the world it has tried to conquer is ours and this is surely the origin of the Lich explaining how this pestilence came to existence what our Fates will be if we allow thees to influence us is a truly terrible thought to contemplate and so this fragment of text is thought to fully explain the origin of the Lich perhaps it's all a plot by a demon or Taris to gain extremely powerful followers that are beholden to it well though this tanari is not named we do get more information in the fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons about where Lich comes from and the story and lore that come with it certainly corroborate the texts that were found it says that some of the most fearsome villains in the long history of the world have been liches including AAC Master of the tomb of Horrors and the God vcna it is said that all liches pay homage to orcus and is said that orcus can instantly destroy the Flory of any Lich that displeases him and in fourth edition it even details the entirety of the Lich transformation which I will touch on in a moment you call upon orcus demon Prince of the undead to transform your body into a skeletal thing Undead and Immortal and bind your life force with an especially prepared receptacle called the phactory at the conclusion of this ritual you die transforming into a lich and gain the Lich template so while it seems pretty definitive that orcus is behind the creation of liches there's one other interesting piece of information that we find in the death knight lore in fourth edition it claims the death knight is believed to be a form of Lich created by a demon Prince though most do not suppose orcus they think this is the work of demogorgan in the end it seems that whoever was the first to create them was a Demon Lord and finally fifth edition makes a clarification many turned to orcus for this process the demon Prince of undeath who has created countless liches however it is said that the process just consists of making some bargain with a fiend an evil God or other foul entity at least my working theory is that orcus was most likely the first as he is the demon Prince of undeath and he is among the first mentioned in some of these early texts he was the first Demon Lord to conceive of the Lich and he may have even been the one to write the rituals in secrets to performing such a process but from that time any higher evil power can command a lich and provide the power to be a lich almost like becoming a warlock except the success rate is a lot lower and getting on to the process of creating a lich we have one of the most detailed Guides of how you can become your own Lich back in ven Ron's guide and if you know anything about the Lich besides they are Undead Wizards you know about the felter the felter must be of Exquisite crack mhip worth at least 1,500 gold pieces in second edition though the fatory is normally a box it can be fashioned into virtually any item provided it has an interior surface in which the Lich can carve certain small magical designs silver is poured into these designs in a permanency spell as cast on each because of the secrecy of the entire process usually the wizard or the Mage has to learn how to make these Arcane symbols etchings and learn how to handle Bolten metals and acquire all the crafting skills necessary to design and construct the Flory and it had better be perfectly constructed once the Flory is constructed the Mage casts an assortment of spells to properly enchant it and finally cast your spirit into it however to do so requires the inclusion of the most secret aspect of becoming the Lich the potion of transformation the ingredients of this potion are unknown even to Van Ron it is a slew of poisonous Venoms from some number of rare creatures as this potion must kill the wizard instantly it's more of a poison than a potion the Mage must drink the potion when the moon is full and if successful the Mage is transformed into a lich but of course the Mage does die in the process regardless of whether it is successful or not on the high likelihood it is unsuccessful you are not powerful enough you have messed up any part of creating the Flory carving the symbols casting the Spells into it or saying the words as you take the potion you are dead there is no Lich there is no Mage to get into the in-game details of this if you cast all of the correct spells into the potion a roll is required and if you pass it then you transform if you do not survive the shock then you are dead forever not even wish will undo this potion once the potion is drank if it is successful the mage's physical form reflects the transformation of their Spirit where the Mage in life might have been beautiful to some eyes the potion turns their body into something profoundly hideous a body shrunken and wrinkled over each bony limb as dry as parchment and rough to the point of being able to grind marble into dust the sockets of the eyes are the most terrifying to behold for instead of eyes it has sunken pits as black as the most evil heart that has ever pulsed as it gets angry from within the sockets come a harsh reddish glow two fiery Blobs of light that sparkle and illuminate the sockets in the immediate area around the Lich these are all steps just to become the Lich and now you have started your unlife after entering the felter the spirit must remain for at least three days after those 3 days the Lich May re-enter the body from where it came this act of transference is quite demanding upon the host body because of this the Lich must rest for a week after re-entering the body the let you cannot cast any spells or undertake any physical labor during this time this is your last opportunity to easily kill a l it is the last one of course the full flter is now what truly contains the essence of the Lich not the husk of the Lich itself if the lich's body should die by any method then its spirit is already safe within the Flory the L will reform a new body upon death and reform near the Flory liches need not partake of food water or any of the things that Mortals do but they still must conduct rituals like this one which are designed to renew their powers and sustain their physical existence when the Lich has learned enough to satiate its gluttonous appetite for power it will abandon and in its