Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Chapter 1: Origins and Physiology of the Lich . . . . . . . . .3
Lich Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Chapter 2: The Life of the Lich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Lich Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Liches and the Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Lich Artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
The Redeemed Lich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Chapter 3: Lich Combat Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Lich Tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Lich Lairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Lich Poisons and Toxins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Puzzle Traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Chapter 4: Lich Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Lich Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Lich Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Chapter 5: Liches and Your Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Lich-Hunting Motivations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Appendix 1: Lich Variants and Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Modifying the Standard Lich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Dracolich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Writer: Michael Ferguson
Additional Writing: Bret Boyd
3.5 Developer: Ryan Nock
Cover Artist: Jim Pavelec
Interior Artists: Doug Kovacs, Brad McDevitt, Claudio Muniz
Cover Designer: Jamie Wallis
Editor and Graphic Designer: Joseph Goodman
Proofreader: Liz Rich
Questions or comments? Send them to us at info@goodman-games.com, or visit our web site at www.goodman-games.com.
Drowlich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Novalich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Philolich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Semi-Lich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Warlich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Lichling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
Lichwarg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Appendix 2: Sample Liches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Dharion Khryll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Elisha Khryll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Malstrathus the Mad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Carcicarian Mifranzell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Appendix 3: Lich Prestige Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Elementalich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Keeper of Oblivion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Lycanthrolich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Machinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Mage-Eater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Necrotic Potentate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Patriarch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
1
 Introduction
The banging on the gates grew louder and louder. Dharion Khryll, master of Castle Khryll and all its surrounding lands,
ignored the noise. No doubt his ignorant serfs were trying to break into his ancestral home to destroy him – “monster,” they
called him, since he had cheated death. “Lich lord,” they whispered. And deep in the remnants of his heart, he knew that their
whispers were right. But Dharion Khryll knew that becoming a lich had not made him an evil monster – magic could not make
a man evil, surely they would understand that.
But he could not worry about the blood-crazed peasants. Not now, at any rate.
The undead Lord of Castle Khryll turned his head toward his bedchamber. On the bed lay his dying wife Elisha, her liv-
ing flesh nearly as withered away as his own undead skin. Her love for him was strong – so strong, in fact, that she had
remained devoted to him even in his new state of undeath – and Dharion Khryll still loved her. He had managed to defy death
to remain at her side. He had no intentions of losing his love to death now.
With a desiccated finger, the lich turned the pages of the spell book next to the bed, even as his dying wife struggled to
breathe. The lich smiled a hideous smile as he reached a page labeled “The Philolich.”
“Death shall not separate us. Instead, it will join us forever, my love,” murmured Dharion Khryll.
Liches are powerful undead creatures – mortal wizards, warriors, and other beings of might who use the dark necroman-
tic arts to make their spirits immortal. While their flesh and blood withers away, their magically altered life-force allows them
to exist, though at a terrible cost.
This book offers a complete guide to liches. It contains everything you need to role-play them in your campaign: social
habits, personality traits, combat strategies, and guidelines for creating liches and lich variants. While it is strongly recom-
mended that player characters not be permitted to become liches, this book still contains information and gaming materials
that can be used by both players and game masters. This book is not designed for any specific setting, and the information
found within can be used in any campaign.

2
 Chapter 1
Origins and Physiology of the Lich
No one knows for certain how the first liches came to be.
Sages say that the necromantic arts of lichdom came from
failed sorcerous attempts to find immortality, or even god-
hood. To an extent, these dark spells provide the desired
results – immense power and a nearly endless lifespan – but
with the dark gift of lichdom came horrific consequences: a
downward spiral into madness, the decay of the lich’s physi-
cal body, and a slow and steady conversion toward pure evil
that cannot be stopped. Most sane academies of magic quick-
ly abandoned the magical experimentation that created lich-
es; even most necromancers stopped their studies involving
such matters. In fact, most have destroyed all records regard-
ing the secrets of lichdom, and to this day the secrets of
becoming a lich are forbidden to most students of the arcane
arts.
But not all. For those who truly seek immortality, becom-
ing a lich represents an opportunity to live forever – and the
secrets of lichdom, while difficult to find, are not impossible
to learn, provided one is willing to pay the price.
Physically, liches vaguely resemble the forms they had
when they were still living and breathing beings with untaint-
ed souls. In fact, in the early stages of their undead exis-
tences, it may not be possible to tell that a lich is undead. The
creation of a lich requires a willing, living subject, and when
that living subject becomes a lich, the process does not
instantly turn the subject’s physical body into a rotting,
corpse-like shell. Although the lich’s body dies a natural
death, the ritual of lichdom involves mild preservative
effects. The lich’s physical form will decay just like any dead
body, but the flesh rots more slowly than it ordinarily would.
A lich may be able to walk around for weeks, even months,
before any living creatures – even close friends and associ-
ates – begin to suspect the mage is undead. By that time, it
may be more the diabolical behavior of the newly created lich
that betrays its true nature than the slowly rotting shell it
inhabits as a body.
Once decay sets in, the appearance of all liches invari-
ably becomes the same. The physical form of the lich’s mor-
tal body rots and putrefies within a month or two, generating
an intensely foul odor that becomes unbearable to all living
creatures that come near the lich. Unless preventative meas-
ures are taken, the stench coming from a newly created lich’s
rotting form is so terrible that creatures within 10 feet of the
lich must succeed a Fortitude save (DC 16) or become nau-
seated for as long as they remain in the area of the stench.
This stench disappears after the first year of the lich’s undead
existence, possibly along with the creature’s eyes, hair, and
notable physical features. The magic of lichdom is uniquely
personal, however, and liches tend to keep a few physical fea-
tures that unnaturally resist decay enough that the creature
remains recognizable.
If the eyes rot away, they are replaced with a reddish
glow in dark eye sockets. The flesh of the lich clings to its
bones, most of the muscles having rotted away. Even if the
lich’s lips decay, the undead creature is still capable of speech
with an innate power that resists even antimagic. Indeed, a
lich need not even use its jaw to speak – the voice magically
emanates from inside its mouth, and it remains able to keep
talking even if the throat, lungs, and jaw are destroyed. More
sneaky liches can be masters of ventriloquism.
In the short term, liches deal with their physical decay in
one of two ways – denial or indifference. Indifferent liches
simply desire immortality to continue their studies beyond
their mortal lifespan, or to seek vengeance on an enemy who
could not be defeated in life. To these liches, immortality is a
means to an end, rather than the end itself. They have grand
purposes beyond an immortal existence, and luxuries such as
physical appearance are trivial indeed.
To many liches, however – particularly those that were
vain or selfish in life – the rotting of their physical form is
unbearable. Most tomes that record the secrets of lichdom
neglect to mention this simple detail, as the authors of such
texts – liches themselves – are ineffably evil and perhaps bit-
ter in their own right, and take mild pleasure in the potential
anguish of future liches who were not prepared for the decay
of their flesh. The dark arts of magic involved in maintaining
the lich’s undead existence slowly but surely cause the lich to
go insane, and the shock and realization that their bodies are
rotting away often speeds up the journey to insanity.
Liches with some sense of vanity will wear the same
clothing they wore in life – if not finer and more expensive
clothing –to help them feel “alive,” but the self-delusion does
not necessarily end there. Wigs, glass eyes, heavy make-up,
illusory spells, exotic perfumes – all of these things may be
3
employed to maintain the fantasy that the lich’s physical form
is still fine and unchanged. These efforts are done just as
much for the lich as for the few living creatures that the lich
may still be interacting with. Liches obsessed with appear-
ance may spend weeks on end convincing themselves that the
immortality they sought by becoming a lich was perfect.
These evil undead monsters want to believe that they are
exactly as they were in life, and that they aren’t “really” an
undead creature, little more than an intelligent zombie.
As the many centuries of an undead existence pass slow-
ly along, though, almost all liches become unconcerned with
their hideous, deathly appearance. Those liches that never
cared about appearance anyway tend to survive these cen-
turies with mental resilience, since their undeath is less trau-
matizing. But for those liches that were obsessed with appear-
ance, the obsession never vanishes; it is merely replaced with
increasingly bizarre charades. The lich might lose the ability
to differentiate what makes dead creatures repugnant to the
living; while the lich still wants to act like it did in life, it can
no longer comprehend that having cockroaches in its torso
would be revolting. Some see all their surroundings as they
were in life, regardless of what those surroundings have actu-
ally become. It’s not uncommon to find a lich wandering
through a ruined castle as though it were new, gazing fondly
for hours at burned or destroyed paintings, drinking nothing
from rusted goblets as though they contained the finest wine,
and talking to inanimate skeletons as though they were living
servants.
Eventually, the necromantic forces animating a lich
wane. Even though a lich can survive for thousands of years
in an undead state, lichdom never lives up to its false promis-
es of true immortality. After centuries of festering within a
single host form, the evil magic maintaining the lich’s form
starts to break down the remnants of the lich’s body. These
are the final moments of the lich, whose existence can be con-
cluded in one of three ways.
The first is that its mind finally fades into nothingness,
along with the life force animating its body. These liches sim-
ply become dead, inanimate skeletons, indistinguishable from
any other humanoid skeleton.
The second possibility is that the lich’s body breaks apart
and shatters, turning it into little more than fine powder and a
skull. In this state, the skull still houses the remaining frag-
ments of the lich’s still-living mind. With only its demented
mind left intact, the lich finally reaches its ultimate state of
purest evil – the demi-lich.
The third, and most rare, possibility is when a piece of
the lich becomes separated from its body as it degenerates
into nothing. Such detached pieces retain certain evil, magi-
cal properties – a hand, perhaps, or maybe a withered eye.
Such artifacts are further detailed in the Lich Artifacts section
on page 10.

Variant Liches
At its most basic, the lich is an undead creature that cheats death by securing its soul somewhere other than its body.
If its body is destroyed, it will reform, as long as its soul is intact. Appendix 1: Lich Variants and Monsters includes sever-
al variants on the standard lich, keeping this core concept but providing new abilities and tricks.
• Dracolich. This template allows dragons to become liches, harnessing their undying souls into a soul-wrenching breath
weapon.
• Drowlich. Its soul bound with shadowy magic, this dark elf lich has great powers over darkness.
• Novalich. Destined to die within a year of becoming a lich, this creature’s flaring powers drive it to fulfill one last goal
before its soul gutters into oblivion.
• Philolich. When a lich desires to keep cherished family or servants with him through eternity, he creates a philolich, a
lesser lich whose spirit is bound to his own.
• Semi-lich. The result of a failed attempt to become a lich, this creature is a mindless shell of what could have been a
true lich.
• Warlich. Possessed of the same immortality of other liches, warliches bend their powers to martial combat, not magic.
• Lichling. Imbued with the essence of a lich, these shambling piles of bones are often found guarding liches.
• Lichwarg. Undead hounds that hunt by the scent of souls, these beasts are the eyes of some lich overlords.

4
 Liches are extremely rare creatures. Finding someone
with the magical knowledge, skills, and willingness to
attempt the hazardous process of becoming a lich is an
extraordinary occurrence. Even rarer than liches, however,
are lich variants – specialized offshoots of the undead lich
creature. These offshoots include the semi-lich, the philolich,
the novalich, the warlich, the dracolich, and the drowlich.
Details of all these specific lich variants can be found in
Appendix 1 and throughout this guide.
Lich Creation
Dharion Khryll descended slowly down the steps of the
main tower, cradling his beloved Elisha in his skeletal arms.
The gates had held – for now – and the lich felt sure that he
could make the necessary preparations for his wife in peace
in his laboratories below the castle. There would be no mis-
takes, of that he was quite sure. After all, his own transfor-
mation had been a complete success, had it not?
“Dharion, my love?” Elisha asked weakly. She looked up
into his empty eye sockets. “Promise we’ll never be apart.”
“I promise,” said the lich. “Do not worry. This is not the
end – it is a beginning!”
The process of becoming a lich is a dark and arduous
one. The secrets and spells that must be learned in order to
create a lich are numerous and difficult – it can take a lifetime
alone just to learn all that is required. Furthermore, the lore of
lichdom tends to be forbidden knowledge, not commonly
available from libraries and sages. Possessing such informa-
tion is a crime in many kingdoms, punishable by death. But
for those deluded souls who think that lichdom will bring
them immortality, no price is too high.
In order to create a lich or a lich variant, two simple ele-
ments are essential above all others: a skilled spellcaster to
create the lich, and a willing subject to become the lich. In
many cases, the spellcaster and subject are one and the same,
Phylactery Enhancement
Hardness Hit Points Break DC
+2 hardness +10 hit points +2 Break DC
+4 hardness +20 hit points +4 Break DC
+6 hardness +30 hit points +6 Break DC
+8 hardness +40 hit points +8 Break DC
+10 hardness +50 hit points +10 Break DC
but this is not always so, particularly with certain variant
types of liches. The spellcaster can be any high-level spell-
caster, including epic-level paladins and rangers. His skills
need only meet the following criteria.
Requirements for Creating
a Lich or Lich Variant
Spellcasting: Caster level 11
Feats: Craft Wondrous Item
The subject must be a willing subject. Should the subject
not truly desire to become a lich, or understand and object to
the fact that becoming a lich involves actually dying and
being reborn as an undead creature, the subject will never
become a lich or lich variant. Suggestion, charm, or any other
sorts of magic spells and psionics used to convince a subject
that becoming a lich is a good idea are not enough, nor is mis-
leading the subject about what the lich creation process
entails. Only a subject that chooses to be a lich of his own
free will can ever successfully become a lich. A subject
tricked into the process in one form or another is invariably
killed by the spells and ritual involved, and because the
process taints the soul, the subject cannot be brought back
from the dead with anything short of a wish or miracle.
Once both the spellcaster and the subject are ready and
willing, a phylactery must be created to begin the process of
lichdom. This phylactery serves as a vessel for the lich’s soul
or life force. The phylactery separates the life force from the
lich’s mortal flesh-and-blood body, and contains it within its
own virtually indestructible self. So long as the phylactery
exists, the lich is essentially immortal. Destroying the body of
a lich without destroying that lich’s phylactery means that the
lich’s essence survives, and that 1d10 days after being
destroyed, the lich will return at full strength. A lich’s phy-
lactery must be destroyed if the lich is to be annihilated once
and for all.
Gold Cost XP Cost
1,000 gp 40 XP
4,000 gp 160 XP
9,000 gp 360 XP
16,000 gp 640 XP
25,000 gp 1,000 XP
5
 Creating the phylactery requires the Craft Wondrous
Item feat. This phylactery costs a minimum of 120,000 gp
and 4,800 XP to create, and possesses a caster level equal to
that of its creator when it is made. A standard phylactery is a
box of Tiny size and has a hardness rating of 20, 40 hit points,
and a break DC of 40. Should the creator wish to do so, the
phylactery could be any sort of object, and could be enhanced
magically to be more durable, as detailed on the preceding
sidebar.
Optionally, the spellcaster may also choose to create a
second container when creating a lich – a vessel of the mind.
Unlike the phylactery, the vessel contains the lich’s mental
energies. While not necessary for becoming a lich, this mag-
ical vessel serves two small, but important, purposes. First of
all, the vessel prevents the deterioration of a lich’s mind,
avoiding the eventual decay to a demi-lich. Secondly, the ves-
sel also provides a way for the lich to continue on even if its
physical form and phylactery are destroyed, by acting as a
back-up phylactery, of sorts. If a lich’s vessel survives after
its phylactery is shattered, the lich’s physical form cannot be
brought back into existence, but the lich will return as an
incorporeal, ghost-like version of its former self 1d10 days
later.
Creating the vessel requires the Craft Wondrous Item
feat. Similarly to the phylactery, the vessel costs a minimum
of 80,000 gp and 3,200 XP to create, and possesses a caster
level equal to that of its creator when it is made. A vessel is
of Tiny size and has a hardness rating of 10, 20 hit points, and
a break DC of 20, and its defenses can be improved as with a
normal phylactery.
The cost of the phylactery and vessel of the mind
includes the cost of the necessary rituals to create the lich.
With the phylactery (and, optionally, the vessel) in place, a
ritual is required to bind the soul to the phylactery. Different
cultures and magical traditions have developed slightly dif-
ferent rituals for spellcasters who wish to become liches, and
although the specifics vary widely, mechanically the result is
the same.
Four example rituals include:
The Potion of Undead Life: A potion of undead life
slays the drinker unless he succeeds a Fortitude save (DC 20).
A creature so slain cannot be brought back from the dead by
anything short of a wish or miracle. If a creature has under-
gone the necessary ritual to bind its soul to a phylactery (and
optionally, its mind to a vessel), the potion of undead life does
not immediately slay the drinker; instead, it causes the crea-
ture’s physical body to rapidly decompose, turning into little
more than dust and ash in less than two days. This is often to
the horror of the lich, who cannot be certain the ritual was
effective. But 1d10 days after the subject’s body drops dead
from drinking a potion of undead life, he returns as a lich,
looking very similar to the way he did in life. This is the most
common lichdom ritual, and is used as a basis for many
examples in this book.
Binding the Twin Winds: For this ritual, the prospective
lich must find a windy cave, which acts as his phylactery. A
ritual binds his soul to the cave, but to make the bonding per-
manent, he must die amid the cries of both mourning friends

Rituals Gone Awry

Sometimes the process of lichdom is not successful, and with such complicated spells and rituals involved, it is almost
surprising there are so few tales of lichdom gone awry. For example, most drinkers of the potion of undead life let them-
selves die, but if the subject resists the poison after letting his soul be bonded to the phylactery, the subject may rise as a
creature known as a semi-lich. Rather than dying and rising as undead, the subject slowly decays from within, his mind dis-
integrating until he is no more conscious than a zombie. Within thirty days, the semi-lich loses all memories and knowl-
edge of its life, and though it enjoys many of the same powers of the lich, its soul is not housed in a phylactery. For all prac-
tical purposes, the subject is dead, and his body has been raised as a particularly strong undead. To many who would seek
to become a lich, the possibility of becoming a semi-lich instead is a fate far worse than death, as the body lives on forev-
er as a wasted monster, while the mind and soul are either destroyed or trapped inside the semi-lich.
As noted earlier, there are certain individuals who become liches with the best of intentions. They understand com-
pletely that lichdom will change them into an undead being, but for whatever reason, they choose to believe that entering
the world of the undead will not significantly change them. When the necromantic energy begins to permeate every fiber
of the lich’s being, a few mages end their own lives while they are still in control of their soul. This, too, can give rise to
semi-liches.

6
and victorious foes – the twin winds of the ritual. After the
prospective lich takes its last living breath, his body is suf-
fused with a black miasma of negative energy that slowly dis-
solves his body. Only once there are no breathing creatures
within a hundred feet will the lich be reanimated. Though a
difficult ritual to perform, the benefit is that the lich’s phy-
lactery is nearly impossible to steal or destroy. Though the
cave only has hardness 8, it has tens of thousands of hit
points.
The Sultan’s Curse: A thousand years ago, the sultan of
a desert nation was blessed by a djinni to be able to invoke a
curse of his choice once during his reign. That curse was lain
upon a foreigner who defiled the holiest city of the land, and
he was struck down by a bolt from the heavens. But the for-
eigner’s magic allowed him to steal a bit of the divine
essence of the lightning bolt, bonding his soul with the twist-
ed glass created when the lightning seared the desert sands.
His body reformed from the sands of where he died, and he
lives to this day seeking revenge. Similarly, if a mage pre-
pares the proper ritual, and if he is slain by a spell channel-
ing positive energy, he can corrupt that energy and use it to
propel himself into the undeath of lichdom.
The Diary of Riddles: Many loremasters, feeling their
pursuit of knowledge is yet incomplete, craft textual phylac-
teries, recording in extreme detail the events of their lives,
typically in a well-bound tome. The mage seeking to become
immortal must include at least one mystery he seeks to solve
in his undeath, though additional mysteries may later be
added to the book. He then writes an account of his own
death into the tome, at which point he dies, his soul binding
with the pages. Thereafter the book is a magical recounting
of everything the lich does. If passages are erased, the lich’s
powers dwindle.
Once the lich is created, it is free to unleash its evil upon
the world for centuries upon centuries. Of course, they do not
do so forever, for that is the myth of lichdom: it does not pro-
vide immortality – even liches eventually are destroyed and
rendered into oblivion. But during those countless years
when the lich’s power is intact, it is truly a force to be feared,
its undying life impossible for mortals to truly comprehend.
Chapter 2
The Life of the Lich
Liches do not share the traditional social structures used
by ‘ordinary’ monsters. For one thing, the malevolent appear-
ance and behavior of liches and lich variants isolates them
from the living. After all, what sane living creature would
want to spend time with them? Furthermore, liches tend not
to deal with other liches, mostly because of how rare they are,
but also due to the fact that most liches are arrogant creatures
who view other undead – including vampires and other lich-
es – as inferior beings not worthy of their attentions.
Lich Profiles
The reasons for becoming a lich are fairly simple. A
desire for immortality – or at least a semblance of it – is what
sends most creatures towards becoming a sentient, powerful
undead creature. The desire for power, knowledge, or
revenge also plays a part in this transformation, as immortal-
ity may allow creatures to achieve these other desires.
However, desiring the immortality of lichdom, and actually
becoming a lich, are two very separate things. Those who
eventually become a lich or a lich variant usually meet a cer-
tain profile, one that should be considered when a game mas-
ter sets out to create a lich NPC for a campaign.
A lich or lich variant must have power and wealth, or at
least have access to someone who does. The expense in
preparing for lichdom is quite considerable – the cost of a
lich’s phylactery alone is well over one hundred thousand
gold pieces, and this is but a single item required for the cre-
ation of a lich. This should be considered for the simple rea-
son that if the lich had wealth and treasure in life, will it have
such treasures in its undead state? Or will it have sacrificed
everything – including all its wealth – in order to become a
lich? Answering this question should help establish the char-
acter of the lich NPC, as well as determine what sort of lair
the lich still inhabits.
Magical abilities are also (obviously) very important.
But the levels of those magical skills help determine the ulti-
mate power of the lich. While an 11th-level wizard is quite
formidable, a 24th-level wizard is far, far more dangerous –
especially one with the powers of a lich. The 11th-level wiz-
ard may have spent years upon years of intensive study ded-
icated simply to become a lich; the 24th-level wizard may
7
have devised the dark arts of the ritual of lichdom in the first
place. Also, some lich variants – such as the warlich and the
philolich – may not possess any magical skills in life. What
wizards would they choose to turn them into undead beings?
And what price would be paid for such magic? Establishing
these facts helps not only to determine how powerful a lich
may be, but also how powerful – and how resourceful – the
lich’s allies are as well.
All liches are evil. But those who would become liches
may not necessarily be so. Despite all stories, legends, and
evidence to the contrary, a good character may see a “good”
reason for becoming a lich – and then take the essential steps
to become one. In these special cases, these characters under-
stand exactly what becoming a lich entails, and understand –
to a certain extent – that the possibility exists that they may
become an evil creature. However, they have managed to
delude themselves into believing that somehow they will be
the one exception to history – they will somehow gain the
immortality of lichdom without falling prey to the evil
required to become a lich. For example, a paladin may find a
reason to become a warlich, and be utterly convinced that her
goodness and her faith will prevent her from becoming an evil
monster. These good characters are always wrong. Becoming
a lich requires the use of powerful, evil magic, and this magic
always thoroughly corrupts those who would become a lich.
Characters who become liches for good reasons always
become evil liches, and their good reasons are corrupted as
well. A noble paladin may decide to become a warlich to pro-
tect a city – but when transformed into an evil warlich, that
paladin may decide that the best way to “protect” the city is to
destroy all of the villages, towns, and farms surrounding it.
How a particular lich interacts with other creatures (both
living and undead) is typically related to why that individual
chose to become a lich in the first place. A lich’s purpose for
choosing an undead existence often dictates whether that lich
would want to deal with other creatures, as well as the extent
as to which the undead monster would have such dealings.
The four most common reasons that mortals choose to
become a lich can be described as follows.
Power-Mad Liches: In their living incarnations, these
liches were very powerful figures, in one form or another.
They may have been royalty, or military conquerors; they
may have been influential sages or wizards; they may have
even been fabulously wealthy merchants controlling the
economies of empires. Whatever the reason, these individu-
als commanded power and authority, and they enjoyed this
power. They find the thought of losing this power to death
absolutely unbearable. To them, lichdom is really a tool for
maintaining power and control for eternity. An example of
such a lich would be a fighter-sorcerer who spent several
decades trying to conquer an enemy kingdom and finally suc-
ceeded, only to realize that he could only enjoy the spoils of
conquest for perhaps a year or two. Such liches have exten-
sive contact with the living; in fact, these liches would prob-
ably exist for quite a long time in complete denial regarding
their undead state.
Creator Liches: The creator type of lich is generally
limited to scholarly individuals, particularly wizards. In life,
these individuals dedicated themselves to a particular study
or quest for knowledge that bordered on obsession. Examples
of this might be years of study dedicated to opening a portal
to a dimension that does not exist, or to unlocking the secrets

Liches of Different Classes

The abilities of some classes interact oddly with the powers of a lich. You may wish to use these rules variants for such
liches.
Barbarian: Raging grants no increase to hit points, as the lich has no Constitution score to increase. Instead the lich
gains DR 1/- for each +2 bonus he would have gained to Constitution.
Bard: Undead cannot normally be affected by mind-affecting spells and songs. A lich bard, however, can affect him-
self with his own spells, so he could inspire himself.
Druid and Ranger: A druid must choose when becoming a lich whether she will retain the effects of the lich template
when wildshaping. If she does not, the druid lich transforms into normal-looking creatures, and cannot be turned in that
form, but when wildshaped, the only benefits of the lich template she gains are its immunities and the ability to reform after
being destroyed. However, if the druid lich wishes to wildshape into undead creatures, she applies all the powers of the lich
template to whatever forms she assumes. Druid and ranger liches can gain undead or living animal companions, as they
choose.

