One concept that I have considered was having a vampiric cult in a gothic castle. They would worship the lich, and at the core of the castle would be the liche's Phylactery. The phylactery would be an ornated water fountain that produces blood instead of water. The blood would have a minor buffing effect on any who drinks it but also a mind controlling side effects. You can have a vampire turncoat that will guide the party secretly through the castle, this vampire can be a character they've known for awhile and may have even handed out quests to the party or was saved by them, the main reason this vampire is not under the effects of the Mind control is because his family was subjugated by the lich centuries ago. His family need dreams to survive, not blood, and they can plan a rebellion with the party. Idk just a small idea. My main one is mine to keep
Sorry if someone used this one before, if they have let me know who and where I can watch their content, I like this idea because it's simple and I think a lich would get a kick out of having other immortals locked firmly under his control, it would also give plenty of role-playing opertunites and a nice stealth mission through a haunted castle (kinda, undead and dead wondering the halls to scared off visitors would be classic). This one, I can't truly see myself trying any time soon, my main one has story and room to play where this is completely end game, you can build any crazy wizard to end like this, well planed in life as in death with plenty of contempte mixed in, he has gotten the hard way out of life and those who had it easy will be his to use
@@leejohnson3270please read this all the way.... Not to be smart, truly asking here... are you wanting someone to ask about the one thats just for you? Seriously not being mean and am curious cause you seem to be reallly up talking your main one and just shit talking your own 'little" idea. Mentioned how much better the other one is alot. Because if so, you sound pretty proud of it and im really freaking curious then!
I have a Lich as the BBEG of my current campaign in Skyrim. My Lich has been hinted at but the party doesn't Know it is a Lich yet. He was a Noble who was obsessed with bringing his dead wife back from the dead. In my world the only way to come back from the dead is by making a deal with a Deadra, which then puts you in their service. My Lich sold his soul to Molag Bal to bring back his dead wife but his wife was unwilling to come back so the ritual didn't work. He had all the drawbacks of the deal but had none of the benefits. He realized that the Deadra were not all powerful and that they couldn't be trusted. He made it his mission to capture the power of the deadra and supplant them. His phylactery is a necklace with a black stone carved into the shape of an oroboros. He has a cult of anti Deadra followers that he sends out on missions. They all carry a small replica of the phylactery that has been bound to the original. If anything dies within 100 ft of one of these replicas the soul is absorbed. When these replicas are brought to the original phylactery, the souls are absorbed. The Lich's son is still a noble in Solitude and was responsible for an overhaul of the cities streets. They put small replicas of the phylactery inlaid into different stones throughout the city creating a giant network of intertwining soul capture fields. They then opened portals to summon demons into the city which captured the souls of everyone killed and also captured the demons when they were defeated. This network can summon an undead version of anything that was captured inside the network which makes traveling in the city extremely dangerous. My players escaped and killed some of these cultists and took several rep licas of the phylactery off of bodies. They are very powerful and give expertise in any skill and a +2 to whichever stat the player chooses but it requires a charisma saving through to remove this item. Those who have attuned to it have been carrying this item for almost the entire campaign so everything they have fought is contained inside of it. My players are about to encounter the Lich for the first time in the next few weeks. It will be a spectral version so they won't actually be fighting him and it will let him give his villain speech before he releases a bunch of monsters that were captured inside of the phylactery replicas.
I like to take inspiration from two famous liches. 1. Sauron: make the phylactery required specific conditions to destroy. Example: the phylactery was made with red dragon blood so now it can only be destroyed by a red dragon so the party has to find one while being pursued by the Lich’s forces. 2. Voldemort: give the Lich multiple phylacteries scattered across the the land it turns the campaign into a epic journey seeking the phylacteries awhile gaining strength so the party is strong enough to fight the Lich.
you forgot about option 3 : Jesus the good lich, and his desires are to bring salvation to the world, HA suck it to the guy on the previous video stating theres no good lichs pfft lol , peace be upon them both :P
I kind imagined the phylactery to be like the end of Indiana Jones, it be very plain in a lair full of fantastic magic items, jeweled helms and alien crystals. 100s of challengers over a millennia have looked right it and not even noticed in a sea a treasures.
My first thought was to make it a young boy that looks starved and is chained somewhere in the lair of the Liche. Have him ask for help and plead to be taken back to his family. But he is actually an empty husk designed to play on the emotions of a party. Get him back to the town he asked to go to? His family has since moved away, thinking him dead at the hands of the Liche. The Liche revives? The boy is painfully pulled back to him. I don’t know. Could be fun. Great video!
Thinking about it, the one ring in Lord of the Rings is a phylactery. It consumes those who hold it, and when they destroyed it, Sauron was also destroyed.
I have a lich that turned his entire castle into his philactery, but spread the rumours that the throne he sits on in the throne room is his actual philactery. Not only did it misdirect everyone into rushing in a predictable way, but also made it easy to explain why he went so over the top in protecting the castle. Why is it made mostly out of adamantine mythril and other highly durable materials enchanted to high heavens? Well. It's a castle. Why is it surrounded by a barrier capable of stopping multiple ancient dragons? Well it's a castle. Why are you so obsessed with your castle? MY FILACTERY IS IN IT! as a result my players are currently figuring out how to bypass the castle defenses to get to the filactery instead of thinking up how to destroy the castle. They even plan to make it their base after they do
@@RichesandLiches ok then.i have one more thing that is technically in my world but as more of a worldbuilding element that Is there more for the world to seem more interesting than as a part of a story but you might enjoy this idea. One of the liches in my world had a serious beef with another, much more ancient and powerful lich. He knew he couldn't protect his philactery. At least not yet since the difference in power and experience was too big. He had to buy himself some time to accumulate power and resources. So he searched for and struck a deal with the oldest, most powerful red dragon he could find. The deal was, that the lich will help reinforce the defense of the dragons lair helping to protect it from magical means of infiltration better than the dragon ever could on his own. He will also give his filactery to the dragon, so it can become a part of its hoard. In return the lich is allowed to walk in, and walk out any time he desires, as long as he doesn't take away anything. This way the dragon gets increased security of its lair, and more importantly, the bragging rights that he is the only dragon in the world to have a geniuent lich filactery in its hoard. The lich on the other hand gets his filactery secured, and regularly recharged with souls of people stiupid enough to try to kill the dragon, or if nobody tries, just regular meals the dragon has. He doesn't have to warry about the dragon destroying it either. Because it's obviously the most expensive, magically powerful and prestigious part of the hoard. A red dragon will never allow something like that to be destroyed.
