- Lord Acton
letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton
Powers
Know that the planes are filled with all
manner of strange creatures, each one
unique. This applies to creatures of
magic most especially. While they are
often of the same ilk, they are also
clearly different from one another -
different in creation, purpose, desires,
and potency. Realize this and know
that no two supernatural beings are
alike, and that one cannot wholly
predict their actions. Look instead upon
each being individually, and make your
predictions for the behavior of that one.
The logic of Bilerius's passage above may seem obvious or trite, but I have lost too many comrades to the assumption that individuals in a certain category of undead "are all alike". Never make this mistake! While the skills and powers of a given creature may be shared by most or all of its breed, the most powerful of supernatural beings remain ever unpredictable, ever singular.
With the lich this is particularly true, for its province is the arcane, a subject of apparently unlimited scope, and each lich is as unique as the power it pursues. Legends proliferate with theories about what is gained by becoming a lich. Some locales have folk songs about liches becoming ghostly skeletons whose bones are as strong as iron, while others tell of lich spells powerful enough to reduce mountains to dust. Yet another tale promises that standing water freezes when a lich is nearby, even in the height of summer. These songs exaggerate the reality of lichdom, but only slightly so.
The research that led to my Guide to Vampires was greatly aided by the fact that vampires are notoriously egotistical creatures. In hindsight, I realize that much valuable information regarding the extermination of these monsters came from the monsters themselves, anxious to tell their own stories at whatever cost.
Unfortunately, the lich is not so eager to justify its existence as is the vampire. Holding a lich at bay has not been achieved, and a straightforward interview is, of course, out of the question! I am afraid that the only way to learn about the lich is through direct observation and careful conjecture. Secondhand information is occasionally helpful, but it must remain suspect at best.
I believe, based on my experience with the undead in general, that liches are intimately connected with that dimension of negative energy, the Negative Material Plane. It is from this plane that the vampire draws its unholy powers, and I suspect that the lich shares this source. Several of the lich's native abilities are otherwise simply unexplainable. Those investigators who follow in my footsteps would be wise to continually doubt this hypothesis, however. Otherwise, any immediately unanswerable question will be foolishly attributed to the powers of this merely theoretical place.
Whatever the actual source of the lich's faculties, the manifestation of that power is obvious to anyone present to witness it. Here, I shall address the various "common" powers of the lich and also reveal abilities I have encountered in my research that are possessed only by the rarest of all liches.
Little escapes the eyes of a lich. I recall waiting in ambush for a lich in a cell deep underground, without a source of light for thousands of yards (we had thoroughly cloaked our own). I was immersed in a blackness so deep that I could almost feel it, and only shadow-sparks swam before my mind's eye to remind me that light had ever existed.
After a long wait, the deliberate, unearthly shuffle of the lich eased through the thick darkness to signal the monster's approach. We held our breath in absolute silence and waited as the red pin flares of the lich's eyes came into view.
It entered the cell, advanced until it stood nearly between our positions on opposite walls, then stopped abruptly. With an eerie air that makes my skin crawl even to think of it, the lich turned its gaze from one side the other, looking upon our party as if we stood in full light of day! Thus did our own trap betray us, for we were the only blind ones in the room! The lesson we learned is that darkness is not your friend when dealing with a lich. But neither is light your ally against the undead wizard. The lich is not intimidated in the least by sunlight, nor is it blinded.
I surmise that the visual spectrum of the lich is not dependent upon light itself. Rather, its connection with negative energy allows it to somehow perceive the very presence and location of material objects and beings, situated in a dimension physically and diametrically opposed to its own frame of reference.
My painstaking research has detailed many lethal attributes to liches. A certain subset of those attributes is often repeated among my texts, and it seems to point to a core feature of the common lich: an aura of fear, darkness, and cold that I call the black aura.
A lich can't see with normal vision in even the darkest of environments, but it is unaffected by the brightest light, even by magical light cast upon its eye sockets.Any creature of fewer than 5 Hit Dice or levels of experience that looks upon a lich must roll a successful saving throw vs. spell, or flee in terror for 5d4 rounds. The effect tends to descend upon the victim rather than strike him (as would the effect of a fear spell), so the chance to drop held items is optional. The viewer must see the lich in its true form in order for the effect to manifest; a lich disguised with an illusion would not evoke fear unless the disguise was a frightening one.
Fear
It is thoroughly understandable that anyone coming face to face with an undead wizard of enormous power would react with direct and abject fear. Although I am not a great warrior or a powerful wizard, I have seen much of that which lives by the dark of night and terrorizes the living; I have become much inured to sights of the most ghastly nature. Nevertheless, I will always view certain monsters with unreasoning terror, and the lich is one of them.