8
of how to transmute lead to gold without magic – problems
that typically have no solution. Regardless of this fanatical
area of study, these individuals approach the end of their nat-
ural existence with the realization that they have vast
amounts of research left should they wish to ever complete
their studies, and a very short amount of time in which to do
it. Lichdom is a way for them to borrow time and perhaps
complete their impossible areas of study. Creator liches keep
to themselves, isolated from the rest of the world, so as to
complete their research undisturbed – similar to the way they
probably also behaved in life.
Coward Liches: In their rise to power, many mages make
pacts, using their souls as a bargaining chip. When the time
comes to pay for their power, however, many such mages wish
to renege. Lichdom offers the prospect of keeping the mage’s
soul out of the grasp of whatever god, demon, or insane elder
creature to which it has been pledged. Of all liches, these cow-
ard liches are most likely to understand their mortality, even in
undeath. Though the lich’s phylactery shields his soul, he
knows that should he ever be defeated, his punishment will be
all the worse for trying to cheat the deal he made. This sort of
lich often has elaborately multi-layered defenses, designed to
make sure there is no chance he can be truly slain.
Revenge Liches: This is perhaps the most foolish and
dangerous reason to become a lich. The revenge lich is an
individual who chooses to become an undead monster simply
to exact revenge upon another. Revenge liches realize that in
life they may not be able to achieve revenge, or if they can,
they may not be able to do so on the grand scale that they
desire. Such is their feeling of hate for whomever they
believe has wronged or betrayed them that they are willing to
undergo the necromantic rituals required to become a lich. An
example of this is a wizard-king forced to abdicate from his
throne by a rebellious hero, and then sent into exile, with no
hope of regaining his throne in his natural lifetime. As a lich,
this type of individual will think nothing of plotting and plan-
ning for centuries to exact a perfect revenge from those crea-
tures perceived to have wronged him. Often, when this
revenge is taken, it is against the distant descendants of these
creatures, and they may have no idea why the lich has chosen
to wreak vengeance upon them. This never matters to a
revenge-motivated lich, though, as their hate and desire for
revenge can burn brightly for hundreds – if not thousands –
of years. Revenge liches may find it necessary to interact with
a select few mortals in order to secure the various means
needed for their vengeance, but tend to keep such contact
brief; revenge liches are generally paranoid and suspect
treachery from all whom they contact.
Liches and the Living
Living creatures, understandably enough, try to have as
little to do with liches as possible. Unfortunately, these same
creatures may not often realize that they are dealing with a
lich. Mortal servants of a recently created lich may not be
aware of their master’s new, undead nature – at least not at
first. They may suspect something to be horribly wrong with
their master or mistress, but rarely does the transformation
become obvious until it is too late. Worse, a servant of a
newly created lich may realize what has happened, and may
be unable to do anything about it. Who would the servant
tell? And who would believe such a preposterous tale? An
accusation of lichdom is something that can easily be fended
off in the short term, if the accuser does not possess the most
impeccable integrity imaginable, and it is far more likely that
a scared servant making “wild” accusations might wind up on
the wrong end of the chopping block...
For these reasons, liches can maintain extensive contacts
with living creatures in the short term. It can even be done in
the long term, provided the lich can keep its true character
secret from the eyes of the world. A noble with a “mysterious
illness” who always remains hidden behind closed chambers,
and only speaks and is seen by a few trusted lieutenants – that
“noble” lich might be able to rule a barony for decades with-
out many knowing its undead nature. However, as the lich’s
body decays, and as its mind gradually descends into mad-
ness, its vile nature always becomes known to the rest of the
world. Most sane mortals choose to flee from its evil pres-
ence, or attempt to destroy it. This leaves the older liches with
only two sorts of mortals to interact with: greedy villains who
seek something from the lich, be it treasure, magic, knowl-
edge, or something else valuable in exchange for their servic-
es; and the mad servants of the lich, whose fanatical loyalty
to their undead masters makes them incredibly valuable.
Servants of the Lich: Loyal servants of liches are often
as mad as the master they serve. There are usually specific
reasons for their loyalty – perhaps as a living being the lich
once saved or spared the life of the servant, or maybe when
alive the lich had always been a hero to the servant. In any
event, these living servants obey every order of their lich
masters, without question, even if it means sacrificing their
own lives. No specific rules apply to all servants of a lich, but
due to a prolonged exposure to the fearful presence of the
lich, after a few months, servants of a lich become immune to
fear effects that the lich generates.
9
 Finding a willing individual to be a servant of the lich is
rare, however, so most liches abandon the idea of using liv-
ing servants within a few decades, and resort to more super-
natural means. Since most liches were forced to become
somewhat familiar with the necromantic arts in order to
become a lich, they are also familiar with creating other
undead creatures, such as zombies and skeletons. Many lich-
es also create golems to do their bidding, or undead lichlings
and lichwargs (see Appendix 1). Of course, because liches are
invariably powerful spellcasters with countless years avail-
able to spend in study, all manner of creatures might defend a
lich. Few adventurers would be prepared, for example, to
fight a lich that lives in a twisted fey grove, defended by evil
treants.
Liches also occasionally form partnerships with vam-
pires and vampire spawn. However, liches only enter into
such partnerships if they believe that they can maintain the
upper hand. They also want to be able to destroy their vam-
pire’s “allies” should the need arise. Liches resent vampires
on general principle – they see vampires as animals that have
not “earned” the right to an immortal, undead existence,
while they believe themselves to have properly earned their
immortality. Sunlight does not harm liches, which often gives
them the upper hand in these dealings.
The following table can be used to generate a list of typ-
ical minions for a lich. It is recommended that d100 only be
rolled once for a newly created lich, and two to three times
for an established lich that is of moderate to high power.
Lich Minions
Roll (d%) Result
01–10 3d6 1st-level mortal servants of the lich
11–20 2d8 Medium or smaller skeletons
21–30 2d4 Large or Huge skeletons
31–35 1d8 Large or smaller zombies
36–40 1d4 lichwargs
41–45 1d2 lichlings
46–50 1d2 flesh golems
51–55 1 iron golem
56–60 1 stone golem
61–70 1d3+1 vampires
71–80 1d4+4 vampire spawn
81–85 1 shield guardian
86-00 A unique character 2-4 levels lower than the
lich.
Lich Artifacts
Note: Lich artifacts are potentially powerful enough to
significantly alter the balance of a campaign. As with any
magical artifact, carefully consider their introduction to your
campaign. Don’t throw them in as just another magic item.
Liches do not exist forever. The ‘lifespan’ of a typical
lich is several thousand years. The notable exceptions to this
are the semi-lich – which legitimately can exist forever – and
the drowlich, which can exist tens of thousands of years.
While a vessel of the mind can double the span of existence
for these undead creatures, the fact remains that lichdom
merely slows down the decay of body and mind – it does not
prevent it. As the eons pass, the lich’s mind begins to spin
apart into an incoherent mess, while the lich’s body invari-
ably reaches a state that it should have assumed naturally cen-
turies before – that of a completely decomposed pile of dust.
At such a point, while the lich’s soul technically still exists in
the phylactery, its mind and body are in such a decrepit state
that it is as good as dead.
However, for the most vile and ruthless of liches, the
pure hate and malevolence that fueled their evil existences for
centuries upon centuries may never truly end. Some of these
liches may eventually become the abominable nightmare
known as the demi-lich. Still other liches may not necessari-
ly exist in a sentient form, but fragments of their bodies may
become imbued with such evil power that they take on the
properties of artifacts. These artifacts, while incredibly pow-
erful and highly coveted by those who would seek magical
power, carry the evil taint of their former lich master and
always manage to pass on this evil to those who would use
them.
Lich artifacts are literally physical pieces from a lich’s
own body, and they can only endure if the lich was a 15th
level or higher spellcaster. There is no known way for a char-
acter to intentionally create a lich artifact; the creation of such
an item is a naturally occurring event determined by the game
master. To generate a lich artifact,
roll first on the table below to
see what piece of the lich
has been imbued with
the lich’s powers.

10
Lich Artifacts Lich Artifact Abilities
Roll (d%) Lich Part Penalty Roll (d%) Spell Types/Level
01–10 Eye –2 Cha 01–15 4 arcane and 4 divine spells; all spells of 5th
11–20 Tooth –2 Cha level or lower
21–30 Hand –2 Dex 16–30 2 arcane and 4 divine spells; all spells of 6th
31–40 Ear –2 Cha level or lower
41–50 Tongue –2 Cha 31–45 4 arcane and 2 divine spells; all spells of 6th
51–60 Foot –2 Dex level or lower
61–70 Rib Bone –2 Con 46–60 3 arcane and 3 divine spells; all spells of 7th
71–80 Nose –2 Cha level or lower
81–90 Jaw Bone –2 Cha 61–75 1 arcane and 2 divine spells; all spells of 8th
91–95 Wing (from dracolich) –2 Dex level or lower
96–00 Heart –2 Con 76–90 2 arcane and 1 divine spells; all spells of 8th
level or lower
A lich artifact’s powers cannot be used unless the owner 91–93 2 arcane spells; all spells of 9th level or lower
surgically removes his own body part and replaces it with the 94–96 2 divine spells; all spells of 9th level or lower
lich artifact. This means that the owner of a lich heart must 97–99 2 arcane and 2 divine spells; all spells of 9th
literally cut out his own heart – or have someone cut it out – level or lower
and replace it with the lich’s heart in order to utilize its pow- 00 Roll twice more; disregard further rolls of 00
ers. The lone exception to this is a lich artifact wing, which
automatically grafts itself to the back of any humanoid owner Lich artifacts in the hands of evil characters rarely pres-
not already possessing wings of Medium-size or greater. ent an alignment problem. It is hard for a lich artifact to cor-
Merely touching the lich artifact to the appropriate area rupt what’s already been corrupted, and evil characters rarely
of attachment permanently grafts the artifact to its user, and face any moral dilemmas in wielding an artifact imbued with
allows the user to receive all of the artifact’s powers and wicked powers. Good and neutral aligned characters, howev-
drawbacks. By grafting a lich artifact to one’s body, the er, are not so lucky. Non-evil characters who choose to use
owner of the artifact automatically receives a penalty to an the powers of a lich artifact are forced to make a Will save
ability score, as noted on the table. Lost ability points can every week (DC 17) in order to avoid becoming evil. Should
never be restored. Short of a wish spell or divine intervention, a character fail the saving throw, he instantly turns evil, and
the lich artifact cannot be removed from the owner’s body only the removal of the lich artifact from the character’s body
unless the owner of the artifact is killed. can revert the character’s alignment back to its original state.
A lich artifact always possesses four inherent spell abili-
ties: blasphemy, destruction, unholy aura, and unhallow.
These spell abilities can be used once per week. Additionally, The Redeemed Lich
the artifact may possess certain spell abilities, all of which
can be used up to three times per day. While the table below On the rarest of rare occasions, a lich can be redeemed.
allows for random generation of a lich artifact’s abilities, ulti- Liches throughout the world are known, for the most part, as
mately, the game master should decide the exact spells that monstrous beings of the purest evil. However, there are a
the artifact possesses. Both the inher- handful that serve the forces of good. The exact explanation
ent spell abilities and the random for how and why this occurs is not entirely clear, even to the
spell abilities are always cast wisest of sages. All that is known for certain about this
as if by a 15th-level sor- process is that it is something that can never be sought, but is
cerer, and all DCs to instead brought about by instinct and circumstance.
resist the effects created Liches that were evil as mortals never become good in
by the artifact are 15 + their undead state. For a lich to possess even the slightest
spell level. chance of ever becoming a creature of good, it must have
been good at the time of its original mortal demise. It is

11
believed that this once-forgotten existence lurks within the
very being of such liches, serving to act as a potential spark
for a miraculous change should the right conditions present
themselves.
The situations that can bring about the creation of a good
lich are simple but practically impossible. All the lich must do
is perform a selfless act of good for a single living being
while in the presence of a powerful source of positive energy.
This act of good must only benefit that living being; the act
can provide no benefit or advantage to the lich, no matter how
small or trivial. Liches who become aware of this secret and
attempt to become redeemed are invariably doomed to fail-
ure, as every good action they make is part of their selfish
effort to become good again, thereby making all such actions
beneficial to themselves. These efforts must be completely
sincere – a lich saving a mortal servant from drowning, for
example, would be an example of this sort of effort, provided
that the lich had no need of the servant for some other pur-
pose. Because of this, these acts are almost always spur of the
moment, random events, and their consequences always
come as a total shock to the liches who perform them.
A simple selfless act, in and of itself, may briefly stir the
lich’s black soul with memories of its time as a living, good-
aligned creature, but that alone is not enough. The selfless act
must take place in an area of strong positive energy, such as
a hallow spell, or within the line of sight of a good-aligned
cleric or paladin that is at least as high-level as the lich. The
mingling of alignments and spiritual energies briefly sparks
the long-dormant sliver of goodness in the lich’s soul, return-
ing the lich’s alignment to what it had been when it died its
mortal death. This change lasts but a very short time, and
each minute the evil essence of the lich may attempt a Will
save (DC 20) to again banish the goodness. If the lich’s phy-
lactery is destroyed while the good soul is in control, howev-
er, the transformation is complete. Its phylactery and vessel
explode, causing 3d6 points of damage to anyone within 10
feet of either object, and the lich’s life essence and mental
energies come flooding back into its undead physical form.
At this point, the lich must make a Fortitude save (DC
12
20). Should the lich fail, it dies, but it dies as a creature of
good. Should the saving throw succeed, though, a starling
transformation occurs – flesh and blood begin to re-form
around the lich’s body, transforming it into a living, breathing
creature. The lich, while not exactly living, has purged itself
of all the necromantic energy that kept it in its state of lich-
dom, and is reborn instead with positive energy to keep its
centuries-old form in existence. The redeemed lich looks
exactly the way it did the moment before it died in the ritual
to become a lich, and will look that way until finally
destroyed.
A redeemed lich retains many of the properties that it
possessed in its more evil form. These powers and abilities,
however, are changed slightly. The redeemed lich retains its
fear aura, but this fear is only effective against creatures of
evil. Neutral creatures are completely unaffected by the aura,
and for creatures of good the fear aura now acts as a bless
aura, as the bless spell. The redeemed lich’s paralyzing touch
only works against evil beings, and its touch attack dealing
negative energy to foes becomes a healing touch that restores
the hit points it once took away. Apart from that, its abilities
remain the same as they were when the lich was a vile being
of evil.
Once redeemed, the lich is never content to just peace-
fully live out the rest of its days in quiet. The redeemed lich
is compelled to atone for the monstrous acts it committed
while an evil monster. The redeemed lich will actively try to
make up for its crimes, no matter how long it takes. Should
the lich ever manage to completely atone for all its acts of
evil, it will finally die in peace, but for the most part, this
never happens. Redeemed liches tend to wander the ends of
the world throughout eternity, trying in vain to beg forgive-
ness for what can never be forgiven. Ironically, redeemed
liches often find the true immortality that they originally
sought when becoming an undead creature of darkness. They
are usually hunted creatures, sought by those they harmed
when evil. Those same creatures usually do not know that the
redeemed lich has changed its evil ways – and even if they do
know, they often do not care.
 Chapter 3
Lich Combat Strategies
A crunch, then a shattering sound. The gates to Castle
Khryll had finally broken. This did not matter much to
Dharion Khryll, the lich lord of the castle – his only concern
was to be reunited with his love Elisha. Far beneath the cas-
tle walls, he had cast the necessary spells, performed the
required rituals, and Elisha had died. He hoped that she
would return to him in philolich form; the possibility that she
might return as the monstrous semi-lich had occurred to him,
but he dared not dwell on such thoughts.
The villagers would roam through the castle, of that
Dharion Khryll had no doubt. But they still did not concern
him. Getting into the castle was one thing; getting out, they
would find, would be quite another. Would they be able to
escape the flesh golems patrolling the courtyard? Or avoid
the poisoned spiked traps beneath the old ballroom floor?
Dharion Khryll thought not. His lair was prepared to fight, so
he did not have to. With this thought in mind, the lich sat back
in his broken throne and stared at the doorway, waiting with
infinite patience for his Elisha to return.
Liches do not choose a path of darkness toward an
immortal, undead existence just so some group of wander-
ing adventurers can destroy them. Liches are incredibly pro-
tective of their undead existence, perhaps even more so than
the living protect their mortal lives. Apart from warliches,
who thrive on personal combat, liches try whenever they
can to avoid direct confrontation. This does not mean that a
fight cannot be found within a lich’s lair – it just means that
the lich may have plenty of other creatures ready to fight in
its stead.
Lich Tactics
If a lich can predetermine where a fight is to take place,
it may prepare the area with items designed to aid its spells.
For example, a lich waiting for a group of adventurers in an
abandoned chapel may line the walls of the dungeon with
casks of oil, put on a ring of greater fire resistance, and then
cast a fireball spell at the characters the moment they enter
the chapel.
Of course, liches are as varied as any other group of
mages. Some prefer to wade into combat with spells blazing,
some prefer to attack discreetly through minions, and a few
even favor melee combat. Invariably, however, liches possess
a wide array of special tactics – new spells they have created
over the years, unique combat styles, or convoluted traps and
puzzles – attacks that living adventurers are seldom prepared
for.
When finally forced into direct confrontation, liches are
tenacious and deadly fighters. Typically highly intelligent,
liches know not to let themselves be surrounded, or at least to
have several responses if they are. Being undead and nearly
immortal grants them many tactics that living mages could
never make us of. A lich, for instance, would see no drawback
in dropping a building on itself and its enemies if that would
win him the fight. His current body might be destroyed, but it
will be reformed soon enough.
Lich Powers: Standard liches share the following pow-
ers. They are undead, and so are immune to many attack
forms. They are difficult to turn, possess damage reduction,
have a fear aura, a paralyzing touch, and a touch attack that
channels negative energy. And, finally, they reform after
death. Liches will capitalize on these strengths as best as
possible to defend themselves. Virtually the only weakness a
lich possesses is that it is nearly powerless in an area of
antimagic
Undead need not breathe or eat, so many lich lairs are in
hostile environments – freezing caves in wastelands, noxious
volcanic pits, murky flooded caves, or locations suffused
with negative energy. They may prepare their lairs with traps
that would easily kill living creatures, but are no threat to the
lich and its undead or construct minions.
A lich’s damage reduction can only be bypassed by mag-
ical bludgeoning weapons. If it disguises itself as a zombie,
which has damage reduction that can only be bypassed by
slashing weapons, it may mislead foes for a few vital
moments. Indeed, liches tend to lose their need for personal
space, so they may well litter their lairs with undead with
similar appearances to their own, the better for blending in.
When they take an active role in combat, liches can use
their fear aura offensively. If a lich tracks its foes to a city,
then appears in a crowd of easily-frightened common folk,
the ensuing panic might keep its enemies from approaching
while the lich freely casts spells. Some foes might even be
13
crushed by terrified peasants.
Liches may wish to paralyze foes who possess useful
skills or knowledge, so they can be interrogated or dominat-
ed later. The paralysis does not wear off on its own, so a lich
may well keep foes alive as harmless prisoners until they are
certain the creature has failed to resist domination. Some
loyal lich allies might even let themselves be paralyzed and
left to be discovered by intruders, so they can later backstab
them.
A lich’s touch attack deals negative energy damage, and
negative energy heals undead. A lich should never have a
hard time recovering after a fight, and it can easily restore its
undead minions. Of course, as a lich is undead, heal spells
from enemies are very dangerous.
Many of a lich’s more unorthodox tactics will likely
involve its ability to recover after being destroyed. Trapping
itself and its enemies in a wall of force, with a contingent
cloudkill. Even if its foes kill it, unless the foes are immune
to poison, the lich can simply return in a few days to loot their
bodies.
Thinking Villains: While some liches are of only aver-
age intellect, few of these are cunning enough to escape the
attacks of foes over centuries, so the oldest liches tend to be
those who are the most diabolically intelligent. Younger lich-
es may still cling to the tactics they used in life, but as they
drift farther from the ways of the living, liches develop
increasingly deadly ways of defending themselves. It is not
really unfair for the game master to leave a few spell slots of
the lich undecided when preparing for combat – the slots
could be used to cast whatever spell would be most useful at
the moment, with the assumption that the ingenious lich
would have predicted what magic it would need far better
than a mere living game master.
A lich’s greatest asset is its phylactery, so the lich will go
to great extremes to protect it. If a fight occurs in the lich’s
lair or where the phylactery is hidden, most liches have a
handy exit or hidden pre-planned escape route, either to lure
the attackers into a death trap, or simply to lead them away
from the phylactery.
Should escape not be possible, the lich instead may
attempt to parley for its existence. Treasure, kingdoms, power
– many liches will cheerfully offer characters anything in the
world to ensure its survival, including the impossible.
Sometimes these offers are genuine, but it is more likely they
represent nothing but danger. A few devious liches go so far
as to prepare false treasure maps, scrolls, and “history” books
that mention treasures beyond the wildest dreams of mortals
– all located far from the lich’s lair, of course. Other liches
14
may have a false treasure room in their lair, one that they will
invite character to plunder if they will only spare the lich’s
existence. The treasure room, though, is typically laden with
traps, such as poison gas.
Beyond all else, however, liches do everything in their
power to make sure enemies do not get hold of their phylac-
tery. If they do find it, often there will be some aspect of the
phylactery that discourages its destruction. Some liches have
concealed their phylacteries inside powerful weapons, or
bound their souls to a natural wellspring of magic that might
go wild if destroyed. Legends even tell of a druidic lich that
scattered her phylactery as seeds among a field, so that to
destroy her soul, all the villagers who had eaten of the field
would have to be destroyed as well.
Lich Lairs
Liches do not necessarily have ‘lairs’ in the ways other
monsters may have a lair. The places where liches lurk are
frequently the same places that they inhabited in life. The
main difference is that they fall apart and become run down –
liches often forget small details that the living never would,
such as how to properly maintain a keep or fortress.
The liches and lich-subtypes that lair in the places they
once used in life are the sort of undead creatures that desire
to maintain close contact with the living. These liches employ
a trusted servant to help them maintain the illusion that they
still live, and for a short while lairs such as these are run fair-
ly close to how they were run during the lich’s life. Visitors
remain typically as they were, meaning that these particular
‘lairs’ generally have more access than that of a lich hiding in
seclusion. Adventurers wishing to scout out a lich’s lair will
have a far easier time moving through lairs such as these than
those of a secluded lich. Over time, however, these lairs
become run down and abandoned, and invariably pick up the
legend of being haunted. Because liches are so rare, few folk
legends actually properly identify liches for what they are,
instead favoring more traditional undead like ghouls or vam-
pires.
For adventurers actively seeking to find and perhaps slay
a lich, these are the sorts of lairs they can easily locate. These
are also the lairs more likely to have already been partially
looted, and more likely to be the home of less-powerful lich-
es.
Liches who wish to remain undisturbed normally set up
their lairs in far-off secluded places, away from those living
creatures that might interrupt them. These liches also tend to
be the more powerful sorcerers and wizards who have
become liches for some sinister and grand purpose requiring
centuries of work. These lairs are normally built while the
lich is still alive, so the lich-to-be can supervise and directly
control the building of this future lair without too many ques-
tions. These lairs are often given a relatively innocuous pur-
pose – for example, a future ‘tomb’ for the lich’s living per-
sona, or a monument, or a watchtower – some explanation
that would not necessarily drive away all potential intruders,
but something to minimize that number. The intent is to build
something large enough to act as a fortress for the lich, as
well as to contain everything the lich may need, but to not act
as an obvious beacon for tomb raiders.
The downside for any lich constructing a tailor-made lair
is that plans – and perhaps the builders themselves – can be
located by courageous and persistent adventurers, and those
plans and builders may be able to provide secrets about both
lair and lich that the lich would not want to be known. This is
why other liches wishing to stay secluded may take over the
tombs, abandoned castles, and ruins – places that have
already been raided by grave robbers, and are less likely to be
disturbed. Of course, this may mean that a hardy group of
adventurers searching an abandoned keep might find a little
more than they had bargained for...
Most lich lairs are fortified and protected in some form.
Most are towers, keeps, fortresses, and the like – capable of
withstanding sieges from armies, if necessary. The gates to
these lairs may be wizard locked, or otherwise sealed with
magic such that only a specific spell or magic item may open
them. These lairs are defended in a variety of fiendish ways
against those foolish enough to enter. Details on the traps and
guardians of a lich’s lair can be found in Chapter 3: Lich
Combat Strategies. The few lairs that are not well guarded or
prepared for attack are those whose lich inhabitants genuine-
ly do not care at all about anything but their work or their
studies. In some ways, while these lairs are easier for adven-
turers to explore, they are still more treacherous, as they usu-
ally house liches that are obsessed to the point of insanity, and
these creatures rank as the most dangerous and deadly of
undead beings.
One critical element that should be placed in any lich’s
lair is an escape route. Liches are the classic sort of NPC vil-
lain that “lives to fight another day,” and liches are masters of
survival. A lich’s lair will usually have three or four standard
escape routes, with one or two in each of the lair’s major
areas, such as the throne room or alchemy lab. These escape
routes always lead to a place completely outside the lair, and
may often lead to a ship or some other means of fast trans-
portation away from danger. More powerful liches will also
have more exotic means of escape at their disposal. It’s rare
to find an extremely powerful lich sorcerer who does not pos-
sess a ring of teleportation, or some other device designed to
completely frustrate the bravest of brave adventurers.
The guardians of a lich’s lair vary according to the age of
the lich. A newly created lich is still connected to the lifestyle
of mortals, and would be more likely to use living guardians.
These living guardians may be ordinary soldiers, who would
be used to patrol and guard all the areas of the lich’s lair; or
something more exotic, like a chimera or manticore, to guard
a very specific area of a lich’s lair, such as a treasure cham-
ber or laboratory. The older the lich, however, the more alien
its thought processes, and the more it forgets what mortals
need. Older liches forget to pay their mortal soldiers, forget to
feed their manticore pets – and so they begin to lose the liv-
ing as resources. For this reason, the more ancient, powerful
liches utilize non-living creatures to fight for them. Flesh
golems are the most commonly used, as they are suited for
both combat and non-combat functions. Iron and stone
golems may also be used, but these tend to be guardians
strictly intended for combat. Lichlings, skeletons, and zom-
bies are also used, but the number of these creatures required
to successfully fight more powerful foes often make these
undead creatures little more than warning devices, designed
to slow down opponents so the lich can escape from danger.
Traps are also put into service by more cunning liches.
They are employed in two basic ways: to kill intruders and
enemies directly, or to capture these enemies so that the lich
can directly kill them at a later time and place of its choosing.
“Common” traps, such as spiked-filled pits, poisonous gases,
collapsing walls in corridors designed to crush unsuspecting
souls – these are the sorts of traps that liches employ. More
often than not, these traps kill by using poison, cold, and elec-
tricity, as these attacks cannot harm the lich and so cannot be
turned against the vile, undead monster.
Poisons and toxins are favorites of some liches. The fol-
lowing section describes some of the specialized venoms
developed by lich alchemists throughout the centuries. The
indicated costs for these poisons are for creating a single
ounce of poison. All of these diabolical liquids are effective
either on contact or consumption by the victim. They operate
somewhat differently from normal poisons due to their mag-
ical nature, as described below.
15
 Lich Poisons and Toxins
Bloodfyre: A bloodfyre poison causes the victim’s blood
to literally burn unless an initial Fortitude save (DC 16) is
made. The poison acts slowly at first, causing only 1 hit point
damage per round for 10 rounds. If a neutralize poison or
heal spell is not cast upon the victim of this poison during this
time, a fiery explosion detonates inside the victim on the 11th
round, as per a fireball spell as cast by a 5th-level sorcerer.
Caster level: 5th; Prerequisites: Brew Potion, fireball;
Market Price: 1,800 gp. Type: Injury.
Fleshrot: This nasty toxin causes a living creature’s skin to
literally rot away. The poison deals 4d6 points of initial damage
(Fortitude DC 16 reduces this to 1d6), and 1d4 points of sec-
ondary permanent Constitution drain (Fortitude DC 16 reduces
this to 1 point of temporary Constitution damage). One dose of
this poison fills a 10-ft. square area with brown vapors, which
disperse in one minute unless blown away by strong wind.
Caster level: 8th; Prerequisites: Brew Potion; Market
Price: 1,200 gp. Type: Contact.
Numbness: A specialized form of paralysis, this toxin lets
its victims move about, but they lose their sense of touch for
1d4 days unless they make a Fortitude save (DC 18). Creatures
so affected suffer a -10 enhancement penalty to Dexterity,
though this cannot reduce the creature’s Dexterity below 1.
Caster level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Brew Potion, hold per-
son; Market Price: 500 gp. Type: Injury.
Obedience: This mind-controlling poison forces affect-
ed victims to obey the simple commands of the individual
who originally brewed the potion. For 1d10+10 rounds after
inhaling the poison, victims treat any command or suggestion
as if affected by the suggestion spell. A Will save (DC 16)
each round lets the creature act normally.
Caster level: 5th; Prerequisites: Brew Potion, sugges-
tion; Market Price: 1,000 gp. Type: Inhalation.
Slow Wounding: This special poison is a favorite of
liches who like to watch their victims die slowly. It is usual-
ly placed in traps or administered at a place where the victim
has no hope of finding help anytime soon. If the creature fails
a Fortitude save (DC 30), the toxin remains in his system for
as long as a year, dealing 1d6 points of damage per day and
preventing natural healing. Cure spells can heal this damage,
but the poison can only be negated by a heal, limited wish,
miracle, or wish spell.
Caster level: 11th; Prerequisites: Brew Potion, harm;
Market Price: 2,000 gp. Type: Injury.
16
Puzzle Traps
Liches are intelligent creatures. Many of them also have
immense egos. As such, these liches like to prove that they
are smarter than everyone else, particularly those who would
seek to seek to slay them. While mechanical traps tend to be
more trustworthy in slaughtering foes, liches cannot resist the
idea of outwitting their foes – and in doing so, killing them.
To this end, liches often place puzzle- and riddle-based traps
throughout their lairs to protect critical areas. These puzzle-
based traps are typically written on a wall or spoken by a
magic mouth. Failure to answer a riddle or solve a puzzle
might only mean that a door cannot be opened – or the con-
sequences may be more lethal, where failure to answer a rid-
dle in a certain amount of time unleashes a monster, or sends
poisoned darts flying into the small room that the characters
are exploring. Examples of simple riddles are:
What can be swallowed, but can also swallow you?
Pride.
The more you have of it, the less you see. What is it?
Darkness.
You heard me before, yet you hear me again. Then I die,
till you call me again. What am I?
An echo.
The following is an example of a far more complex puz-
zle trap to be found in a lich’s lair.
The Chess Chamber of the
Lich Lord Fortinbras
The archway through which the characters enter the
Chess Chamber seals up instantly once all the player charac-
ters are through, effectively trapping them inside. Should the
party so desire, they can attempt to destroy the enchanted
stone wall that now fills the archway, but the wall has a hard-
ness rating of 20, 40 hit points, and a break DC of 30, mak-
ing it difficult to destroy before the chamber threatens them.
The room itself is massive, 80 feet by 80 feet in a perfect
square. The gold-leafed ceiling is 20 feet high at the edges of
the room, arching to a height of 30 feet at the center. The floor
is marble, with an alternating pattern of black and white tiles.
Giant chess pieces, ranging from 6 feet to 12 feet tall, sit on
some of these tiles. (The game master may want to lay out an
actual chess board with chess pieces at this point; in fact, if
the players are using 25 mm miniatures, a chess board makes
The Tale of Fortinbras
a perfect gaming surface for them.) The chess pieces are Conqueror Fortinbras, Master of Iron and Fire
arranged as per the diagram below: With One Last Battle to Claim His Empire
One Last Nation to Conquer, One Last Tower to Fall,
Notation of pieces: So He Sent Forth Soldiers to Rule over All ...
wp – white pawn bp – black pawn
WR1 – 1st white rook BR1 – 1st black rook Church Attacks State in Mindless Aggression
WR2 – 2nd white rook BR2 – 2nd black rook While Gallant Knight Retreats to His Queen to offer
WN1 – 1st white knight BN1 – 1st black knight Protection
WN2 – 2nd white knight BN2 – 2nd black knight His Gallantry not Wasted, His Sacrifice not in Vain
WB1 – 1st white bishop BB – black bishop His Brother in Arms Adds the Priest to the Slain
WB2 – 2nd white bishop BQ – black queen With Victory in Hand, Fortinbras Rode Forth to See
WQ – white queen BK – black king The End of the Battle – not Expecting Treachery
WK – white king From his Lieutenant – a Paladin Sworn to the Black
Who with Treacherous Hand Stabs his King in the Back
Joining this Traitor to Stand at His Side
WK WR2 Is His Cursed Accomplice – Fortinbras’ Bride
So, With Fortinbras in His Grave, and His Legacy Gone
WB2 wp
The Last Ivory Tower Opens Its Gates . . . the Last Battle
WQ wp WN2 WB1 Won.