@@Azrael178Awesome, you could even make it so the Lich is secretly tricking the dragon and playing off its greed for treasure by having the phylactery slowly corrupt the dragon in its lair and he plans on converting the dragon into a zombie/skeletal dragon in order to control it and use it as his trump card against the rival Lich he is in conflict with. Imagine after 100 years the lesser Lich comes riding on the back of a giant bone dragon he has subjugated by corrupting it with his soul energy that radiated out of his phylactery. As he rides atop this massive mount that no longer spews dragon breath but instead breathes a dark purple/blackish abyssal flame that corrodes the very soul of any being it comes in contact with. He can now get his revenge on the elder Lich who looked down upon him all those years ago, and in the process take over his lair and knowledge thus leveling up from a lesser Lich to and elder Lich himself.
So, much, FLAVOUR! 🤪 We play with a Ranger in our group that found a book on Lichdom in an ancient abyssal temple. Now I know that a Lich is usually a high level full spell caster but we both really want him to become a Lich! He also roll plays the character with a Yorkshire accent which would be hilarious for an evil, malevolent, Lich. Think Sean Bean's character, Ned Stark, from Game of Thrones, but dumber lol.
I've used several different devices over the years. My personal favorite is a jeweled gauntlet holding a crystal sphere that held swirling magic that made it look like a small galaxy. The most interesting part was that it was cursed. Whoever destroyed it would be transformed into a Lich over 1 D10 days. The party would then have to figure out how to remove the curse.
Falling back on great fantasy novels, Farfrd and The Grey Mouser fought an evil wizard whose soul was in a box, hidden in a compartment of a keystone over the doorway into his topmost chamber. Simple, effective, and very hard to locate as the entire tower radiated magic. If I remember correctly, it was a large gem that had to be smashed (imagine the angst of the characters) to destroy the BBEG.
One of the coolest phylactery hiding spots i have seen is hidden within the crown of the King of a major nation. A crown that is also a cornerstone item for the spells and defense matrix for the country itself. So if you break it the entire kingdoms defenses die along with the lich.Worth mentioning is that the defenses would die in spectacular fashion alerting every nearby nation and tribe.
put the Phylactery in a powerful sword and enchant it with powerful spells to aid the fighter. Hide Phylactery in the open and let the good guys protect it.
So if a rat lich makes his errm “container” a straw and manages to soul trap targets he could crush up the filled soul gems and then use the straw to erm “inhale the dust” making him live forever or at least as long as he doesn’t run out of soul dust and you know hes gona keep that soul snooter on him at all times cuz the dudes geeked tf out
This series was incredibly helpful. I'm not even playing D&D at the moment I just need the lore for a MOTW game and the consolidated information was exactly perfect for creature crafting.
hes made so many , hes forgotten what the original looked like, and like looking threw endless lego in a big bin for that right piece , but its full of phylacterys lol
The lich may need the phylactery to consume the souls that they have to every so often. Since it is a soul jar they may need it to suck in the souls of the special victim.
What if the phylactery was also an item needed to save the world/stabilize goodly order. Fiercely protected by the party, or transported to a rich Dwarven community to power their forges. We come to a crossroads here...
So, in my opinion, a lich is not a "one and done" encounter. The players should fight with, and "kill" it multiple times before they finally finish it. Obviously, such an enemy wouldn't have the first (or potentially even the first three) combat encounter inside its lair. As soon as it realizes that they are a possible threat, it would attack them, minions in tow, when they aren't expecting it. Maybe they aren't even aware of who or what the big bad is, yet. Once defeated and corporeal again, it would begin sending a steady stream of attacks at them, sometimes being there, other times not. As they move closer to its lair or base, the assaults would increase in frequency, intensity and strategic competence. Make it an absolute slog to get to the final confrontation. Give your players (or at least their characters) a little ptsd about undead.
I've read about a phylactery for a Sorcerer lich: his own blood and I think that it's very interesting as a concept. I my DM 's career and made a couple of quests for immortality but never for lichdoom. As a final monster of a campaign I used a painting, similar to yours. At the time I was playing dark souls 3 and I decided that the phylactery should be a painting and that the quest to recompose and destruct his soul should have been Inside the painting, something similar to "the painted world of Ariandel". Inside the painting they found the lich in his childhood and all the quest was about fighting his fears and guiding this boy in a distorted version of his life, fighting against himself of the future. Ohhh good memories!
I think I’d seen a story somewhere that talked about making a “phylactery lineage”. In other words, the container was a mortal who after procreating would produce additional vessels for the lich’s soul to inhabit. After a few generations, the lich would have multiple “phylacteries” that could keep it alive.
I know I am late to the party but I had three phylactary ideas. One being an actual ship with the runes carved in the bottom, so when a victim was keahauled their soul would be taken away. I had an unknowning lich have his in his sword. So every enemy vanquished fed his phylactory, upon discovery of where his immortality curse comes from he fell on his blade causing a paradox that shattered and destroyed him and his phylactory. The final one was a locket fed to a blue dragon magically staying inside the dragon for centuries.
the phylactery is created BEFORE the Wizard undergoes the transformation. Once he becomes lich, it will not need to make a phylactery because it would already have done so. At least that was my believe and the believe in many novels.
I would need to go back and review my script if i made an error (certainly not the first or last :)) but yes the phylactery is created first since it is required to store the souls that maintain your immortality. Great feedback and thank you for watching and commenting!
Hello! Thank you for the videos you do! I'm a new subscriber and used the painting idea, of course, with a twist. My character was part of the party for many years and became friends with them, always talked about his home and how he misses it but can't go back. So, pretty much the painting can only be destroyed by going to the place that is painted on the picture. Then, the party has to do a ritual with a legendary item that has meaning to the lich in the ritual to destroy the painting.
