D&D Lore: The Lich (Volume 2) - The Story of the Master of the Dark Arts in Dungeons and Dragons

Artificer litches need to be a thing where a artificer transfers his soul into a construct

I like the idea of of a DM doing adventures with a party but also, secretly doing solo missions one on one with the wizard in the party when their friends aren’t around as he embarks on his personal quest for Lichdom. Maybe the paladin or priest realizes something is amiss but fails their perceptive rolls and the wizard narrowly escapes discovery. Hints can be dropped and strange occurrences can be weaved into the group adventures, things like stumbling upon a group of zombies guarding an evil wizards library only for them to take one look at the wizard in your party and flee in the opposite direction. Every encounter is a chance for his cover to be blown in unexpected ways and for the more lawfully aligned characters or the more perceptive characters (such as thief’s and rogues) to notice out of place clues but not having all the information and writing it off as their imagination. And then finally a tip comes in from the wizard in your party about an evil necromancers lair and how there are treasures to be had so the group goes off in search of it only to find out that the lair belongs to the wizard himself and he lured the entire party there in order to complete his ritual and they are to become his sacrifices on his quest for immortality. Sounds like a cool adventure.

I miss THAC0 , lol i hated going from AD+D 2E to 3.5 vut i started playin in 78 with the basic, advanced and expert vixes and then AD+D when it came out. In AD+D it wasnt that complicated to become a lich . Enchant Item, magic jar , trap the soul and wish, highest level dpell was the wish mist the others wete 5th and 6th. Almost any high level wizard had access to the spells anyway. Hardest part was making the potion due to several of the items had a 60 day time limit of their gathering, even in 2E it was still pretty simple. When Wizards bought TSR they made it both more complicated and thematically darker

See I'm having a hard time going to 5 from 2 ed. How do you hit now?

I love the endless possibilities that a high level Wizard has at his/her fingertips, and I can see the pros and cons of lichdom. But to have to go threw all that. To do so much evil just to not have to eat/sleep or technically breathe, when you could just master the 8th level spell “Clone”. But that’s just me. Thank you for the time and effort you put in these videos. Once again excellent work.

About 20 years ago I played on a custom Neverwinter Nights server (precursor to the MMO I guess) and played a character who ultimately became a lich. Hands down one of the deepest, richest and most rewarding RP experiences of my life.

Pacts with demons, quests for all the potion and phylactery components, resisting attempted domination by an archdevil, and ultimately razing an in-game city to the ground and conducting the ritual amongst the ashes, drawing on the death and destruction to fuel the ritual. All custom and run by human DMs. No game since has come close to the depth and freedom of that questline.

Love the videos been watching them all day...also I did have a party with a player linch...worked ot out with a friend we had a blast..the shock of the other players when the BBEG was there best friend in the party was amazing..and the final fight as the DM I was floored becuae it was just pvp lol

Fun fact Lenard uncredited wrote whole sections of the dmg and players' handbook for A dnd Gary sent him the orginal hand written manuscript, and then Lenard sent him back the new one so Lenard threw away the orginal handwritten copy. Also, he is the creator of all the orginal gods in dnd.

You get the sub and the like man. I enjoy what you do with your voice as your narrating your opening is really friggin cool

You should do a video about koschei the deathless he deserves a mention..

shit was banning cuh keep up the content

In D&D, a Lich was once a mage, unable to master "Clone"...😉

I had a similar idea about a player liche. But I figured it would be a thing of DM does normal game night. Then between sesions does a one on one session with liche. Would have to give some restrictions, so liche does not just send army of vampires to kill level 1 party of heroes first session. This could be done many ways though, from having to go through rights to get all baddies needed, not knowing where or who adventurers are, and/or having their own set of objectives to deal with as well as heroes. Maybe the neighbouring kingdom has a full army trying to fight the liche and their forces, while heroes are a deep behind the lines commando like mission.

