Psionic Lich
| Climate/Terrain:
| |
Any land
|
|
Frequency:
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Very Rare
|
|
Organization:
| |
Solitary
|
|
Activity Cycle:
|
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Night
|
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Diet:
|
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Psionic energy
|
| Intelligence:
|
|
Supra-genius (19-29)
|
| Treasure:
|
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A
|
|
Alignment:
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Any evil
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No. Appearing:
|
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1
|
|
Armor Class:
|
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0
|
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Movement:
|
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6
|
| Hit Dice:
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9+18
|
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THAC0:
| |
1
|
|
No. of Attacks:
| |
1
|
|
Damage/Attack:
|
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1d8+2
|
| Special Attacks:
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Psionics, mind struck power, psionics-draining touch
|
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Special Defenses:
|
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Psionics, spell immunities, struck only by +1 or better weapons, phylactery
|
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Special Weaknesses:
|
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Phylactery
|
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Magic Resistance:
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Nil
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Size:
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M (6' tall)
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| Morale:
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Fanatic (17-18)
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| XP Value:
|
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16,000
|
PSIONICS SUMMARY:
| Level |
|
DIS/SCI/DEV |
|
ATT/DEF |
|
SCORE |
|
PSPs |
| 20 |
|
6/10/25 |
|
all/all |
|
18 |
|
82 |
Clairsentience: Sciences: aura sight,
object reading; Devotions: spirit sense.
Psychokinesis: Devotions: animate shadow.
Psychometabolism: Sciences: death
field, life draining, shadow-form;
Devotions: aging, cause decay,
displacement, ectoplasmic form.
Psychoportation: Sciences: teleport;
Devotions: astral projection (if not in a
Ravenloft campaign), dimensional door,
dream travel.
Telepathy: Sciences: domination,
mindwipe, psychic crush, tower of iron
will; Devotions: contact, ego whip ESP,
id insinuation, inflict pain, intellect
fortress, mental barrier, mind bar, mind
blank, mind thrust, psionic blast,
thought shield.
Metapsionics: Sciences: empower,
Devotions: psionic sense, psychic drain,
receptacle, wrench.
The above powers are common to
psionic liches, but it is not unusual for
some to have different powers.
Few argue that the power of master
psionicists is any less than that of
archmages. Proof of this can be found in
the fact that the most powerful
psionicists are actually able to extend
their lives beyond the spans granted
them by nature, just as powerful wizards
are known to do.
A psionic lich looks much like its
magical counterpart. Its flesh is
mummified, pulled tight over its bones to
give the lich a gaunt, skeletal
appearance. Its eye sockets are empty
but burn with crimson pinpoints of light.
Often, a psionic lich is found in the
clothes it favored in life. Because its garb
can be anything from the grand robes of
nobility to the plate armor of a mighty
knight, it is impossible to identify these
creatures by appearance alone. (Metallic
armor, if worn, lowers the lich's psionic
power score, as per PHBR5 The
Complete Psionics Handbook;
small shields will not do so.)
A psionic lich retains the abilities that
it learned in life: languages, proficiencies,
thieving skills, and so forth. Further, a
psionic lich who was human might have
been a dual-class being in life, thus be
able to employ psionic powers plus
magical or clerical spells. A creature with
these abilities is rare, thankfully, but it is
a truly terrible opponent.
Combat: A psionic lich seldom engages
its foes personally, as it surrounds itself
with a legion of minions. Many
adventurers thus never learn the true
nature of their enemy, always fighting
underlings. When forced to engage in
direct combat, however, a psionic lich is
among the most deadly opponent that
any heroes will ever likely face.
The emanations of power that shroud
a psionic lich are detectable even by
those without psychic powers. A hero
who comes within 50 yards of such a
creature is affected by this aura, requiring
a save vs. spell to avoid becoming mind
struck. A mindstruck individual makes
all attack and damage rolls at a -2 penalty and must double the casting time
of all spells (which allows saving throws
for victims at a +2 bonus). The effects of
this aura can be countered by any spell
or psionic power that would diminish or
remove fear, or else inspire bravery.
If the lich is able to deliver a touch
attack in combat, the malignant aura of
psionic power that encircles it rips at the
opponent's life force, causing 1d8+2
points of damage. In addition, a psionic
hero will find PSPs are drawn away. Each
physical blow strips the victim of a
number of PSPs equal to twice the
number of points of damage the blow
inflicted. This loss is not permanent, and
the PSPs can be regained through
normal means.
Just as a normal lich has spent
decades or even centuries in the
research of new and unique magical
powers, so too does the undead master
of the mind have powers undreamed of
by mortal men. It is not all uncommon
for adventurers who come across such a
dreaded creature to be confronted with
psionic powers that have never been
documented elsewhere. These new
powers should conform to the general
standards established in PHBR5 The
Complete Psionlcs Handbook for
function, damage, area of effect, range,
and so on, but they may produce unique
effects. Guidelines for the creation of new
psionic powers can be gleaned from the
section on spell research in the Dungeon
Master Guide.
Further, a psionic lich is able to
employ magical items just as it did in life
and may have quite a formidable
collection of enchanted trinkets to use
against adventurers.
