Lich

A lich (sometimes known as a lyche) is a type of undead creature. Often such a creature is the result of a transformation, as a powerful magician or king striving for eternal life uses spells or rituals to bind his intellect to his animated corpse and thereby achieve a form of immortality. They are necromancers who are unsatisfied with the level of power that they currently have, wish for longer lives, and seek to unburden themselves from the necessities of bodily functions (such as eating and sleeping) so that they might dedicate every moment of their existence to the attainment of knowledge and power.

Liches are usually clearly cadaverous, their bodies desiccated or even completely skeletal. Liches are often holding power over hordes of lesser undead creatures, using them as their soldiers and servants.

Unlike a zombie, which is often mindless and/or under the control of some magician, a lich retains its independent thought and is as intelligent as a living human - and often, far more so. Liches can be distinguished from other undead by their phylactery - an item of the Lich's choosing into which they imbue their soul, giving them immortality until the phylactery is destroyed thereby removing its anchor to the material world, and then to destroy its physical form.

Liches convert themselves into undead creatures by means of black magic, storing their souls in phylacteries, leaving their bodies to die and wither. With their souls bound to material foci, they can never truly die. If its body is destroyed, a lich can simply regenerate or find a new one.

Every living spellcaster hides a secret in their flesh—a unique, personalized set of conditions that, when all are fulfilled in the correct order, can trigger the transformation into a lich.

Method


Boneclaw

A wizard who tries to become a lich but fails might become a boneclaw instead. These hideous, cackling undead share a few of the lich's attributes-but where liches are immortal masters of the arcane, boneclaws are slaves to darkness, hatred, and pain.

The most important part of the transformation ritual occurs when the soul of the aspiring lich migrates to a prepared phylactery. If the spellcaster is too physically or magically weak to compel the soul into its prison, the soul instead seeks out a new master-a humanoid within a few miles who has an unusually hate-filled heart. The soul bonds itself to the foul essence it finds in that per son, and the boneclaw becomes forever enslaved to its new master's wishes and subconscious whims. It forms near its master, sometimes appearing before that individual to receive orders and other times simply setting about the fulfillment of its master's desires.

Graveknight

Undying tyrants and eternal champions of the undead, graveknights arise from the corpses of the most nefarious warlords and disgraced heroes—villains too merciless to submit to the shackles of death. They bear the same weapons and regalia they did in life, though warped or empowered by their profane resurrection. The legions they once held also f lock to them in death, ready to serve their wicked ambitions once more. A graveknight’s essence is fundamentally tied to its armor, the bloodstained trappings of its battle lust. This armor becomes an icon of its perverse natures, transforming into a monstrous second skin over the husk of desiccated flesh and scarred bone locked within.

GRAVEKNIGHT ARMOR

In death, the graveknight’s life force lingers on in its armor, not its corpse, in much the same way that a lich’s essence is bound within a phylactery. Unless every part of a graveknight’s armor is ruined along with its body, a graveknight can rejuvenate after it is destroyed. A typical suit of full plate graveknight armor has hardness 10 and 45 hit points, though armor with enhancements or made of special materials proves more difficult to destroy. Merely breaking a graveknight’s armor does not destroy it; it must be ruined, such as by being disintegrated, taken to the Positive Energy Plane, or thrown into the heart of a volcano.

Iron Lich

An iron lich is an unliving fusion of necromancy and mechanika. In an attempt to attain immortality, the iron lich replaced its mortal body with a complex mechanikal apparatus that sustains its existence. The soul-fueled furnace on the creature’s back powers an intricate system of pumps and pistons that give it mobility and strength far surpassing that of a mortal. Only the lich’s skull, suspended weightless in an iron hood, betrays the once-mortal life of this incarnation of evil.

The first iron liches were given their necromechanikal bodies by the Dragonfather, Toruk. Many of them were among the first lich lords—the undead rulers chosen directly by Toruk to supervise his empire and control his armies. In the centuries since the creation of the first iron liches, numerous powerful arcanists have pursued eternal life in an iron form. Many of the most influential members of the Nightmare Empire have discarded their flesh and mortality to exist as iron liches, and countless others who have not yet ascended to this state desire release from their flesh and all the ailments that come with a mortal body.

Iron Lich Phylactery. Iron liches store their spirit essence in a phylactery—a physical receptacle that houses the soul. So long as a lich’s phylactery remains intact, the creature cannot truly be destroyed. Destruction of its physical form is merely a setback, as the disembodied lich can command its servants to construct it a new one.

Because a phylactery is an iron lich’s only true vulnerability, iron liches take great pains to conceal and protect these devices, whether creating decoys to throw rivals off the trail, constructing elaborately trapped vaults around them, or surrounding them with vast throngs of unshakably loyal thralls who serve as constant guardians. Most iron liches are paranoid enough to keep the location of their phylactery secret or to share it with only their most trusted retainers. This has caused the demise of more than a few iron liches over the centuries when it turned out that this trust had been misplaced.

All Shapes and Sizes. An iron lich’s body is not constrained to any particular configuration and need not bear any resemblance to the lich’s living form. The only limitations are resources, time, and the twisted vision of the iron lich itself. Many of these creatures have integrated weaponry into their iron bodies, including sharp blades or spikes along their chassis and talon-like metal claws in place of hands.

Firebox Reliance. A foul necrotite furnace powers an iron lich’s body. An iron lich requires necrotite to function and will become inert and insensate if its supply of the deathtainted coal runs out. These fireboxes require refueling (roughly 5 pounds of necrotite) every 12 hours.

Necrotech Nature. An iron lich doesn’t require food, drink, or sleep. Its furnace requires necrotite and air to function.

History


Rana the Deathworm

Rana the Deathworm was the first lich. Tricked by Malymn into becoming a lich, Rana spread lichdom through the world.

The first four mortal liches each has a symbol associated with them; crown, rose, spider, gem.

Four Brothers Era

Prior to the Four Brothers Era, liches were only divine magic users. However, the ritual known as Passing Through the Lychgate was performed by arcane users for the first known time.

Cultures that practice lichdom


Eladrin

Humans

Mindflayers

Notable Liches


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