Indestructible Items?

[karlindel]

Nothing in D&D is truly indestructible. However, the more powerful the Lich the harder they can make finding and destroying the phylactery.

Powerful magical items are an excellent choice, as the party will take the phylactery thinking that it is treasure, and then quickly find themselves battling the lich again and again until they figure out what it is.

Artifacts can work if he lich is particularly powerful and old. It is a bonus if the artifact actually has a history with the party member's home kingdom or their allies.

I was in one campaign where the Lich's phylactery was located in his deity's throne room. That makes it extremely difficult to obtain, and permanently killing the lich would be an epic campaign on its own.

 

[Bleys Icefalcon]

Even Artifacts can be destroyed...

And most Lich Phylacteries, while very powerful and very unique, simply won't fit this bill - they're not, inherently, artifacts or relics. Nor imho should they be. This said - how uber is this lich? Are we talking a mk 1, mod 1 Monster Manual Lich who we don't even have a name for, or are we talking about the most dreadful, most rediculously powerful consorting with devil and demon lords, on speaking terms with dark avatars - by far most heinous and blasted soul evil scumbag that's ever uttered a spell Lich? With a name even? Like Hank. Hank the Lich. From Hoboken. If this is the case, then you should make this Phylactery a full blown Relic, itself. It would be immune to virtually everything you've listed as possible ways for the party to destroy it. As a Relic a very specific, unique method will have to be used, which could and should involved pomp, circumstance and ceremony - specific items, types of blood, divine intervention, time of year, day, hour, minute, etc - all of the above - and our determined heroes need to somehow find out all of this before they can finally put an end to good old Hank.

 

[Aeolius]

Let nature be your vault. Envision a phylactery in a volcanic sulphur mine ...

 

[Saeviomagy]

The sensible choices are either
a) The lich keeps it on his person with the assumption that he's the biggest badass around.

b) The lich finds a bigger badass, pledges his service to it and leaves the phylactery with it.

Either way it would be a foolish lich who didn't have some sort of contingency. My fave would be a planeshift to somewhere nondescript on the negative energy plane or somewhere equally hazardous. Combine that with a nondetection on the item and it's going to be hard to find the item before the lich has a chance to resurrect.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Adventurers are like soldiers: given two anvils and 24 hours, they will figure out how to break one and lose the other.

Indestructible artifact? Watch out for the humble ant ...

 

[KayneTheChaosDiety]

More fun than making it something the players cannot destroy, make it something they don't want to destroy...

Like, say, the king's castle. Or maybe their planet's star. Or anything else for which there'd be major repercussions should they break it. Make destroying the lich not just a matter of a fight and a puzzle. Make it a difficult choice.

Or another idea, reveal that all along one of the party members was the phylactery and they have some birth connection to the Lich or something.

 

[KayneTheChaosDiety]

More fun than making it something the players cannot destroy, make it something they don't want to destroy...

Like, say, the king's castle. Or maybe their planet's star. Or anything else for which there'd be major repercussions should they break it. Make destroying the lich not just a matter of a fight and a puzzle. Make it a difficult choice.

 

[MGibster]

More fun than making it something the players cannot destroy, make it something they don't want to destroy...

I think this might be the best idea ever for what to do with a phylactery. There's just so many options!

A scepter was given to the Kingdom of Nicepeople by the Kingdom of the Nogoodnicks with the insciption, "Peace between our kingdoms shall remain unbroken so long as this scepter remains unbroken." But the PCs discover this is the phylactery of the Lich Simone of Stankytown. They can't suffer a lich to live but dare they risk war?

 

[Umbran]

Or another idea, reveal that all along one of the party members was the phylactery and they have some birth connection to the Lich or something.

13 years later, but...
That one was effectively done by Harry Potter, so you'd need to put some twist on it.

 

[GMMichael]