A psionic lich differs from the
traditional ranks of the undead. Because
the force sustaining it is mental and not
mystical, it is far more resistant to spells,
spell-like powers, or psionic sciences and
devotions involving charm, fear, and the
like (including all enchantment/charm
spells). Treat the psionic lich as having
the equivalent of a 25 Wisdom for
purposes of determining which spells it
can resist (see the Player's Handbook,
Table 5). Spells like sleep or finger of
death, which base their effects upon a
biological function in the spell recipient,
also do not affect a psionic lich; again,
psionic powers similar to these spells are
also ineffective (such as life detection).
A psionic lich can be turned by
priests, paladins, and similar heroes, but since it is not magical in nature, it is
more resistant to this power than are
other undead. Thus, it is turned on the
"special" row of Table 47 in the Dungeon
Master Guide. A psionic lich is immune
to harm from normal weapons but can
be struck by weapons of +1 or better
power. Spells or other powers based
upon cold have no effect upon it. Other
spells inflict normal damage on the
psionic lich. It can be attacked in normal
psionic combat, except as noted here.
In order to protect itself from
destruction, a psionic lich employs a
special form of phylactery (see
"Ecology") that houses its life force.
Although a lich may be defeated in
combat, it cannot be truly destroyed
unless its phylactery can be found and
obliterated. As a lich will take great care
to protect this vital object from the
prying hands of heroes, destroying the
phylactery can be quite a challenge.
Habitat/Society: Psionic liches were
once living psionicists who left behind
the physical demands of life in pursuit
of ultimate mental powers. They have
little interest in the affairs of the living,
except as such things relate to the
search for psychic mastery and
knowledge. Those who encounter
psionic liches usually do so when the
liches feels that they must leave their
self-imposed isolation for a time.
Psionic liches often hide themselves
away in places that feel safe to them.
Since most of them can sense the auras
and emanations of the world around
them quite keenly, their judgment is
usually sound. For the most part, these
creatures reside in places associated with
death or learning. If the two can be
combined in some way, all the better. For
example, the ideal lair for one psionic
lich might be the library of a great castle
that was buried in a volcanic eruption
long ago. Not only does the location bear
the mark of death about it, as everyone
in the castle was slain by the disaster, it
also has a solid foundation of knowledge
for the lich to use in pursuit of the
secrets of the mind.
When it comes out into the world, a
psionic lich usually assembles a great
network of minions. Curiously, these followers are seldom undead
themselves. More often than not, they
are young psionicists who seek to learn
from an obvious master. What these
followers often fail to understand is that
their leader has little interest in them
apart from their role in any immediate
plans the lich has. Once the master's
goal has been accomplished, be it the
retrieval of some ancient tome on
psionic powers or the testing of a new
psionic defense mode, the followers
might be cast aside without another
thought. Those who do not leave when
the lich demands it are then
mercilessly slain.
Ecology: Being undead, psionic liches
have no place in the natural world.
Although the power that transformed
them is natural (not supernatural, like
magic), the extent to which psionic
liches have pursued their goals is not
natural. By twisting the powers of their
minds to extend their existence beyond
the bounds of mortal life, psionic liches
become exiles. Cast out from the land
of the living, these creatures sometimes
lament the foolishness that led them
down the dark path into the world of
the undead.
By far the most important aspect of
the existence of any psionic lich is the
creation of its phylactery. To understand
this mystical device, it is important to
understand the process by which a
psionicist becomes a lich. Before a
psionicist can cross over into the
darkness that is undeath, he or she must
attain at least 18th level. In addition, the
psionicist must be possessed of a great
array of powers that can be bent and
focused in new ways.
The first step in the creation of a
phylactery is the crafting of the
physical object that will become the
creature's spiritual resting place. A
phylactery can come in any shape,
from a ring to a crown, from a sword to
an idol. The item is made from the
finest materials and must be fashioned
by master craftsmen. Generally, a
phylactery is fashioned in a shape that
reflects the personality or interests of
the psionicist. The cost of creating a
phylactery is 5,000 gp per level of the psionicist. Thus, a 20th-level psionicist
must spend 100,000 gp on his device.
Once the phylactery is fashioned, it
must be readied to receive the
psionicist's life force. This is generally
done by means of the metapsionic
empower ability, with some subtle
changes in the way the psionicist uses
the power that alters its outcome. In
order to complete a phylactery, the
psionicist must empower it with each
and every psionic ability that he or she
possesses. Although an object cannot
normally be empowered with psychic
abilities in more than one discipline, the
unusual nature of the phylactery allows
this rule to be broken. However, before
"opening" a new discipline within the
object, the would-be lich must transfer all
powers from the first discipline into it.
For example, if a person has telepathic
and metapsionic abilities, he or she must
complete the empowering of all
telepathic powers before beginning to
infuse the object with any metapsionic
ones. Once a discipline is "closed", it
cannot ever be reopened.
During the creation of the phylactery,
the psionicist is very vulnerable to
attack. Each time that he or she gives
the phylactery a new power, the
psionicist loses it forever. Thus, the
process strips away the powers of the
psionicist as it continues. Obviously,
the last power that is transferred into
the phylactery is the empower ability.
The effort of placing this ability within
the phylactery drains the last essences
of the psionicist's life and completes
the transformation into a psionic lich.
At the moment that the transformation
takes place, the psionicist must make
System Shock survival roll. Failure
indicates that his or her willpower was
not strong enough to survive the
trauma of becoming undead; the
psionicist's spirit breaks up and
dissipates, making him or her forever
dead. Only the powers of a deity are
strong enough to revive a psionicist
who has died in this way; even a wish
will not suffice.