However, the black aura of the lich is not a thing that can be faced down with sheer courage alone. Even the most stalwart hero instinctively flees in terror from the presence of a lich. Fear precedes the lich like the stench of its minions. Some brave souls may withstand this demoralizing effect, but none deny the cold grip on the heart when a lich appears on the scene.
However, such fear only occurs if the lich is revealed for what it is. Liches who utilize illusion or magical items to appear as normal mages, clerics, or other beings do not automatically cause this reaction. The fear is therefore all the more powerful when the lich is discovered.
Cold Darkness
It is the experience of all who make contact with a lich that this aura of fear also manifests itself in cold and darkness. Sources conflict as to the nature of this. Some say that the darkness is an actual physical emission, similar to the spell darkness, and it coincidentally causes fear because it evokes the frequent dread of darkness in humans and humanoids. Accepting this premise, the cold would be spell-like in nature, too. I disagree.
Others theorize, and I side with them, that the cold and darkness are a physical manifestation of the magical icy darkness of the creature's being, and its aura of alien and horrifying power causes fear in all who draw near to it. As with vampires, this phenomenon may be attributable to that theoretical connection between liches and the Negative Material Plane, and the cold and darkness might simply be a cloud of that extraneous negative energy. As such, the aura does not exist as a physical absence of heat and light, but rather is a field of malignant power that viewers perceive as "frosty darkness" in their futile attempts to grasp its true nature.
The cold darkness of the lich's aura is created purely for dramatic effect and should be so used for the Dungeon Master's convenience. The area of effect may shift freely to prevent players from using the aura as a homing device or other source of information. However, some Dungeon Masters may wish to treat the aura as a quasi-magical one, creating a modified form of the blur spell, for example. Other vision- and temperature-oriented spells may be similarly used for the Dungeon Master's purposes.
The Chilling Touch
Woe to the person who is grasped by the lich! Its touch will freeze the skin of anything as would the coldest ice. For a living person, this can mean severe pain and epidermal damage. Furthermore, the pitiable creature so touched may be chilled literally to the bone, becoming completely immobile until aided by magical or priestly powers. In several texts are accounts of death caused by the icy touch of the lich.
What is the cause of this chill touch? It is possible that it is, after a fashion, a curse of the gods of Good upon the lid for betraying its mortality. Since the lich has willingly thrown over all that is warm and kind and human in order to pursue with cold dispassion the acquisition of power, the gods may have punished the undead wizard by making its touch a reflection of its inner, coldhearted nature.
- LWF
Others maintain that the lich's icy touch is simply the cold of the grave, amplified by a score of magnitudes during the ritual that transforms the lich from living being to walking dead. Being a man of learning and medical arts, I am sure that this is not truth. Dead beings are only cold in relationship to their living counterparts and are, in fact, simply the same temperature as their surroundings. What amplification of room temperature could result in a cold that could cause a man's skin to stick to the lich's bony claw and peel from his arm like the skin of a fruit? No, this theory is flawed. Numerous wizards have confirmed that both common and essential components used in the casting of spells would be ruined or rendered inert by freezing, yet I have found no evidence of any lich keeping its spell components warm. I have also inspected numerous objects for signs of contact with significant coldness after they had been handled by a lich, but found nothing to suggest that they were affected by the black aura. It is apparent, then, that this chill touch is a selective ability of the lich, rather than a physical characteristic of the state of living death.
Once again, it may be put forth that the icy touch is a manifestation of the twisted link between that hypothetical plane of negative energy and the lich. In that case, the energy-sapping nature of the Negative Material Plane leeches the very heat from the air through the lich, which serves as some sort of mobile portal to that domain. Or, possibly, the physical contradiction of positive and negative energies coming into contact may cause damage to living tissues.
Whatever the case, I must remind the reader that I am not versed in planar theory, and I cannot confirm the existence of a plane of negative energy. However, the existence of such a place or thing certainly explains much.
Should a lich touch a living creature, that creature immediately suffers 1d10 points of cold damage. The victim then must roll a successful savving throw vs. paralysis or be suddenly and completely unable to move. The paralysis lasts until magically dispelled.
