I was specifically thinking of a Lich who made a deal with Asmodeus to hide their Phylactery in the ninth layer of hell and have it continuously fed lesser souls in exchange for the Lich brining Asmodeus greater souls.
All souls have value in hell, but some souls are worth more than others. So the Lich would be paying Asmodeus for hiding it’s phylactery and feeding it souls, by bringing him the souls of incredibly powerful mortals.
As well as those mortals foolish enough to try and infiltrate Asmodeus’ realm to destroy the phylactery.
What do you guys think?
XD
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Agreeing with Kotath or questioning the wisdom of a Lich "Banking" their phylactery in the custody of one of the most powerful beings on a particular plane of existence. Ripe for extortion.
If you haven't, check out Dead in Thay for ideas on how some liches may conspire a mutual aid phylactery collective (and ideas as to how phylacteries can be protected and how that protection can be contracted). I was just reading it over last night.
EDIT: If you really did want a Lich bound to Hell in some capacity, in 5e published lore Mephistopheles is probably the ArchDevil the Lich would be dealing with. And outside of 5e Lore, Mephistopheles is largely synonymous with the "Faustian bargain" which is sort of the myth that has the intellectually gifted dealing with the devil for greater arcane power cemented in the modern imagination. Mephistopheles layer, Cania, is purported to be vast largely frozen wasteland which gives ample proving grounds for the Archdevils own arcane experimentation, and the souls of many an arcanist are confined to Cania toiling away at arcane work on behalf of the Archdevil. If you have access to it, check out Mord's Tome of Foes and check out at least the section "Keeper of Arcane Souls" a lot of your work is done for you if you want your Lich to make this bargain.
Soul Sacrifices. A lich must periodically feed souls to its phylactery to sustain the magic preserving its body and consciousness. It does this using the imprisonment spell. Instead of choosing one of the normal options of the spell, the lich uses the spell to magically trap the target’s body and soul inside its phylactery. The phylactery must be on the same plane as the lich for the spell to work. A lich’s phylactery can hold only one creature at a time, and a dispel magic cast as a 9th-level spell upon the phylactery releases any creature imprisoned within it. A creature imprisoned in the phylactery for 24 hours is consumed and destroyed utterly, whereupon nothing short of divine intervention can restore it to life.
A lich that fails or forgets to maintain its body with sacrificed souls begins to physically fall apart, and might eventually become a demilich.
Bolded the important part for emphasis. You need to be on the same plane of existence in order to actually maintain your phylactery. Whether or not Asmodeus could successfully feed the phylactery on the lich's behalf is in DM territory. It seems that the ability to redirect an imprisonment spell to a phylactery is a unique ability of a lich, but I think it'd be reasonable for a being as powerful as Asmodeus to be able to do something similar.
Most spellcasters who turn to lichdom do so in part to escape the fact that their souls are destined for the Lower Planes when they die. For one to then decide to make a deal with an Archdevil to hold onto their phylactery is pretty self-defeating.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Most spellcasters who turn to lichdom do so in part to escape the fact that their souls are destined for the Lower Planes when they die. For one to then decide to make a deal with an Archdevil to hold onto their phylactery is pretty self-defeating.
Very true, but I could also see someone like Mephistopheles "humoring" a Lich, maybe even instructive in the pursuit of Lichdom ... almost like a really high level Warlock/Patron dynamic. Mephistopheles is invested in the collection of souls, like any devil, but is also very invested in pushing arcane boundaries, so I could see a Lich becoming a useful idiot to Meph, at least in the "keep my (minor) enemies" closer regard.
But yes, Lichdom could be a way for a preordained to damnation soul to try to avoid the Faustian bargain. Such a Lich would want to keep the Hell away from Devils, so to speak.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
In addition, if you 'kill' a lich, it goes to it's phylactery. If the phylactery is on another plane you have basically kicked the Lich off of the plane, which is kind of what you wanted in the first place. But it doesn't work, as others said, the phylactery must be on the same plane.
Hi,
I was specifically thinking of a Lich who made a deal with Asmodeus to hide their Phylactery in the ninth layer of hell and have it continuously fed lesser souls in exchange for the Lich brining Asmodeus greater souls.
All souls have value in hell, but some souls are worth more than others. So the Lich would be paying Asmodeus for hiding it’s phylactery and feeding it souls, by bringing him the souls of incredibly powerful mortals.
As well as those mortals foolish enough to try and infiltrate Asmodeus’ realm to destroy the phylactery.
What do you guys think?
XD
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Agreeing with Kotath or questioning the wisdom of a Lich "Banking" their phylactery in the custody of one of the most powerful beings on a particular plane of existence. Ripe for extortion.
If you haven't, check out Dead in Thay for ideas on how some liches may conspire a mutual aid phylactery collective (and ideas as to how phylacteries can be protected and how that protection can be contracted). I was just reading it over last night.
EDIT: If you really did want a Lich bound to Hell in some capacity, in 5e published lore Mephistopheles is probably the ArchDevil the Lich would be dealing with. And outside of 5e Lore, Mephistopheles is largely synonymous with the "Faustian bargain" which is sort of the myth that has the intellectually gifted dealing with the devil for greater arcane power cemented in the modern imagination. Mephistopheles layer, Cania, is purported to be vast largely frozen wasteland which gives ample proving grounds for the Archdevils own arcane experimentation, and the souls of many an arcanist are confined to Cania toiling away at arcane work on behalf of the Archdevil. If you have access to it, check out Mord's Tome of Foes and check out at least the section "Keeper of Arcane Souls" a lot of your work is done for you if you want your Lich to make this bargain.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Bolded the important part for emphasis. You need to be on the same plane of existence in order to actually maintain your phylactery. Whether or not Asmodeus could successfully feed the phylactery on the lich's behalf is in DM territory. It seems that the ability to redirect an imprisonment spell to a phylactery is a unique ability of a lich, but I think it'd be reasonable for a being as powerful as Asmodeus to be able to do something similar.
Most spellcasters who turn to lichdom do so in part to escape the fact that their souls are destined for the Lower Planes when they die. For one to then decide to make a deal with an Archdevil to hold onto their phylactery is pretty self-defeating.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Very true, but I could also see someone like Mephistopheles "humoring" a Lich, maybe even instructive in the pursuit of Lichdom ... almost like a really high level Warlock/Patron dynamic. Mephistopheles is invested in the collection of souls, like any devil, but is also very invested in pushing arcane boundaries, so I could see a Lich becoming a useful idiot to Meph, at least in the "keep my (minor) enemies" closer regard.
But yes, Lichdom could be a way for a preordained to damnation soul to try to avoid the Faustian bargain. Such a Lich would want to keep the Hell away from Devils, so to speak.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
In addition, if you 'kill' a lich, it goes to it's phylactery. If the phylactery is on another plane you have basically kicked the Lich off of the plane, which is kind of what you wanted in the first place. But it doesn't work, as others said, the phylactery must be on the same plane.