BR2 bp
The proper solution to the puzzle is as follows:
wp WR1 bp
1. “Church Attacks State...” – the Black Bishop takes out
WN2 the 1st White Rook.
BN1 BK bp BR1 BB 2. “Gallant Knight Retreats to His Queen...” – the 1st White
BQ BN2
Knight moves diagonally between the Black Bishop and
the White Queen.
3. “Gallantry not Wasted...” – the Black Bishop takes out
Written in exquisite gold lettering on each of the room’s the 1st White Knight
four walls is a riddle. The riddle is written in the Common
language on the north and south walls, and in High Elvish on 4. “His Brother in Arms...” – the 2nd White Knight takes
the east and west walls. (If none of the players characters can out the Black Bishop
read either of these languages, the game master should feel 5. “Fortinbras Rode Forth to See...” – the Black King
free to make the riddle available in something they can read.) moves forward one space
The riddle reads as follows.
6. “Who with Treacherous Hand...” – the 1st Black Knight
takes out the Black King
7. “Joining this Traitor...” – the Black Queen moves to a
space next to the 1st Black Knight
The chess pieces move easily across the floor, and can be
pushed around without difficulty by the characters. When the
player characters “correctly” move a chess piece into posi-
tion, a soft chiming sound echoes throughout the Chess

17
Chamber. In addition to this, when one chess piece correctly
“takes out” another piece, the vanquished chess piece dissi-
pates into nothingness, leaving only the victorious chess
piece on the correct space. Moving pieces incorrectly does
not necessarily create a harmful effect, but it might affect the
ability of the player characters to correctly move all the
pieces in the correct sequence and order.
Once the Black Queen is moved into position, the player
characters hear a loud, distinct clicking sound coming from
the northeast corner of the room. Any character investigating
the source of this sound finds that a hidden panel in the side
of the 2nd White Rook has opened slightly. (“The Last Ivory
Tower Opens...”) Inside this hollow Rook is a spiral staircase
leading downward to the next room.
Ultimately, the game master must make the judgment
call as to whether or not the players “correctly” solve the rid-
dle. The consequences of failure are up to the game master,
and there are certainly other ways to get around the riddle by
searching for secret doors or stoneshaping the entrance. You
could make this particular trap even nastier by flooding the
chamber, placing monsters in the chamber that try to kill the
characters while they slide chess pieces across the room, or
with other equally cruel methods.
Misinformation: But things don’t always have to be as
complex as death traps and hordes of minions. One of the
simplest and most effective ways for a lich to defend itself
and its lair is with lies. To that end, it’s quite simple for a lich
– or a servant of the lich – to find a poor, struggling bard and
give that bard enough gold to start singing songs about the
legend of the lich. The bard’s songs and tales are filled with
false information, such as the wrong location of the lich’s lair,
misleading tales about the monsters lurking there, and so on.
Servants of the lich might also provide similar false informa-
tion to sages and scholars, particularly if it comes to the lich’s
attention that someone is trying to hunt it down. Lying and
bribery often are far more effective in defending a lich’s lair
than the most powerful of spells.
The only weakness to such lies is that those who spread
them must have at least contacted a servant of the lich at some
point, who in turn must have been in contact with the lich,
providing characters willing to do some detective work a trail
by which to find and learn the truth about a lich.

18
 Chapter 4
Lich Abilities
Liches have access to unique powers normally not avail-
able to the living, including soul-based combat spells and
feats that capitalize upon the lich’s existing powers.
Lich Spells
While these spells are not normally used by the living,
there’s no reason why they couldn’t be copied from a slain
lich’s spell book. Many necromancers would pay highly for
access to the bizarre spells invented by the nearly immortal
genius of a lich wizard.
Animate Lichling
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 4, Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Targets: 1 or more pile of bones touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
This spell functions as animate dead, except that you
create a type of undead known as a lichling (see page 35). The
limit for the total hit dice of undead you can control applies
to lichlings as well as normal zombies and skeletons created
with animate dead.
Animate lichling can only be cast by a spellcaster who
has successfully created a phylactery.
Material Components: A diamond worth 100 gp and a
withered goat’s heart for each lichling you create, both of
which must be placed in a pile of bones. The bones become
the lichling, and the components are consumed in the casting.
Bone Chill
Necromancy [Cold, Death]
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Area: Cloud spreads 40 ft. wide and 40 ft. high
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial
Spell Resistance: Yes
Similar to a chill touch spell or a lichling’s cold touch
attack, this spell creates a cloud of cold necromantic energy
that freezes the bones and blood of all living creatures
touched by it. Those within the dark cloud take 3d6 points of
damage each round they are inside the cloud. Movement is
halved for those in the cloud. When a creature is first exposed
to the cloud, it may make a Fortitude save to negate the
movement penalty and reduce the damage to 1d6 points per
round. As a standard action, the spellcaster can concentrate to
shift the position of the bone chill cloud by 30 feet per round.
Eyes of Decay
Illusion (Phantasm) [Fear, Mind-Affecting]
Level: Sor/Wiz 34
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One creature
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Will partial
Spell Resistance: Yes
With this spell, the caster causes the creature touched to
see its world as a dead and horrific place. The affected target
sees all living creatures surrounding it as hideous undead zom-
bies, and the rest of its surroundings as a hellish nightmare.
Buildings look burned and ruined, food looks spoiled, and the
sky appears black and ominous. This apocalyptic nightmare is
so terrifying that, if the target fails a Will save, it becomes pan-
icked, fleeing from everything in a hopeless desire to escape
the nightmare. Even if the target succeeds its save, it does not
see through the illusion. Though it knows the images are fake,
the sight is still disturbing, and the creature becomes shaken,
suffering an additional -4 penalty to Listen, Search, Sense
Motive, and Spot checks for the spell’s duration.
19
 lichdom to bind the life essence of the caster or another crea-
Ghostly Form ture into a prepared phylactery. Willing creatures voluntarily
Transmutation fail their save to resist. If cast upon an unwilling target, the
Level: Sor/Wiz 5 spell traps the life essence of that target in the phylactery for
Components: V, S, M 1 round per caster level. The target suffers a penalty to all his
Casting Time: 1 action ability scores equal to 2d4 for the spell’s duration, although
Range: Touch this cannot reduce an ability below 1. If the creature dies while
Target: One living creature its soul is partially in the phylactery, it rises as a semi-
Duration: 1 round/level lich within 1d10 days unless the victim is brought
Saving Throw: Fort negates back from the dead before that.
Spell Resistance: Yes
A creature affected by a ghostly form spell turns insub-
stantial, and is able to pass through solid matter as though it
were a ghost. However, the caster of the spell controls what
type of matter – if any – the target may pass through.
Examples include “all matter,” “only stone,” or “metal,
flesh, and stone.” While in this state, the affected crea-
ture cannot use weapons, cast spells, or perform any
other action capable of physically affecting any
other creature. The affected creature also cannot
speak. Attacks of the appropriate type of solid
matter pass harmlessly through the target’s
ghost-like form, except for those of the caster.
All of the caster’s attacks, both magical and
non-magical, do full damage to the target
of the spell. If the target’s hit points are
reduced to zero while in this ghost-like
state, the target’s form is utterly destroyed,
and the target’s physical body will not
reappear at the end of the spell’s duration.
Material Components: A drop of poi-
son and a spider’s web.

Join the Soul

Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Brd 4, Clr 6, Drd 6, Sor/Wiz 6
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 30 minutes
Range: Touch
Target: Personal or creature touched, and
prepared phylactery
Duration: Instantaneous then 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
This spell is used in many rituals of

20
 A successful Will save by an unwilling target only means
that the target feels slightly nauseous, but otherwise is able to
function normally.
If, after receiving this spell, the ritual to become a lich is
not completed within 1 hour, the subject’s body dies, and the
subject’s life essence is trapped within the phylactery for the
rest of eternity.
Few sorcerers or bards learn this spell, preferring instead
to cast from scrolls.
Join the Mind
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Brd 4, Clr 6, Drd 6, Sor/Wiz 6
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 30 minutes
Range: Touch
Target: Personal or creature touched, and prepared vessel
Duration: Varies; see below
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
This spell is similar to join the soul, except that the spell
transfers the memories of the affected creature into a special-
ly prepared vessel of the mind, instead of its soul. If this spell
is used on an unwilling creature, the creature is reduced to a
simpleton with no memories or knowledge, losing all access
to abilities or modifiers from class levels. The person in pos-
session of the vessel of the mind gains access to the abilities
contained therein, taking the better of its or the stolen
thought’s knowledge on any given topic. An unwilling crea-
ture’s knowledge returns after 1 round per caster level, leav-
ing the vessel empty. A successful Will save negates the drain
of knowledge.
If cast upon a willing target, the thoughts remain within
the vessel for 1 hour. If the ritual of lichdom is not complet-
ed in that time, the thoughts fade, leaving the creature alive
but with complete amnesia. Of course, if the creature had also
received join the soul, the consequence of not completing the
ritual is death.
Few sorcerers or bards learn this spell, preferring instead
to cast from scrolls.
Necromantic Restoration
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 4, Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M/DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft + 10 ft./ level)
Area: All living creatures in a 50 ft. radius burst
Duration: Instantaneous, then 10 minutes/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes
Necromantic restoration deals 1 point of negative energy
damage to all living creatures in the affected area. The caster
gains temporary hit points equal to the damage dealt, to a
maximum of 50 hit points, lasting for 10 minutes per level.
Arcane Material Components: A magnet and a silver
mirror worth at least 100 gp.
Necromantic Wind
Necromancy
Level: Clr 5, Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Long (400 ft + 40 ft./level)
Effect: Cyclone 10 feet wide at base, 20 feet wide at top, and
20 ft. tall
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Will partial and Reflex partial
Spell Resistance: Yes
This spell creates a cyclone of swirling necromantic
energy that moves at a rate of 30 feet per round. The caster
can concentrate to direct the cyclone’s exact movements, or
simply send forth the cyclone in a specific direction. If the
wind goes beyond the spell’s range, it dissipates and cannot
be brought back.
Creatures touched by the necromantic wind must suc-
ceed a Will save or be driven mad for the spell’s duration, as
per an insanity spell. In addition to this, they take 1d10 points
of negative energy damage per round they are exposed to the
wind. A Reflex save each round can negate this damage.
Material Components: The wings of a bat and the sev-
ered finger of a madman.
21
Puppets of Death
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 6, Death 6, Sor/Wiz 7
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 50 ft.
Area: 50 ft. radius emanation, centered on the caster
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
This spell functions like animate dead, except that the
skeletons or zombies animated this way only remain animat-
ed until the end of the spell’s duration, and that the spell ani-
mates all dead bodies in the area of effect. The caster may
control up to 2 Hit Dice of undead per caster level with this
spell, in addition to the normal limit of animate dead spells.
Material Components: Powder from a crushed skull.
Tendrils of Evil
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Sor/Wiz 6
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Area: 5 ft. line to medium range (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex partial, Fortitude partial
Spell Resistance: Yes
This spell may only be cast by an undead spellcaster, or
a living spellcaster with 0 or fewer hit points. Otherwise, the
spell fails, for it requires death as fuel.
The spell sends forth whip-like tendrils of necromantic
energy that act similar to a lich’s negative energy touch
attack. The tendrils strike everything in their path, dealing
1d6 points of damage per caster level, to a maximum of 15d6
(Reflex save for half damage). Creatures dealt damage by the
spell are paralyzed for 1d4+4 rounds, unless they succeed a
Fortitude save.
22
Lich Feats
Many liches retain the core essence of their personalities
even after the transformation. The way it thinks remains root-
ed in the patterns of its former life – moving the jaw to speak,
sitting down to ‘rest,’ even a fear of insects or of drowning.
There are those liches, however, who make a conscious deci-
sion to live as they are now and get the most out of their new
form. They see the possibilities inherent as supernaturally-
powered undead and the following feats reflect that. The
lich’s phylactery, its tie to the Negative Energy Plane, and the
modification of its new abilities can all be explored (and
exploited) by the crafty lich.
Phylactery Feats: The lich has special feat options
because of its unique tie to the phylactery—its life-sustaining
magic item. For some liches, the phylactery is not just a ves-
sel for the lich’s soul, it is what keeps a lich focused on what-
ever path brought it to lichdom in the first place. The MM
states that a phylactery is commonly a sealed metal box con-
taining strips of parchment on which magical phrases have
been transcribed. While many sages assume these phrases to
be part of the spell which binds the lich to its phylactery,
often liches use these strips as something of a confession.
Before completing the ritual to become a lich, the lich-
to-be writes down the reason he is becoming a lich. This
physical representation of the lich’s primal desire binds it to
the phylactery just as much as magic. When the phylactery is
destroyed, so is the lich’s reason for being. Until that time, the
lich is able to invest its phylactery with unique powers—and
draw the same from it—using the feats detailed below.
Regardless of the phylactery’s actual form, to make use of
these feats, it must still include some kind of writing stating
the lich’s focus. No matter the phylactery type, the caster cre-
ating it is responsible for penning this reason. To read the
script requires either a successful Decipher Script or
Knowledge (arcana) check (DC 30).
Augment Undead (General)
You can create particularly powerful undead.
Prerequisites: Ability to create undead via animate
dead, create undead, create greater undead, or innate ability
(e.g., a wight’s create spawn ability)
Benefits: Undead that you create have +4 Str and receive
3 extra hit points, as if they had the Toughness feat.
Death of Fantasy (General)
You have given up on imagination and dreams, your
death having given you an understanding that such fantasies
have no power.
Prerequisites: Must be undead, immunity to mind-
affecting effects.
Benefits: You automatically succeed at saves to disbelieve
or otherwise ignore illusions. You cannot cast illusion spells.
making them become evil. If the targets fail a Will save (DC
10 + 1/2 lich’s HD + lich’s Cha modifier), they feel as if their
souls have been tainted by the ritual of lichdom. Their align-
ment turns to evil for 1 hour. Alteration in alignment is men-
tal as well as moral, and the individuals changed enjoy their
new outlook. Only a wish or miracle can restore the former
alignment before the end of the duration.
Fearful Defense (General)

Evil Eclipse (Phylactery)
Practice at interacting with your phylactery allows you
corrupt others with your own evil essence.
Prerequisites: Lich, Soul Fuel, Spellcraft 10 ranks
Benefits: By using a drawn caster level from your phy-
lactery (see the Soul Fuel feat), you can attempt to change the
alignments of up to three creatures within 60 feet of you,
You refocus your fear aura to become more effective
against those attacking you with melee weapons.
Prerequisites: Must possess a fear aura
Benefits: As a move action, you can stop radiating your
fear aura and instead hold that energy to yourself as a reactive
shield. Any creatures attacking you in melee must succeed at a
Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 lich’s HD + lich’s Cha modifier) or be
affected as though by a fear spell from a sorcerer of your level.