As with many undead things, nonmagical weapons inflict no damage upon the lich. If that weren't enough, it takes a sword master of considerable experience to find the soft spots and "make them bleed", so to speak. The density of magical energy concentrated within a lich's being is so great that it takes a weapon with magic and a well-trained arm to harm it. This is not to ay that nonmagical weapons and inexperienced warriors cannot strike the lich's form; rather, their weapons appear to be thrown back as if they had made contact with a stone too dense to scratch. I recall one instance in which a rambunctious young blade-wielder of some renown stabbed the skeletal form of a lich between the two bones of its forearm, which were open to the air due to its advanced decay. With an idle twist of its arm, the lich broke the youth's blade in two, then slew him.
Liches can be hit only by weapons of at least +1 enchantment, by spells, or by creatures with at least 6 Hit Dice (or levels of experience) or possessing magical properties typical of most monsters.
This need for magic to damage the lich's form extends in a dual fashion into certain immunities in the lich. However, from what I have read, I do not believe that the lich is immune to the effects of sorcery, except for magic designed to disrupt the biological nature of a living being. A spell cast to impart insanity to the target is one example. Such spells have no effect, as the lich's mind works in such an arcane, twisted manner that "sanity" has no practical meaning. Death spells are also ineffective, regardless of who casts them. Likewise, spells of sleep or enfeeblement have no effect, and the lich's mighty and inhumanly transformed intellect makes the use of charming magic against it utterly futile. As cold and electricity also commonly depend upon a living biological state for the majority of the damage that they cause, the dead flesh of the lich, combined with its ensorcelled toughness, renders such damaging magic useless against it. Finally, the lich seems to be unaffected by polymorph magic. Apparently the lich's intimate connection with negative energy confounds the workings of a spell affecting positive material.
I hasten to add that, for all these many immunities, the lich is vulnerable to a plethora of magic. Indeed, magical attacks from a distance remain one of the best offenses against these beings.
Some priests have managed to present their holy symbols with such faith and authority that liches have (at least temporarily) fled the scene, but these were mighty clerics indeed. I hesitate to mention that it is possible to turn a lich away through such priestly virtues, for I have lost several holy friends who miscalculated the power of their adversaries. Nevertheless, liches are certainly undead creatures, and as such they are vulnerable to the bane of the undead: righteous faith and the power of the gods.
The magical nature of the lich and its dead state make it immune to all forms of charm, sleep, enfeeblement, polymorph, cold, electricity, insanity or death spells. Priests at least 8th level may attempt to turn a lich, as may paladins of no less than 10th level.
Of course, one important skill that a mage does not lose when he transforms into a lich is the ability to cast spells. To my surprise, I found that the lich remains under the same basic restrictions as living mages when casting spells. For example, the lich still has to keep its spells recorded in a spell book, and it still has to go through the rituals of spellcasting.
One aspect of spellcasting that does change upon the transformation of a living wizard into a lich is the need for sleep - liches never need it. However, they do need to spend time equivalent to a normal mage's rest in a light, meditative trance, in order to reimpress upon their minds the magical words and energies that compose spells. However, thereas the typical mortal mage must have a certain period of uninterrupted rest, the lich does not. (After all, being undead, the lich can never rest as does a mortal.) Once it has spent the total needed amount of time in meditation upon the unseen configurations of the treads of magic, it can consult its spell books and rememorize its spells, no matter how many times it has been interrupted. (Practically, I would suppose that these segments of meditative time cannot be fragmented into spans of less than a quarter of an hour each to be of any use). This light, meditative trance would account for the various descriptions of tiches as "brooding" or "lost in arcane thought". But-any man who thinks a meditating lich is unaware of its surroundings is doomed.
This piece of information is useful inasmuch as it serves as a warning: A party of lich hunters cannot interrupt a lich's rest and hope to deprive it of its ability to learn spells. More likely, the lich will dispense with the party, then continue from whence it left off.
The lich's undead, evil nature grants it particular expertise when casting necromantic spells. The lich is a dealer of death (and a dealer with death), and it has many spells and abilities available to it for this nefarious use. In genera], it is agreed upon in authoritative sources like The Journal of Moritauius Jouanoultch and the scholarly Divers [sic] Meditations Upon the Higher Magicks that liches are able to wield necromantic magic with at least twice the effectiveness of living mages. While there can be no question that liches are adept at the use of necromantic magic, I attribute their general potency to their vast experience and the time they spend developing their talents, rather than their special, undead natures.
Liches do not require uninterrupted rest or study time in order to learn spells. The amount of time required to memorize a full complement of lich spells is equal to the number of available spell levels times 10 rounds. For example, if a lich wishes to memorize one 1st-level spell, one 3rd-level spell, one 4th-level spell, and two 5th-level spells, it would need 180 rounds (18 [spell levels]xl0), or three hour. If the lich interrupted after the first hour but casts no further spells, it need only meditate for two more hours to complete its task.A lich performs in all respects as a specialist wizard of the school of Necromancy, with the following exceptions: It suffers ao penalties when learning spells from other schools, and it is not prohibited from employing spells of the opposite school (Illusion/Phantasm). To the contrary, liches are adept at casting illusionary magic.
