sithramir
First Post
Hey guys, I've created an Arch-Lich template for a Forgotten Realms campaign i'm in and I figured i'd share it.
I made it so it can be used by a good NPC and used a mix of FR and the 3.5 Lich to make it work. Enjoy.
A prettier downloadable version can be found here:
https://cms.psu.edu/AngelUploads/Files/nxm205/Arch-lich template.doc
Arch-Lich
Level CR Skills Special
1 +0 +2 Spells, Immunities, Turn Resistance, Hit Dice, Ability Score Changes, Type (Undead), Skills, Negative Energy Touch, Natural Armor +2
2 +1 +2 Damage Reduction 5/Bludgeoning and Magic, Skills, Water Walk, Grasp of Enfeeblement, Coldfire, Animate Dead, Natural Armor +3
3 +1 +2 Damage Reduction 10/Bludgeoning and Magic, Skills, Lich Exchange, Touch of Despair, Turn Undead, Natural Armor +4
4 +2 +2 Damage Reduction 15/Bludgeoning and Magic, Skills, Turn Immunity, Painwrack Gaze, Voice of Maleficence, Grasp of Death, Natural Armor +5
Description of Abilities
Ability Score Changes: The lich gains +2 Charisma, +2 Intelligence, and +2 Wisdom. Being undead, a lich has no Constitution score. These are typeless bonuses that stack with all other bonuses.
Size and Type: The creatures type changes to undead. Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. Size is unchanged.
Hit Dice: Increase all current and future Hit Dice to d12’s.
Natural Armor: An arch-lich has a natural armor bonus to the base creature’s natural armor bonus, whichever is better.
Attack: An arch-lich has a touch attack that it can use once per round. If the base creature can use weapons, the arch-lich retains this ability. A creature with natural weapons retains those natural weapons. An arch-lich fighting without weapons uses either its touch attack or its primary natural weapons (if it has any). An arch-lich armed with a weapon uses its touch or a weapon, as it desires.
Full Attack: An arch-lich fighting without weapons uses either its touch attack (see above) or its natural weapons (if it has any). If armed with a weapon, it usually uses the weapon as its primary attack along with a touch as a natural secondary attack, provided it has a way to make that attack (either a free hand or a natural weapon that it can use as a secondary attack).
Special Attacks: An arch-lich retains all the base creatures’ special attacks and gains those described below. Save DCs are equal to 10 + ½ arch-lich’s HD + arch-lich’s Cha modifier unless otherwise noted.
Negative Energy Touch (Su): A arch-lich without natural weapons has a touch attack that uses negative energy to deal 1d8+5 points of damage to living creatures; a Will save (DC 10+ 1/2HD + arch-lich’s Cha modifier) halves the damage. An arch-lich with natural weapons can use its touch attack or its natural weaponry, as it prefers. If it chooses the latter, it deals 1d8+5 points of extra damage on one natural weapon attack.
Turn Undead (Su): Three or more times per day, a good lich with this power can turn undead as a good cleric, making a turning (Charisma) check to determine how many HD of undead are affected. Some good liches can rebuke and command undead instead of or as well as turning and destroying them.
Animate Dead (Sp): Good liches can animate skeletons or zombies to server them, using this spell-like ability at will as a sorcerer of its character level. In general, good liches have no interest in raising undead armies to server them, but they use this power in self defense in the heat of battle.
Coldfire (Su): The lich can produce balls of cold, blue-green fire that deals 3d10 points of negative energy damage. The lich can use a full attack action to throw two balls of coldfire in a round (the second missile’s attack bonus decreases by 5). The range increment for these missiles is 15 feet.
Despair (Su): The touch of certain liches, in addition to dealing damage, has the effect of an emotion (despair) spell: Victims must make a Will save or suffer a -2 morale penalty on saving throws, attack rolls, skill and ability checks, and weapon damage rolls for the duration of the encounter.
Grasp of Death (Su): Once per day, the lich can surround its hands in a nimbus of black flame that remains until the lich touches someone. A character touched by the lich (with a melee touch attack roll) must make a successful Fortitude save or die instantly.
Grasp of Enfeeblement (Su): The lich can weaken a foe by making a special touch attack. The affected opponent must succeed at a Fortitude save or take 2d4 points of temporary Strength damage.