New Feats
General Feats Prerequisite Benefit
Augment Undead Ability to create undead Undead created have +4 Str, +3 hp
Death of Fantasy Undead, immune to Automatically save vs. illusions
mind-affecting effects
Fearful Defense Fear aura Turn aura into fear shield
Glimmer of Life Phylactery or equivalent Use soul as shield against divination
Impose Energy Channel energy, Knowledge (the Channel different energy type
planes) 7 ranks
Necrotic Bolt Negative energy touch attack Hurl touch attack energy as ranged attack
Necrotic Burst Negative energy touch attack, 20-ft. burst of negative energy
Necrotic Bolt
Necrotic Mastery Negative energy touch attack, Increase base damage for negative energy
Necrotic Bolt touch attack
Phylactery Feats Prerequisite Benefit
Soul Fuel Lich, Spellcraft 10 ranks Draw caster levels from phylactery
Evil Eclipse Lich, Soul Fuel, Spellcraft 10 ranks Change target alignments to evil
Steal Ability Lich Take one ability from paralyzed target
Maintain Stolen Ability Lich, Steal Ability, caster level 14 Sacrifice spell slot to permanently use ability

23
 Normal: As an aura, your fear effect only affects crea-
tures of less than 5 HD in a 60-foot radius that look at you.
Special: A fighter may select Fearful Defense as one of
his fighter bonus feats.
Glimmer of Life (General)
You can call forth your soul as it was before you died,
using it as a shield against magical detection.
Prerequisites: Must have own soul stored away (such as
in a phylactery).
Benefits: As a full-round action, if you are in contact
with your phylactery, you can use a piece of your living soul
as a shield against divination. All forms of magical detection
that determine alignment, health, creature type, and other
aspects inherent to a living creature will detect you according
to how you were in life. While you keep this defense up, how-
ever, you lose your immunity to mind-affecting effects, sleep,
stunning, and energy drain. You may drop the defense as a
move action.
Impose Energy (General)
You sacrifice some of your connection to the Negative
Energy Plane, attuning that part to an elemental plane instead.
Prerequisites: Ability to channel positive or negative
energy (such as a lich’s negative energy touch, or a cleric’s
ability to turn or command undead or spontaneously cast
inflict spells), Knowledge (the planes) 7 ranks.
Benefits: Choose an energy type – acid, cold, electricity,
fire, or sonic. Whenever you channel negative energy, you
may choose to instead channel your chosen energy type. This
affects the type of damage dealt by attacks, and bypasses pro-
tection against negative energy. A cleric using this ability to
alter a command or turn undead usage will not affect undead,
but could turn creatures that have a vulnerability against that
energy type. He could also use the energy to open a portal
sealed that only responds to the particular sort of energy.
Maintain Stolen Ability (Phylactery)
Your phylactery can hold knowledge you steal from oth-
ers.
Prerequisites: Lich, Steal Ability, caster level 14.
Benefits: Whenever you steal an ability using the Steal
Ability feat, you may sacrifice a spell slot of 5th level or of
the ability’s spell level, whichever is higher. If you do, you
permanently gain the ability to use the stolen power. If the
ability is a feat, you gain access to it constantly. If the power
24
is an ability with a limited number of uses per day, you can
use the power once per day.
Necrotic Bolt (General)
You can hurl the negative energy of your touch attack.
Prerequisites: Must possess a negative energy touch
attack.
Benefits: You can hurl the energy of your touch attack as
a ranged touch attack, with a range increment of 10 feet up to
a maximum of five range increments. The attack is otherwise
identical to the normal touch attack.
Special: As with any negative energy attack, you can use
this ability to heal undead creatures. This attack cannot deliv-
er a lich’s paralyzing touch.
Necrotic Burst (General)
You can discharge your negative energy touch attack as
a deadly burst.
Prerequisites: Must possess a negative energy touch
attack, Necrotic Bolt.
Benefits: Instead of attacking with your negative energy
touch, you can unleash a 20-foot radius burst of negative
energy. All creatures in the area are affected as if they had
been struck by your touch. You lose access to your negative
energy touch attack for the next 1d4+1 rounds.
Special: As with any negative energy attack, you can use
this ability to heal undead creatures. This attack cannot deliv-
er a lich’s paralyzing touch.
Necrotic Mastery (General)
A greater understanding of your connection to the
Negative Energy Plane allows you to enhance your touch
attack’s damage potential.
Prerequisites: Must possess a negative energy touch
attack, Necrotic Bolt.
Benefits: The base damage for your negative energy
touch attack (including Necrotic Bolt and Necrotic Burst) can
be increased by 1d8 for every two hit dice you possess
beyond 2. For each extra 1d8 of damage you do, you lose
access to your touch attack for 1 round.
For example, an 11th-level wizard lich could increase its
damage by up to 4d8, to a total of 5d8+5. After making the
attack however, it would not be able to use its touch attack
(nor Necrotic Bolt or Necrotic Burst) for 4 rounds. If it used
this ability in conjunction with Necrotic Burst, it would have
to wait 1d4+5 rounds before it could use its touch attack
again.
Special: As with any negative energy attack, you can this
ability to heal undead creatures.

Soul Fuel (Phylactery)

You can draw power from your phylactery, at the risk of

it being destroyed.
Prerequisites: Lich, Spellcraft 10 ranks.
Benefits: You can draw up to half your phylactery’s
caster level in power in a given day. If you crafted your phy-
lactery when you were 11th level, you could draw up to 5
caster levels from it in a day.
As a standard action you can draw levels to do any of the
following (you can draw and use more than 1 level at a time):
• Gain a +2 resistance bonus to saves against magic for ten
minutes.
• Restore one expended spell or spell slot of up to your
highest level available.
• Increase your caster level by 1 for the purposes of level-
based spell effects and penetrating spell resistance, last-
ing for ten minutes.
• Gain a +6 enhancement bonus to one ability score for ten
minutes.
If your physical body is destroyed within a day of you
using this ability, you must succeed a Will save (DC 20 + 2
per caster level drawn), or else your phylactery is damaged
and you permanently lose 1 level.

Steal Ability (Phylactery)

You can borrow and use another creature’s ability as if it

were your own. Knowledge of the ability is temporarily kept
in your phylactery.
Prerequisites: Lich.
Benefits: When you touch an opponent with your para-
lyzing touch attack, you may choose not to paralyze the foe,
but instead instantly know the creature’s unique abilities and
powers. If the target fails a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 lich’s HD
+ lich’s Cha mod), you learn this knowledge and can choose
any single feat, spell known, prepared spell, or special class
ability, which you steal from the target, gaining the ability to
use it once. If the ability is a feat, you gain access to it for a
minute. If the power is an ability with a limited number of
uses per day, you can use the power once in the next minute.

25
 Chapter 5
Liches and Your Campaign
As creatures of dark magic, liches are best suited for fan-
tasy campaigns. But what sort of fantasy? Below are sugges-
tions for how to use liches in a variety of fantastic settings.
Urban Setting: Traditionally, the lich is used as a “mad
wizard,” and that basic type is usually a great adventure hook.
But why make the lich’s true nature obvious? The lich could
be head of a guild, or a sage, or someone else with whom the
characters must interact. Perhaps the lich has hired the adven-
turers to retrieve certain magic items, which the lich intends
to use for evil purposes. Or perhaps the lich represents the
lesser of two evils – even though the lich controls all the com-
merce and trade in a city, this lawful evil lich at least does so
in a somewhat honorable way, and destroying the lich could
mean disaster for the city. Urban settings offer the opportuni-
ty to use a lich or lich variant in ways that go beyond a stan-
dard two-dimensional villain.
Sample Adventure Hook: While the city of Actios is ruled
in name by the royal House of Marbrand, everyone knows
that the “true” ruler of the city is a sinister, unseen figure
known as the Shroud. It is rumored that the Shroud has ruled
the city for centuries, and no one knows for sure whether the
“Shroud” is a title passed on from individual to individual
over the years, or if the Shroud is one individual who has
existed all these many generations. Now, people are disap-
pearing from the streets of Actios, and undead are roaming in
the graveyards outside the city. Rumors that the Shroud is a
lich no longer seem so crazy – nor do the stories that the
Shroud is creating an undead army for some sinister purpose.
However, unbeknownst to the characters, while the Shroud is
in fact a lich, it is actually trying to prevent these legions of
undead from being created – an evil, living necromancer has
created the undead, and is seeking to take control of Actios
away from the Shroud.
Jungle Setting: Jungles lend themselves to secluded
environments, so the liches and lich variants found in jungles
would be the sort desiring to completely isolate themselves
from the living. These are the “mad scientist” liches, per-
forming abominable experiments that most find too terrible to
even contemplate. Perhaps these liches need living subjects
for their experiments. Opening portals to forbidden realms, or
finding an answer to an ancient curse could be reasons why a
lich would choose to stay in the darkest heart of a savage jun-
gle. And of course, mages native to the jungle might have
26
their own unique forms of lichdom.
Sample Adventure Hook: Around the ancient jungles of
Tarleth, the stars in the nighttime sky have begun to move and
change, realigning themselves into a single constellation rep-
resenting a dragon. Local legend has it that this is the black
dragon demi-god Kraalien, who was imprisoned ages ago in
another dimension. It was prophesized that three signs would
mark the return of Kraalien, the first sign being the constella-
tion. No one knows for sure why this is happening, but it is
known that centuries ago, Kraalien’s chief disciple, a black
dragon known as Goerik, become a dracolich – and headed
deep into Tarleth, vowing to bring his master back from his
banishment.
Desert Setting: Liches in a desert setting can take on the
role that mummies assume in fiction and film. Mummies in
the typical fantasy setting are mindless brutes, slow and plod-
ding. A lich – maybe one even being called a “mummy” in
error – offers some different wrinkles to an ordinary mummy
adventure. Characters expecting a typical mummy buried
within a pyramid might be in for a shock if they find a lich
lurking within the catacombs instead.
Sample Adventure Hook: The tomb of the pharaoh
Ramakhet has long been rumored to be inhabited by the
mummified remains of the pharaoh. Long after the other pyr-
amids surrounding the tomb of Ramakhet were sacked and
looted, Ramakhet’s final resting place remains exactly as it
was thousands of years ago, completely untouched and undis-
turbed. But buried with Ramakhet was an artifact known as
the Sword of Ancient Kings – and that sword is now needed
by the current pharaoh to ensure impending victory in a bat-
tle. The characters are sent into Ramakhet’s tomb to find the
Sword and to defeat the mummy Ramakhet, if necessary.
What they do not know is that Ramakhet is a lich – and has
chosen to exist undisturbed in his tomb with his beloved wife
Jaepeltra, who is a philolich.
Arctic Setting: As with the jungle setting, the arctic set-
ting is isolated, limiting the potential for the lich to interact
with the living. Unless the lich inhabited the arctic regions in
life, an obvious question arises – why would the lich travel to
a freezing wasteland? Perhaps the lich simply seeks to cut
itself off from the rest of the world, or perhaps the lich is
actively seeking something of great importance, something
that required the lich becoming undead in the first place.
 Sample Adventure Hook: In the ice kingdoms of Vorn, the
warlich Iruk has butchered his way through the frozen waste-
lands, searching blindly for a forbidden tome of knowledge.
Iruk’s search has led him to the fabled Mountain of Darkest
Ice, a place where it is said no living soul can survive in the
caves beneath the Mountain. Iruk sought to challenge this
notion by becoming undead – but the characters do not have
such options, and if they wish to stop Iruk, they must find the
warlich in the labyrinthine mazes beneath the Mountain.
Underwater Setting: Here’s a place to create some def-
inite non-traditional liches. Aquatic elves, sahuagin, loa-
cathah – all of these can be made into some unique liches and
lich variants. While the motivation for these underwater-
dwelling liches might not necessarily be all that different
from a land-dwelling lich, the change of setting alone can add
all sorts of possibilities.
Sample Adventure Hook: The sailors of the Eastern Sea
call the creature “the Storm Hammer” – a dragon turtle of
immense size and power. Ten years ago, the king offered one
of his duchies to the person who could bring him the head of
the Storm Hammer. The one who came closest was the Sea
Wizard Quomarre, who was thought slain by the beast at sea.
But Quomarre has returned in the form of a novalich – and
intends to destroy the Hammer, as well as every other sailor
in the sea searching for the gargantuan monster. Quomarre
needs to be captured or killed – are the player characters up
to the challenge?
Other Settings: While the traditional fantasy game is
probably best suited for liches, that doesn’t mean that liches
can’t be used in more “modern” games, too. Liches make for
terrific antagonists in a Lovecraftian game setting – the mys-
terious figure who hires the player characters to seek forbid-
den tomes of knowledge on the foggy streets of London, or in
far-flung, mysterious Tibet, may in fact be a lich. Liches in
the Old West? No problem! Maybe Old Man Hamilton – you
know, the old soldier who disappeared a couple years back
down near the abandoned Black Bear Mines – well, maybe he
found something down in those mines he shouldn’t have
found: an ancient relic that transformed him into an undead
horror known as a lich.
Spy settings might be more of a stretch, but in campaigns
where “the truth is out there,” it could make sense. An enemy
agent turned into a lich can become an excellent, memorable
recurring villain in an ongoing spy campaign. Nazis always
seem to be dabbling in the dark arts, and everyone loves
immortal Nazi villains.
Liches can also be used in space-based science fiction
campaigns. Maybe they won’t be called liches, but they can
be used as terrifying creatures of evil just the same. Just pic-
ture it – the player characters are sent to find a lost explo-
ration craft and its crew. They find only one survivor, and that
survivor has been changed by alien technology in some inex-
plicably sinister way.
Lich-Hunting Motivations
In setting up adventures involving a lich, it’s pretty easy
to establish the motivations for these evil creatures. Finding
reasons for the characters to actively seek out a lich, though,
may be a little more difficult. If a group of players characters
is fairly powerful (or cocky), they might believe themselves
to be up to the challenge of slaying a lich, but liches can be
incredibly powerful monsters, more powerful than dragons.
Less experienced groups of characters may think twice about
actively seeking out a lich. The obvious adventure involving
a lich – a fantastic artifact is in the lich’s possession, and the
characters must slay the lich to get it – works, but here are a
few other ideas that add some twists to that familiar theme:
Only the Lich Knows: In order to help their efforts in
some other quest – saving a princess, finding a cure for a mys-
terious disease, and so on – the characters learn that the only
one who possesses the knowledge they need is a former-sage-
turned-lich. Furthermore, the knowledge sought only exists in
the lich’s mind – it is not written in any book or scroll. Instead
of slaying the lich, the player characters must successfully
parley with the lich, or at least speak long enough to get what
they need, and to verify that the lich doesn’t lie to them.
Lich in a Cage: A secretive wizards’ academy contracts
the player characters with an unusual mission: capture a lich
and bring it to the school undamaged. The wizards of this
academy want to study the long term effects of necromantic
magic. Compounding this problem further is the little fact
that the wizards never tell the player characters what the lich
really is – they just call her a “renegade sorceress.”
Depending on where the lich is located in relation to the acad-
emy, initially capturing the lich sorceress could be the easy
part, as dragging the captured lich across difficult terrain
might prove to be even more dangerous – especially if the
lich is angry.
Cure for a Lich: A wealthy cleric gives the player charac-
ters a potion that he claims will return a lich to its mortal form
and restore its soul. This cleric, who is a distant relative of this
lich, wants the player characters to find the lich and make sure
it imbibes the potion. How will the players convince – or trick
– or force – the lich to actually drink the potion?
27
 Appendix 1
Lich Variants and Monsters
As per “regular” liches, the lich variants are not a stan-
dard monster type, but rather a template to be added to an
existing character or creature. The standard lich template can
be found in the MM; the sub-type templates below may ref-
erence this original template.
Modifying the Standard Lich
One of the best ways to tie a classic monster into one’s
setting is to slightly modify its standard abilities to better
match the style of the setting. The basic premise of the lich is
an undead creature whose soul is protected in an object,
which allows the lich to return after being destroyed. Beyond
that basic definition, the specific powers a lich possesses can
vary wildly without losing the core appeal of what a lich is. A
few possible changes are presented below.
• The body the lich animates is not its own, but rather a
collection of matter from around its phylactery. A lich
hiding in a jungle might consist of the decaying detritus
of old vines, bones, sickly sweet flowers, and an undead
colony of army ants.
• Instead of a paralyzing touch, the lich’s magical nature
lets it pull a spell from the mind of an enemy. A creature
must succeed a Will save or lose access to one spell slot
or prepared spell of the lich’s choice. The lich can cast
the spell for the next day as if it knew it.
• An ancient lich that has existed since the founding of a
city is empowered by acts of criminal intent. He works as
head of a thieves’ guild, and instead of a fear aura, he
emanates an aura that grants allies +8 to Hide, Listen,
Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks.
• A spellcaster could have bound his soul to energies of
another plane, like the plane of fire. His touch attack
deals fire damage, and he is not undead, but rather an ele-
mental. His fear aura instead snuffs all natural flames
around him, and he must pay tribute to his elemental
masters by immolating an infant each year at the summer
solstice.
• Even a simple change of class can make for a surprising
lich. A bardic lich, perhaps dressed as the grim reaper,
28
would be eerie and funny at the same time.
• A thought-stealing lich might have developed spells to
trap his foes in book form. After he paralyzes them he
transforms them and keeps as reference and entertain-
ment. When he holds a book, he possesses all the knowl-
edge of the person trapped in the book.
DRACOLICH
Like humans and other humanoid races, dragons can also
choose to assume a lich form. These specialized liches –
known to most mortals as dracoliches – are rare and fearsome
beasts. Dragons who choose to become dracoliches generally
do so for specific and nefarious purposes, as the long lifespan
of a dragon makes the ‘immortality’ that comes from lichdom
seem rather insignificant to the draconian beasts.
Apart from tattered membranes still holding the wing
bones together, dracoliches quickly lose all their flesh. They
resemble animated skeletons, held together only by evil
magic. Dracoliches are feared and reviled by all living drag-
onkind, even the evil chromatic dragons. To a living dragon,
embracing lichdom involves the deliberate rejection of the
dragon culture and way of life. If dragons discover the exis-
tence of a dracolich, they will often band together for the sin-
gle purpose of destroying the evil beast.
The dracolich template is identical to the lich template,
except as detailed below.
Armor Class: The dracolich’s natural armor bonus
increases by +5.
Damage: If it attacks with a natural weapon, the dracol-
ich may add this damage to one natural weapon attack each
round.
Special Attacks: A dracolich keeps all of the dragon’s
special attacks, gains those of a lich, and also gains those list-
ed below. Save DCs are equal to 10 + 1/2 dracolich’s HD +
dracolich’s Cha modifier unless otherwise noted.
Breath Weapon (Su): Recalculate the dracolich’s breath
weapon save DC using its Cha modifier instead of its Con
modifier.
Fear Aura (Su): As per the lich template. This is in addi-
tion to the dragon’s normal fear aura, though the effects are
different.
Death Weapon (Su): In addition to retaining its natural
breath weapons, a dracolich may once per day unleash an
alternate breath weapon of pure black necromantic energy.
This “death weapon” takes the same basic line/cone shape of
its natural breath weapon, as well as the same range.
However, all creatures caught within the energies of this
necromantic blast must make a successful Fortitude save or
be instantly slain. Creatures that successfully save still take
12d6 points of damage. Slain creatures not resurrected or
blessed before burial will rise from the dead 1d6 days later as
zombies. Creatures with more hit dice than the dracolich are
immune to the death weapon.
Special Qualities: A dracolich retains all of the dragon’s
special qualities except those that are magic–based. In addi-
tion, it gains the special qualities of normal liches, plus the
following qualities.
Damage Reduction (Su): A dracolich has damage reduc-
tion 15/bludgeoning and magic, in addition to its original dam-
age reduction. For example, a wyrm red dragon (DR 20/magic)
that becomes a dracolich would ignore the first 20 damage
from non-magical weapon attacks, and the first 15 damage
from magical weapon attacks that are not bludgeoning.
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str
+8, Dex +8, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +4. Being undead, a dracol-
ich has no Constitution score.
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: Same as base creature +4.
Alignment: Any evil. ating a dracolich. Dragons who undergo a failed ritual of lich-
Advancement: Same as base creature. dom do not become semi-liches, instead tending to rise as
Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +6. wights or skeletal dragons.
Dracolich Phylacteries: Like a lich, a dracolich must Dracolich Plot Hook: An aging dragon bound itself to a
possess a phylactery for its soul to survive the transition to unique phylactery – the door-shaped portal to the plane of the
undeath. Though the dragon itself need not craft its own phy- dead, hidden deep inside a crystal mountain. A necromancer
lactery, the fiercely magical nature of dragons requires that who wants access to the door needs a good-aligned party to
the dragon must possess some spellcasting ability for its soul help him defeat the greater evil of the dragon.
to endure in a phylactery, putting a certain age limit on which
dragons can become dracoliches. Either the dragon must have
spellcaster class levels, or it must be of a sufficient age to nat-
DROWLICH
urally have a caster level. When a drow becomes a lich, the end result is a particu-
A dracolich’s phylactery costs a minimum of 190,000 gp larly fearsome creature known as the drowlich. The creation
and 7,700 XP to create, and possesses a caster level equal to process for a drowlich is no different than that of a standard
the caster level of the spellcaster who created it. A “standard” lich; however, the drow’s affinity for evil and its long years
dracolich phylactery is of Medium size and has a hardness of existence in the underdark somehow serve to enhance the
rating of 40, 100 hit points, and a break DC of 60. Should the necromantic power that gives the drowlich its undead exis-
dragon so desire, a more elaborate and expensive phylactery tence. It is a creature of darkness, both physically and spiri-
can be created; as with a standard lich, this extra expense in tually.
creating a phylactery aids in the process of successfully cre-

29

For reasons that most sages still do not understand,
drowliches are not reviled by the living drow. While most
drow do not actively seek to become drowliches, it is not
unheard of for drow kingdoms in the underdark to be openly
led by drowlich leaders. Drowliches appear noticeably differ-
ent from living drow, as the remnants of their flesh quickly
change from the normal blackish hue of a living drow to a
dull and dead gray color.
The drowlich template is identical to the lich template,
except as detailed below.
Speed: Double the creature’s base speed.
Special Qualities: A drowlich retains all of the drow’s
special qualities. In addition, it gains the special qualities of
normal liches, plus the following qualities.
Hide in Shadows (Su): As long as a drowlich is within 10
ft. of an area of darkness (i.e., an area not considered illumi-
nated by a torch, light spell, or natural light for the purposes
of human vision), the drowlich is invisible, as per the greater
invisibility spell.
Shadow Jump (Sp): Once per day, a drowlich may
dimension door from one area of darkness to another within
line of sight, as per the spell cast by a sorcerer of the
drowlich’s character level.
30
Screen (Sp): A screen spell is permanently in effect upon
the drowlich.
Spell Resistance: A drowlich has spell resistance equal to
13 + its class levels. Whenever a drowlich’s spell resistance
keeps a spell from affecting the drowlich, the drowlich may
cast darkness on its next turn as a free action, without
expending the drow’s daily usage of its darkness spell-like
ability.
Light Blindness: Drowlich’s are blinded, not just daz-
zled, as long as they are in an area of bright light.
Additionally, they lose their turn resistance when in an area
of bright light.
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str
+4, Dex +4, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +4. Being undead, a
drowlich has no Constitution score.
Organization: Solitary or troupe (1 lich, plus 2–4 vam-
pires and 5–8 vampire spawn).
Challenge Rating: Same as base creature +4.
Treasure: Standard.
Alignment: Any evil.
Advancement: By character class.
Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +6.
Drowlich Phylacteries: Drowliches tend to bind their
souls to magic items, so that over-eager adventurers are more
likely to loot the item as treasure than to destroy it. The cost
for such items is the same as a typical phylactery, plus the
cost of the appropriate magic item. The item benefits from the
great hardness and hit points of a standard lich’s phylactery.
Drowlich Plot Hook: An elite drowlich wizard-assassin
stalks the party from the shadows on behalf of one of the
party’s foes. He never attacks, merely debilitates with poisons
and discreet spells, softening them up before the true villain
attacks.
NOVALICH
The novalich is not a typical lich in that it does not seek
immortality. Instead, it seeks to cheat death for a brief, limit-
ed time for the sole purpose of completing one specific task.
From the moment the undead novalich re-enters the material
world, it has exactly one year in which to complete its one
incomplete task, which must be designated by the potential
novalich during the ritual to transform it. When the year is up
– or when the novalich finally completes its task, whichever
comes first – the novalich’s physical body explodes in a tor-
rent of necromantic energy, utterly destroying the novalich
and causing 4d10+10 points of damage to any living creature
within a 100 foot radius of the novalich. No saving throw is
available to those caught within this blast radius.
Physically, it is almost impossible to discern a novalich
from its living form. Novaliches do not acquire the foul
stench that liches and other lich variants do. Their brief exis-
tence and the concentrated necromantic forces coursing
through their bodies combine to limit the extent of decompo-
sition to their physical form. In fact, novaliches have often
been confused with vampires, as the only obvious visible
clues to noticing a novalich is its pale skin, pronounced veins,
and intense stare.
The novalich template is identical to the lich template,
except as detailed below.
Armor Class: A novalich has a +7 natural armor bonus,
or the base creature’s natural armor bonus, whichever is bet-
ter.
Damage: In addition to a novalich’s negative energy
touch attack, a novalich also deals an additional 1d8+5 points
of negative energy damage to living creatures that fail a save
against one of its spells if that spell has an instantaneous dura-
tion.
Special Attacks: A novalich keeps all of the base crea-
ture’s special attacks, gains those of a lich, and also gains
those listed below. All saves have a DC of 10 + 1/2 novalich’s
HD + novalich’s Cha modifier unless otherwise noted.
Bolt of Draining (Su): Twice per day, a novalich can
spew forth a powerful bolt of negative energy from its undead
jaws in a 5-ft. wide line, extending outward to medium range
(100 ft. + 10 ft./novalich’s hit die). Any living creature in the
path of this bolt takes 2d6 points of damage. A Will save
negates this damage. The novalich heals hit points equal to
the amount of damage the bolt of draining deals, though it
cannot heal above its normal maximum.
Special Qualities: A novalich retains all of the base crea-
ture’s special qualities. In addition, it gains the special quali-
ties of normal liches, plus the following qualities.
Spell Resistance: A novalich has spell resistance equal to
14 + its class levels.
Damage Resistance (Su): A novalich has damage reduc-
tion 20/bludgeoning and magic.
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str
+2, Dex +2, Int +4, Wis +4, Cha +4. Being undead, a novalich
has no Constitution score.
Organization: Solitary.
Challenge Rating: Same as base creature +3.
Alignment: Any evil.
Advancement: By character class.
Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +5.
Novalich Phylacteries: A spellcaster cannot turn anoth-
er creature into a novalich, so all novaliches are necessarily
spellcasters themselves. Otherwise, novalich phylacteries are
identical to those of normal liches.
Novalich Plot Hook: An adventuring acquaintance of
the party has his family slain by minions of a villain the party
is opposed to. He transforms himself into a novalich so he can
exact revenge, and he shows up and asks the party to aid him.
Though he looks the same as before, he is no longer the hero-
ic man they once knew, and it slowly becomes clear that
something has corrupted him. He is a powerful ally, but will
he betray the party?
PHILOLICH
A philolich is a specialized lich sub-type that is inex-
orably linked to a lich. Philoliches can only be created by
another lich; the philolich cannot be created by a living spell-
caster. The living subject that becomes a philolich is usually
either one of the undead creature’s fanatical servants, or is
emotionally connected to the lich in some other way, such as
a child or a spouse of the lich when it was mortal, whose love
did not falter when the lich chose to become undead.
Likewise, the lich still feels an emotional connection to this
living person, and so chooses to have that person join them in
their immortality by turning them into a philolich.
Philoliches are less powerful than their lich creators/part-
ners. They essentially exist only to be with their lich creators,
and have little interest in other things. When a philolich is
created, a bond between the lich and the philolich is forged
that lasts until either the lich or philolich is permanently
destroyed. The philolich cannot survive without its lich cre-
ator, and vice versa – should one have its phylactery perma-
nently shattered, the other can only exist for 1d4 days before
the pain of being finally separated from the other causes it to
fade away into nothingness. While both lich and philolich are
evil creatures, they share a twisted devotion that connects
them in a singular undead existence.
The philolich template is identical to the lich template,
except as detailed below.
Armor Class: The philolich has a +3 natural armor
bonus or the base creature’s natural armor bonus, whichever
is better.
Fear Aura (Su): The fear aura projected by a philolich is
not quite as powerful as that of its creator. Creatures of less
than 3 HD within a 30-foot radius that see the philolich must
succeed at a Will Save (DC 10 + 1/2 philolich’s HD +
31
 philolich’s Cha modifier) or be affected as though by fear as
cast by a sorcerer of 1/2 of the philolich’s level. The philolich
may choose to turn this fear aura on or off as a free action.
Damage Reduction: A philolich has damage reduction
10/magic.
Second Sight (Sp): Once per day, a philolich may look
through the eyes of its creating lich as if using a crystal ball
of telepathy. The philolich sees what the lich sees, and knows
what the lich is thinking.
Charm (Sp): By gazing into a character’s eyes, a
philolich can charm a target as per the charm person spell, as
cast by a 12th-level sorcerer. She may use this ability three
times per day.
Organization: Pair (with 1 lich) or family (2-5
philoliches with 1 lich).
Challenge Rating: Same as base creature +2.
Treasure: Standard.
Alignment: Any evil.
Advancement: By character class.
Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +4.
Philolich Phylacteries: Philolich characters can be of
any class. The only requirements to become a philolich are to
be willing, and to have a lich capable and willing to transform
the character. Because much of the essence of the philolich’s
soul is bound to the original lich’s phylactery, a philolich’s
phylactery is easier to make, costing a minimum of 2,000 gp
and 80 XP. It has a caster level equal to that of the lich that
created it. This phylactery is of Tiny size and has a hardness
rating of 14, 28 hit points, and a break DC of 28. Unlike that
of a lich, a more elaborate and expensive phylactery makes
no difference in creating a philolich. Failed rituals to create a
philolich instead create a semi-lich.
Philolich Plot Hook: A rich noblewoman turned lich
only wanted to spend her undead days seeking a cure for her
son, who was cursed with eternal sleep. When the local
townsfolk discovered her nature, they burned down her
manor, killing her son, and supposedly killing her. But recent-
ly, two children from the town headed to the ruins of the
manor to play, and did not return. The sadistic lich had con-
vinced the children – who did not have a clear sense of what
‘death’ really is – to become philoliches bound to her, so they
could play together forever. She intends to send the children
into town to convince their friends to come and do the same
thing. If the townsfolk turn against her, their children will be
destroyed. Of course, their children are now ineffably evil in
a way only innocent children could ever achieve.