solid form for the exploration of Realms Beyond mortal comprehension this is the demilich but until then it must sustain its body against the ravages of time besides just spellcasting the Lich has a multitude of powers and a multitude of forms the infamous Demi Lich the next phase of the Lich when its body is gone there are born liches void liches drad liches alhoon liches and a whole host of other liches typically these are different species or different creatures becoming liches for example there are Draco liches whenever a dragon becomes a lich all of them very similar in power very similar in process and probably very similar on where this ability comes from getting back to life as a lich besides their extreme Proficiency in casting of spells and knowledge they have a multitude of abilities I will not be going through of all of them and each Edition can slightly differ from addition to Edition but of course going back to Van rton who writes a compreh intensive guide of a slew of powers that some liches might have the first is the liches sight it essentially can see with normal vision in the darkest of environments and is unaffected by the brightest of light translating into other game terms like 5e it has some version of dark vision and and some immunity to being blinded they also have the fear ability just radiating around them an aura of icy magical Darkness around them at all times they have the chilling Touch of death should a l touch a living creature they take a decent amount of damage and then are paralyzed they have many weapon immunities additional protections and many other small abilities throughout all additions turning to the most recent addition of D and D we can gaze at some of the potential spells just to give you an idea of the type of power a lich would have now just as liches are templates for humanoids they're not a generic monster any wizard that turns oneself into a lich would still have the knowledge of whatever spells they had in life and any of the spells they would learn in unlife and of course they can prepare any of them but the lowest level and most basic Lich of 5 has all the way up to ninth level spells but they just have one spell slot and one spell power W kill they have already achieved at cr21 Ninth level spells they of course have spell slots ranging all the way from 1 to eight as well some of the highlights include plain shift finger of death dominate monster disintegrates scrying counter spell and and dimension door they're an 18th level spellcaster Leches can also act as some form of necromancer though they are Undead themselves they have a natural ability to control Undead generally the more intelligent aich the more Undead can control though any more than around 20 would be quite defeat the scariest part of a lich is that they were once like everyone else they did not start their existence as a Demon Lord filled with nothing but evil they are not some low intelligence deranged monster or or monstrosity everything they did they worked endlessly for they worked with an obsession and they executed some of the most difficult magic perfectly somewhere at the core of any Lich is still a mortal mind suddenly and irrevocably made Immortal and even though this was their desired outcome it still is a shock for all liches being an undead master of magic complicates matters making a stable mind rather difficult to come by among liches at least during their early years of it existence there's a duality to them immortality can make one drunk with carelessness but the nature of the Lich and the path that it took here must remain in control of itself or it would put itself in unnecessary danger and although they have the ability to be careless it is not a common trait among the Lich time loses meaning days become longer shorter then altogether meaningless each day becomes the same the concept of time a vague memory all that is for you is only your own self you may monitor the outside world sometimes very closely but it is easy to lose track of what progresses outside your layer when you neglect appear appearer outside a window for a decade favoring instead to research a new found text or create a particular amalgamation what if you sat down to read a book then looked up from it a generation later when there was no one alive to recognize no peers with which to debate a fine point perhaps delich undergoes a psychological ordeal similar to that of the vampire boredom erod its will to continue Mages in all likelihood undergo this transformation to lichdom in haste after first discovering the secret but they may pay the price in personal anguish for all their years despite this struggle they all seem to recover there is some aspect of the lich's mind that is able to undergo these torments and weather them may take a few months or a century and not all liches make it through this process the ones that do eventually become accustomed to their existence and function at an EXT ex high level the reason we know of so many famous liches is because of this potential if you've made it to Lich Dum most likely you are well established with riches a layer a library a laboratory All That Remains is a purpose a quest the L will surely turn to the next logical Pursuit power being an undead master of magic is of little meaning if the power is not exercised to this end the Lich can undertake any number of efforts designed to test and expand its power bolstering one's Authority in attempt to gain control of a kingdom by controlling a king or implanting yourself as one such perhaps L May undertake the conquest of a small world or continent on a planet that is generally ignored by other world traveling Mages planning an organization alone could take decades and the execution centuries among all these plans though Chief is of course the Quest for higher magic a NeverEnding pervading characteristic of the L's existence there's always more magic to command more secrets to know and artifacts to find or or create the Lich is driven to find all of the answers sometimes it is for its own sake and other times it is a means to even more power but always it's for the cause of evil

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Id: 7xAzeWZgCcg

Length: 16min 43sec (1003 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 25 2024