One of the most commonly invoked powers of the lich is its ability to control a variety of undead creatures. The lich is able to command a number of undead to protect it. The number of undead it can control at one time depends largely upon the mental abilities of the lich. Generally, the more intelligent the lich, the more undead it can control. However, I have rarely heard of a lich being able to control more than a score of undead at once.
Magical devices are known that allow the liches that constructed them to control many more undead creatures than they presumably could normally. These items often resemble necklaces or amulets, and they are frequently carved with mystical signs of dire import.
If one is pursuing a lich and encounters a band of undead that protect it, one can only assume that more undead guardians are nearby. The distance over which a lich can command these undead soldiers seems to be without limit. I have even read a tale of a lich that instructed a ghoul to travel to another land to fulfill a task, and the lich was able to see through the undead creature's eyes and into the far distant land to more closely direct the ghoul in its task.
Many types of undead can be commanded by a lich. Essentially, a lich can command any undead creature less powerful than itself, including skeletons (probably the most common minion, as they are so easy to make), ghouls, zombies, shadows, and the like. A distinguishing characteristic of a lich minion is that its eyes bear the same fiery gaze as the commanding lich, but the minion possesses none of the lich's powers or auras. The minion completely loses all form of independent thought. In fact, the will of the lich inundates the undead creature totally, so that the lich alone is able to control it. Should the lich die, all undead that obey it simply fall to the ground motionless, or so I would hope.
This ability to control the undead seems to be a natural part of lichdom. The lich is able to raise skeletons from the ground with great ease and on some occasions can raise corpses without even visiting the graves. Animated corpses are able to perform only physical labor that requires little or no degree of mental input. However, since the lich is able to use the corpse's senses when it desires to do so, freshly dead corpses are preferred as they are relatively "complete".
Several of the minion's physical senses can be used by a lich, depending on the condition of the minion's sensory organs. Eardrums, for example, are still usable after the lich animates a corpse, as is the sense of touch as long as the skin is relatively intact. As these components begin to decay, the lich becomes less able to distinguish the surroundings of the minion. However, the lich is always able to see through a minion's eyes or eye sockets with the same degree and clarity as if the minion's eyes were healthy and intact.
This ability to use a corpse's senses is very useful to the lich. With it, the lich can cause the minion to perform almost any sort of physical action that the lich itself could (short of spellcasting), including reading texts and preparing alchemical solutions or traps.
A lich is able to attempt to control any form of undead with half (round up) or less of the lich's Hit Dice. For example, a newly formed lich has at least 11 Hit Dice, so it has immediate potential dominion over wraiths and lesser undead. To assume control, the undead creature must be within the lich's range of influence, which is equal to the lich's Hit Dice times 1,000 feet. A typical lich can raise and command undead more than two miles away.Once a corpse or undead creature is within range, the lich asserts control by conducting a mystical attack, during which the lich mentally imposes its will upon the victim. This attack automatically succeeds against undead that have (or had in life) 3 Hit Dice or less. Those with more than 3 Hit Dice can make a saving throw vs. spell to avoid being controlled. The lich is free to repeatedly impose its will upon undead that have made their saving throws, once per round, until they succumb to its influence or escape its range of command.
The lich can control a number of minions with total Hit Dice equal to three times its Intelligence score. There is no limit to how many of any particular kind of corpse or undead the lich can control, only to the raw number of possible minions.
It is possible for a minion to be controlled outside the lich's normal control range. Once every 24 hours, the lich can command one of its minions to perform a special task, placing the minion under an effect similar to the wizard spell geas. The minion will perform that action no matter how long it takes or how great a distance is needed to travel to reach the goal.
The actions assigned to a typical minion must be simple and not contain more than four steps. An example command might be: "Go west until you find a castle; kill the red-haired guard at the drawbridge; take his gold amulet; return here".
Only one adjective may be used with each step in the quest. Of course, intelligent undead can understand and act upon more complex orders. Such creatures can even be ordered to take command of the lich's legions on the front line of a battlefield or to lead a reconnaissance team on a mission.
The minion, whatever its level of intelligence, will not stop in its pursuit of the special quest. It will become single-minded in its pursuit and never stops until it is destroyed, its assignment is complete, or it is willed to do otherwise by the lich.