Best phylactery is a solid iron throne in the liches lair. On a table you place a mock phylactery so the party goes for it instead. Should they realize the throne is in fact the phylactery then they will be hard pressed to destroy it. A solid mass of iron is gonna take more than a fireball to destroy. Lets be honest if you decide you want to be a lich, you are certainly smart enough to figure out the need for something safe!
Agreed... that is why i posited on the show that - in reality - a lich would likely just put his phylactery inside a mountain across the world and call it a day... but at some point gameplay has to be playable :) Love the throne with the false phylactery idea, thanks for sharing!
I played a *Shadow Arch Lich* who had a morose attitude towards the entity that "cursed" him. He would fall into a dream like state(at the most inconvenient times.) where he would receive tasks, if he would refuse or neglect the task, he would slowly start to feel the rotting and pain of death. •°•°• *Phylactery* A grain of sand in the *The Great Anauroch Desert* If anything comes within twenty feet a strong wind comes over the phylactery. *If my player could find the entity created phylactery and destroy it, the curse could be removed with a remove curse spell.* •°•°• The entity ended up being *Haku* Who eventually removed the rotting and pain part of the curse.
Though not a painting I used a manuscript of poetry as a phylactery. The ink contained my lich's soul. I love the painting idea and plan on appropriating it in the future!
Awesome idea! Please report back how the painting phylactery goes... truly interested... and good luck!
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Wow sir, I have got to say that of all the D&D content I have watched, this is among the best series I have seen! Great work! I am absolutely subscribing to see how your channel grows and what you come up with for us. I have to say it's been some time since I have played D&D but I do write a lot and watch a lot of Dungeons and Dragons material to spark my imagination. I used to have a very tight group of friends I played for years with, and I loved being a GM as much as I loved playing. you bring back great memories as well! Thanks for making this great series!
Found your channel when TH-cam recommended your Hag video (been researching for my running of CoS). And then last night was watching this series with my wife when I suddenly realized how new your channel was. I was blown away! Your production value and level of research rival more established channels! Excited to see where your channel goes. Liked, subbed, notification bell. Good Luck to you Rich!
Super kind of you to say... and really appreciate your time. My only channel regret is waiting as long as I did. This community is one of - if not the - best. What would you like to see us cover next?
I got a campaign going now where the lich's phylactary is his name. Currently he's in suspended animation because no one knows his name but it's still written on 1 scroll in an ancient library, cultists are trying to get it to say it and awaken him the party is (hopefully) going to destroy it, Twist is the cultists have convinced the party that saying his name is the only way to destroy him. I'll drop clues that this is a lie.
Hey that is a really great campaign setup... love it! Would love to get an update with the outcome... marking this one down in case i borrow it to give you credit :)
I played in one somewhat similar to the mind control aspect and iffy container logic, except it was a death knight whom had managed to changed his to his shield and anyone who caught a glimpse of themselves in the highly polished surface, would feel a slight, creeping mental... not control, more like subtle nudging. Pulling blows at the last second and wondering how they missed etc etc
Wow! That is so creative, i love it. That is probably why the Phylactery is one of my favorite artifact/plot devices... it is truly unlimited in its scope. That can be bad if not used correctly, something I tried to convey in the videos. And Lich 4 is in process... hopefully see it within the next 2-3 weeks.
You know I actually really REALLY like a lot of these ideas. Wish I still played. I'd take these steps even further. I'd use the soul "cards" idea to play real games of YuGiOh with the players, losers lose their souls to power the magic of bringing the cards to life. Also, using the portrait idea, make the portrait itself a Trompe l'Oeil capable of projecting the Lich's spirit into a more mortal form, maybe even one allowing the Lich to experience a more "normal" life.
I had a lich, Namaroth the Oracle of a Doom. His phylactery was in an enchanted diamond placed on the hilt of a Holy Avenger. Engraved with celestial runes and symbols of goodness to deceive the forces of good. Using powerful magics to conceal its evil in the powerful artifact of good, He bound the two together, you cannot destroy one without destroying the other. For 1000 years it has concealed the evil inside of it and preserved Namaroth. The sword has a cherished reputation and is currently wielded by a Lord Paladin in the service of Heironious in the World of Greyhawk.
Sneaky! and cool... love it. I never had the good fortune to play in Greyhawk, although i have a lot about Mr. Gygax's world... I bet it would be a blast!
I love this video series. I really like your other material as well but this is the crown gem that I will bother you to update eventually. Would love to have your ideas in a book one day!
Wow, truly appreciate the kind words... I remember comments like these when I slog through the worst parts of the dedication... editing :) But I am unbelievably committed to growing the channel with the help of awesome subscribers like you. Thank you!
Completely agree... Phylacteries are a blank canvas for a creative DM. You just have to be sure to provide a good set of breadcrumbs to your players... otherwise you can make a phylactery a party wont find in a 100 sessions :)
keep up the great work Some more ideas two lichs lovers who made each other there phylactory the hardest thing about immortality isn't living for ever its living with yourself A lich who old adventuring party is his phylactory you have the lich a death kinght a bonesinger and a forsaken shell A zombie dog oldest story a boy and his dog
I did a blight-themed druidess turned lich and her phylactery was a tree at the heart of her corrupted forest domain. I did sort of a Gulthias Tree sort of thing and anyrime she killed someone their corpse would nourish the tree and the soul would go into her phylactery.
The one I have for my BBEG (which is a dracolich that has achieved more than Godhood and is destroying the multiverse) was a giant throne that teleports around the globe and the planes, powered by the life forces of mortal beings captured and imprisoned on multiple spires placed in the world which I call the Leeching Towers.