32
 A stench of death filled the air. As Dharion Khryll had
expected, the rabble of angry peasants had amounted to noth-
ing –– once past the gates, most had made their way as far as
the ballroom, where his traps has dispatched them. The few
cunning ones who had somehow survived hadn’t made it past
his pet basilisk in the first level of the catacombs. Pity. A part
of the lich had hoped for a challenge. Still, the bodies could be
used to make a lichling slave, and as for the basilisk’s work,
well ... new statues in the main foyer were always welcome.
The door to the lich’s sanctum swung open. Dharion
Khryll looked up ... and what he saw was a dream come true.
His Elisha stood there, radiant as ever, her face more pale
and gaunt than he remembered, her lips a touch more blood
red, and a faint crimson glow lurked behind her eyes –– a
glow that Dharion Khryll knew would glow brighter over the
days and weeks to come, as her eyes would most likely with-
er and rot. Still, what did such things matter? His wife was
with him once more –– was that not worth any price?
“Elisha?” asked Dharion Khryll.
The philolich entered the sanctum. It smiled a ghastly
smile. “My love,” answered the undead monster.
SEMI-LICH
The semi-lich is sometimes called the “failed lich” by
sages and scholars. It is a creature that attempted to become a
lich and was mostly unsuccessful. This failure stems from its
phylactery. While the physical form of the creature became
imbued with necromantic force in order to animate it in an
undead state, the semi-lich’s original life force – its soul –
was never successfully captured and bonded to the prepared
phylactery. Without the phylactery, the creature’s original life
force dissipated into nothingness, leaving behind only a
ghastly undead monster inhabiting the creature’s original
body.
Physically, a semi-lich is far more imposing than an ordi-
nary lich. The necromantic magic that normally would have
been used to maintain a link between the lich and its phylac-
tery becomes entirely dedicated to the semi-lich’s physical
form. Semi-liches tend to retain more flesh and muscle than
a lich, and they often grow slightly larger and stronger than
they were in life. Their bodies decay at a much slower rate
than those of liches, and unless destroyed in combat, semi-
liches can exist throughout eternity. Sadly, their minds are
only shattered remnants of what they once were. Semi-liches
retain none of their original memories or knowledge that they
originally possessed. They may retain some of their basic
skills, possess a raw cunning, and may show some dim recog-
nition of things they knew in life, but for the most part semi-
liches are mindless, hulking savage beasts that do not possess
even a trace of their mortal selves.
The semi-lich template is identical to the lich template,
except as detailed below.
Speed: Reduce the base creature’s speed (all modes) by
half.
Armor Class: The semi-lich has a +10 natural armor
bonus or the base creature’s natural armor bonus, whichever
is better.
Spells: The failed magic that turned the character into a
semi-lich instead of a lich has robbed the semi-lich of all
magical ability. Any spells that the character might have once
possessed are lost.
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str
+4, Dex +2. Being undead, a semi-lich has no Constitution
score. Its Intelligence score is reduced to 2.
Organization: Solitary.
Challenge Rating: Same as base creature +1. Count
class levels in primarily spellcasting classes for only half
their normal CR.
Semi-Lich Phylacteries: Semi-liches are the only lich
variant that do not require phylacteries. Destroying a semi-
lich’s physical body will permanently destroy the creature.
WARLICH
Warliches are warriors who desire to continue their fight-
ing ways on past the grave. Spellcasters cannot turn them-
selves into warliches; they can only change others into this
undead monster. The spellcaster turning a warrior into a war-
lich can either be living or undead. Typical warliches are
powerful kings or nobles who employ a skilled wizard to turn
them into the undead warlich.
Warliches look fairly identical to ‘regular’ liches. The
noticeable difference between the two is that the warlich sub-
type has elongated, sharpened bones extending from the fin-
gers, elbows, and other joints that can be used as spiked
weapons. The gear a warlich carries can also, of course, be a
clue that this is not a standard robe-wearing wizard lich.
Warliches tend to dress in plate armor and wield powerful
melee weapons, often enhanced with powerful magic from
the mage who created the warlich. Warliches essentially exist
to kill – whether for pleasure or some ‘higher’ purpose – and
the actions they take invariably involve the destruction of
33
others. Warliches tend to maintain a higher profile existence created it may choose one magic weapon it possesses. This
than their other lich brethren; as such, their span of existence weapon becomes bonded with the warlich’s soul. Whenever
is generally a lot shorter, as adventurers often hunt down and the warlich’s body is destroyed, the weapon is also destroyed,
destroy these malevolent, undead killing machines. and it regenerates with the warlich’s body as long as the phy-
The warlich template is identical to the lich template, lactery remains intact. The warlich may call its soul weapon
except as detailed below. as a move action, causing it to disappear in one location and
Armor Class: The warlich has a +5 natural armor bonus reappear in the warlich’s grasp.
or the base creature’s natural armor bonus, whichever is better. Skills: In addition to the skill bonuses normal liches
Damage: The warlich’s negative energy touch deals gain, warliches gain a +8 racial bonus to Intimidate checks.
2d10+10 points of damage to living creatures. A save still Organization: Solitary or squad (2–12 zombies or
reduces the damage by half. The warlich also gains a natural skeletons).
attack from its various spikes and
spurs, dealing d8 plus one-
and-a-half times Strength
bonus damage for a medi-
um warlich. It can use
that as a primary attack
even if unarmed, or it
can use it as an second-
ary attack with a -5
penalty, dealing d8 plus
one-half times Strength
bonus damage.
Special Attacks: A
warlich keeps all of the
base creature’s special
attacks, gains those of a lich,
and also gains those listed
below. All saves have a DC of
10 + 1/2 warlich’s HD + warlich’s
Cha modifier unless otherwise noted.
Negative Weapon (Su): Once per
day as a free action, the warlich can
focus all of its negative necromantic
energies and channel those forces to its
soul weapon (see below). The warlich’s
next attack with that weapon gains a +20
insight bonus to the attack roll, as well
as to the attack roll to confirm a poten-
tial critical hit.
Special Qualities: A warlich retains
all of the base creature’s special quali-
ties. In addition, it gains the special
qualities of normal liches, plus the fol-
lowing qualities.
Damage Reduction: A warlich has
damage reduction 20/magic.
Soul Weapon: When a warlich is

34
 Challenge Rating: Same as the character +2.
Treasure: Double standard.
Alignment: Any evil.
Advancement: By character class.
Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +4.
Warlich Phylacteries: Warlich phylacteries are identical
to standard phylacteries.
Warlich Plot Hook: A simple thug slew a courier and
came into possession of a king’s treasure. To escape punish-
ment, he paid a lich to transform him into an undead. Now the
king’s men are on the trail of an immortal warrior, and the
thug, never too bright to begin with, is enjoying the simple
pleasure of wandering the countryside, killing everyone he
meets.

LICHLING
Large Undead (Cold)
Hit Dice: 8d12+3 (55 hp)
Initiative: –1 (Dex)
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 13 (–1 size, –1 Dex, +5 natural), touch 8, flat-
footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+13
Attack: Slam +8 melee (2d6+7)
Full Attack: Slam +8 melee (2d6+7)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Gelid touch only those who have crafted a phylactery and stored their soul
Special Qualities: Immunity to cold and electricity, darkvi- in it understand the magic necessary to create lichlings.
sion 60, fire vulnerability, reformation, undead traits, DR Lichlings are skeletal undead created from piles of bones that
5/bludgeoning are infused with a fragment of a soul. They do not look like
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +1, Will +6 traditional skeletons, as the mass of bones that give them a
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 8, Con –, Int –, Wis 10, Cha 1 vaguely humanoid shape are thrown together in an entirely
Feats: Toughness random order. A lichling might have a skull for a fist, and a
Environment: Any land and underground face comprised entirely of rib bones. A lichling can lie in wait
Organization: Solitary or pair as an ordinary-looking pile of bones, then assemble itself into
Challenge Rating: 5 a humanoid form to attack by surprise.
Treasure: None Lichlings primarily exist to fight and defend a lich’s lair,
Alignment: Always neutral evil and to perform menial tasks that mortal servants would nor-
Advancement: 9-11 HD (Large); 12-24 HD (Huge) mally perform. They have no will of their own, and are inca-
Level Adjustment: – pable of performing any action without specific guidance
The body of this vaguely humanoid creature is composed from their undead masters.
of bones seemingly thrown together in random order, tattered
cloth covering a dim red glow from within its ragged form. Combat
Lichlings are undead servitors that are created by their Lichlings only fight when directed to do so by their lich
lich masters. Mortal wizards are unable to create lichlings; masters. Left to their own devices, they typically just charge

35
their foes, immediately using their gelid touch attack, and
then following up with standard attacks until either they or
their enemies are destroyed. Under direct guidance of a lich,
however, they can be directed to be more discerning with
their attacks. If a battle area is known in advance, liches often
litter that area with large quantities of bones, in order to aid
the regeneration of their lichlings.
Undead Traits: Immunity to all mind-affecting effects,
poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to
critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, energy drain,
or death from massive damage.
Fire Vulnerability: Lichlings take 150% normal damage
from all fire-based attacks.
Reformation (Su): Normally, lichlings stay in an inert
form that is indiscernible from a mundane pile of bones
except through such magic as detect evil or detect undead. As
a free action a lichling can assume its humanoid form, allow-
ing it to appear and attack in a surprise round.
Additionally, if reduced to 0 hit points, the skulls and
bones that make up the lichling’s body will collapse into a
pile of bones. In 1d4+2 rounds, the lichling will reform, fully
restored and healed. If the pile of bones is scattered, the lich-
ling may animate any pile of bones of sufficient size within
30 feet, though every 5 feet of distance from where it fell
increases the reformation time by 1 round.
Lichlings that are destroyed by a turn undead attempt
cannot reform, nor can those slain by fire, magical or other-
wise. An inert lichling with 1 or more hit points cannot
reform for 1 round if it is exposed to fire.
Gelid Touch (Su): Once per day, the lichling can attempt
a cold touch attack on a target instead of a slam attack. When
the lichling successfully strikes its target, the target must
make a Fort save (DC 14) or be affected by painful magical
chills. These chills cause a -4 penalty to the target’s Strength,
Dexterity, and Constitution scores for 1 minute.
36
LICHWARG
Medium Undead
Hit Dice: 4d12 (26 hp)
Initiative: +5 (+1 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative)
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 13 (+1 Dex, +2 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+5
Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d8+4)
Full Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d8+4)
Face/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Gelid touch
Special Qualities: Immunity to cold and electricity, darkvi-
sion 60, undead traits, soul tracking, lich link
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +4
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 12, Con –, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 11
Skills: Survival +4 (+12 for soul tracking)
Feats: Track
Environment: Any land and underground
Organization: Solitary, pair, or pack (4–7)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always evil
Advancement: 5–8 HD (Large); 9–24 HD (Huge)
This rotting wolf carcass looks at you with skeletal eyes.
As it sniffs the air with decaying nostrils, you feel a tug at
your soul.
Lichwargs are undead hunters created by liches to track
down living prey for their masters. The lich who creates a
lichwarg binds a bit of his soul to it, allowing him to see
through its eyes and direct it from a distance. Though cunning
on their own, lichwarg packs can make use of frighteningly
complicated tactics when directed by their lich master.
Combat
Lichwargs are cunning hunters, best suited for working
together in a pack. Though they typically fight per their lich
master’s directives, they are excellent hunters, able to stalk
and bring down a single enemy with ease. Against multiple
foes, lichwargs rarely use direct attacks – instead, they
attempt to herd and funnel their foes into small, enclosed
areas with no escape routes; these areas often are trapped, or
have some other ally of the lichwarg waiting to attack, such
as their lich master.
 Undead Traits: Immunity to all mind-affecting effects, Gelid Touch (Su): Once per day, the lichwarg can
poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to attempt a cold touch attack on a target instead of a slam
critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, energy drain, attack. When the lichward successfully strikes its target, the
or death from massive damage. target must make a Fort save (DC 12) or be affected by
Soul Tracking (Su): A lichwarg gains the benefits of the painful magical chills. These chills cause a -4 penalty to the
Scent feat, though it can only use it to detect creatures with target’s Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores for 1
souls. Typically this includes any creature with an minute.
Intelligence of 3 or higher, barring those that have traded Lich Link (Su): Any lich can create a lichwarg with cre-
away their souls, or whose souls are bound in objects, such as ate undead or create greater undead. The lich who created
a lich’s phylactery. Lichwargs have a +8 racial bonus to the lichwarg can concentrate and experience all the senses of
Survival checks for the purposes of soul tracking. the lichwarg as long as it is on the same plane. While doing
Determine the Survival check DC to track creatures so, the lich is unaware of its own surroundings, but it does not
based on the total hit dice of the group, rather than their size, actually take damage that is dealt to the lichwarg. It can
as detailed below. command the lichwarg through this link, but otherwise the
lichwarg will obey the last commands its master gave it.
Hit Dice Survival DC The lich may, however, choose to take over a lichwarg it
Less than 1 +4 has created. The lich may cast spells through this link only if
1 to 2 +2 they require no verbal, somatic, or material components. Any
3 to 4 +1 damage or effect that affects the lichwarg equally affects the
5 to 8 +0 lich. A slashing weapon that harms the lichwarg would deal
9 to 12 -1 equal to damage to the lich, ignoring the lich’s damage reduc-
13 to 17 -2 tion. If the lichwarg is destroyed while the lich is inhabiting
18 or higher -4 it, the lich is stunned for 1 round.

37
 Appendix 2
Sample Liches
This appendix provides statistics and backgrounds for
several sample liches. Each is a uniquely powerful creature
suitable for use in your campaign as an ongoing antagonist.
Dharion Khryll
Darion Khryll, Male Human Lich Wizard 16: CR 18; HD
16d12+3; hp 107; Init +5; Spd 30 ft.; AC 21 (+1 Dex, +3
armor, +5 natural, +2 deflection), touch 13, flat-footed 18;
Base Atk +8; Grapple +6; Atk +1 quarterstaff +7 melee (1d6-
1) or negative energy touch +6 melee touch (1d8+5 [Will DC
20 half] plus paralysis [Fort DC 20 negates]) or ray +9 ranged
(varies) or masterwork light crossbow +10 ranged (1d8); Full
Atk +1 quarterstaff +7/+2 melee (1d6-1) or negative energy
touch +6/+1 melee touch (1d8+5 [Will DC 20 half] plus
paralysis [Fort DC 20 negates]) or ray +9 ranged (varies) or
masterwork light crossbow +10 ranged (1d8); SA fear aura,
paralyzing touch; SQ damage reduction 15/bludgeoning and
magic, immunities (cold, electricity, polymorph), turn resist-
ance +4, undead traits; AL LE; SV Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +13;
Str 6, Dex 12, Con —, Int 23, Wis 16, Cha 15.
Skills and Feats: Concentration +19, Craft (alchemy)
+25, Craft (painting) +12, Knowledge (arcana) +25,
Knowledge (local) +19, Knowledge (religion) +25,
Knowledge (the planes) +25, Spellcraft +27; Brew Potion,
Combat Casting, Craft Wondrous Item, Heighten Spell,
Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Maximize Spell,
Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (necromancy),
Toughness.
SA—Negative Energy Touch: Dharion uses a negative
energy touch to deal 1d8+5 points of damage to living crea-
tures; a successful Will save (DC 20) reduces the damage by
half.
SA—Fear Aura (Su): Dharion is shrouded in a dreadful
aura of death and evil. Creatures of less than 5 HD in a 60-
foot radius that look at him must succeed at a Will save (DC
20) or be affected as though by fear as cast by a 16th level
sorcerer.
SA—Paralyzing Touch (Su): Any living creature Dharion
touches must succeed at Fortitude save (DC 20) or be perma-
nently paralyzed. Remove paralysis or any spell that can
remove a curse can free the victim (see bestow curse). The
38
effect cannot be dispelled. Anyone paralyzed by Dharion
seems dead, though a successful Spot check (DC 20) or Heal
check (DC 15) reveals that the victim is still alive. This power
works in conjunction with Dharion’s damaging touch (see
above).
SQ—Turn Resistance (Ex): Dharion has +4 turn resist-
ance.
SQ—Damage Reduction (Su): Dharion’s undead body is
tough, giving him a damage reduction of 15/bludgeoning and
magic.
SQ—Immunities (Ex): Dharion is immune to cold, elec-
tricity, polymorph, and mind affecting effects.
SQ—Undead Traits: Immune to mind-affecting effects,
poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to
critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, energy drain,
or death from massive damage.
Signature Equipment: +1 quarterstaff, ring of protection
+2, bracers of armor +3, gloves of dexterity +2, headband of
intellect +4, wand of stoneskin (caster level 8, 25 charges),
pearl of power (3rd); potions – haste x3, invisibility x3, dis-
guise self; scrolls—wail of the banshee, shapechange; mas-
terwork light crossbow.
Spells Known (Wiz 4/6/6/5/5/5/4/3/2): 0 – arcane mark,
dancing lights, daze, detect magic, detect poison, disrupt
undead, flare, ghost sound, light, mage hand, mending,
open/close, prestidigitation, ray of frost, read magic, resist-
ance; 1st-level – animate rope, burning hands, charm person,
color spray, comprehend languages, disguise self, feather
fall, hold portal, mage armor, magic missile, summon mon-
ster I; 2nd-level – blur, cat’s grace, flaming sphere, invisibil-
ity; 3rd-level – fireball, flame arrow, fly, haste; 4th-level –
lesser globe of invulnerability, polymorph, stoneskin, sum-
mon monster IV; 5th-level – faithful hound, summon monster
V, teleport, wall of force; 6th-level – analyze dweomer, circle
of death, globe of invulnerability, legend lore; 7th-level –
banishment, forcecage, limited wish, mass invisibility; 8th-
level – horrid wilting, incendiary cloud, mass charm monster,
prismatic wall.
Background
Even in life, Dharion Khryll was a sinister mage with
interests in the darker side of wizardry. A promising student
at the renowned Academy of the Eternal Magicks, Khryll was
thrown out of the Academy before completing his studies
because of his repeated forays into the Academy’s restricted
sections of their libraries - those sections dealing with necro-
mancy and other evil arts. Undeterred by this setback, Khryll
wandered the world in pursuit of the knowledge forbidden to
him, seeking mentors and masters to teach him what the
Academy would not. His quest was long and hard, but after
years of painstaking work he achieved his goal, becoming a
wizard of formidable power . . . and a master of necromancy.
Setting up his residence high in a secluded keep in the
mountains, Khryll ensured his infamy by becoming a merce-
nary sage and wizard to many ambitious nobles and magi-
cians throughout the surrounding area. While not always the
most charming of men, Khryll was smart enough to strike
some alliances with the more powerful lords and ladies in the
area, providing them with knowledge and magic in return for
their protection.
Dharion Khryll probably would have been little more
than a blight in the history books had it not been for the fate-
ful day when a skilled thief named Elisha Varas decided to
rob Khryll’s keep. Normally, finding a thief in the heart of his
alchemy chambers would have meant the casting of a spell
and the death of a thief. But inexplicably, Dharion Khryll did
not kill the thief. Instead, he strangely found himself attract-
ed to the young, impetuous thief. Even stranger, the thief was
attracted to him. The two immediately struck up a friendship,
then a partnership. With Elisha’s skills as a thief, she was able
to acquire even more valuable objects and treasures with the
aid of Khryll’s magical talents, and Khryll was able to easily
obtain forbidden tomes of knowledge that had once been far
beyond his evil grasp. Dharion Khryll and Elisha Varas had
indeed found perfect matches in each other. A short two years
after Dharion Khryll had discovered Elisha looting his alche-
my chambers; the wizard and the thief were wed.
Alas, the marriage was not to last for long, not while both
were in mortal form, anyway. The necromantic spells and
experiments performed by Dharion Khryll had taken a terri-
ble toll upon his physical form, causing his health to fail far
more quickly than that of an ordinary man. With his wife
Elisha’s help, he sought to find potions and spells that would
restore him to his full strength; however such efforts were for
naught. Ordinary magic could only preserve his living exis-
tence for a few extra years, nothing more. Had this occurred
ten years before, Dharion Khryll would have merely resigned
himself to his fate, and would most likely have chosen to die.
But the thought of being separated from his new love Elisha
was unbearable. His knowledge of the dark arts told him that
death was only one of many options. He knew for sure of one
way to never be separated from Elisha’s side.
Personality
Both in mortal and lich form, Khryll is arrogant to a
fault. An obscenely bright individual, Dharion Khryll is still
arguably one of the smartest creatures to be found throughout
the lands surrounding his keep. However, Dharion Khryll
believes he knows everything. If confronted about something
about which the lich knows nothing, Khryll will still claim to
have knowledge in that subject, and will often simply make
up lies to prove his supposed knowledge. Dharion Khryll
despises being made to look like a fool, and it is the one
known weakness of the lich – he can be forced to make
ridiculous promises or assertions against his better judgment
if such promises help him avoid looking foolish.
Dharion Khryll can be charming and pleasant if need be;
however, behind every word slipping forth from his tongue is
a cold and calculated thought. He almost never acts irra-
tionally or on impulse. The only exception to this is if his love
Elisha is in danger. At that point, he can turn into little more
than an animal, operating entirely on raw emotion instead of
his typical cold logic.
Phylactery
Dharion is a relatively young lich, and is currently more
worried of having to flee and leave his phylactery behind than
he is of actually being defeated. Thus, his phylactery is a sim-
ple sealed box that he has sewn into his ribcage where his
heart used to be. The caster level of his phylactery is 12th.
Combat
Khryll, at heart, is a scholar, not a fighter. Like many
liches, he prefers to avoid combat whenever possible, unless
the fight is of his choosing and deliberately set up to ensure
his victory. At the slightest sign that either his existence or
Elisha’s is in danger, he will flee battle. It is virtually impos-
sible to set up a battle with Dharion and Elisha Khryll where
they do not have an exit strategy devised.
When in combat, Dharion Khryll never engages in hand-
to-hand combat unless absolutely forced to do so. He typical-
ly uses long-rang spells designed to damage first, then spells
designed to disorient or confuse his foes. The latter spells are
especially employed if he is in combat alongside Elisha, as
his philolich bride will then close in on these disoriented
39
40
opponents with melee weapons. Dharion Khryll can be a for-
midable opponent on his own; if confronted with Elisha, he is
Background
almost unbeatable. Elisha Varas was born an orphan and raised by thieves’
guilds throughout many cities and kingdoms. Adventurous
Elisha Khryll and afflicted by an insatiable wanderlust even in her earliest
years, Elisha traveled far more as a youngster than most griz-
zled adventurers would ever dare to travel in an entire life-
Elisha Khryll, Female Half-Elf Philolich Rogue 7: CR 9;
time. While not evil by nature, Elisha never had much regard
Medium Humanoid; HD 7d12; hp 45; Init +7 (+3 Dex, +4
for laws or rules, and found the lifestyle of a thief and adven-
Improved Initiative); Spd 30 ft.; AC 22 (+3 Dex, +3 natural,
turer to be to her liking. As she grew into a young woman of
+5 armor, +2 shield), touch 13, flat-footed 20; Base Atk +5;
great beauty, she was also able to become a con artist and
Grapple +8; Atk/Full Atk negative energy touch +6 melee
swindler of great skill as well.
touch (1d8+5 negative energy [Will DC 16 half] plus paraly-
Her life was dramatically changed forever when she was
sis [Fort DC 16 negates]) or +3 rapier +9 melee (1d6+4) or
hired to steal a rare potion from a wizard named Dharion
+2 mighty composite shortbow +10 ranged (1d6+3); SA fear
Khryll. She was caught in the act of stealing the potion, but
aura, paralyzing touch, sneak attack +4d6; SQ evasion,
the wizard spared her life. The attractive young thief found
uncanny dodge, trap sense +2, damage reduction 10/magic,
herself attracted to Dharion Khryll. Initially, this was because
immunities (cold, electricity, polymorph), turn resistance +4,
of all the opportunities that his sorcerous powers offered her,
undead traits, second sight, charm, low-light vision, half-elf
but over time, she came to fall in love with the wizard as well.
traits; AL CE; SV Fort +3, Ref +12, Will +2; Str 12, Dex 16,
This act of love would unfortunately prove to be Elisha’s
Con —, Int 12, Wis 9, Cha 17.
doom, as the influence of Dharion Khryll upon her slowly
Skills and Feats: Appraise +10, Bluff +13, Disable
changes her from a reckless but kind-hearted soul into a cruel
Device +12, Hide +20, Listen +19, Move Silently +20, Open
and sadistic young woman. But her love for Dharion Khryll
Lock +14, Perform +3, Search +19, Sleight of Hand +7, Spot
blinded Elisha to this; she consented to become Elisha Khryll
+19, Tumble +12, Use Magic Device +10, Use Rope +5.
and to marry the evil mage.
Alertness, Improved Initiative, Shield Proficiency.
Shortly after their union, it became apparent that Dharion
SA—Negative Energy Touch: Will save (DC 16) reduces
was dying. In order to preserve his existence, both the wizard
the damage by half.
and the thief decided that Dharion would have to become a
SA—Fear Aura (Su): Elisha’s fear aura is weaker than a
lich. For Elisha, this was a simple decision. She never once
standard lich’s. Creatures of less than 3 HD within a 30-foot
believed that the necromantic processes would turn her love
radius that see her must succeed at a Will Save (DC 16) or be
into an undead monster - indeed, she has never once referred
affected as though by fear as cast by a 3rd level sorcerer.
to her husband as a “lich.” Instead she chose to see the
SA—Paralyzing Touch (Su): A Fortitude save (DC 20)
process of lichdom as “new life,” something that would allow
negates.
her and her husband to cheat death and remain together. So
SQ—Damage Reduction (Su): Elisha’s undead body is
for several decades she remained at her husband’s side, even
tough, giving her a damage reduction of 10/magic.
after his life had ended, content to be wedded to a lich. And
SQ – Second Sight (Sp): Once per day, Elisha may look
when her own death began to approach, her own decision was
through Dharion’s eyes as if using a crystal ball of telepathy.
equally simple.
She sees what her lover sees, and knows what he is thinking.
SQ – Charm (Sp): By gazing into a character’s eyes,
Elisha can charm a target as per the charm person spell, as
Personality
cast by a 12th-level sorcerer. She may use this ability three Elisha Khryll is far more outgoing and sociable than her
times per day. lich-wizard husband. Her tongue and wit is razor-sharp, and
Signature Equipment: +3 rapier, +2 mighty composite she can be incredibly personable and charming. She loves to
shortbow, +2 studded leather, +1 buckler, ring of invisibility, talk, even to an enemy. However, she is deferential to a fault
dust of tracelessness, cloak of resistance +1, potions – haste when it comes to Dharion Khryll, always letting him take the
x3, invisibility x3, masterwork thieves’ tools. lead when they are both parleying with others and never con-
tradicting him publicly, even if she knows he is wrong.