Priests can turn the lich's quest-filing minion, but turning it has the effect only of making it stand still. When no longer subject to being turned (such as being beyond the radius of effect of the turning cleric or paladin), the undead being continues on its way. The minion ignores all distractions during its quest, but it instinctively avoids villages, campsites, fire, and other places or creatures that would lead to its discovery or delays.
The minion attempts to overcome any obstacle. If it is physically unable to complete a mission, it returns to the lich and communicates its difficulties to the lich by telepathy.
Once a minion leaves the lich's radius of control, its senses (other than vision) cannot be used by the lich. The lich can always see what the minion sees, at any distance, regardless of circumstance.
The number of minions the lich can assign to perform special quests is qual to its Intelligence score.
The lich, despite its incredible transformation from mortality, in all probability retains most or all of the nonwizard skills it had as a living creature. This was confirmed for me in Barovia, when I hunted for a lich that had taken up residence in the southern Balinok Mountains. The appearance of the lich, which called itself Crimson Arcanus, coincided with the disappearance of a somewhat well known and very powerful Falkovnian mage called Antirius the Red. Aside from his magical powers, Antirius was locally known for his ability to throw two darts simultaneously, one from each hand. Later, when we first confronted the Crimson Arcanus and forced it to employ combat techniques against us before fleeing, it used that ambidextrous dart toss. (Sadly, a poison-coated dart cost the life of my dear comrade Nadin the ranger.) I remembered a tale that Antirius of Falkovnia used the same tactic, so I journeyed to Falkovnia and learned all I could about the "deceased" Antirius.
One key fact I discovered looked at first to be a relatively trivial one: Antirius was fond of dancing in his earlier years. Returning to Barovia with a mercenary who combined sword fighting with dance techniques, I sought out the Crimson Arcanus and forced the lich into hand-to-hand melee, introducing the mercenary fighter at a crucial moment. To our lasting delight, the lich counterstepped to the mercenary's moves with an arrogant grace! Its identity thus confirmed, we were able use our knowledge of Antirius the Red to defeat the Crimson Arcanus, and we located and destroyed its phylactery.
It was remarkable to me that a lich should possess such a high level of agility, despite its heavily withered state, but the important fact that I learned was that the lich had not lost those skills that it had in life.
I think it reasonable to conclude that if abilities requiring agility are retained, then all former life skills of the lich may be retained. This includes thieving and weapon skills, as well as psionic and spellcasting knowledge. It is also reasonable to assume that these skills can continue to be honed until they are far superior to those of any mortal. In fact, any skills the lich had before its transformation most likely carry over to a high degree and are an essential part of the lich's knowledge and abilities. These skills can be perfected by the lick if it continues its study of them.
It seems logical that any physical skills (carpentry, sword fighting, swimming, and the like) the lich learns after its transformation cannot be learned to the same degree of perfection, as the lich's undead body will not respond as well as a living body On the other hand, if the lich does not require the same amount of rest and sleep that the living do, it may accelerate its learning of physical skills compared to when it was living.
Assuming that my chain of logic is sound, any mental skill such as navigation or alchemy probably can be learned to perfection after the change, since the lich's mind does not deteriorate as does its body. As it is impossible to ask a lich what activities it has taken up since becoming undead, I have no means of confirming this. Even so, it is better to give the lich too much credit than not enough!
The Dungeon Master should assign nonweapon proficiencies to a lich as appropriate to the campaign. A lich that has been in existence for more than a few years has plenty of time to develop an assortment of near perfect skills. It would also be reasonable to award a lich all weapon proficiencies allowable to its former class, even allowing it some proficiencies not normally used by members of its former class. After all, the lich has virtually an eternity to study any skill that it wishes to acquire.
From some sketchy commentary and glosses drawn from sundry sources, it is apparent that certain liches are able to cast necromantic spells that are not commonly available to living mages. Whether these spells are of the lich's own devising, drawn from further research, or special abilities of a spell-like nature that these liches possess, I do not know. Even living mages do not commonly reveal the extent of their spell-weaving knowledge to those not of the magical brotherhood; what is a common spell and what Is a personal piece of sorcery is not a topic upon which I can venture to guess. Nevertheless, I have been a witness to many strange and terrible powers engendered by liches, and I shall speak briefly of some of them here.
Considering their undead state, it should come as no surprise that a lich would be a craftsman in bone. In Valachan, I encountered a lich that had created an entire laboratory made of humanoid bone! At the first I thought the monster had commissioned some dark craftsman, but when my hunting party attacked the lich in a graveyard, it suddenly erected a protective wall of bone around it. To see humanoid bones emerge from the ground all around us was quite alarming, but to watch them bend and meld together was positively horrifying!
