The phylactery is itself a sentient artifact level magical item that either hates the Lich and seeks its destruction (reimagining the Sword of Kas and Vecna dynamic) or seeks to return to the lich to be re-empowered and acts like a Warlock patron, granting pwers to a warlock as long as they bear the item, kind of like a Genie vessel, only for said warlock to be the target of the Liches Imprisonment spell, where upon the powers that be teleport the phylactary away and it starts its quest to find the lich all over again (sort of reimaging the One Ring from LOTR) .
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I was thinking what about a tavern? Have too many regulars coming and going? One room is the room or have sacrifices? It would have to take a lot to destory it? I know it might be unconventional but would that work?
I have 3 things that I would like to add to the pile of ideas:
1: Something that the players got a very long time ago that seemed important (it doesn't have to have seemed important but it helps) but they never used, hint to it until they check everywhere but there inventory. Possible items could be a random gem, a magic item or weapon that they no longer used but didn't dispose of.
2: If you really or want to make all your players have a mental breakdown every time they want to get rid of something, make it something that they did get rid of. It's funny, but imagine having to travel somewhere halfway across the world just to find Fletty, the "I want to grow up to be an adventurer mom!" 8 year orc just to snap the glaive you donated to them 2 years ago in half. This is mean but funny with the right people, use with caution, and if you do decide you hate your players make it really obvious that it is that specific item by giving hints such as a drawing of them selling it.
3: Some people have already said this I think but an automaton like a war-forged or (Mono, Duo etc.)drone like thing, not one of those but something of the like might be cool, especially since you could make in to some sort of battle with the lich and its automaton.
I was thinking what about a tavern? Have too many regulars coming and going? One room is the room or have sacrifices? It would have to take a lot to destory it? I know it might be unconventional but would that work?
For a subtle lich (not everyone has to consume people whole, after all) you could have a tavern where whenever someone passes out, they're out for a week. "just a quirk" they say, but that week is a week the Lich keeps Liching. It hosts all sorts of drinking games, and many people wake up disturbed due to the nightmares they had, which in turn makes it more of an attraction for young alcoholics with egos to prove.
It's something completely expected like a ring or an amulet, not even that ornate, kept close to hand in the lich's lair if not directly on their person (possibly because they have to interact with it to feed it souls or something).
Oh, and the lich has hundreds, maybe thousands, of identical copies of it, everywhere, most of which are trapped in various ways and have simple enchantments so the players can't just see which one responds to Detect Magic. In a back room is a crate of incomplete or damaged copies with only minor magic on them; the room is protected, but it's seemingly due to other useful equipment being stored there and the crate itself is just a crate. At the bottom of this crate is the real phylactery, distinguished only by a distinctive scratch or dent that the lich knows to look for.
Wait, wait, better idea, the players know the phylactery is a cup, but then they walk into a room full wall-to-wall of ornate golden cups guarded by a ghostly knight who tells them they must choose one and drink from it-
I always liked the theory Acerarak uses the dungeons he creates, such as the Tomb of Annihilation, as a phylactory and all the adventurers dying in them fuels his life
I always liked the theory Acerarak uses the dungeons he creates, such as the Tomb of Annihilation, as a phylactory and all the adventurers dying in them fuels his life
It does make a lot of sense for the Lich to make their phylactery automated - IE a deadly dungeon fuels the phylactery, or perhaps it's a metal tooth in the maw of a deadly beast (like the Tarrasque, or something unique), so that when it kills, the soul is devoured by the phylactery.
I also like the idea of having some sort of intangible evil being which instructs people who would take the Phylactery "you must drink from it, if you pick the wrong one, you die", and all of them will kill you - the fountain is the Phylactery. The evil being is being evil (as evil beings do) and lying to everyone to make them feed the phylactery.
How about:
The phylactery is itself a sentient artifact level magical item that either hates the Lich and seeks its destruction (reimagining the Sword of Kas and Vecna dynamic) or seeks to return to the lich to be re-empowered and acts like a Warlock patron, granting pwers to a warlock as long as they bear the item, kind of like a Genie vessel, only for said warlock to be the target of the Liches Imprisonment spell, where upon the powers that be teleport the phylactary away and it starts its quest to find the lich all over again (sort of reimaging the One Ring from LOTR) .
I was thinking what about a tavern? Have too many regulars coming and going? One room is the room or have sacrifices? It would have to take a lot to destory it? I know it might be unconventional but would that work?
I have 3 things that I would like to add to the pile of ideas:
1: Something that the players got a very long time ago that seemed important (it doesn't have to have seemed important but it helps) but they never used, hint to it until they check everywhere but there inventory. Possible items could be a random gem, a magic item or weapon that they no longer used but didn't dispose of.
2: If you really or want to make all your players have a mental breakdown every time they want to get rid of something, make it something that they did get rid of. It's funny, but imagine having to travel somewhere halfway across the world just to find Fletty, the "I want to grow up to be an adventurer mom!" 8 year orc just to snap the glaive you donated to them 2 years ago in half. This is mean but funny with the right people, use with caution, and if you do decide you hate your players make it really obvious that it is that specific item by giving hints such as a drawing of them selling it.
3: Some people have already said this I think but an automaton like a war-forged or (Mono, Duo etc.)drone like thing, not one of those but something of the like might be cool, especially since you could make in to some sort of battle with the lich and its automaton.
For a subtle lich (not everyone has to consume people whole, after all) you could have a tavern where whenever someone passes out, they're out for a week. "just a quirk" they say, but that week is a week the Lich keeps Liching. It hosts all sorts of drinking games, and many people wake up disturbed due to the nightmares they had, which in turn makes it more of an attraction for young alcoholics with egos to prove.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
It's something completely expected like a ring or an amulet, not even that ornate, kept close to hand in the lich's lair if not directly on their person (possibly because they have to interact with it to feed it souls or something).
Oh, and the lich has hundreds, maybe thousands, of identical copies of it, everywhere, most of which are trapped in various ways and have simple enchantments so the players can't just see which one responds to Detect Magic. In a back room is a crate of incomplete or damaged copies with only minor magic on them; the room is protected, but it's seemingly due to other useful equipment being stored there and the crate itself is just a crate. At the bottom of this crate is the real phylactery, distinguished only by a distinctive scratch or dent that the lich knows to look for.
Medium humanoid (human), lawful neutral
Wait, wait, better idea, the players know the phylactery is a cup, but then they walk into a room full wall-to-wall of ornate golden cups guarded by a ghostly knight who tells them they must choose one and drink from it-
Medium humanoid (human), lawful neutral
I always liked the theory Acerarak uses the dungeons he creates, such as the Tomb of Annihilation, as a phylactory and all the adventurers dying in them fuels his life
It does make a lot of sense for the Lich to make their phylactery automated - IE a deadly dungeon fuels the phylactery, or perhaps it's a metal tooth in the maw of a deadly beast (like the Tarrasque, or something unique), so that when it kills, the soul is devoured by the phylactery.
I also like the idea of having some sort of intangible evil being which instructs people who would take the Phylactery "you must drink from it, if you pick the wrong one, you die", and all of them will kill you - the fountain is the Phylactery. The evil being is being evil (as evil beings do) and lying to everyone to make them feed the phylactery.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!