41

Phylactery
Elisha’s phylactery is a magically-reinforced crystal pen-
dant, heart-shaped, containing drops of her blood and powder
from her husband’s once-living heart. She displays it proudly
across her rotting breasts, a symbol of her undying love. The
caster level of his phylactery is 15th.
Combat
Skilled with a blade, Elisha has never been afraid to con-
front others with cold steel. Unlike Dharion Khryll, the
philolich Elisha is hotheaded, and frequently jumps into
fights at the slightest provocation. Such instances have
become more and more infrequent over time, however, as
Dharion has been able to counsel her about different possi-
bilities and strategies for combat. Her downfall would be if
she were ever separated from her husband in combat; while
cunning in her own right and an adept fighter, she does not
possess the tactical sense that Dharion has, and she often fails
to see anything beyond the immediate consequences of her
actions.
Fortinbras
Fortinbras, Male Drow Elf Drowlich Sor18: CR 23;
Medium Humanoid; HD 18d12; hp 117; Init +4; Spd 60 ft.;
AC 27 (+4 Dex, +5 natural, +3 deflection, +5 armor), touch
17, flat-footed 23; Base Atk +9; Grapple +12; Atk +3 spear
+15 melee (1d8+7) or negative energy touch +12 melee
(1d8+5 [Will DC 29 half] plus paralysis [Fort DC 29
negates]) or +2 crossbow +15 ranged (1d8+2); Full Atk +3
spear +15/+10 melee (1d8+7) or negative energy touch
+12/+7 melee (1d8+5 [Will DC 29 half] plus paralysis [Fort
DC 29 negates]) or +2 crossbow +15 ranged (1d8+2); SA fear
aura, paralyzing touch, spell-like abilities; SQ immunities
(cold, electricity, polymorph, mind-affecting effects), SR 31,
drow traits, +2 bonus to Will saves against enchantment
effects, light blindness, darkvision 120; AL CE; SV Fort +6,
Ref +10, Will +12; Str 16, Dex 19, Con —, Int 18, Wis 12,
Cha 31.
Skills and Feats: Bluff +31, Concentration +21, Hide
+22, Knowledge (arcana) +25, Knowledge (gaming and gam-
bling) +19, Move Silently +13, Spellcraft +27; Combat
Casting, Craft Wondrous Item, Necrotic Bolt, Necrotic
Mastery, Silent Spell, Soul Fuel.
SA—Negative Energy Touch: Will save (DC 29) reduces
42
the damage by half. Fortinbras’ Necrotic Bolt and Necrotic
Mastery feat allow him to hurl his touch attack with a range
increment of 10 ft. Additionally, he may increase the damage
of his touch attack by as much as 8d8, to a total of 9d8+5, but
doing so causes him to lose access to the touch attack for 1
round for each die of increase.
SA—Fear Aura (Su): Will save (DC 29) or be affected as
though by fear as cast by an 18th level sorcerer.
SA—Paralyzing Touch (Su): Fortitude save (DC 29)
negates.
SA—Spell-like Abilities (Sp): Fortinbras can use the fol-
lowing spell-like abilities once each per day with a caster
level of 18: dancing lights, darkness, and faerie fire.
SQ – Hide in Shadows (Su): As long as Fortinbras is
within 10 ft. of an area of darkness (i.e., an area not consid-
ered illuminated by a torch, light spell, or natural light for the
purposes of human vision), he is invisible, as per the greater
invisibility spell.
SQ – Shadow Jump (Sp): Once per day, Fortinbras may
dimension door from one area of darkness to another within
line of sight, as per the spell cast by an 18th-level sorcerer.
SQ – Screen (Sp): A screen spell is permanently in effect
upon Fortinbras.
SQ – Light Blindness: Fortinbras is blinded, not just daz-
zled, as long as he is in an area of bright light. Additionally,
he loses his turn resistance when in an area of bright light.
SQ – Soul Fuel: Fortinbras possesses the Soul Fuel phy-
lactery feat, which allows him to draw energy from his phy-
lactery to empower himself (see page 25).
Signature Equipment: +3 shortspear, +2 light crossbow,
gloves of dexterity +2, wand of magic missile (caster level 9,
25 charges), ring of wizardry I, ring of protection +3, bead of
force, bracers of armor +5, cloak of charisma +6 of dark
elvenkind, scrolls – maze, meteor swarm, summon monster
IX.
Spells Known (Sor 6/8/7/7/7/7/6/6/5/3): 0 – arcane mark,
dancing lights, daze, detect magic, disrupt undead, light, ray
of frost, read magic, resistance; 1st-level – burning hands,
enlarge person, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, reduce
person; 2nd-level – acid arrow, cat’s grace, flaming sphere,
invisibility, mirror image; 3rd-level – fireball, fly, haste, sleet
storm; 4th-level – black tentacles, confusion, fear, ice storm;
5th-level – hold monster, shadow evocation, summon monster
V, telepathic bond; 6th-level – chain lightning, globe of invul-
nerability, contingency; 7th-level – finger of death, prismatic
spray, simulacrum; 8th-level – clone, horrid wilting; 9th-
level – wish.
Background
The name Fortinbras is one spoken only in hushed whis-
pers by the drow of the underdark. He is a legendary monster
among the drow - no small feat for a race of creatures often
reviled as monsters in their own right. A drowlich is normal-
ly a creature that is accepted by drow society as a creature of
power to be respected and admired not feared - but the tyran-
ny of Fortinbras was so great that the drowlich was sealed in
a tomb by his own people.
Fortinbras was the ruler of an underdark city called
Jornath. A skilled sorcerer and warrior, Fortinbras conquered
a large section of the underdark and made it his own person-
al empire, much to the delight of the drow whom he ruled.
Derro and duergar alike fell to his might, making Fortinbras
a figure to be feared in life. But while his riches and his
power grew, the mad drow was not satisfied by what his
actions had wrought. He saw his mortal body as a limitation.
He felt that in order to become the conqueror that he dreamed
to be, he would need the aid of great magic. With the aid of
other drow wizards and sorcerers, he turned himself into a
drowlich. As detestable as this might ordinarily seem, the act
was not considered strange by the drow who served him.
But for Fortinbras, the act of becoming a drowlich made
him obsessed with death and unconcerned with life. His
ambitions grew greater, his conquests grew larger - but at a
greater cost of life to the drow who followed him. Always
obsessed by the game of chess, he began referring to his own
followers as “pawns” - pieces to be sacrificed and discarded
in the quest for his own personal glory. Even the drow, mad
as they can be, soon began to see the folly of following a
leader with no regard for their own existence, and so they
began to plot against him.
A monument to honor Fortinbras’ glory was built in the
heart of Jornath. Fortinbras, somewhat honored by the ges-
ture, stepped inside the monument at its unveiling . . . and was
stunned when he suddenly found himself trapped inside
enchanted marble walls. The ‘monument’ was in fact a tomb
of sorts, one designed to trap an undead drowlich until the
end of time. But this never deterred Fortinbras from his grand
plans. While no drow has seen Fortinbras for centuries, it is
thought that he still walks through the lonely corridors of his
own tomb, plotting revenge, and dreaming of conquests and
war.
Personality
Fortinbras is a megalomaniac, pure and simple. He
believes himself to be a god-like being forced to deal with
mortals in order to fulfill his mad dreams of glory. He rarely
listens to others unless he believes that they might have any-
thing of importance to say. He believes other beings to be lit-
tle better than insects, which can be crushed on a whim.
Fortinbras might be civil and treat another being with respect
if he believed that individual to be his equal, but in all his
centuries of existence, he has never found an individual wor-
thy of that respect.
Phylactery
Fortinbras’ phylactery is the clasp on a shadowy black
cloak of charisma +6 of dark elvenkind. The cloak grants a
+6 enhancement bonus to the bearer’s Charisma, and a +10
bonus to Hide checks. The phylactery is masked by a perma-
nent misdirection that makes any attempts to identify the phy-
lactery read as if they were divining upon the cloak. The cast-
er level of his phylactery is 11th.
Combat
While arrogant, Fortinbras is not foolish when it comes
to combat. He is a skilled spellcaster who uses spells to divide
his enemies whenever possible, and usually then focuses
upon the strongest of his perceived enemies. He rarely
expends all his spells at once, preferring to always leave one
or two powerful spells in reserve in case of dire emergencies.
Fortinbras’s love of strategy also leads him to test his oppo-
nents with various traps and puzzles. He will silently observe
how his enemies react to such tests, letting him gauge how
their minds work and judge what strategies they might choose
to employ against him in combat.
Malstrathus the Mad
Malstrathus the Mad, Male Human Novalich Wiz14: CR
17; Medium-size Humanoid; HD 14d12; hp 91; Init +3; Spd
30 ft.; AC 25 (+3 Dex, +7 natural, +2 deflection, +3 armor),
touch 15, flat-footed 22; Base Atk +7; Grapple +7; Atk nega-
tive energy touch +7 melee (1d8+5 negative energy touch
[Will DC 18 half] plus paralysis [Fort DC 18 negates]); Atk
negative energy touch +7/+2 melee (1d8+5 negative energy
touch [Will DC 18 half] plus paralysis [Fort DC 18 negates]);
43
SA fear aura, paralyzing touch, bolt of draining; SQ damage
reduction 20/bludgeoning and magic, SR 28, immunities
(cold, electricity, polymorph, mind-affecting effects), turn
resistance +4, undead traits; AL NE; SV Fort +7, Ref +10,
Will +12; Str 10, Dex 16, Con —, Int 27, Wis 10, Cha 13.
Skills and Feats: Concentration +17, Decipher Script
+26, Knowledge (arcana) +26, Knowledge (architecture
engineering) +26, Knowledge (history) +26, Knowledge
(local) +26, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +26, Spellcraft
+18; Greater Spell Focus (divination), Greater Spell Focus
(evocation), Greater Spell Focus (necromancy), Greater Spell
Penetration, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (divination), Spell
Focus (evocation), Spell Focus (necromancy), Spell
Penetration.
SA—Negative Energy Touch: Will save (DC 18) reduces
the damage by half. If a creature fails a save against a spell
with instantaneous duration that Malstrathus casts, the spells
deals 1d8+5 points of negative energy damage to that crea-
ture.
SA—Fear Aura (Su): Will save (DC 18) negates.
SA—Paralyzing Touch (Su): Fortitude save (DC 18)
negates.
SA – Bolt of Draining (Su): Twice per day, Malstrathus
can spew forth a powerful bolt of negative energy from his
undead jaws in 5-ft. wide line, extending outward to medium
range (100 ft. + 10 ft./novalich’s hit die). Any living creature
in the path of this bolt takes 2d6 points of damage. A Will
save (DC 18) negates this damage. Malstrathus heals hit
points equal to the amount of damage the bolt of draining
deals, though he cannot heal above his normal maximum.
SQ—Damage Reduction (Su): Malstrathus’ undead body
is tough, giving him a damage reduction of 20/bludgeoning
and magic.
Signature Equipment: cloak of resistance +3, bracers of
armor +3, ring of protection +2, gloves of dexterity +2,
headband of intellect +2, wand of magic missile (caster level
9, 25 charges), scrolls – incendiary cloud, power word stun,
solid fog.
Spells Known (Wiz 4/6/5/5/5/4/3/2): 0 - arcane mark,
dancing lights, daze, detect magic, detect poison, disrupt
undead, flare, ghost sound, light, mage hand, mending,
open/close, prestidigitation, ray of frost, read magic, resist-
ance; 1st-level – animate rope, charm person, color spray,
comprehend languages, feather fall, hold portal, mage armor,
magic missile, summon monster I; 2nd-level – blur, cat’s
grace, flaming sphere, invisibility; 3rd-level – fireball, flame
arrow, fly, haste; 4th-level – lesser globe of invulnerability,
polymorph, stoneskin, summon monster IV; 5th-level – faith-
44
ful hound, summon monster V, teleport, wall of force; 6th-
level – analyze dweomer, globe of invulnerability, join the
soul, legend lore; 7th-level – banishment, forcecage, limited
wish, mass invisibility.
Background
Lord of a minor barony in the Saerian Empire, the mage
Malstrathus became obsessed at an early age with solving a
centuries-old riddle – the secret of the Ruby Tower. Built
before the advent of recorded history, the Ruby Tower stands
in the center of the barony, with no hint or clue to its original
purpose or its long-forgotten creators. No doors, gates, or
other entrances exist that allow entry into the Tower – and
those few who have claimed to found entry to this enigmatic
place always seem to vanish without trace, presumably lost
somewhere within the walls of the Tower. Malstrathus made
it his life’s work to discover all the secrets of the Tower, even
at the expense of his entire barony. Towards the end of
Malstrathus’ life, the barony was practically deserted, inhab-
ited only by the mage and a few loyal servants. But
Malstrathus did not care – through long decades of study and
with pacts forged with infernal creatures, the obsessed mage
drew ever closer towards gaining passage into the Tower, and
to finally learning the answers to his lifelong questions.
At long last, the fateful day came when Malstrathus
learned of a complex and secret magical spell that would
unveil a gateway into the Tower. His body ravaged by time
and the effects of unholy magicks, the mages prepared the
proper incantations, and unleashed his might upon the Tower.
A portal opened. Triumphant, Malstrathus entered the Tower,
expecting to find the answers to a thousand unanswered ques-
tions … and instead found a small, empty chamber contain-
ing only a small, tattered piece of parchment. Upon this
parchment was written a cryptic message and a final riddle.
According to this message, entry to the heart of the Tower –
and all its secrets – would only be possible if the final riddle
was solved.
It was at this point that Malstrathus went completely
insane. His decades of obsessed, relentless work had taken an
incredible toll upon his body. He knew that he did not have
much life left within his tired, old body. Up until the moment
he’d picked up the parchment, that had never mattered to
Malstrathus – he’d always believed that his life would be
meaningless after learning the Tower’s secrets. But now, the
end of his quest was so close that he could touch it … and he
knew that there was a good chance he might not live long
enough to have it in his hands. His studies of magic had
already led him to believe that becoming a lich – and
descending into centuries of dark influences and evil – was
not an option. However, he had studied about novaliches as
well, and knew that the horrid influence of the undead would
be shorter as a novalich – and would allow him to complete
his dream. With that in mind, spells were cast, and a phylac-
tery was prepared…
Personality
In life, Malstrathus was considered to be mildly eccen-
tric. In his current state of lichdom, the mage is without doubt
completely deranged. The whispered sobriquet “Malstrathus
the Mad” was not secretly given to the novalich by his own
servants without reason. His behavior changes from day to
day, even minute to minute. If found in his lair, he may imme-
diately attack intruders, or he may sit in a corner and whisper
to himself, oblivious to everything but himself and his Ruby
Tower. With his own servants, he can be kind, or cruel or
indifferent – there is no rhyme or reason to his behavior. His
servants are currently unaware that their master has become
an undead creature. If informed of this, and given even a
shred of proof as to Malstrathus’s true nature, they would
most certainly abandon their master in an instant.
About the only way to get Malstrathus to behave in a
consistent manner is to mention the Tower in his presence.
Talking about the Tower will either make Malstrathus a pow-
erful ally or a deadly enemy. If “new” information about the
Tower is brought to the novalich’s attention – even if it is a
lie – Malstrathus will instantly befriend that creature and trust
him or her implicitly. If obvious lies about the Tower are
brought the novalich’s attention – and remember, Malstrathus
knows more about the Tower than any other creature in exis-
tence – that creature will instantly become the novalich’s
mortal enemy. The Tower has become so much a part of
Malstrathus’s life that it is literally an extension of the
novalich’s being.
Combat
Malstrathus is a creature of unfocused and erratic
impulses, making combat with him exceedingly difficult.
Like most mages, he usually leads off with more powerful
long-range spells to start combat; however, he can easily be
goaded into melee range by threatening his beloved Tower.
Even irrational, impossible threats will fire the lich’s fury. His
choice of opponents is never determined by who can actually
cause him the most harm; instead, it is by who could cause
the Tower the most harm. He is a poor tactician, often over-
extending himself in battle. He rarely leaves himself opportu-
nity for retreat, fighting with a mindset of “destroy or be
destroyed.” Only his sheer power as a wizard allows him to
overcome his more obvious blunders in combat; however, he
is not nearly as powerful as he could be if he was more
focused and rational.
Carcicarian Mifranzell
Carcicarian Mifranzell, human lich Wiz19: CR 21;
Medium Undead (5 ft., 10 in. tall); HD 19d12; hp 124; Init
+1; Spd 30 ft; AC 24 (+1 Dex, +5 natural armor, +6 bracers
of armor, +2 ring of protection), touch 13, flat-footed 23;
Base Atk +9; Grapple +9; Atk negative energy touch +9
melee (1d8+5 vs. living creatures, Will DC 20 for half dam-
age) or ray +10 ranged; Full Atk negative energy touch +9/+4
melee; SA fear aura (Will DC 20), paralyzing touch (Fort DC
20); SQ turn resistance +4, damage reduction 15/bludgeoning
and magic, immunity to cold, electricity, polymorph, and
mind-affecting spells; AL NE; SV Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +13;
Str 10, Dex 12, Con —, Int 22, Wis 15, Cha 12.
Skills and Feats: Concentration +22, Craft (clothing)
+28, Diplomacy +16, Forgery +12, Hide +9, Knowledge
(arcana) +28, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +18,
Knowledge (religion) +28, Listen +10, Move Silently +9,
Search +14, Sense Motive +24, Spellcraft +30, Spot +10;
Combat Casting, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Staff,
Craft Wand, Extend Spell, Great Fortitude, Maximize Spell,
Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll, Skill Focus (Sense Motive),
Spell Penetration, Still Spell.
SA—Damage: Carcicarian uses a negative energy touch
to deal 1d8+5 points of damage to living creatures; a suc-
cessful Will save (DC 20) reduces the damage by half.
SA—Fear Aura (Su): Carcicarian is shrouded in a dread-
ful aura of death and evil. Creatures of less than 5 HD in a 60-
foot radius that look at him must succeed at a Will save (DC
20) or be affected as though by fear as cast by a 19th level
sorcerer.
SA—Paralyzing Touch (Su): Any living creatures
Carcicarian touches must succeed at Fortitude save (DC 20)
or be permanently paralyzed. Remove paralysis or any spell
that can remove a curse can free the victim (see bestow
curse). The effect cannot be dispelled. Anyone paralyzed by
Carcicarian seems dead, though a successful Spot check (DC
20) or Heal check (DC 15) reveals that the victim is still alive.
This power works in conjunction with Carcicarian’s damag-
45
ing touch (see above).
SQ—Turn Resistance (Ex): Carcicarian has +4 turn
resistance.
SQ—Damage Reduction (Su): Carcicarian’s undead
body is tough, giving him a damage reduction of 15/bludg-
eoning and magic.
SQ—Immunities (Ex): Carcicarian is immune to cold,
electricity, polymorph, and mind affecting effects.
SQ—Undead Traits: Immune to mind-affecting effects,
poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to
critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, energy drain,
or death from massive damage.
Signature Equipment: rod of cancellation, robe of scin-
tillating colors, +6 bracers of armor, ring of telekinesis, ring
of protection +2, wand of fireball (6th level), bag of holding
(type 1), potion of blur, potion of detect thoughts, potion of
glibness, potion of tongues, potion of fly, potion of haste,
scroll of protection from good, scroll of mirror image, scroll
of control undead, spellbooks.
Spells Known (4/6/5/5/5/4/4/3/3): 0 - arcane mark, danc-
ing lights, daze, detect magic, detect poison, disrupt undead,
flare, ghost sound, light, mage hand, mending, open/close,
prestidigitation, ray of frost, read magic, resistance; 1st-level
– cause fear, charm person, color spray, comprehend lan-
guages, detect undead, identify, mage armor, magic missile,
ray of enfeeblement, silent image, summon monster I, true
strike; 2nd-level – blindness/deafness, detect thoughts, flam-
ing sphere, invisibility, locate object, mirror image, scare, see
invisibility, whispering wind; 3rd-level – dispel magic, fire-
ball, flame arrow, fly, haste, hold person, lightning bolt,
major image; 4th-level – dimension door, polymorph, scry-
ing, stoneskin, summon monster IV; 5th-level – contact other
plane, cone of cold, dominate person, prying eyes, summon
monster V, teleport, wall of force; 6th-level – analyze
dweomer, disintegrate, greater dispel magic, join the soul,
legend lore, mislead, permanent image; 7th-level – banish-
ment, greater scrying, insanity, prismatic spray, waves of
exhaustion; 8th-level – discern location, horrid wilting, mind
blank, trap the soul, sunburst; 9th-level – power word kill,
wail of the banshee, weird.
Background
Carcicarian is a lich with a flair for exotic fashions. In his
living days he acquired a taste for long robes covered in
unusual patterns and bright colors. This taste in fashion
remains with him today, despite his pronounced lich features.
In appearance, Carcicarian is a slim man with no body hair of
46
any sort and a pale gray skin tone. Carcicarian’s once bright
eyes have become cloudy white orbs with no remaining any
sort of pupil. His gray skin clings to fragile-looking bones
and he walks with a slow, deliberate pace.
Carcicarian Mifranzell became a lich to thwart a con-
certed assassination attempt by rival mages. Believing he had
taken his own life, they let their guard down, and he easily
destroyed them. Afterward, Carcicarian developed a glorified
temper and flair for the dramatic, realizing that his near invul-
nerability gave him a greater ability to let down his inhibi-
tions. He has a talent for reading people and discerning their
true intent towards him, and once he has such a read on a
potential foe, he’ll make clear what he knows, after which his
history for sadism usually fends off any future attacks. When
not angered, however, he is surprisingly friendly, politely
complimenting those around him with a slightly rasping
voice.
Combat Tactics
Carcicarian’s skills with magic are extraordinary. This
talent is displayed in his methods of combat as he follows a
very strict tactical plan. When confronted, Carcicarian will
always begin with spells to confuse and disorient his oppo-
nent. Once he has established a comfort zone with his defen-
sive and illusion based spells, Carcicarian will utilize his bat-
talion of undead minions to weaken and distract his opponent
while he launches a spellcasting assault. When pressing the
attack, Carcicarian will not waste time; he will use his most
destructive spells or abilities available to him first, preferring
magic that harms only the living.
Carcicarian is always accompanied by two loyal body-
guards, twin half-white dragon warriors (Ftr12) named Kriss
and Skale. The twins are also both deafened, making them
immune to Carcicarian’s wail of the banshee spell. In his own
manor, he keeps an unnerving swarm of loyal undead in every
room, usually hidden by curtains and veils whenever visitors
are expected. Each room usually has two dozen or more
skeletons, packed tight and waiting to spring into action.
Precombat: One common tactic the lich uses was devel-
oped after one of his libraries was ruined by spell-flinging
wizards who had attacked him. To deter enemy mages from
using fire magic against him and his property, he uses per-
manent image to make his skeletal warriors appear to be on
fire, or to even be fire elementals. Since both skeletons and
liches are immune to cold damage, this usually either keeps
enemy spellcasters from casting a majority of their (fire-
based) spells, or completely wasting cold-based spells before they realize their ineffectiveness. Similarly, when expecting
combat, Carcicarian precasts disguise self to make himself look like a flaming demon.
Round Zero: Casts a quickened mirror image, then casts mislead.
Round One: Casts a quickened fly, flies to a good position, then casts wail of the banshee.
Round Two: Quickened dimension door to be in the position to get as many enemies as possible with a cone of cold.
Casts cone of cold, then flies elsewhere.
Round Three: Casts horrid wilting, then a quickened magic missile to deliver a coup de grace to any fallen foes.
Round Four: For style’s sake, casts a quickened silent image of himself flying next to a foe to caress his face with the
back of his hand. Then casts power word kill on that foe.
Round Five: Casts weird, then casts either a quickened dispel magic on a foe who’s proving difficult to kill, or a quick-
ened lightning bolt to strike a foe who has some form of cold resistance.
Round Six: If foes do not look close to defeat, cast a quickened magic missile at one target for spite, then teleport away.
If foes look nearly dead, finish off all but one of them with another cone of cold, then cast a quickened hold person on a sur-
viving foe.
Thereafter, use ring of telekinesis to disarm the surviving held foe, then cast insanity on him. Cast a major image of his
fallen friends animating as undead trying to attack him, then hover away, cancel the hold spell, and watch the man go mad.
Once the novelty wears off, kill him.