The lich's affinity for creating and controlling undead should be self-evident to anyone who has had any dealings with these monsters, but few suspect the depths to which the liches have honed that accomplishment. I know of one particular lich (that to this day has confounded and eluded me!) that is able to animate the dead with disconcerting ease. In our last confrontation, the lich sent a veritable army of undead creatures at us. Where they came from we knew not, but they arrived in seemingly endless numbers.
Fortunately, we were prepared for a large-scale battle, and we cut down the lich's forces with alacrity. To our shock and horror, the lich moved about the battlefield with magically enhanced speed, reanimating the bodies we had laid to rest with a simple touch of its bony claw. Thus, we found ourselves facing and fighting the same undead beasts again and again, until we were forced to retreat.
I have learned of a particularly cruel lich from one of its pitiable victims. The monster had mastered a technique of entering the dreams of its enemies. Night after night, it haunted the poor fellow to whom I later spoke, preventing him from resting until he sickened and went mad. No spell or prayer was able to shield his mind from the lich's mental onslaught. Sadly, I have since heard that the man to whom I spoke became a murderous lunatic, was hanged by his people, and now serves the lich as an undead thing.
Still another lich of which I have heard is apparently able to capture the residual magic from other casters' spells and recreate the same effect under its control. One survivor of an encounter with this particular lich told me that a wizard in her party cast a fireball at the lich, who suffered considerable damage from the spell. However, the flames of the fireball did not dissipate, but rather withdrew into the lich's hand as if pulled there. Then the lich sent the very same fireball back into the face of the unfortunate wizard, who died of it. The witness assured me that she saw no spellcasting or use of any item on the part of the lich. Instead, it seems that the lich merely took hold of the dweomer and reenergized it!
The sheer scope of possibility dictates that countless salient abilities may be available to the lich. Being virtually immortal, these wizards have an eternity to develop spells and powers beyond our imagination. Some liches might generate unique and bizarre talents. Other liches might require ever more powerful magical weapons to hit them, have the ability to cast more deadly magic than usual, and so forth. A so-called "common" lich is incredibly powerful, but these "uncommon" liches seem nearly indestructible! There are few ways to challenge them, power vs. power.
The best hope of the lich hunter is to understand the lich. While each lich - nay, every creature that walks the land - has its strengths, so does it have its weaknesses. Once again, as a lich itself might point out, knowledge is the greatest power. Know your enemy, and you may live to defeat it.
If the Dungeon Master wishes to determine salient abilities randomlyi the following procedure can be used: For liches with an Intelligence of 19, roll 3d3 to determine the number of abilities of the lich. If the lich has an Intelligence of 20 or more, roll 1d3+1. Then roll 1d20 and consult the table below. Bach of these powers is an innate ability that the lich can invoke at will. No rituals or components are required to activate them.Table 1: Lich Salient Abilities
1d20 Lich Ability 1 Animate dead by touch 2 Bone command 3 Chilling wind 4 Coldfire 5 Control undead legion 6 Doom gaze 7 Dream manipulation 8 Fool's feast 9 Grasp of death 10 Grasp of enfeeblement 11 Ignore metal 12 Imitation 13 Improved defense 14 Improved spellcasting 15 Meta-polymorph 16 Painwrack 17 Regeneration 18 Skull scry 19 Voice of maleficence 20 Vortex of evil Ideally, the Dungeon Master will custom design a lich especially for the current campaign. Salient abilities are created to challenge high-level parties and to create surprises for those gamers who make a habit of studying the Monstrous Manual tome and "Dungeon Master only "text.
Animate dead by touch: The lich is able to cause zombies and skeletons rise with a mere touch. Such creatures are turned by clerics at a level equal to the lich that raised them, as long as the lich is within 200 feet of those undead. The lich may raise as many creatures as are available. All undead created in this fashion rise as 2 Hit Dice creatures that behave as common zombies and skeletons, except as noted above.
Bone command: The lich is able animate bone and shape it at will. With this ability, the lich can call up spliners of bones from anywhere bones are present and animate them into a protective barrier similar to the priest spell blade barrier, except the damage inflicted is 10d8. The lich may also form bones into any structure it desires the only limit being the amount of bones available. Structures created in this manner are only as strong as the bones used, though some creatures may have very strong bones. The Dungeon Master should determine the structure integrity based on the campaign and scenario, the type and amount of bones available, and the resistance the bones offer. Generally, a Bend Bars/Lift Gates roll is sufficient to breach a bone wall. Inflicting 25 points of damage creates a human-sized hole. Any structure - huts, arches, bridges, and so forth - can be created. The structure stands until it is destroyed or the lich commands it to disintegrate into its component parts. Structures created in this way cannot be dispelled magically, as the bones are ictually melded into one another to make a solid mass.