I’ve been running my current campaign for a while now. Originally im now thinking of adding another villain for much later, a lich king who rules over the kingdom the campaign is set in. His phylactory will be his throne, and i’ll try to add a moral dilemma there somewhere. I dunno im just inspired and i think it’ll be a cool idea
I came up with an idea for a phylactery-type device. It is still in operation. Against the cult of the reptile god, updated with 3rd Edition plus home-brewed ruleset. I needed a way to justify the spirit naga returning after death, beyond a 'just because magic' reason. I took the treasure item from 'Romancing the Stone' a 1984 adventure film starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny Devito. The 'El Corazon' emerald. A colombian emerald as big as the palm of my hand. I took the stone and stuck it into a 2 and a half foot statue of the naga herself, made from hardened and painted clay. The adventurers have burned down the temple of Merrika and are set to explore the dungeon level beneath ( If I can ever get them at the table at the same time again ). The statue is in the chambers of Abramo the cleric, the human head of the cult within the township. The Emerald, if discovered is worth a quarter of a million gold. They can disenchant it and sell it off, for about half of that. Or knowingly sell it for the full amount (as players) and continue to spread and sow evil in the world for indulging their greed. Mwa- mwahahahahaha!
In my current WIP setting, the Lich’s phylactery is instead known as a “soul anchor” because, having learned about the origins of the phylactery in our real world from this video, I personally don’t feel comfortable using the word to describe a cursed artefact that acts as such an evil being’s tether to the material plane, especially when it has its roots in religious beliefs. Although I am pagan and don’t associate my beliefs with the word or its original context, I still think it’s important to show proper respect to its origins and, because this setting takes a lot of inspiration from real world folk lore and mythology as well as real world history, the term phylactery would probably be used in its original context somewhere in the world so it clears up that confusion. I also feel as though the term “soul anchor” is much more appropriate for the many various forms it can take.
it was the late 80's ww where a small group and i was trying to be a wizard ..but age would do me in so as the others wanted to be heros i was trying to live langer i wanted to learn more .. and more .. and soon all magic so we left to go do other things but in the 2000's we once again started to play .. and this in 3rd ion forgotten realms .. soon we where heros in our own right and two of the group had church's and the warrior was a king .. and thy where asking me what did i have to show for my deeds . i told them i have a small plot of land with a nice farm ... it was a frunt for my underground onix mine .. and my undead the worked the mine .. soon we al where going to take on a necromancer that by hearsay was looking to become a lich .. as we where on our quest we had to find all kinds of monster and a few city's full of undead .. as we go to the castle honed out of the top of a moutne range my character had been kidnaped .. as the party went into the castle it was a hard few months lost in the vast castle thy fought there way throw .. as it was not for a magical item for food and water thy would have been slane .. as the go to the thrown room there thy found a vamipre the rom was fills with light and gems the made the room glow with Beauty and mirrors the mirrors where two way scrying portals so others could see .. like scype .. as the party was talking to this vampire to find out the vampire was a good king and helped all thy was in there realm and would feed on the evils and people the did wicked cimes .. as the party killed the vampire all the other kingdoms saw was the party killing an just king .. as that was going on i felt sad as thy had kill my character youngest sun .. the party did not know as this was going on the last part of my deeds where done .. as the rescued my Simulacrum thy fleed out throw the castle but the claric stoped and felt the evil as the party ran to confrunt the litch i Resurrected my vampire sun and awakened all of there family's as the party got to the room there thy was the lich being crowned by the vampires and my Simulacrum walked forword the talk begain how i evil and wicked needed to die and as the party came into the room thy found it was a Library shrine and in the middle a the biggest work of art thay had ever seen it glowed with magic there made of platinum gold silver and copper encrusted with gems the size of a bulls head was massive 8 story tall Monument to mystra and was a time space anchor to the web of magic ... and was the key stone for the hole of the castle and if destroyed would end magic ..... yes my Phylactery was the keystone ..... muh ha ha ha but i let them all live .. and leave my lands ...
Very cool story... my favorite part of these lore videos is that it stirs up memories and experiences from others and occassionally like with your story, the subscribers will share! That... to me... is one of the best aspects of the TTRPG community! Thank you for watching and sharing your stories... I love them and hope to read thousands more in the years to come!
like a better Dorian grey for that portrait, you could of used the old blood of said alive lich, and maybe the painting seems to LOOK AT YOU with intent, or follow your every movement , along with the hidden symbols engraved within the painting, the whole painting emits uneasiness, however seems indestructible to any mortal means, as if slashed the blood envelops to recreate said painting or repair itself lol i went deeper on this then the kraken, though i will say the kraken , ship gem on the ships wheel oh man, so many power options and a pet undead kraken WHO DOESNT WANT THAT!!
phylactery properties are insane, and you would need almost multiple lifetimes to acquire, so if you got gold you just might be able to exbibyte the process
I have never played much Warhammer but love the setting and lore... wish I knew more. My all time favorite band... without question though is Bel'akor... does that count? Even have some permanent ink on me in admiration. :)
I like the idea of the _Portrait of Dorian Gray_ phylactery. But you can make it better than just a pricey painting. What if the painting were able to heal people? The image took on the injury, and the injured person recovered? Better, the painting could only be attuned to one person at a time, so party members might fight over it! What if the painting, after healing so much HP, somehow acquired the soul of the person? Or all the damage it healed sped the Lich's regeneration time? What if the painting were animate, AND knowledgeable?? It may know forbidden secrets... Or have knowledge of all the Lich's dealings! Things like many demon's True Names, and how to summon & bind them! Or which Nobles were conspiring with the Lich for their own agendas? Not only would that be valuable to the players and NPCs, but I expect the villains would do ANYTHING to keep it from falling into hands that might pose a threat to them.
So basically it’s a horcrux from Harry Potter or like the one ring that stores Sauron’s soul. Hmm so you could make the object a weapon or item of immense power and value that would tempt players to keep the object 10x more than their desire to destroy it and the lich could use that to trick the players into thinking they could control the lich if they kept the item but the more the player uses the object they become more as more Tainted and influenced mentally and psychologically by the lich.
I only used a lich once. It hat the heart type phylactery. The next one will have a grandfather clock as his phylactery. A realy creepy one like in the last unicorn.
I am aware of the channel but purposely do not watch any other lore channels... not because they are not good... many of them motivated me to start this channel (for various reasons :) but once I started I wanted to make sure I did not actively or even accidently be influenced by others work.
Could the entire lair be a phylactery? I'm thinking of an underground labyrinth with traps, and all adventurers that die within having their souls consumed by the lair
I would have Phylactery be a T-Rex skeleton. Then when the party goes to destroy it the Lich possess the T-Rex skeleton for one final fight. Basically a T-Rex with Lich powers and its personality.
