| Post/Author/DateTime | Post |
|---|---|
| Fanged Fremont04-03-06, 05:01 PM | I've seen some threads on total evil ways for liches to hide their phylacteries, but I'm not wanting to hide one, I'm wanting to find one, or rather, several. So, what are some ways of finding the little buggers? |
| KublaiKhan04-03-06, 05:09 PM | Detect Magic is your friend. ;) |
| Cifer04-03-06, 05:18 PM | You might wish to try some divination spells. But generally spoken: An intelligent lich can hide the thing at places that are impossible to find or reach - the seafloor comes to mind. |
| feartheinvinceblehamster04-03-06, 05:21 PM | A mountain. No, not on a mountain, A mountain, in a mountain range. Just think: They're huge, no one would ever think of it, and they're near-indestructible. But I doubt you DM's THAT evil. |
| Cifer04-03-06, 06:45 PM | and they're near-indestructible. Another reason why Mordenkainen's tactical nuke should become canon... |
| Morotis04-03-06, 06:52 PM | A wish Spell. Ok, that's kinda high level so weaker spells would help... um... Unless you DMs a really evil person, he might hide the Phylatchery in a place relating to some experience in their life, So Knowledge Local and Bardic Knowledge checks could help... |
| KublaiKhan04-03-06, 06:57 PM | Another reason why Mordenkainen's tactical nuke should become canon... I need me some stats on that, and quickly. I'm in an ongoing 'discussion' about how to most effectively remove a Frenzied Berzerker. |
| Piff04-03-06, 07:11 PM | Well once apon a time back in 2ed we came across a lich, but not any lich a DemiLich so it was stronger. Pretty much it had its phylacteries crystal for eyes. But then again it had a Dracolich as a gaurdian so it probably didnt think we could get to him... that and we didnt even know he was in the area. We wandered into a cave in search for a powerful quest artifact for a quest and we found it and saw the cave continued. The Dracolich was nice enough to tell us about it after we fought with it a little and gave us a +5 dagger so we can hit him and destroy the phylacteries to free him. Good times. (I know this probably shouldnt of happened but DM rules and we were all cool with it) |
| Mysk04-03-06, 07:13 PM | 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. quote the srd... bold mine. I see "Mountain is the phylactery" a lot. But I have always disagreed with this... I don't know if the posters above are being serrious in there Seafloor, or Mountain remarks... but If a liche must make its own. That seems to be cut and dry that you would have to make the mountain... that requires a crazily high level/epic seeds. So please correct me if i'm wrong... but at least i'm adding in a thought to spare the OP the bother of looking at every mountain range on the globe with new found weariness. |
| Watchdog_of_Hades04-03-06, 07:23 PM | Most liches would invent beefed-up nondetection spells for objects just for the purpose of hiding their phylactery from scrying. If it's a powerful lich, you'll probably need something like wish, miracle, or maybe even an epic spell tailored to find objects. |
| Mysk04-03-06, 07:26 PM | I suppose my intent for pointing out the mountain aspect is this. What level are you. what cr is the liche? these things factor into what exactly it could do with its phylacrety |
| DaMullet04-03-06, 08:24 PM | I've always considered the safest way to hide a Phylactery to make a brick. Then, take that brick and build it into the middle of an orphanage. They'll either need to destroy the orphanage or find the brick (easier said than done). |
| Ethandrul04-04-06, 02:24 PM | the best phylactory i have made was a tavern that catered to rouges - it was called "the latch factory" It was built by a gnome locksmith ( rouge/wizard) who put an unopenable door covered in death traps in one corner- and the whole thing has an anti magic aura in it- the party never had need to fight the lich- but the door killed the party thief 2 times. |
| Need_A_Life04-04-06, 03:20 PM | Wish... Miracle... Apart from those I can't think of any way to find a smart lich's phylactery. Permanent sequester and greater teleport (to da moon!!111!!) Or just send the guy to the Temporal Plane (with any luck he'll come back in a century or two :D ) |
| Leach04-04-06, 03:43 PM | Grab a map and cast commune. Point to a random part of the map, say "here's where I'm starting," and then point somewhere else. Ask "Is this closer to the phylactery?," adjust your finger position appropriately, and ask again. Basically, it's a game of hot-and-cold with your deity. Not the best way, but you figure at least the gods should know. (And if they don't, then your DM darned well better put in some clues you can find elsewhere.) |
| Lincoln Hills04-04-06, 04:18 PM | This will require jollying your DM along some, but it's just crazy enough that it might work. Ask, "Does a lich's phylactery contain its soul? - or a part of its soul?" A Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (undead) check might be requested. Anyway, if the answer is yes: "And the lich's soul is undead?" If the answer is again 'yes', there are spells that will tip you off - detect undead and deathwatch. If an inanimate object is registering as 'undead' to either spell, the odds are that you have found your phylactery. (Either that, or the DM has decided that constructs can become undead.) There's nothing in the RAW that suggests that this will work, by the way: it's dependent on the DM's interpretation of how a phylactery works. But it's worth a shot. (Of course, all MY liches hid their phylacteries on the moon. Juuuust kidding. But not a terrible idea if you've got the ability.) |
