Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Nugs2073 May 25, 2015 3:24:27	I have just created a world and in it there is a countryed ruled by a council of mages. I was going to make a higher level campaign about they adventureing group getting hired to go stop an army of orcs amassing under a new warchiefs banner. then after the succesffully kill the warchief they find out the archmage of that country is actually an evil lich, The campaign would end with them trying to get support from other countries to stop the archmage lich from finishing his evil plan? Is that a good idea to play or not? and I  understand it is long and it would take multiple sessions.
#2 Ath-kethin May 25, 2015 3:54:22	A good story and plan is what ever works for you and your group. If you/they like it, go to town. In the Mystara setting, there is a country called Glantri which is a magocracy (a political system determined by magical ability). You might want to take a look at it for ideas, though being an evil lich is not necessarily considered a problem there.
#3 LuisCarlos17f May 25, 2015 4:27:53	It isn´t a bad idea, but you always can change or add things, for example the kingdoms aren´t ruled really by kings or rebel warlords but cryptocrazies. Maybe the secret boss of that country isn´t a classic lich but a "club of inmortals", wizards who has become half-golems, or living constructs, reincarnated into sharminds (Player Handbook 3, 4th Ed) to live forever, or the living construct is like a contruct symbiont/parasite what controll mindless giants like trolls or ogres..
(Reply to #3) Nugs2073	LuisCarlos17f wrote:
(Reply to #3) Hitdice	LuisCarlos17f wrote:
#6 LuisCarlos17f May 25, 2015 12:42:36	Good question, and my answer is I doubt it. because it would be like the "metalic skin" of a warforged, for gameplay effects like a light or medium armour.   * What if the kings and the noble houses were only "strawpersons" of supernatural factions like dragons, giangs, lord fays or vampires lodges? Let's imagine a "blood farm" of half-trolls slaves, and werebeasts.  Or bloodsucker simbionts for vampires to hide among humanoids... for example a döppelganger skin used like a second layer to hide away from the sun... and the true vampire would be like a "host" within of the husk.
(Reply to #6) Nugs2073	LuisCarlos17f wrote:
#8 ChrisCarlson May 26, 2015 12:16:18	Nugs2073 wrote:
#9 mellored May 26, 2015 12:20:50	Why is it that magic rules, or is outlawed....   There should be a setting that has a council of high level fighters in charge... or monks...
#10 SterlingRat May 26, 2015 12:59:21	Okay - here are things to think about:   Maybe the warchief has the battleaxe of undead mage killing that is destined to destroy the lich. After victory over the warchief, move on to stage two - a long journey to have the weapon destroyed by throwing it into the volcano at the center of mount doom. At the end of the journey, the truth is revealed - the axe and the orc chief were not evil; he was leading a totally justified rebellion against the evil necromancer slavers that slaughtered orcs to use in their evil rituals as zombie slaves. Now that PCs know the truth, move to stage three - rally the remaining orcs and form an alliance with a neutral country. Then return home with the big bad weapoon of doom and an army of noble savages to defeat the king of evil.
#11 Gnarl May 26, 2015 15:11:49	Of course it's a very good campaign idea! It's a bit "cliché" but honestly, that's what we all like anyways. What will really make the difference is what you make of your story arc. If you give your players fun obstacles to overcome, they'll have a blast. You need to give them the opportunity to add on to your story.   This means you might want to make sure you don't get too excited on the scale of the wars. Can the PCs really have a significant role in a war that involves thousands of orcs? If there's only a few dozen orcs, you can even run the first part of your campaign at lower levels. A simple adventure such as poisoning the water supplies could allow the PCs to win the war for example. And no, it isn't silly to imagine a war againts a few dozen orcs. These things happened all the time between feudal lords.
#12 Shasarak May 26, 2015 22:00:14	mellored wrote:
(Reply to #9) The_White_Sorcerer	mellored wrote:
#14 Razintarr May 27, 2015 2:57:39	Question is how the lich could hide among the council of ruling mages.   My answer would be that he isn't hiding. The other mages are fully aware he is a lich, and they all have been a part of creating him. He was a first experiment on a ritual that they discovered. Now that they know that it works, they've started the preperations for the greater plan, to turn the whole council into liches (or maybe more ambitous: turn the whole country into intelligent undead). Creating one lich took a lot of power though, and creating more liches will require even more power. Maybe they need sacrifices in blood by killing people or in magic by draining it from wizards and magic items.   The council is partly in it because of a desire to life forever, but also because they're convinced it's in the best interest of their country. They want the power to protect it against growing forces that threaten it (like the orcs) forever, and to maintain it's society against changes.   They won't make the mistake of their actions badly effecting their own population, because that could lead to rebellion. For bloodsacrifices they look to the orcs, and they have started abducting mages in neighbouring countries. They're also hiring adventurers to retrieve magic items. They give their own population what it wants, peace and security, which means they will have the full support of their countries army.    Of course the council will deny any charges of one of them being a lich, and they will take steps to silence any voices that dare bring up that accusation. Some circumstantial evidence that an orc warchief has will probably not be enough. The players will have to hunt for harder evidence as the council moves to eliminate that evidence.
(Reply to #9) LuisCarlos17f	mellored wrote:
#16 Nugs2073 May 29, 2015 12:21:31	I think it is going to be about a lodge of mages and there leader a lich and they have been working with a seceret cult in order to get the sacrfices and power they need to create more undead and lichs. I think it will start with the players having to investigate cultist activity around a small town, they will learn about people missing. In the end they must expose and compat the mages and the cult who have been kidnapping and sacrficing people to fuel there quest for power. I will also put that the mages started this because they wanted the power to be able to repell a possible orcish invasion.
#17 Zalbarthemad May 29, 2015 13:34:37	Look up Szass Tam and Thay for ideas. That's what you're describing in a very general sense.
#18 LuisCarlos17f May 29, 2015 13:42:13	My suggestion is a style more Lovecraftian, about aliens from the Far Realm, because lichs and necromancy is too seen by me, there are too many stories about lichs and armies of undeads... now I would rather mutans and aberrations, or "living constructs", something like the borgs from Star Treck. Maybe the main villain isn´t a lich, but a mechalus, an humanoid from d20 Future.
#19 Zardnaar May 29, 2015 13:49:37	I created a world a few years back where being a spell caster was a death sentence. The powers that be was the assassins guiild and for several hundred years they just killed off apprentice spell casters until all the pwoerful one died of old age.    Liches and Vampires became the most powerful ones left and they are actively hunted or the Red Mantis hire adventurerers to go and destroy them.     They also targeted clerics as well. The default spellcaster was a bard.
(Reply to #18) Nugs2073	LuisCarlos17f wrote:
(Reply to #18) Nugs2073	LuisCarlos17f wrote:
(Reply to #18) Nugs2073	LuisCarlos17f wrote:
#23 Nugs2073 May 29, 2015 14:13:05	Sorry that copied three times I only meant to submit it once
#24 Mecheon May 29, 2015 22:54:31	Split 'em up and let the players decide who they want to side with   Yeah, one of them is obviously a lich, but he seems nice. And is most certainly against that Farspeaker who's doing who-knows-what in the odd hours of the morning.
(Reply to #24) Nugs2073	Mecheon wrote:
#26 Nugs2073 Jun 01, 2015 6:19:13	I am going to be honest I created a world and all the history and npcs in it for this campaign. However, I am not feeling confedient about my world and I am debating on just adpeting the story into an already existing story what are your guys opinions?