A lich's phylactery should, imo, be within a short distance of them. If it's not the lich loses power the further they are from it, and if they are too far they die. This puts some risk on the lich if its wants to move from its home. Otherwise, a lich could go to another plane and act carelessly with no fear. If the lich wants to travel, they need to take the phylactery with them or risk dying.
ok if im at sea, and i find a kraken,..... you know what im doing bwhahah that is a great idea, better then the cards however i do not think as safe, def more problematic The deck is a great concept oh my nicely done !!!
why dont use a human being, that transfer the soul of the lich in the newborns (through generations), maybe this family is peculiar, this bloodline give birth to four twins, so the dilemma is even harder, you should kill innocents to kill the lich, and if you are a good aligned character can be hard, maybe this is a family of kings, or prince or even some very wealthy and powefull family, if the DM can add this "little" secret to a PC Background, so the player dont even know about this, and this thing can be also transformed into a background quest.
I started with original D&D in the 1970s. After DND2 I stoped and found a better game solution. I tryed to join a DND 5 group but found it useless. It wasn’t fun at all
Be it demon, daemon, devil or an abberation or each as one when it comes to those encompassed by negating & positive energy each all at once, the revenant, are all too often their victim. A victim unawares. 👣
Kind of. He tethers his soul to the living world but instead of being undead he reincarnates new living bodies using magic and alchemy, basically a lich who lives inside cloned living bodies.
You know what? I feel like I'm spamming, but I'd love nothing more than to make myself available. You ever wanna play, reach out. I'm the worlds best singing, dancing, fighting chaotic good monk/bard.
The lich’s soul needs to be in a container. A grave n of sand isn’t a container. Also because a lich is based from evil , and lich’s absorbs souls , they have to be evil only. I keep watching videos lich this one and for some reason they think a lich doesn’t have to be evil, wrong.
The Archlich might disagree with you (forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Archlich) but i do get your point and tend to agree with you... I also mention that a container is required... the grain of sand was a metaphor meant to illustrate that a DM should not try and hide thje phylactery to that level... I did not mean for anyone to take it literally. Great feedback, thanks for listening and commenting.
@@RichesandLiches this will end an argument for those using the arch lich as their example. A lich is evil. Uses a phylactery, absorbs souls, and is fueled by negative energy. And serves orcus( lord of the dead) who is chaotic evil. All I just wrote is powered by evil. I don’t care what kind of lich is used. Absorbing souls is an evil act. Beings made of negative energy( all undead) are evil. All undead serve orcus . Tsr / the people who wrote about being a non evil lich from 2nd edition - 5th are just plain stupid. It goes completely against the lore / history of the lich. Love the channel . Keep up the good work.
I'm a little iffy on container being a hard requirement. I absolutely agree with liches being evil, though. Lawful evil, most likely, since it takes astronomical levels of dedication and discipline to even learn how to be a lich, unless you ask Orcus
@@johntheherbalistg8756 the container is necessary because of it containing the soul or essence of a character. Containers can be a jewel to a box or even har. As long as it is a magical device strong enough to contain the power of a soul.
I love julius cheeser! I am thinking of using a flumph as a phylaktory. Maybe it was tortured inside a contraption to harvest its tears, but this is not its real use. The flumph would be havely wounded and missing some tentacles or so.
I use a commercial/professional license and dedicated workstation for most of my images so that i retain ownership and right to use, deliver and even provide to my patrons. I promise you (if you care to know :) that the process is not a simple or inexpensive one) and the only way you will see "my images" anywhere else is if I provided them or they were copied from the videos. They are one off. Thanks for the question!
One concept that I have considered was having a vampiric cult in a gothic castle. They would worship the lich, and at the core of the castle would be the liche's Phylactery. The phylactery would be an ornated water fountain that produces blood instead of water. The blood would have a minor buffing effect on any who drinks it but also a mind controlling side effects. You can have a vampire turncoat that will guide the party secretly through the castle, this vampire can be a character they've known for awhile and may have even handed out quests to the party or was saved by them, the main reason this vampire is not under the effects of the Mind control is because his family was subjugated by the lich centuries ago. His family need dreams to survive, not blood, and they can plan a rebellion with the party. Idk just a small idea. My main one is mine to keep
Sorry if someone used this one before, if they have let me know who and where I can watch their content, I like this idea because it's simple and I think a lich would get a kick out of having other immortals locked firmly under his control, it would also give plenty of role-playing opertunites and a nice stealth mission through a haunted castle (kinda, undead and dead wondering the halls to scared off visitors would be classic). This one, I can't truly see myself trying any time soon, my main one has story and room to play where this is completely end game, you can build any crazy wizard to end like this, well planed in life as in death with plenty of contempte mixed in, he has gotten the hard way out of life and those who had it easy will be his to use
@@leejohnson3270please read this all the way....
Not to be smart, truly asking here... are you wanting someone to ask about the one thats just for you? Seriously not being mean and am curious cause you seem to be reallly up talking your main one and just shit talking your own 'little" idea. Mentioned how much better the other one is alot. Because if so, you sound pretty proud of it and im really freaking curious then!
I have a Lich as the BBEG of my current campaign in Skyrim. My Lich has been hinted at but the party doesn't Know it is a Lich yet. He was a Noble who was obsessed with bringing his dead wife back from the dead. In my world the only way to come back from the dead is by making a deal with a Deadra, which then puts you in their service. My Lich sold his soul to Molag Bal to bring back his dead wife but his wife was unwilling to come back so the ritual didn't work. He had all the drawbacks of the deal but had none of the benefits. He realized that the Deadra were not all powerful and that they couldn't be trusted. He made it his mission to capture the power of the deadra and supplant them.
His phylactery is a necklace with a black stone carved into the shape of an oroboros. He has a cult of anti Deadra followers that he sends out on missions. They all carry a small replica of the phylactery that has been bound to the original. If anything dies within 100 ft of one of these replicas the soul is absorbed. When these replicas are brought to the original phylactery, the souls are absorbed.