| VonZylo04-04-06, 04:20 PM | I thought for some reason (I don't know why, I always thought it was in the SRD but it is not) that when you kill a lich it appears near its phylactery. If this is the case then you can try and look for the lich when he reappears. If this is not the case catch the lich (no easy task) and some how make him tell you or speak with dead only affects creature that are currently undead, if you kill him, he is just a corpse one more. There is proably something wrong with these methods but please know I never fought a lich before. |
| KublaiKhan04-04-06, 06:03 PM | Legend Lore + Find the Path |
| feartheinvinceblehamster04-04-06, 07:05 PM | I see "Mountain is the phylactery" a lot. But I have always disagreed with this... I don't know if the posters above are being serrious in there Seafloor, or Mountain remarks... but If a liche must make its own. That seems to be cut and dry that you would have to make the mountain... that requires a crazily high level/epic seeds. So please correct me if i'm wrong... but at least i'm adding in a thought to spare the OP the bother of looking at every mountain range on the globe with new found weariness. WRONG! you only need the craft wonderous item feat in this case! I am way to much of a munchkin. |
| Omnirahk, half-Rahkshi04-05-06, 03:55 PM | 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. quote the srd... bold mine. I see "Mountain is the phylactery" a lot. But I have always disagreed with this... I don't know if the posters above are being serrious in there Seafloor, or Mountain remarks... but If a liche must make its own. That seems to be cut and dry that you would have to make the mountain... that requires a crazily high level/epic seeds. So please correct me if i'm wrong... but at least i'm adding in a thought to spare the OP the bother of looking at every mountain range on the globe with new found weariness. I believe the mountain and seafloor suggestions are where the phylactery should be, not what the phylactery should be. On topic, I'd definitely recommend looking into the lich's background. Unless your game isn't heavy on the backstory. Then divination, detect magic, etc. Also, see if you can capture one of his "employees" and get him on your side (may be difficult to get "on your side" anyone who would know the location though). |
| Kiklio04-05-06, 04:31 PM | The psionic power metafaculty is a nifty device for discerning information about a subject. It basically contains a trump clause which allows it to defeat lesser and equal defenses- even wish or kustom spellls. You'd need to conveniently locate a 17th level seer first, though... |
| Cuisinier Rouge04-06-06, 12:12 AM | If I were a lich and I new who I was dealing with, I might opt not to hide my phylactery at all. In the campaign I'm running right now, there's a lich. The PCs don't use the most common sense, so she wears here phylactery around her neck. It's a big pink sapphire amulet that is set into gold. It's gaudy.^^ |
| Duration_10_Rounds04-06-06, 11:20 AM | If I were a lich and I new who I was dealing with, I might opt not to hide my phylactery at all. In the campaign I'm running right now, there's a lich. The PCs don't use the most common sense, so she wears here phylactery around her neck. It's a big pink sapphire amulet that is set into gold. It's gaudy.^^ Yeah make it give +5 to AC or something and look like some magical bling for the players reward.... they will loot it, wear it, then go looking for this hidden phylactery and 1d10 days later a litch will land on thier face ;) |
| Ash the blackcowl04-06-06, 11:55 AM | 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. Here is one possible answer. The Lich must spend 120,000 gp to create the phylactery. Now if this lich is recent inductee into lichdom then it may be possible to track him and his phylactery by looking into the finanacial dealings of suspect individuals. 120k of gems, gold etc. doesnt just appear over night. |
| KublaiKhan04-06-06, 01:18 PM | Yeah make it give +5 to AC or something and look like some magical bling for the players reward.... they will loot it, wear it, then go looking for this hidden phylactery and 1d10 days later a litch will land on thier face ;) Yeah, that'd be a really wonderful idea, except for the little clause that requires that the phylactery is its own entity: it cannot have any other enchantments placed on it, nor can it be integrated into another magic item. I know, it made me sad, too. Your best bet is going to be sealing it in lead inside an adamantine chest with "nondetection" placed permanently on it, and sticking that in your safety deposit box. What, nobody's ever read the Evil Overlord's list before? |