47
 Appendix 3

Lich Prestige Classes

Most of the prestige classes available to liches reflect
some principle in the lich’s life as it existed before undeath.
Indeed, some of them are a direct result of a lich’s endeavors
that begin before its undeath and continue into lichdom. For
the latter type of liches, the prestige class represents their
life’s quest—ultimately proving that their theories or beliefs
were correct (to themselves if no one else). The wand lord,
for example, purposely becomes a lich so he can prove his
theories about the lich’s supernatural grafting properties. On
the other hand, the lycanthrolich is a victim of its former life
even as a member of the undead.
Game masters attempting to craft their own lich prestige
classes need look no further than the typical goals of general
villains. The blind obsession of a foe who craves massive
amounts of wealth makes a good example. This stereotypical
villain voluntarily becomes a lich to give him more time to
further accumulate wealth. The game master can fashion a
lich prestige class around the detection, gathering, and safe-
guarding of such wealth. Since a prestige class should work
toward establishing a campaign’s feel and identity, this
wealth gathering lich fits in well because its roots spring from
a common goal. This makes the prestige class special, which
it should be, but not unique since wealth acquisition is a con-
stant from campaign to campaign; thus the players do not
think it an odd prestige class to encounter.
Prestige Class Notes: All these classes are only available
to liches, and thus provide d12 hit dice. Also, as most liches
are at least 11th level before they become a lich, several of
these classes only have 9 levels.
Elementalich
An elementalich is a lich that dabbles in the very essence
of what makes it an undead being. There is an intangible con-
nection to the Negative Energy plane which an elementalich
can access and modify to gain substantial power. Those who
come to this prestige class have, as do most liches, an
unquenchable thirst for knowledge. But what makes the ele-
mentalich so attractive to these beings is that they have had
life-altering or life-threatening incidents with a particular ele-
ment. Becoming an elementalich grants it unprecedented
access to (and command of) this primal force which impact-
ed its former life.
Once an elementalich gains its first powers over a chosen
element, it is not locked into using just that element.
However, the single-mindedness of most liches causes it to
ignore the potential of using multiple elements. Some adven-
turers have encountered liches who push past their focus and
wield the powers of air, earth, fire, and water in all their dev-
astating glory interchangeably.
Elementaliches focusing on one element make their
homes in appropriate locales. Fire elementaliches lair in trop-
ical environs or even volcanoes. Earth elementaliches are
found deep beneath the ground. Air elementaliches live atop
the highest mountains or even among some kind of flying
cloud fortresses. Water elementaliches lie in the deeper parts
of lakes and oceans. All elementaliches surround themselves

The Elementalich
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special Spells per Day
1 +0 +2 +0 +0 Elemental affinity
2 +1 +3 +0 +0 Camouflage +1 level
3 +2 +3 +1 +1 Summon elemental (minutes)
4 +3 +4 +1 +1 Dominant movement +1 level
5 +3 +4 +1 +1 Summon elemental (hours)
6 +4 +5 +2 +2 Summon elemental (days) +1 level
7 +5 +5 +2 +2 Improved movement
8 +6 +6 +2 +2 Summon elemental (weeks) +1 level
9 +6 +6 +3 +3 Elemental fury

48
with elementally-affiliated minions and strive to maintain the
purity of their locale (which leads to combat whenever crea-
tures not native—or belonging to—that element enter the
area).

Requirements
To qualify to become an elementalich, a character must
fulfill all the following criteria.
Race: Lich
Skills: Knowledge (the planes) 10 ranks.
Feats: Impose Energy, Toughness.
Spellcasting: Ability to cast 6th-level arcane spells.

Class Skills
Class Skills: The elementalich’s class skills (and the key
ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Hide (Dex),
Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int),
Search (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis). See Chapter 4:
Skills in the PHB for skill descriptions.
Skill points at each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the elementalich
prestige class.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Elementaliches gain
no proficiency in any forms of weapon or armor.
Spells per Day: For the purposes of determining spells
per day, caster level, and (for spontaneous spellcasters) spells
known, whenever a level of Elementalich grants the ability
“+1 level,” the character adds 1 effective level to one of his
previous spellcasting classes. It does not, however, gain any
other benefit a character of that class would have gained,
except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a lich
had more than one spellcasting class before becoming an ele-
mentalich, it must decide to which class it adds the new level
for purposes of determining spells per day.
Elemental Affinity (Su): The elementalich sacrifices
some of its tie to the Negative Energy plane in order to draw
power from an elemental plane of its choice. The lich loses its
+4 turn resistance but gains a +4 bonus on saving throws
against attacks by whatever element is currently “domi-
nant”—i.e. whichever of the four elements that is currently in
effect. The elementalich can choose between air, earth, fire,
or water to be connected to at any given time and can switch
between them as a free action once per round. Also, the ele-

49
mentalich can change his energy touch (as per the Impose
Energy feat) to deal damage appropriate to whichever ele-
ment is dominant: Air – electricity or sonic, Earth – acid, Fire
– fire, Water – cold.
In addition, any spells cast by the elementalich which
have an elemental descriptor (for example, gust of wind has
the “air” descriptor) have their save DC increased by +2.
Lastly, the elementalich is able to speak and understand the
language of all element types – Aquan for water, Auran for
air, Ignan for fire, and Terran for earth-based creatures.
Camouflage (Ex): The elementalich’s exterior becomes
a color shade which matches its element—blue-white for air,
brown-green for earth, red-orange for fire, or deep blue for
water. As a result, the lich can use the Hide skill (at a +5
bonus) in any terrain where the active element type is preva-
lent even if such terrain doesn’t grant cover or concealment.
Examples include in the sky (air), rural areas (earth), in the
desert (fire), or on or beneath the open sea (water). In gener-
al, the game master should allow the elementalich to use this
ability whenever it is not in an urban area. This ability only
affects the lich’s skeleton so if it is wearing more than a few
stitches of clothing, it is not useful.
Summon Elemental (Sp): This ability functions
mechanically like the summon monster spells except the ele-
mentalich can only summon elementals. The number of ele-
mentals summoned (which must all be of one type; the spe-
cific type is at the lich’s discretion) depends on the lich’s
level. At 3rd level, the elementalich can summon 1d3 Large
elementals or 1d4+1 Medium elementals. At 5th level, it can
summon 1d3 Huge, 1d4+1 Large, or 1d4+2 Medium elemen-
tals. At 7th level, it can summon 1 greater, 1d4 Huge, 1d4+2
Large, or 2d6 Medium elementals. And finally at 9th level,
the elementalich can summon 1 elder, 1d2 greater, 1d4+1
Huge, 2d4+1 Large, or 2d4+3 Medium elementals. The dura-
tion these loyal elementals remain on the lich’s plane is 1d8
minutes, hours, days, or weeks, as detailed in the table above.
Once one or more elementals are summoned using the
ability, the elementalich cannot summon more until all the
current ones are destroyed, dismissed, or their duration
expires.
Dominant Movement (Su): This ability allows the ele-
mentalich to utilize a movement type of the currently domi-
nant elemental. Use the greater speed if the lich’s base speed
is of the same movement type.
Elemental Type Movement Type and Speed
Air Fly 60 ft. (good)
Earth Earth glide 20 ft. (as earth ele-
50
mental)
Fire Land movement 60 ft.
Water Swim 90 ft.
Improved Movement (Su): Increased exposure to the
elemental planes increases the efficiency of the elementalich-
es new movement types. The information given below
replaces the types and speeds from the 4th level dominant
movement ability.
Elemental Type Movement Type and Speed
Air Fly 90 ft. (good)
Earth Earth glide 30 ft. (as earth ele-
mental)
Fire Land movement 90 ft.
Water Swim 120 ft.
Elemental Fury (Su): Once per day as a standard action,
the elementalich can detonate one of his summoned elemen-
tals as long as it is within its line of sight. The chosen ele-
mental explodes in a spread with a radius equal to the ele-
mental’s space, inflicting damage equal to Xd6 where X is
equal to one-half the elemental’s hit dice. The type of damage
inflicted depends on the elemental detonated: air elementals
rupture into sonic damage, fire elementals explode in a fiery
blast, earth elementals tear apart and deliver bludgeoning
damage, and water elementals instantaneously chill before
bursting to inflict cold damage. A Reflex save (DC 10 + ele-
mentalich’s class level + elementalich’s Cha modifier) halves
the damage from each explosion.
Keeper of Oblivion
Like most liches, the keeper of oblivion desires knowl-
edge of a specific type. However, the keeper does not wish to
use that knowledge for his own gain, only to keep others from
knowing or learning it. As a living being, the lich either dis-
covered or created something of great importance. Whether
this something was a magical artifact or spell, a kingdom-
threatening secret, or a powerful creature does not matter. The
individual became a lich to ensure that knowledge of the
secret would remain hidden forever. Such single-mindedness
took the individual not only into lichdom but into this pres-
tige class as well. The keeper of oblivion uses special abili-
ties and tactics to ensure that its reason for being is never
unearthed.
A keeper of oblivion draws its power from the space
between planes. Just beyond the Negative Energy Plane and
the planes that border it, there is a thin, yet turbulent, realm
of chaotic nothingness. The chaos originates from intense
gravitational forces that keep one plane’s energies from
spilling into its neighbor’s. Much like an elementalich can
focus its negative energy tie to another plane, the keeper of
oblivion can split the hair even more by reaching into that
space between the planes. As a result, the space within the
lich’s ribcage is filled with an ever present swirl of inky shad-
ows which represents its unique connection.
An aura of forgetfulness and heavy gravity surrounds the
keeper of oblivion and leeches at the minds of living crea-
tures. No living minions ever remain in service to a keeper,
for they could never recall who they were serving or why. The
keeper is alone in its single-minded quest. The single thing
which can deter a keeper from its course is the presence of
another keeper of oblivion. One keeper can sense the pres-
ence of another if it is within 60 miles. Once one learns of
another’s close proximity, each keeper turns all its efforts to
destroying the other. The few sages who even know of the
keeper’s existence theorize that, besides being a rival in terms
of power and ability, another keeper’s tie to oblivion might
interfere with the other’s tie. If both use an “obliterate” power
(see below) at the same time while close together, it could
tear a hole in the fabric of reality, creating in essence a tiny
black hole. This theory has, thus far, never been put to the
test.
Requirements
To qualify to become a keeper of oblivion, a character
must fulfill all the following criteria.
Race: Lich.
Skills: Gather Information 13 ranks, Knowledge (any 2)
13 ranks.
Feats: Investigator, Spell Focus (enchantment).
Class Skills
Class Skills: The keeper of oblivion’s class skills (and
the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration
(Con), Decipher Script (Int), Disguise (Cha), Forgery (Int),
Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge
(any) (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Search (Int), Sense
Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis). See Chapter 4:
Skills in the PHB for skill descriptions.
Skill points at each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the keeper of
oblivion prestige class.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Keepers of oblivion
gain no proficiency in any forms of weapon or armor.
Spells per Day: For the purposes of determining spells
per day, caster level, and (for spontaneous spellcasters) spells
known, whenever a level of Keeper of Oblivion grants the
ability “+1 level,” the character adds 1 effective level to one
of his previous spellcasting classes. It does not, however, gain
any other benefit a character of that class would have gained,
except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a lich
had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a keep-
er of oblivion, it must decide to which class it adds the new
level for purposes of determining spells per day.
Gravity Tie (Su): The keeper of oblivion alters its pri-
mary connection to the Negative Energy Plane to rely more
upon the space between planes where gravity is in flux. The
lich loses its +4 turn resistance but gains the ability to push or

Keeper of Oblivion
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special Spells per Day
1 +0 +0 +2 +2 Gravity tie (Tiny) +1 level
2 +1 +0 +3 +3 Mental fog +1 level
3 +1 +1 +3 +3 Aura of fatigue +1 level
4 +2 +1 +4 +4 Gravity tie (Small) +1 level
5 +2 +1 +4 +4 Obliterate +1 level
6 +3 +2 +5 +5 +1 level
7 +3 +2 +5 +5 Gravity tie (Medium) +1 level
8 +4 +2 +6 +6 Aura of exhaustion +1 level
9 +4 +3 +6 +6 Gravity tie (Large), mass obliterate +1 level

51
 pull objects and creatures with a limited gravitational force.
This ability functions exactly as the spell telekinesis except as
follows: the ability can only be used three times per day using
the keeper’s class level to determine caster level; the range is
40 ft./caster level; any weight limitations use the creature size
designations as listed on the table above at 1st, 4th, 7th, and
10th levels (Tiny equals up to 8 lb., Small equals up to 60 lb.,
Medium equals up to 500 lb., Large equals up to 2,000 lb.).
For serious combats, the keeper of oblivion prefers to pull
foes into its aura of fatigue/exhaustion with this ability to
gain the advantage.
Mental Fog (Su): Any creature that interacts with, or
even sees, the keeper of oblivion may forget the keeper’s
appearance and actions after it has left the area. Creatures
within 120 feet of the keeper who see or speak to it must suc-
ceed a Will save (DC 10 + keeper’s class level + keeper’s Cha
mod) to remember the encounter afterward. The save must be
rolled once per hour for the following 12 hours beginning as
soon as the keeper has left the area of effect. Even one failure
results in the target forgetting all details about the keeper of
oblivion. If the keeper of oblivion is destroyed, creatures who
have forgotten it do not regain their memories, but no further
saves are required to keep current memories.
Aura of Fatigue (Su): The lich’s fear aura changes to
reflect its weakened connection to the Negative Energy
Plane. The force of oblivion a keeper draws from manifests as
a gravitational disturbance around the lich. This occupies the
same radius as the fear aura did (60 feet) but causes all living
creatures within that area to become fatigued—cannot charge
or run and suffer a -2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity—until
they are out of the aura. This effect does not allow a saving
throw and is always active.
Aura of Exhaustion (Su): A strengthened connection to
the gravitational flux of oblivion increases the keeper of
oblivion’s aura of disturbance. Any living creatures within 60
feet become exhausted—move at half speed and suffer a -6
penalty to Strength and Dexterity—until they are out of the
aura. This effect does not allow a saving throw and is always
active.
Obliterate (Su): At 5th level, the keeper of oblivion can
rip apart a creature’s body or an object (up to one 15-ft. cube
of nonliving matter) using its control of intense gravitational
waves. A black ray springs from the lich’s finger and it must
succeed a ranged touch attack to strike the target. A hit caus-
es a target creature to succeed a Fortitude save (DC 10 +
keeper’s class level + keeper’s Cha mod) or die, its body
instantly ripped to shreds and absorbed into the keeper of
oblivion’s swirling heart of darkness where it is transported to

52
and lost in the space between planes. Even a successful save
inflicts 10d6 points of damage on the target. This ability can
be used once per day as a standard action.
Mass Obliterate (Sp): At 10th level, the power to oblit-
erate a creature or object increases dramatically. This power
works the same as the obliterate ability (above) but is usable
up to three times per day and is fired as a 30-ft. cone-shaped
burst (Fort DC 10 + keeper’s class level + keeper’s Cha mod
for each creature in the area of effect). The amount of non-
living matter that can be affected is up to a 30-ft. cube.
Lycanthrolich
patches of fur appropriate to the animal form sprout along the
backbone and limbs after the bones warp and merge to form
the new shape.
The lycanthrolich takes the bestial aggression of the liv-
ing creature’s lycanthropy and focuses it in new directions.
The result is often a wild undead abomination, far more
unstable now than it ever was in life. The lich acts on
impulse, rarely listening to what’s left of its conscious, much
less anyone else’s advice or admonitions. Unlike most liches,
the lycanthrolich lives in misery. It failed to purge its afflic-
tion so it exists only to spread the chaos and destruction it
harbors unto others.

A lycanthrolich is a doubly tortured soul. The lich was a
lycanthrope in its living years, cursed by the need to
shapechange into some kind of animal at the whim of the
moon (or at his own whim for natural lycanthropes). Not
quite a man and not quite a beast, this person at some point in
his life encounters someone who can turn him into a lich.
While such a form means existing as an undead creature, the
afflicted believes this procedure can cure his lycanthropy and
allow some semblance of a “normal” existence.
Unfortunately, the poor soul couldn’t be more wrong.
Despite a fervent belief that he will retain his soul, the
lycanthrope’s lich ritual turns him into the undead villain all
liches are. However, the lycanthropy (only the need to alter-
nate form) does remain dormant for a few years, providing a
short respite before forcibly reasserting itself. Then, the lich
again feels the urge during a full moon to become the beast it
though was left behind. At the first opportunity, it takes up
this prestige class to further explore the affliction in its new
state. When the lycanthrolich does alternate form, a few
Requirements
To qualify to become a lycanthrolich, a character must
fulfill all the following criteria.
Race: Lich and lycanthrope (natural or afflicted)
Base Attack Bonus: +5.
Class Skills
Class Skills: The lycanthrolich’s class skills (and the key
ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Escape
Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str),
Listen, (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis),
Survival (Wis), Swim (Str). See Chapter 4: Skills in the PHB
for skill descriptions.
Skill points at each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the lycan-

Lycanthrolich
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special
1 +1 +2 +0 +2 Feral undeath
2 +2 +3 +0 +3 Primal fear aura (7 HD), rage 1/day
3 +3 +3 +1 +3 Rend
4 +4 +4 +1 +4
5 +5 +4 +1 +4 Primal fear aura (9HD)
6 +6 +5 +2 +5 Rage 2/day
7 +7 +5 +2 +5 Improved Rend
8 +8 +6 +2 +6 Primal fear aura (11 HD)
9 +9 +6 +3 +6
10 +10 +7 +3 +7 Rage 3/day

53
 throlich prestige class.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Lycanthroliches gain
no proficiency in any forms of weapon or armor.
Feral Undeath (Su): After a period of dormancy, the
need and ability to alternate form that the lycanthrolich pos-
sessed in life now returns. Any animal or hybrid forms the
creature could assume before becoming a lich it can again
assume. The animal or hybrid forms are also modified by the
lich template. Damage reductions stack, so to bypass the
damage reduction of a natural lycanthrope lich you must
attack with a magical silver bludgeoning weapon.
When the lycanthrolich does alter form, the warping, col-
lapsing, and merging of bones is a horrific sight to behold.
Living creatures within 90 feet that witness a transformation
must succeed a Fortitude save (DC 10) or become sickened
for 1d4 rounds.
The lycanthrolich can deliver its touch attack with one of
the animal or hybrid form’s natural attacks (using the nega-
tive energy damage in addition to its usual damage). In addi-
tion, if the lycanthrolich is able to cast spells, he can do so in
animal form as long as the spell only requires a vocal com-
ponent. Otherwise, the lycanthrolich is limited in the usual
fashion when casting spells in non-humanoid form.
Rage (Su): A lycanthrolich can fly into a rage a certain
number of times per day just like a barbarian. In a rage, a
lycanthrolich temporarily gains a +4 bonus to Strength and a
+2 morale bonus on Will saves, but he takes a –2 penalty to
Armor Class. The lycanthrolich also gains DR 2/- for the
duration of the rage.
A fit of rage lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the
lycanthrolich’s class level. A lycanthrolich may prematurely
end its rage. At the end of the rage, the lycanthrolich loses the
rage modifiers and restrictions but does not become fatigued
like a barbarian does at the end of his rage. In all other ways,
a lycanthrolich’s rage is the same as a barbarian’s rage.
A lycanthrolich can fly into a rage only once per
encounter. At 2nd level it can use its rage ability once per day.
At 6th level and 10th level it can use it one additional time per
day. Entering a rage takes no time itself, but a lycanthrolich
can do it only during his action, not in response to someone
else’s action.
Rend (Ex): If a lycanthrolich hits with two claw attacks
in hybrid form, it latches onto the opponent’s body and tears
the flesh. This attack automatically deals an additional 2d4
points of damage plus the lycanthrolich’s Strength bonus.
Improved Rend (Ex): This ability is the same as Rend
(above) but the lycanthrolich now deals 2d6 (plus Strength
bonus) points of damage instead of 2d4.