The Lich's son is still a noble in Solitude and was responsible for an overhaul of the cities streets. They put small replicas of the phylactery inlaid into different stones throughout the city creating a giant network of intertwining soul capture fields. They then opened portals to summon demons into the city which captured the souls of everyone killed and also captured the demons when they were defeated. This network can summon an undead version of anything that was captured inside the network which makes traveling in the city extremely dangerous.
My players escaped and killed some of these cultists and took several rep licas of the phylactery off of bodies. They are very powerful and give expertise in any skill and a +2 to whichever stat the player chooses but it requires a charisma saving through to remove this item. Those who have attuned to it have been carrying this item for almost the entire campaign so everything they have fought is contained inside of it.
My players are about to encounter the Lich for the first time in the next few weeks. It will be a spectral version so they won't actually be fighting him and it will let him give his villain speech before he releases a bunch of monsters that were captured inside of the phylactery replicas.
I love this... super creative! Hope i get an update!
I like to take inspiration from two famous liches.
1. Sauron: make the phylactery required specific conditions to destroy. Example: the phylactery was made with red dragon blood so now it can only be destroyed by a red dragon so the party has to find one while being pursued by the Lich’s forces.
2. Voldemort: give the Lich multiple phylacteries scattered across the the land it turns the campaign into a epic journey seeking the phylacteries awhile gaining strength so the party is strong enough to fight the Lich.
you forgot about option 3 : Jesus the good lich, and his desires are to bring salvation to the world, HA suck it to the guy on the previous video stating theres no good lichs pfft lol , peace be upon them both :P
I kind imagined the phylactery to be like the end of Indiana Jones, it be very plain in a lair full of fantastic magic items, jeweled helms and alien crystals. 100s of challengers over a millennia have looked right it and not even noticed in a sea a treasures.
Yes. Yes yes yes
My first thought was to make it a young boy that looks starved and is chained somewhere in the lair of the Liche. Have him ask for help and plead to be taken back to his family. But he is actually an empty husk designed to play on the emotions of a party.
Get him back to the town he asked to go to? His family has since moved away, thinking him dead at the hands of the Liche.
The Liche revives? The boy is painfully pulled back to him.
I don’t know. Could be fun.
Great video!
Thinking about it, the one ring in Lord of the Rings is a phylactery. It consumes those who hold it, and when they destroyed it, Sauron was also destroyed.
it totally is
I have a lich that turned his entire castle into his philactery, but spread the rumours that the throne he sits on in the throne room is his actual philactery.
Not only did it misdirect everyone into rushing in a predictable way, but also made it easy to explain why he went so over the top in protecting the castle.
Why is it made mostly out of adamantine mythril and other highly durable materials enchanted to high heavens? Well. It's a castle.
Why is it surrounded by a barrier capable of stopping multiple ancient dragons? Well it's a castle.
Why are you so obsessed with your castle? MY FILACTERY IS IN IT!
as a result my players are currently figuring out how to bypass the castle defenses to get to the filactery instead of thinking up how to destroy the castle. They even plan to make it their base after they do
That's awesome! i love when these types of stories are shared with me! Thank you!
@@RichesandLiches ok then.i have one more thing that is technically in my world but as more of a worldbuilding element that Is there more for the world to seem more interesting than as a part of a story but you might enjoy this idea.
One of the liches in my world had a serious beef with another, much more ancient and powerful lich. He knew he couldn't protect his philactery. At least not yet since the difference in power and experience was too big. He had to buy himself some time to accumulate power and resources.
So he searched for and struck a deal with the oldest, most powerful red dragon he could find. The deal was, that the lich will help reinforce the defense of the dragons lair helping to protect it from magical means of infiltration better than the dragon ever could on his own. He will also give his filactery to the dragon, so it can become a part of its hoard. In return the lich is allowed to walk in, and walk out any time he desires, as long as he doesn't take away anything.
This way the dragon gets increased security of its lair, and more importantly, the bragging rights that he is the only dragon in the world to have a geniuent lich filactery in its hoard.
The lich on the other hand gets his filactery secured, and regularly recharged with souls of people stiupid enough to try to kill the dragon, or if nobody tries, just regular meals the dragon has. He doesn't have to warry about the dragon destroying it either. Because it's obviously the most expensive, magically powerful and prestigious part of the hoard. A red dragon will never allow something like that to be destroyed.
@@Azrael178Awesome, you could even make it so the Lich is secretly tricking the dragon and playing off its greed for treasure by having the phylactery slowly corrupt the dragon in its lair and he plans on converting the dragon into a zombie/skeletal dragon in order to control it and use it as his trump card against the rival Lich he is in conflict with. Imagine after 100 years the lesser Lich comes riding on the back of a giant bone dragon he has subjugated by corrupting it with his soul energy that radiated out of his phylactery. As he rides atop this massive mount that no longer spews dragon breath but instead breathes a dark purple/blackish abyssal flame that corrodes the very soul of any being it comes in contact with. He can now get his revenge on the elder Lich who looked down upon him all those years ago, and in the process take over his lair and knowledge thus leveling up from a lesser Lich to and elder Lich himself.
So, much, FLAVOUR! 🤪
We play with a Ranger in our group that found a book on Lichdom in an ancient abyssal temple.
Now I know that a Lich is usually a high level full spell caster but we both really want him to become a Lich!
He also roll plays the character with a Yorkshire accent which would be hilarious for an evil, malevolent, Lich. Think Sean Bean's character, Ned Stark, from Game of Thrones, but dumber lol.
I've used several different devices over the years. My personal favorite is a jeweled gauntlet holding a crystal sphere that held swirling magic that made it look like a small galaxy. The most interesting part was that it was cursed. Whoever destroyed it would be transformed into a Lich over 1 D10 days. The party would then have to figure out how to remove the curse.
Falling back on great fantasy novels, Farfrd and The Grey Mouser fought an evil wizard whose soul was in a box, hidden in a compartment of a keystone over the doorway into his topmost chamber. Simple, effective, and very hard to locate as the entire tower radiated magic. If I remember correctly, it was a large gem that had to be smashed (imagine the angst of the characters) to destroy the BBEG.