Painwrack Gaze (Su): Any creature that makes eye contact with the lich takes 2d10 points of damage from severe, muscle-wrenching pain. A successful Fortitude save allows a character to avoid the lich’s gaze.
Spells: A lich can cast any spells it could cast while alive.
Voice of Maleficence (Sp): If the lich speaks to a victim for 10 full minutes, the subject must make a Will save of fall into a sleepy trance. While in this trance state, the character answers truthfully any question the lich asks. The victim may attempt a new saving throw every hour, but for each consecutive hour the lich talks to the victim, the saving throw DC increases by +1.
Special Qualities: An arch-lich retains all the base creature’s special qualities and gains those described below as can be seen in the template.
Damage Reduction (Su): An arch-lich’s undead body is touch, giving the creature damage reduction 15/bludgeoning and magic. Its natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Spell Resistance (Su): A lich gains spell resistance equal to 12 + their Hit Dice. A lich that gains this ability loses any damage reduction gained by this template.
Turn Resistance (Ex): An arch-lich has +4 turn resistance.
Turn Immunity (Ex): Many good liches cannot be turned or destroyed by good or neutral clerics. When evil clerics attempt to rebuke or command them, they are turned or destroyed instead. A lich must have chosen Turn Resistance to gain this ability.
Water Walk (Su): Some good liches have the ability to water walk, as the spell of the same name, at will.
Lich Exchange (Su): Due to the liches intense magical studies, it may exchange its Damage Reduction for Spell Resistance equal to 12 + their Hit Dice. A lich that gains this ability loses any damage reduction gained by this template.
Immunities (Ex): Arch-lich’s have immunity to cold, electricity, polymorph (though they can use polymorph effects on themselves), and mind-affecting attacks.
Skills: Arch-lich’s have a +8 racial bonus on Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks. These bonus’s are split up into +2 increments for each level in the template.
Challenge Rating: Same as base creature +2.
Alignment: Any good.
Requirements: Human with the ability to cast spells and a caster level of 11th level or higher. Craft Wondrous Item feat. Must spend 4,800 xp and 120,000gp in the creation of the phylactery.
Advancement: By character Class
Level Adjustment: +4
I made it so it can be used by a good NPC and used a mix of FR and the 3.5 Lich to make it work. Enjoy.
A prettier downloadable version can be found here:
https://cms.psu.edu/AngelUploads/Files/nxm205/Arch-lich template.doc
Arch-Lich
Level CR Skills Special
1 +0 +2 Spells, Immunities, Turn Resistance, Hit Dice, Ability Score Changes, Type (Undead), Skills, Negative Energy Touch, Natural Armor +2
2 +1 +2 Damage Reduction 5/Bludgeoning and Magic, Skills, Water Walk, Grasp of Enfeeblement, Coldfire, Animate Dead, Natural Armor +3
3 +1 +2 Damage Reduction 10/Bludgeoning and Magic, Skills, Lich Exchange, Touch of Despair, Turn Undead, Natural Armor +4
4 +2 +2 Damage Reduction 15/Bludgeoning and Magic, Skills, Turn Immunity, Painwrack Gaze, Voice of Maleficence, Grasp of Death, Natural Armor +5
Description of Abilities
Ability Score Changes: The lich gains +2 Charisma, +2 Intelligence, and +2 Wisdom. Being undead, a lich has no Constitution score. These are typeless bonuses that stack with all other bonuses.
Size and Type: The creatures type changes to undead. Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. Size is unchanged.
Hit Dice: Increase all current and future Hit Dice to d12’s.
Natural Armor: An arch-lich has a natural armor bonus to the base creature’s natural armor bonus, whichever is better.
Attack: An arch-lich has a touch attack that it can use once per round. If the base creature can use weapons, the arch-lich retains this ability. A creature with natural weapons retains those natural weapons. An arch-lich fighting without weapons uses either its touch attack or its primary natural weapons (if it has any). An arch-lich armed with a weapon uses its touch or a weapon, as it desires.
Full Attack: An arch-lich fighting without weapons uses either its touch attack (see above) or its natural weapons (if it has any). If armed with a weapon, it usually uses the weapon as its primary attack along with a touch as a natural secondary attack, provided it has a way to make that attack (either a free hand or a natural weapon that it can use as a secondary attack).