54
 Primal Fear Aura (Su): This ability works the same as
the lich’s fear aura power, but the maximum HD of creatures
affected is improved (see table). The aura surrounding a
lycanthrolich is a much more penetrating fear than the aura of
a ‘common’ lich.
Machinator
A person takes up the machinator prestige class in order
to push the envelope of crime and assassination. He sees the
lich form as the ultimate tool for easily amassing wealth,
power, and fame. As an undead, he reasons, concerns such as
sustenance, physical discomfort, and emotions do not inter-
fere with the refinement of his craft. Adopting an alias—usu-
ally a title of two or three words (“The Shadow,” “Ivory
Death,” etc.)—the machinator uses its centuries of existence
to establish itself as the greatest rogue history has seen or ever
will see.
Using flawless disguises, information gathered over
weeks, months, or possibly years, and patience only the
undead can have, the machinator plans every heist or assassi-
nation to perfection. The lich gains more notoriety from the
items it steals but the ability to slay just about any creature
within moments puts one’s name on the most infamous list as
well; so both thievery and combat are its mainstays. The
machinator executes every plan with certain flair that it
develops over years—particular gestures, ways of speaking,
and even a “calling card” left at the scene. The lich plans for
every conceivable contingency, having a back-up plan and a
back-up plan for the back-up!
The machinator’s way of life necessitates moving
around. Backed by decades or centuries of built monies, the
lich could certainly remain in one place but without a good
cover story such sedentary residence is bound to raise suspi-
cions. So the machinator stays within the area of its current
goal, adopting a new persona every few months or so. Once
its goal is in hand, the lich moves on to the next goal’s com-
munity to repeat its procedure of blend in, study, plan, blend
in, study, plan, and finally execute the plan. Its phylactery is
usually far away from the lich, buried amidst its grand treas-
ures in a vault so laden with traps and decoys that even the
lich must concentrate when accessing it. The vault may not
even be in the same nation or country the lich is currently
operating in.
The machinator prestige class is most appealing to
rogues and bards. The latter commonly documents its great
heists and sings of them in public within the same communi-
ty it just robbed from. The bard’s “living” persona is always
the same and is a secondary way of achieving long-lasting
notoriety. Although this is tricky business—many wanting to
know how the bard possesses such intimate knowledge of the
crimes—the machinator, as always, has a way out in case the
authorities come a-calling.
Requirements
To qualify to become a machinator, a character must ful-
fill all the following criteria.
Race: Lich.
Skills: Disguise 13 ranks, Spot 10 ranks.
Feats: Combat Expertise, Skill Focus (Disguise).
Special: Must integrate recently dead flesh of a doppel-
ganger into the lich’s flesh.

Machinator
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special
1 +0 +0 +2 +0 Living persona, sneak attack +1d6
2 +1 +0 +3 +0 Bonus feat
3 +2 +1 +3 +1 Critical strike +1d6
4 +3 +1 +4 +1 Uncanny dodge
5 +3 +1 +4 +1 Sneak attack +2d6
6 +4 +2 +5 +2 Bonus feat
7 +5 +2 +5 +2 Critical strike +2d6
8 +6 +2 +6 +2 Improved uncanny dodge
9 +6 +3 +6 +3 Sneak attack +3d6
10 +7 +3 +7 +3 Bonus feat

55
 Class Skills
Class Skills: The machinator’s class skills (and the key
ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff
(Cha), Climb (Str), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha),
Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex),
Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex),
Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int),
Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex),
Perform (Cha), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of
Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use
Magic Device (Cha), and Use Rope (Dex). See Chapter 4:
Skills in the PHB for skill descriptions.
Skill points at each Level: 8 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the machinator
prestige class.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Machinators are pro-
ficient with the crossbow (hand, light, or heavy), dagger (any
type), dart, flail, light mace, rapier, sap, shortbow (normal
and composite), short sword, and warhammer. Machinators
are proficient with light armor but not with shields.
Living Persona (Su): Because of the doppelganger com-
ponent in the lich’s creation, the machinator can cover the
decrepit walking corpse it is with real flesh. The tightly
stretched dead skin supernaturally reforms into healthy living
skin for a period of no more than 8 hours per day. The machi-
nator is able to assume a number of personas—members of
races it is familiar with—equal to its Charisma modifier
(minimum 1). The most used persona commonly resembles
the lich’s living incarnation (often mistaken for a relative).
Switching from one persona to another requires a full-round
action.
The lich has learned to control his unliving voice to emu-
late a distinct voice for each persona, so that the disguise is
nearly impossible to pierce.
In addition, this attachment to the living world negates
the ability to generate the fear aura common to all liches. The
machinator is still an undead, however, and susceptible to all
spells and weapons capable of detecting and harming such
creatures.
Sneak Attack (Ex): A machinator gains bonus sneak
attack damage dice, as per the rogue ability of the same name.
This extra damage dealt increases by +1d6 at 1st, 5th, and 9th
level.

56
 Bonus Feats: The machinator gets bonus feats in addi-
tion to the normal feats any class gets by advancing levels. At
2nd, 6th, and 10th level, the machinator gains one of the fol-
lowing bonus feats of its choice: Agile, Alertness, Deceitful,
Deft Hands, Diligent, Dodge, Improved Feint, Improved
Initiative, Investigator, Negotiator, Nimble Fingers,
Persuasive, Stealthy, Weapon Finesse. The machinator must
still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability
score and base attack bonus minimums.
Critical Strike (Su): Intimate knowledge of its own
creature type—one that cannot be critically hit—has provid-
ed the machinator with special insight into similar creature
types. Under the same conditions as a sneak attack (target
denied Dex bonus to AC, etc.), the machinator can critically
strike a creature with no discernible anatomy—undead, con-
structs, oozes, plants, and incorporeal creatures—to inflict
extra damage. This extra damage increases by +1d6 at 3rd
and 7th level.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex): A machinator gains the uncanny
dodge ability (as the rogue ability of the same name) at 4th
level.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): A machinator gains
the improved uncanny dodge ability (as the rogue ability of
the same name) at 8th level.
Mage-Eater
Liches take up the mantle of mage-eater to see how far
their magical power can be enhanced. Living spellcasters are
bound by a strict code telling them what spells are available
and how many times they can cast them in a day’s time. Once
that allotment is set, the caster must be cautious, making cer-
tain he does not cast himself into a corner, so to speak. The
mage-eater lich need not worry about daily limitations. By
removing the base magics that maintain a magic item’s cohe-
sion and power, the mage-eater gives itself a backup power
source which can be drawn upon for numerous ends.
The mage-eater literally consumes magic items for
power. Doubtless, there are special creatures that can absorb
any type of magical energy, but the mage-eater requires the
controlled and reliable source that items provide. Its ability to
consume items makes the mage-eater a feared creature to all
characters, not just spellcasters. A rogue who finds his magi-
cal bracers suddenly in a mage-eater’s gullet has as much to
fear as the wizard whose wand of lightning bolt shares the
same fate. Magic items make even the weakest characters for-
midable but lack of same gives even high-level characters
pause. Those who know of the mage-eater lich either try to
destroy it immediately or give it a wide berth.
Like other liches, the mage-eater is a solitary figure, pur-
suing his own goals while ignoring the moral and ethical
restrictions common to the living races. As a campaign foe,
the mage-eater is a classic, power-hungry villain. The lich
commonly throws itself against stronger adventuring parties
in order to gain more powerful magics for its magical reser-
voir. It is a point of pride that the mage-eater does not con-
sume any magic items of its own creation. This is not to say,
however, that it would not do so if its existence was at stake.
Requirements
To qualify to become a mage-eater, a character must ful-
fill all the following criteria.
Race: Lich.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 13 ranks, Spellcraft 13
ranks.

Mage-Eater
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special Spells per Day
1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Arcane sight, Maintain Stolen Ability +1 level
2 +1 +0 +0 +3 Consume magic (CL 1st-5th) +1 level
3 +1 +1 +1 +3 Spell Resistance +1 level
4 +2 +1 +1 +4 Consume magic (CL 6th-10th) +1 level
5 +2 +1 +1 +4 Greater arcane sight +1 level
6 +3 +2 +2 +5 Consume magic (CL 11th-15th) +1 level
7 +3 +2 +2 +5 Consume magic (CL 16th-18th) +1 level
8 +4 +2 +2 +6 Consume magic (CL 19th-20th) +1 level
9 +4 +3 +3 +6 Consume magic (CL epic) +1 level

57
 Feats: Steal Ability, any one item creation feat. Typically
a lich will take this prestige class at 12th level, the same time
it takes the Steal Ability feat.
Special: Lich must integrate a ring of spell storing or
similar item into its body, which is rendered inert.

Class Skills
Class Skills: The mage-eater’s class skills (and the key
ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Concentration (Con),
Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Disable Device (Int),
Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic
Device (Cha). See Chapter 4: Skills in the PHB for skill
descriptions.
Skill points at each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the mage-eater
prestige class.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Mage-eaters gain no
proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Spells per Day: For the purposes of determining spells
per day, caster level, and (for spontaneous spellcasters) spells
known, whenever a level of mage-eater grants the ability “+1
level,” the character adds 1 effective level to one of his pre-
vious spellcasting classes. It does not, however, gain any
other benefit a character of that class would have gained,
except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a lich
had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a
mage-eater, it must decide to which class it adds the new level
for purposes of determining spells per day.
Arcane Sight (Sp): The mage-eater can use arcane sight
three times per day as the 3rd-level spell. This is a free action
for the mage-eater.
Maintain Stolen Ability: The mage-eater gains this as a
bonus feat.
Spell Resistance (Su): A mage-eater of 3rd level or
higher has spell resistance equal to 10 + its Hit Dice. As with
any creature possessing this ability, the mage-eater can allow
spells to affect itself if it so chooses.
Consume Magic (Su): The mage-eater has the ability to
consume the magical energy of magic items. It must place the
item (or part of an item) into its mouth and bite down. The
magic item is allowed a Fortitude save (DC 20) to retain its
energies. If the item succeeds its save, nothing happens and
the mage-eater cannot attempt to drain that item for another
24 hours. If it fails, the caster level of the item is divided in

58
half (round down) and added to the mage-eater’s energy pool.
The item itself loses all magical abilities. An unattended
magic item resists this with a saving throw bonus of 2 + 1/2
its caster level (round down).
The mage-eater is limited in the power of items it can
consume (see the table for caster levels capable of being con-
sumed). For example, a 5th-level mage-eater cannot consume
a magic item having greater than a caster level 10th. Any
attempt to do so is met with failure.
A mage-eater’s extra magical power is represented by a
number of points in its energy pool. Consuming two caster
levels from an item equals one energy point. The maximum
number of energy points a mage-eater keeps generally does
not exceed twice its class level. This common maximum is
referred to as the “threshold.” A mage-eater can, if it wishes,
break the threshold by absorbing even more energy points
(see below for consequences). Energy points bleed off at the
rate of 1/day.
The mage-eater has a few different options when it
comes to using its energy points.
• Spontaneous Metamagic: Instead of preparing spells
with metamagic feats ahead of time (wizards, clerics,
druids, etc.) or spending more than the normal duration
casting a metamagic spell (bards and sorcerers), the
mage-eater can cast these spells on a whim using a point-
per-level conversion. For example, if a mage-eater wants
to cast fireball with the Empower Spell metamagic feat
(which normally increases the spell level by 2), it can
spend two of its energy points to do so without advance
preparation or extended duration. The energy points take
the place of the more common higher level prerequisites.
Applying metamagic feats in this way does not use up a
spell slot besides the one reserved for the original spell.
Using the Empowered fireball, this means that the mage-
eater loses a 3rd-level spell slot instead of the 5th-level
one it otherwise would have lost. The mage-eater can
continue to apply metamagic feats as long as it has ener-
gy points to use.
• Damaging Release: The mage-eater can fire raw magi-
cal power at its foes in two controlled forms. One way is
in a 120-ft. line and the other is in a 60-ft. cone. In both
cases, targets can attempt Reflex (DC 10 + 1/2 mage-
eater’s level + mage-eater’s Cha modifier) saves to avoid
half the damage. The damage is 1d6 points per energy
point dumped into the attack by the mage-eater (maxi-
mum points that can be used equals threshold).
Breaking the Threshold: Instead of stopping at the
threshold number, the mage-eater can continue to consume
magical energy but at great risk. At the beginning of its turn
each round, a mage-eater takes 1d6 points of damage for
every energy point beyond its threshold. If a mage-eater’s
physical body is destroyed by this damage, the mage-eater
detonates, dealing 1d6 points of damage for every energy
point held at that time to all creatures within a 30-ft. radius
(Reflex DC 25 for half damage). The lich can thereafter not
reform its physical body for an additional 1 day for every
energy point it had when it was destroyed. When it does
reform, it does so with 0 energy points.
For example, a 7th-level mage-eater decides to break its
threshold in order to defeat its remaining enemies. This
mage-eater’s threshold is 14 and it already has 10 energy
points stored. The mage-eater successfully consumes a maul
of the titans (CL 15th) and gains 7 more energy points, bring-
ing its total to 17. On its next turn it takes 3d6 points of dam-
age. If that damage were enough to destroy, the mage-eater
would explode in a burst of energy dealing 17d6 points of
damage to everything in a 30-ft. radius.
Greater Arcane Sight (Sp): A 5th-level mage-eater, in
addition to using arcane sight, can use greater arcane sight
three times per day as the 7th-level spell. This is a free action
for the mage-eater.
Necrotic Potentate
The necrotic potentate desires total domination over a
world of undead. Since this world is not one of complete
undeath, the necrotic potentate has to work to make it that
way. Graveyards, sites of natural or combat destruction, and
plague-ridden communities are all common haunts of this
type of lich. It gathers mindless and intelligent undead alike
to swell the undead ranks and move against the living. If a
society has doomsday-like prophecies or texts, then the
necrotic potentate certainly personifies them.
Studies of necromantic arts and deadly combat strategies
are the necrotic potentate’s bread and butter. The lich never
hides behind its troops but rather leads them into battle
proudly. It believes that since the destiny of every creature is
to someday die, would it not be more efficient to expedite that
process? Even before its rebirth as a lich, the necrotic poten-
tate saw the world, and by extension itself, as incurably cor-
rupt. The only way to save the world is to remake it as a pure
and unified whole. Race, gender, birthright—all are equal in
undeath.
59
 Requirements
To qualify to become a necrotic potentate, a character
must fulfill all the following criteria.
Race: Lich.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 10 ranks, Knowledge (reli-
gion) 13 ranks.
Feats: Spell Focus (necromancy).
Spellcasting: Must be able to cast create undead.
Special: Ability to rebuke undead.

Class Skills
Class Skills: The necrotic potentate’s class skills (and
the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str),
Concentration (Con), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate
(Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (any) (Int), Search (Int),
Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis). See Chapter 4: Skills in the PHB
for skill descriptions.
Skill points at each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the necrotic
potentate prestige class.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Necrotic potentates
gain no proficiency in any kind of weapon or armor.
Spells per Day: For the purposes of determining spells
per day, caster level, and (for spontaneous spellcasters) spells
known, whenever a level of Necrotic Potentate grants the
ability “+1 level,” the character adds 1 effective level to one
of his previous spellcasting classes. It does not, however, gain
any other benefit a character of that class would have gained,
except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a lich
had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a
Necrotic Potentate, it must decide to which class he adds the
new level for purposes of determining spells per day.
Turning, Commanding, and Rebuking: For purposes
of commanding or rebuking undead (and turning living, see
below), the necrotic potentate adds his class levels to levels
of the previous class he had that granted commanding and
rebuking abilities. Thus, a cleric 11/necrotic potentate 2
rebukes undead as a 13th-level cleric.
Animate Dead (Sp): The first step in establishing an
undead empire is to create undead. This ability functions
exactly like the spell of the same name and is usable by the
necrotic potentate as a standard action an unlimited number

60
of times per day.
Negative Affinity (Ex): The lich’s link to the negative
energy plane is so strong that its turn resistance is doubled.
Extra Turning (Su): The necrotic potentate gains this as
a bonus feat at 2nd level.
Turn Living (Su): The necrotic potentate can use one of
its command or rebuke undead usages for the day to instead
turn living creatures. Creatures turned this way may resist
with a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 necrotic potentate’s class level
+ necrotic potentate’s Wis modifier). Each round, as a free
action, a creature turned this way can attempt another save to
negate the turning effect for it.
If the necrotic potentate has twice as many cleric levels
as a creature it turns successfully, that creature must succeed
a Fortitude save or be slain.
Desecration Aura (Su): Filling the same area as the
necrotic potentate’s fear aura is an aura of desecration. This
acts exactly like the spell of the same name and permanently
moves with the lich. At 6th level, the radius of the aura
increases to 90 ft. and at 8th level it increases to 120 feet.
Necrotize Living (Su): As a standard action, the necrot-
ic potentate fires a ray of concentrated negative energy from
its index finger. A successful hit against a living target forces
it to succeed a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 necrotic poten-
tate’s class level + necrotic potentate’s Wis modifier) or die
and be instantly reborn as an undead creature. The target is
enveloped by sizzling black bolts of energy that simultane-
ously draw life and give unlife. The type of undead that the
necrotic potentate creates is the same as if it had cast create
undead on the target. The difference is that not only is the
newly created undead completely under the lich’s control, but
no material component is required. The necrotic potentate can
use this ability once per day.
Greater Necrotize Living (Su): When the necrotic
potentate uses his necrotize living ability, he can instead turn
the target into a more powerful undead type as if using the
spell create greater undead.
Lich-king (Su): As a lich-king, the necrotic potentate
reaches the pinnacle of negative energy imbuement. It can no
longer be turned by good clerics. In addition, the necrotic
potentate can establish a desecration field around and within
a single structure or area no larger than 20 cu. ft. per class
level. If it establishes such an area, it can remain in effect for
up to one week even if the lich leaves the desecrated area. The
necrotic potentate’s personal desecration aura ceases to func-
tion as long as the larger field is in effect.
Patriarch
In a world full of danger, it is not uncommon to
encounter someone who has lost his family or close friends to
horrible circumstances. The patriarch lich is the next, if
extreme, step for just such a person. While still a living being,
the lich lost its “family” to violence. This can mean a loss of
blood relatives but can also mean loss of a group of friends or
other close-knit companions (fellow clergymen or adventur-
ers for example).
It is a fact that most liches eventually lose their mental
faculties, but the patriarch’s are damaged before it even
becomes a lich. Loss of meaningful kin or companions forces
this person to choose the path of undeath. The patriarch
believes that its original family can be rebuilt and that becom-
ing a lich is the only means to this end. As such, the lich takes
up this prestige class not long after becoming a lich.
Although the attainment of lichdom does provide power,
it also distorts the person’s original goal. As a lich, the patri-

Necrotic Potentate
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special Spells per Day
1 +0 +2 +0 +2 Animate dead, negative affinity +1 level
2 +1 +3 +0 +3 Extra turning +1 level
3 +1 +3 +1 +3 Turn living +1 level
4 +2 +4 +1 +4 Desecration aura (60 ft.) +1 level
5 +2 +4 +1 +4 Desecration aura (90 ft.) +1 level
6 +3 +5 +2 +5 Necrotize living +1 level
7 +3 +5 +2 +5 Desecration aura (120 ft.) +1 level
8 +4 +6 +2 +6 Greater necrotize living +1 level
9 +4 +6 +3 +6 Lich-king +1 level

61
 arch does not want to recover the family it lost, but rather build
a new one at the cost of others’ happiness. The patriarch’s long
existence is spent harvesting the minds and bodies of those that
resemble its former kin and comrades while inflicting the same
horror and sorrow it felt when those same relations were orig-
inally stolen from it. It stalks the community or lair of a desig-
nated target and attempts to slay his friends and family with its
spells before taking him into its fold. It is worth noting that
even when a creature becomes part of the patriarch’s “family,”
it is not shown the location of the lich’s phylactery. Even
amongst family members, there are secrets better left hidden.

Requirements
To qualify to become a patriarch, a character must fulfill
all the following criteria.
Race: Lich.
Feats: Spell Focus (enchantment).
Spellcasting: Ability to cast enchantment spells of at least
5th level.
Special: Must have been the sole survivor of a disastrous
encounter that slew all close family or friends in the area.

Class Skills
Class Skills: The patriarch’s class skills (and the key abil-
ity for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Cha),
Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Gather Information (Cha),
Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int),
Knowledge (local) (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha),
Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis). See Chapter
4: Skills in the PHB for skill descriptions.
Skill points at each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the patriarch
prestige class.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Patriarchs gain no
proficiency in any kind of weapon or armor.
Spells per Day: For the purposes of determining spells
per day, caster level, and (for spontaneous spellcasters) spells
known, whenever a level of Patriarch grants the ability “+1
level,” the character adds 1 effective level to one of its previ-
ous spellcasting classes. It does not, however, gain any other
benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for
an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a lich had more
than one spellcasting class before becoming a patriarch, it must
decide to which class it adds the new level for purposes of

62
determining spells per day.
Charm Person (Sp): Once a patriarch has decided that a
creature resembles one of its former family members, it
attempts to mentally implant a feeling of closeness in the tar-
get toward the lich. Unless the target succeeds a Will save (DC
10 + 1/2 patriarch’s class level + patriarch’s Cha modifier), it
acts as if under the effects of a charm person spell towards the
lich. It sees the patriarch not as a dangerous undead menace,
but as a misunderstood creature to be pitied. This effect lasts
for a number of days equal to the patriarch’s character level (no
further saves are allowed for this duration unless the target is
given an obviously self-endangering command). The lich can
use this ability once per day. There is no limit to the number of
creatures that the patriarch can have charmed at any particular
time.
Summon Monster (Sp): While a patriarch desires to con-
trol creatures that physically resemble its former friends and
family members, it takes any creature to its side in the mean-
time. This ability functions exactly like the spell summon mon-
ster V and is usable by the patriarch up to three times per day.
Create Thrall (Sp): Once a target has been charmed, the
patriarch can attempt to permanently enslave his mind and
body to its cause. A creature currently under the charm person
effect must succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 patriarch’s
class level + patriarch’s Cha modifier) or become a thrall to the
patriarch’s wishes as if under the effects of a dominate person
spell. The difference between this ability and the spell is that
the effect is permanent (or until the lich’s body is destroyed)
and any command from the lich is carried out despite any obvi-
ous danger or if it is contrary to the thrall’s nature. This abili-
ty can only be used once per week. At 2nd level, only one crea-
ture can be a patriarch’s thrall. But at every even-numbered
level thereafter (levels 4, 6, 8, and 10), the patriarch can create
and control a new thrall (having a possible maximum total of
5 thralls at level 10). Using this ability on a creature not cur-
rently charmed by the patriarch has no effect.
The bond between thrall and patriarch is as meaningful as
the lich’s bond between its former friends and family. When
the lich’s body is destroyed, the thralls are free to do as they
please. When the patriarch’s phylactery rebuilds the lich, its
first order of business is to track down and slay its former
thralls. These now free-willed creatures are a reminder of the
original family lost to the patriarch and it does not want those
creatures to have those memories. Once every former thrall is
slain, the patriarch returns to its original quest to rebuild a new
family.
Family Values (Su): With inspirational words spoken
about the power of family, the patriarch can inspire courage in
his nearby thralls. Thralls gain a +1 morale bonus on attack
and weapon damage rolls as well as a +1 dodge bonus to AC.
Both the bonus granted and radius of the ability increase as the
patriarch gains levels (see the table for specifics). The patri-
arch need only speak for 1 round to initiate the ability, the
bonus instilled by it lasting for a number of rounds equal to the
patriarch’s class level.
This ability is a two-way path, however, since a lich is
involved. Using the same bonus amount and radius listed, the
patriarch can give himself the same effect for the same dura-
tion by taking it from one of his thralls. No speech is required,
but the patriarch’s drawing of power from the thrall does
require a move-equivalent action to complete. The chosen
thrall is penalized for the same amount that the lich gains (hav-
ing a -1 to attack, damage, and AC with a 3rd-level patriarch,
for example). The thrall(s) must remain in the stated radius for
the lich’s bonus to remain active for the duration.

Patriarch
Level Bonus Fort Ref Will Special Spells per Day
1 +0 +0 +2 +2 Charm person, summon monster +1 level
2 +1 +0 +3 +3 Create thrall (x1) +1 level
3 +1 +1 +3 +3 Family values +1 (30 ft.) +1 level
4 +2 +1 +4 +4 Create thrall (x2) +1 level
5 +2 +1 +4 +4 Family values +2 (60 ft.) +1 level
6 +3 +2 +5 +5 Create thrall (x3) +1 level
7 +3 +2 +5 +5 Family values +3 (90 ft.) +1 level
8 +4 +2 +6 +6 Create thrall (x4) +1 level
9 +4 +3 +6 +6 Family values +4 (120 ft.) +1 level
10 +5 +3 +7 +7 Create thrall (x5) +1 level

63
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