Forget the good liches, they're boring.

Wait, are you seriously considering political correctness? Dude, we're talking about one of the most vile and deceitful creatures in all creation, we don't care about political correctness. These undead things lie and sacrifice babies! Okay, not unlike women with abortions, but still. We don't care about political correctness.

Storm of The Century movie by Stephen King. Did Andre Linoge ''SOUL SCALP'' Ralphi,,? Leaving Ralphi's spirit in the astral realm, left to find another body, ( when the kids fell asleep after touching the Cane, flying with Linoge in the astral realm ) Then Linoge put his own spirit ( or a part of his spirit ), into Ralphi's physical body, and controlled both bodies.? So when the old body of Linoge died, he would permanently live in Ralphi's body ( for thousands of years ).

Awesome work!

I always liked the idea of the Demi-Lich. It was in the AD&D monster manual 2. (Yes I played in the 80s and my friend got stuck in the upsidedown). From memory it was where a lich transformers it’s self to a more ghost like form.

So imagine your party is hired by a wizard (or mysterious) patron to go gather these ingredients, but are never told why. Your group goes on great adventures completing these incredibly difficult tasks. At the end of the time you finally find out what you have been doing all along - Final boss fight - stop the process before (or after) the deed has been done. Either a very powerful wizard, or heavens forbid, a Lich.

All I want is lich necromancy lore ty

I believe I read the article you were talking about and I was wondering what specifically about it was politically incorrect (not prodding for attention or conflict just curious). Was it having to do with the humanoid infants or perhaps the humanoid virgin?

"by today's standards" it's amazing how much we have to remove from a GAME to keep people from freaking out these days.

Great video man. Instant sub.

No. There are no good lich’s. A lich has to be evil. This non evil lich is bs. Orcus is the god of undead and chaotic evil. This is just another way of destroying an npc character.

Good to know the old books were based. Lichdom is easily my favorite fantasy concept so huge thanks for these vids.

You did well making this creepy, saturated with potential horror.
I personally don't think 18th level (access to one 9th level spell) is enough for a Lich. That seems like a novice level of knowledge for the greatest spells attainable. I would think at least 3 or more would be the minimum needed for the mastery of dark energies to control such powers. How could a person even have a meeting with greater powers (defend against) if they could not master the highest spells?
The artwork and detail you're putting in this is great.

great series. thank you for all of the research.

LOVING THIS CHANNEL!!!
Keep it up you are doing great!! Hey where did you get all of the awesome art work??

We called it "To Hit Armour Class Theta," because we were rarely ever calculating for an armour class of zero and so "Theta" stood in for "x" and thus represented whatever the actual armour class of the opponent was.

Another balling episode - amazing introduction to this video as always. Can't get enough of this coverage of Liches. In ANY rule set or edition, in the hands of capable DM/GM, these really can be super memorable. Love you outlining the phylactery.

My favorite phlactery idea are

1 A sword given to a new adventure one ring style
2 a iron maiden
3 an ornate gallow given to a mad king
4 a ring given to a noble woman
5 a doctors tool kit
6 a ritual knife given to a mad cultist
7 a plush golem yes fnaf in dnd
8 a pebble in a battlefield souls for days
And my favorite the gem and gold an adamantium encrusted shell of a zombiefied dragon turtle thats also hold lich's underwater citadel on its back

am I spotting six fingered AI "art" ?

Enjoying this video series, it has a special spot with me man. Good job, keep it up. I'm working on my channel, audio and video settings. Blessings and keep on growing, talk to you soon!

I frankly hate the lack of rule mechanics regarding this template.

To actually make this work you have to develop a precise background on how magic actually works.

Otherwise your quest to stop a Lich or become one is like any tropy trash fantasy.

I want a complete sourcebook dedicating lore and rules to a Lich. And it needs to be political incorrect. This game plays in a fictional world. It is escapism. Real life social debates should not be brought into it.