Chilling wind: The lich is able to blow a freezing blast of wind in a cone 100 feet long and 50 feet wide at the base. The wind is short, lasting for only one round, but during that round a howling, screeching wail accompanies it that requires a fear check for anyone within 60 feet of the cone. Heroes within the area of effect of silence, 15' radius or similar spells do not need to check. The wind also freezes standing liquids and chills bottled liquids. Anyone caught within the cone of chilling wind suffers 1d10 points of cold damage. Any magical item designed to warm or otherwise protect a hero from cold (magical or otherwise) negates this damage, but the fear check still applies.
Coldflre: The lich is able to produce a negative energy fire so cold that it inflicts 3dl0 points of freezing damage upon anything it touches. Being of Negative Material Plane energy, even objects or creatures that are by their nature immune to cold will suffer damage. Also, the coldfire penetrates the protection offered by magical objects that are designed to prevent cold damage (such as a ring of warmth) if the owner fails a saving throw vs. death magic. The lich may produce the coldfire as glowing, blue-green flame that can be thrown as a missile weapon, or it can place the fire inside any skull. Flames placed within a skull last for 30 days unless a permanency spell is cast upon the flame. Anyone who touches the skull suffers damage. A Dispel magic spell extinguishes the flame.
Control undead legion: The lich is able to control a number of Hit Dice of undead creatures equal to its Intelligence score times 10. All undead of 8 Hit Dice or less are automatically controlled, while those of 9 Hit Dice or more are immune to this special power. All undead involved must already be animated. The range of this ability is equal to the lich's Intelligence score times 1,000 feet. The undead will respond to a limited form of telepathic command that allows the lich to either summon the monsters or direct them toward the target or heroes to be attacked. Specific commands are not possible-the legion simply attacks anything in the area to which they are directed. Undead within hearing range of the lich may be commanded vocally, responding to more specific instructions.
Doom gaze: The lich is able to cause the instant death of a living person just by looking at him. The lich is successful If the hero fails a saving throw vs. death magic. The victim may be resurrected, but only by a good cleric and not by potions or magical items. The victim need not look at the lich in order for the attack to be successful. The range of this attack is 90 feet.
Dream manipulation: The lich, if it knows the exact location of a living person, can infiltrate that person's mind and manipulate his dreams, turning them into nightmares of the lich's design. Pervading the dream is the face and gaze of the lich. The receiver of the dream manipulation is aware that his dreams were tampered with, but he is unable to prevent this. This is a mystical, rather than mentally oriented, phenomena- Sleepers affected by dream manipulation awaken having suffered any damage incurred during the nightmare. (Dungeon Masters may roleplay a nightmare or simply assess 3dl0 points of damage upon the hero.) Furthermore, the affected hero must make a horror check upon awakening.
Aside from the usual effects of failing a check, the hero is unable to sleep peacefully for 1d4 nights afterward. During this period of insomnia, no hit points are restored, the hero's THAC0 drops by 1 per day, thief abilities drop by 5 percentage points per day, and no spellcaster may memorize any 3rd-level or higher spell. Dream manipulation, is not possible if the intended target is sleeping in holy ground such as a church or consecrated graveyard. The range of this ability equals to the lich's Intelligence score in miles.
Fool's feast: By merely passing within 3 feet of openly displayed food, the lich can taint the edibles with a deadly, mystical poison. A hero who eats of the food will die within a number of rounds equal to her Constitution score unless she rolls a successful saving throw vs. poison at +2. The food gives off a magical aura if a detect magic spell is cast, and the effects of the mystical taint can be negated with a dispel magic or purify food and water spell. The food to be tainted must be out in the open, such as a vegetable stand or a buffet. A poisoned victim can be cured if she is healed by a cleric, if a neutralize poison or wish spell is cast, or an appropriate curative potion is used.
Grasp of death: If the lich touches a living person, the victim dies instantly unless he successfully saves vs. death magic. The person can be resurrected, but only by a good priest casting the spell, not by potions, magical items, or other means. This power operates only when the lich wills it so. When the grasp of death is active, a nimbus of coruscating black flame surrounds the lich's hands.