One of the coolest phylactery hiding spots i have seen is hidden within the crown of the King of a major nation. A crown that is also a cornerstone item for the spells and defense matrix for the country itself. So if you break it the entire kingdoms defenses die along with the lich.Worth mentioning is that the defenses would die in spectacular fashion alerting every nearby nation and tribe.
Phylacteries are sooooo versatile... one of my favorite lore artifacts.
put the Phylactery in a powerful sword and enchant it with powerful spells to aid the fighter. Hide Phylactery in the open and let the good guys protect it.
So if a rat lich makes his errm “container” a straw and manages to soul trap targets he could crush up the filled soul gems and then use the straw to erm “inhale the dust” making him live forever or at least as long as he doesn’t run out of soul dust and you know hes gona keep that soul snooter on him at all times cuz the dudes geeked tf out
This series was incredibly helpful. I'm not even playing D&D at the moment I just need the lore for a MOTW game and the consolidated information was exactly perfect for creature crafting.
I am glad you found it useful and thanks so much for taking the time to watch and comment.
Have the lich turn the women they loved while alive into an undead Medusa, the phylactory is the crown she wears that the lich gave her
jesus. this is so great
Julius Cheezer was an unknowing omen that is so beautiful
Make it so the Lich has to access the phylactery on a regular basis to "recharge". That gives it a reason that it is not too inaccessable.
hes made so many , hes forgotten what the original looked like, and like looking threw endless lego in a big bin for that right piece , but its full of phylacterys lol
The lich may need the phylactery to consume the souls that they have to every so often. Since it is a soul jar they may need it to suck in the souls of the special victim.
What if the phylactery was also an item needed to save the world/stabilize goodly order. Fiercely protected by the party, or transported to a rich Dwarven community to power their forges. We come to a crossroads here...
So, in my opinion, a lich is not a "one and done" encounter. The players should fight with, and "kill" it multiple times before they finally finish it. Obviously, such an enemy wouldn't have the first (or potentially even the first three) combat encounter inside its lair. As soon as it realizes that they are a possible threat, it would attack them, minions in tow, when they aren't expecting it. Maybe they aren't even aware of who or what the big bad is, yet. Once defeated and corporeal again, it would begin sending a steady stream of attacks at them, sometimes being there, other times not. As they move closer to its lair or base, the assaults would increase in frequency, intensity and strategic competence. Make it an absolute slog to get to the final confrontation. Give your players (or at least their characters) a little ptsd about undead.
I've read about a phylactery for a Sorcerer lich: his own blood and I think that it's very interesting as a concept. I my DM 's career and made a couple of quests for immortality but never for lichdoom. As a final monster of a campaign I used a painting, similar to yours. At the time I was playing dark souls 3 and I decided that the phylactery should be a painting and that the quest to recompose and destruct his soul should have been Inside the painting, something similar to "the painted world of Ariandel". Inside the painting they found the lich in his childhood and all the quest was about fighting his fears and guiding this boy in a distorted version of his life, fighting against himself of the future. Ohhh good memories!
I think I’d seen a story somewhere that talked about making a “phylactery lineage”. In other words, the container was a mortal who after procreating would produce additional vessels for the lich’s soul to inhabit. After a few generations, the lich would have multiple “phylacteries” that could keep it alive.
I know I am late to the party but I had three phylactary ideas. One being an actual ship with the runes carved in the bottom, so when a victim was keahauled their soul would be taken away. I had an unknowning lich have his in his sword. So every enemy vanquished fed his phylactory, upon discovery of where his immortality curse comes from he fell on his blade causing a paradox that shattered and destroyed him and his phylactory. The final one was a locket fed to a blue dragon magically staying inside the dragon for centuries.
Love the mouse name! And the painting is very Dorian Grey I love it
the phylactery is created BEFORE the Wizard undergoes the transformation. Once he becomes lich, it will not need to make a phylactery because it would already have done so. At least that was my believe and the believe in many novels.
I would need to go back and review my script if i made an error (certainly not the first or last :)) but yes the phylactery is created first since it is required to store the souls that maintain your immortality. Great feedback and thank you for watching and commenting!
@@RichesandLiches I just found your channel by mistake.
Hello! Thank you for the videos you do!
I'm a new subscriber and used the painting idea, of course, with a twist.
My character was part of the party for many years and became friends with them, always talked about his home and how he misses it but can't go back.
So, pretty much the painting can only be destroyed by going to the place that is painted on the picture. Then, the party has to do a ritual with a legendary item that has meaning to the lich in the ritual to destroy the painting.
I love the painting phylactery, one of my favorites and I love your spin on it!!!
Thanks for watching and sharing!
Best phylactery is a solid iron throne in the liches lair. On a table you place a mock phylactery so the party goes for it instead. Should they realize the throne is in fact the phylactery then they will be hard pressed to destroy it. A solid mass of iron is gonna take more than a fireball to destroy. Lets be honest if you decide you want to be a lich, you are certainly smart enough to figure out the need for something safe!
Agreed... that is why i posited on the show that - in reality - a lich would likely just put his phylactery inside a mountain across the world and call it a day... but at some point gameplay has to be playable :)
Love the throne with the false phylactery idea, thanks for sharing!
I played a
*Shadow Arch Lich*
who had a morose attitude towards the entity that "cursed" him.
He would fall into a dream like state(at the most inconvenient times.) where he would receive tasks,
if he would refuse or neglect the task,
he would slowly start to feel the rotting and pain of death.
•°•°•
*Phylactery*
A grain of sand in the
*The Great Anauroch Desert*
If anything comes within twenty feet a strong wind comes over the phylactery.
*If my player could find the entity created phylactery and destroy it, the curse could be removed with a remove curse spell.*
•°•°•
The entity ended up being
*Haku*
Who eventually removed the rotting and pain part of the curse.
A good idea for a container would be an automaton core
Though not a painting I used a manuscript of poetry as a phylactery. The ink contained my lich's soul. I love the painting idea and plan on appropriating it in the future!
Awesome idea!
Please report back how the painting phylactery goes... truly interested... and good luck!