| Zeful04-07-06, 03:11 AM | <snip>they will loot it, wear it, then go looking for this hidden phylactery and 1d10 days later a litch will land on thier face ;) It's assumed that the lich appears where the phylactery is but there is no evidence that supports this so the DM may decide that the place where the lich was created is where he appears. Now as for the topic, you might want to go to the etherial plane and go strait down for ten days strait. You could be in the general area. That's were I would place it if I were a lich. |
| SamiPeikko04-07-06, 08:32 AM | If the phylactery is not hidden, it should register to Detect Evil. And seriously people: considering how much trafic the moon has from rival liche, would you feel safe to leave your phylactery there unguarded? Can you ever be sure nobody finds it wherever in the planes you hide it? Defences may make the thing easier to find, but at least your undeath is not at the mercy of any random bypassers. |
| KublaiKhan04-07-06, 11:03 AM | If the phylactery is not hidden, it should register to Detect Evil. And seriously people: considering how much trafic the moon has from rival liche, would you feel safe to leave your phylactery there unguarded? Can you ever be sure nobody finds it wherever in the planes you hide it? Defences may make the thing easier to find, but at least your undeath is not at the mercy of any random bypassers. Genesis. Creates a seperate demiplane for your own amusement, to any specifications you want. Cast that spell, and put your phylactery in a demiplane made of nothing but unholy water. Unless someone knows where to look, there ain't much chance of 'em finding your phylactery then! |
| Sikyanakotik04-07-06, 12:03 PM | Why even bother finding the phylactery anyways? Hit the still un-live lich with feeblemind, lock him in an iron coffin, and place him in one of these "impossible to get to" places. They're sure going to wish they weren't such a smart-ass when they spend all eternity drooling in a box. :D |
| Krelios04-07-06, 12:22 PM | Why even bother finding the phylactery anyways? Hit the still un-live lich with feeblemind, lock him in an iron coffin, and place him in one of these "impossible to get to" places. They're sure going to wish they weren't such a smart-ass when they spend all eternity drooling in a box. :D Except that undead are immune to mind-affecting effects and can probably cast either Teleport or Plane Shift at a minimum. At the very least, it could always kill itself by even mundane means so that it would reappear near its phylactery and out of your prison. |
| Sikyanakotik04-07-06, 12:54 PM | Except that undead are immune to mind-affecting effects and can probably cast either Teleport or Plane Shift at a minimum. At the very least, it could always kill itself by even mundane means so that it would reappear near its phylactery and out of your prison. Well... damn. Ah well, there's always the old standbys like Imprisonment. Since the lich is held in stasis, he won't be casting much of anything. All that remains is to kill any minion who knows the lich was imprisoned or is capable of casting wish, miracle, or freedom, destroy all records in his base of the lich's name and life history, and preferably collapse the lich's lair on top of him. There's less of the eternal torture aspect, but at least it'll be extremely unlikely he'll be brought back before time eradicates all memory of him, at which point he's pretty much stuck there until the planet istelf is destroyed. |
| KublaiKhan04-07-06, 01:01 PM | Ah well, there's always the old standbys like Imprisonment. Nice, but not good enough--it's a Will-negates spell, and most liches are spellcasters, with good will saves. In addition, SR applies, and don't liches have that? |
| deanruel04-07-06, 01:27 PM | To take a lich out of business quickly and simply you need "Trap the Soul" a level 8 wizard/sorcerer spell. To put simply al you need to do is find some way to get someone to hand the lich something and his soul is permanently removed and placed within the gem. I once had players make it succeed with a simple "Hey, catch", which was hilarious in it's simplicity. There are a billion ways to make this succeed, all it takes is a little imagination and some cunning. And if at all possible a good rogue (rogues can make ANYTHING happen) |
| KublaiKhan04-07-06, 01:46 PM | To take a lich out of business quickly and simply you need "Trap the Soul" a level 8 wizard/sorcerer spell. To put simply al you need to do is find some way to get someone to hand the lich something and his soul is permanently removed and placed within the gem. I once had players make it succeed with a simple "Hey, catch", which was hilarious in it's simplicity. There are a billion ways to make this succeed, all it takes is a little imagination and some cunning. And if at all possible a good rogue (rogues can make ANYTHING happen) I'd actually rule that that doesn't work--because the Lich's life force is not in its body. Sure, you may be able to nuke the body, depending on interpretation...but that just means that the lich will re-form in d10 days somewhere else. .....an interesting question would be what would happen if the lich then broke the gem that sucked up its previous body. I see potential for great DM evil. |
| seret04-10-06, 08:59 AM | i dont hide my phyla(cant spell that) away from the pcs i hide it on them :p |