Special Attacks: An arch-lich retains all the base creatures’ special attacks and gains those described below. Save DCs are equal to 10 + ½ arch-lich’s HD + arch-lich’s Cha modifier unless otherwise noted.
Negative Energy Touch (Su): A arch-lich without natural weapons has a touch attack that uses negative energy to deal 1d8+5 points of damage to living creatures; a Will save (DC 10+ 1/2HD + arch-lich’s Cha modifier) halves the damage. An arch-lich with natural weapons can use its touch attack or its natural weaponry, as it prefers. If it chooses the latter, it deals 1d8+5 points of extra damage on one natural weapon attack.
Turn Undead (Su): Three or more times per day, a good lich with this power can turn undead as a good cleric, making a turning (Charisma) check to determine how many HD of undead are affected. Some good liches can rebuke and command undead instead of or as well as turning and destroying them.
Animate Dead (Sp): Good liches can animate skeletons or zombies to server them, using this spell-like ability at will as a sorcerer of its character level. In general, good liches have no interest in raising undead armies to server them, but they use this power in self defense in the heat of battle.
Coldfire (Su): The lich can produce balls of cold, blue-green fire that deals 3d10 points of negative energy damage. The lich can use a full attack action to throw two balls of coldfire in a round (the second missile’s attack bonus decreases by 5). The range increment for these missiles is 15 feet.
Despair (Su): The touch of certain liches, in addition to dealing damage, has the effect of an emotion (despair) spell: Victims must make a Will save or suffer a -2 morale penalty on saving throws, attack rolls, skill and ability checks, and weapon damage rolls for the duration of the encounter.
Grasp of Death (Su): Once per day, the lich can surround its hands in a nimbus of black flame that remains until the lich touches someone. A character touched by the lich (with a melee touch attack roll) must make a successful Fortitude save or die instantly.
Grasp of Enfeeblement (Su): The lich can weaken a foe by making a special touch attack. The affected opponent must succeed at a Fortitude save or take 2d4 points of temporary Strength damage.
Painwrack Gaze (Su): Any creature that makes eye contact with the lich takes 2d10 points of damage from severe, muscle-wrenching pain. A successful Fortitude save allows a character to avoid the lich’s gaze.
Spells: A lich can cast any spells it could cast while alive.
Voice of Maleficence (Sp): If the lich speaks to a victim for 10 full minutes, the subject must make a Will save of fall into a sleepy trance. While in this trance state, the character answers truthfully any question the lich asks. The victim may attempt a new saving throw every hour, but for each consecutive hour the lich talks to the victim, the saving throw DC increases by +1.
Special Qualities: An arch-lich retains all the base creature’s special qualities and gains those described below as can be seen in the template.
Damage Reduction (Su): An arch-lich’s undead body is touch, giving the creature damage reduction 15/bludgeoning and magic. Its natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Spell Resistance (Su): A lich gains spell resistance equal to 12 + their Hit Dice. A lich that gains this ability loses any damage reduction gained by this template.
Turn Resistance (Ex): An arch-lich has +4 turn resistance.
Turn Immunity (Ex): Many good liches cannot be turned or destroyed by good or neutral clerics. When evil clerics attempt to rebuke or command them, they are turned or destroyed instead. A lich must have chosen Turn Resistance to gain this ability.
Water Walk (Su): Some good liches have the ability to water walk, as the spell of the same name, at will.
Lich Exchange (Su): Due to the liches intense magical studies, it may exchange its Damage Reduction for Spell Resistance equal to 12 + their Hit Dice. A lich that gains this ability loses any damage reduction gained by this template.
Immunities (Ex): Arch-lich’s have immunity to cold, electricity, polymorph (though they can use polymorph effects on themselves), and mind-affecting attacks.
Skills: Arch-lich’s have a +8 racial bonus on Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks. These bonus’s are split up into +2 increments for each level in the template.
Challenge Rating: Same as base creature +2.
Alignment: Any good.
Requirements: Human with the ability to cast spells and a caster level of 11th level or higher. Craft Wondrous Item feat. Must spend 4,800 xp and 120,000gp in the creation of the phylactery.
Advancement: By character Class
Level Adjustment: +4
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