Grasp of enfeeblement: When the lich touches a living person, 1d10 Strength points are lost for one hour. (A saving throw vs. paralyzation may be applied.) If the lich reduces a hero's Strength to 1 in this manner, the hero is paralyzed until six turns have passed, at which time full strength is restored. If the hero's Strength is reduced to zero or less, the hero dies. The lich cannot reduce a hero's Strength two or more consecutive times with this ability, as its grasp does not have a cumulative damaging effect. However, the moment that a hero's strength returns to him, he is once again vulnerable to the grasps of enfeeblement.
Ignore Metal: The lich is able to temporarily ignore the existence of metal with its physical body (including possessions) by magically putting itself slightly out of dimensional phase. It can walk through metal objects and walls of iron as if they were not there, and metal weapons inflict no damage except for bonuses conveyed by magic. (Since Strength aids the metal's effect, the damage bonus provided by a high Strength score is also negated). Metal armor also has no effect, with only magical bonuses conveying a better Armor Class. Dexterity, however, still has its normal effect on Armor Class. Spells cast by the lich while in this state interact with metal normally, however. Magical effects created by objects of metal that are used against the lich, such a wands made of metal, also have their normal effect. The lich can maintain this state for no more rounds than it has Hit Dice, and it can use this power but once per day.
Imitation: The lich is able to harness the spell energies expended by other wizards and recreate the effect under its control. Any spell cast in the presence of the lich may be recast by the lich in the round immediately following without the expenditure of any of the lich's carried spells. For example, a 7th-level mage casts fireball at a lich. The lich makes its normal saving throw and suffers damage accordingly, but also captures the magical energy, reshapes it into another fireball (at the 7th level of ability), and sends it back at the attacking party. The lich need not either know or carry a spell in order to imitate it. The lich must perform the imitation in the round immediately following the spell effect, or the magical energies dissipate and are lost. The lich might be able to use this power a limited number of times per day.
Improved defense: The lich may be hit only by weapons of +2 enchantment or better, or by creatures with 10 or more Hit Dice/levels or magical properties.
Improved spellcasting: The lich is able to cast double the amount of 1st- through 3rd-level spells normally available to a wizard of the lich's level of experience.
Meta-polymorph: This works as the 4th-level wizard spell polymorph self, except that the lich performs this as an ability and not a spell. If the lich takes the form of an undead creature, it also assumes the undead creature's abilities, excluding saving throws. For example, if a lich were to meta-polymorph into a wight, it would assume the wight's ability to drain levels. The single exception is that a lich can meta-polymorph into the form of a vampire, but it does not gain any of a vampire's abilities. The acquired abilities last only while the lich is changed. No matter what form the lich assumes using this ability, the form will have the lich's fiery red gaze, which the lich can conceal with the casting of a magical illusion.
Painwrack: The lich is able to project almost numbing pain through its eyes. Any living creature that makes eye contact with the lich suffers 2dl0 points of damage from severe pain unless a successful save vs. spell is made.
Regeneration: The lich regenerates 5 hit points per round, regardless of circumstances or surroundings. The lich's body can even regenerate after being reduced to ashes; however, if its ashes are scattered, it takes the lich one month to regenerate completely for every 10-foot area over which the ashes are scattered. If the lich's phylactery is found and destroyed before the body can re-form, the ability to regenerate is neutralized and the lich is destroyed forever.
Skull Scry: The lich can see and hear activity through any skull. The skull must not be part of a living being or attached to a skeletal spine, nor can the skull be animated. The lich is able to see through skulls that are up to 10 times the lich's Intelligence score in miles away.
Voice of Maleficence: The lich can wear down the willpower of anyone to whom it speaks for a duration of one turn or more. Nonpsionic liches sometimes take prisoners to gain information from them using this power. The voice of maleficence puts the victim into a hypnotic trance, granting complete cooperation from the prisoner. A victim can resist the uoice of maleficence by making a saving throw vs. spell after one turn of interrogation. Failure results in a sleepy trance wherein the victim reveals any secret known. The saving throw may be rerolled every hour. For every hour the lich talks to a victim, a -1 penalty is applied to subsequent saving rolls, making it more difficult for the victim to resist as time passes.
Vortex of Evil: The lich is able, once a week, to summon any and all evil creatures and living persons of evil alignment to its side. This summons isn't overriding, but rather instills a sense of greed and curiosity that is difficult to ignore. The range of the vortex of evil is equal to the lich's Intelligence score in miles. Those within this radius are drawn to the same location of the lich, though they are not sure why. They cannot state the reason for the attraction, but if asked, they will respond with a statement similar to: "I feel a great opportunity waiting for me". The summons can be ignored if the hero makes a saving throw vs. spell.