Wow sir, I have got to say that of all the D&D content I have watched, this is among the best series I have seen! Great work! I am absolutely subscribing to see how your channel grows and what you come up with for us. I have to say it's been some time since I have played D&D but I do write a lot and watch a lot of Dungeons and Dragons material to spark my imagination. I used to have a very tight group of friends I played for years with, and I loved being a GM as much as I loved playing. you bring back great memories as well! Thanks for making this great series!
Found your channel when TH-cam recommended your Hag video (been researching for my running of CoS). And then last night was watching this series with my wife when I suddenly realized how new your channel was. I was blown away! Your production value and level of research rival more established channels! Excited to see where your channel goes. Liked, subbed, notification bell. Good Luck to you Rich!
Super kind of you to say... and really appreciate your time. My only channel regret is waiting as long as I did. This community is one of - if not the - best.
What would you like to see us cover next?
@@RichesandLiches I always liked beholders! I'm already benefiting from your homebrew ideas, keep em coming!
I got a campaign going now where the lich's phylactary is his name. Currently he's in suspended animation because no one knows his name but it's still written on 1 scroll in an ancient library, cultists are trying to get it to say it and awaken him the party is (hopefully) going to destroy it,
Twist is the cultists have convinced the party that saying his name is the only way to destroy him. I'll drop clues that this is a lie.
Hey that is a really great campaign setup... love it!
Would love to get an update with the outcome... marking this one down in case i borrow it to give you credit :)
A druid lich and the phylactery is a lake. the players have to try to drain the lake while the all powerful lich tries to stop them. Done
Vecna fears only Chuck Norris.
I played in one somewhat similar to the mind control aspect and iffy container logic, except it was a death knight whom had managed to changed his to his shield and anyone who caught a glimpse of themselves in the highly polished surface, would feel a slight, creeping mental... not control, more like subtle nudging. Pulling blows at the last second and wondering how they missed etc etc
Wow! That is so creative, i love it. That is probably why the Phylactery is one of my favorite artifact/plot devices... it is truly unlimited in its scope. That can be bad if not used correctly, something I tried to convey in the videos.
And Lich 4 is in process... hopefully see it within the next 2-3 weeks.
You know I actually really REALLY like a lot of these ideas. Wish I still played. I'd take these steps even further. I'd use the soul "cards" idea to play real games of YuGiOh with the players, losers lose their souls to power the magic of bringing the cards to life. Also, using the portrait idea, make the portrait itself a Trompe l'Oeil capable of projecting the Lich's spirit into a more mortal form, maybe even one allowing the Lich to experience a more "normal" life.
I had a lich, Namaroth the Oracle of a Doom. His phylactery was in an enchanted diamond placed on the hilt of a Holy Avenger. Engraved with celestial runes and symbols of goodness to deceive the forces of good. Using powerful magics to conceal its evil in the powerful artifact of good, He bound the two together, you cannot destroy one without destroying the other. For 1000 years it has concealed the evil inside of it and preserved Namaroth. The sword has a cherished reputation and is currently wielded by a Lord Paladin in the service of Heironious in the World of Greyhawk.
Sneaky! and cool... love it. I never had the good fortune to play in Greyhawk, although i have a lot about Mr. Gygax's world... I bet it would be a blast!
I love this video series. I really like your other material as well but this is the crown gem that I will bother you to update eventually. Would love to have your ideas in a book one day!
Wow, truly appreciate the kind words... I remember comments like these when I slog through the worst parts of the dedication... editing :)
But I am unbelievably committed to growing the channel with the help of awesome subscribers like you.
Thank you!
i made an item that liches use to clean there bones .called it a caopic ooze .just a jar with a ooze that eats no ossified tissue .
I've used entire lair or crypt complexes as phylactry's anything is possible I personally love making artifacts into soul objects
Completely agree... Phylacteries are a blank canvas for a creative DM. You just have to be sure to provide a good set of breadcrumbs to your players... otherwise you can make a phylactery a party wont find in a 100 sessions :)
keep up the great work
Some more ideas
two lichs lovers who made each other there phylactory the hardest thing about immortality isn't living for ever its living with yourself
A lich who old adventuring party is his phylactory you have the lich a death kinght a bonesinger and a forsaken shell
A zombie dog oldest story a boy and his dog
Love it! Thanks for sharing my friend!
So the DM should hint that the painting is the phylactery. Would naming the lich Dorian Gray be too on the nose?
my thought :D
Playing Noita with this in the background. Love your content, looking forward to many more!
Thank you... and i love that game. Not much gaming on the agenda lately but its a great game.
I did a blight-themed druidess turned lich and her phylactery was a tree at the heart of her corrupted forest domain. I did sort of a Gulthias Tree sort of thing and anyrime she killed someone their corpse would nourish the tree and the soul would go into her phylactery.
Can't wait for part four
It is in the queue! Just need more hours in the day :)
The one I have for my BBEG (which is a dracolich that has achieved more than Godhood and is destroying the multiverse) was a giant throne that teleports around the globe and the planes, powered by the life forces of mortal beings captured and imprisoned on multiple spires placed in the world which I call the Leeching Towers.
I’ve been running my current campaign for a while now. Originally im now thinking of adding another villain for much later, a lich king who rules over the kingdom the campaign is set in. His phylactory will be his throne, and i’ll try to add a moral dilemma there somewhere.
I dunno im just inspired and i think it’ll be a cool idea
Love it! I hope you provide an update down the line on how it worked out!
So excited when i saw this came out
Thanks for listening, don't forget to vote for the next one!
I came up with an idea for a phylactery-type device. It is still in operation.
Against the cult of the reptile god, updated with 3rd Edition plus home-brewed ruleset. I needed a way to justify the spirit naga returning after death, beyond a 'just because magic' reason.
I took the treasure item from 'Romancing the Stone' a 1984 adventure film starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny Devito. The 'El Corazon' emerald. A colombian emerald as big as the palm of my hand.
I took the stone and stuck it into a 2 and a half foot statue of the naga herself, made from hardened and painted clay.
The adventurers have burned down the temple of Merrika and are set to explore the dungeon level beneath ( If I can ever get them at the table at the same time again ).
The statue is in the chambers of Abramo the cleric, the human head of the cult within the township. The Emerald, if discovered is worth a quarter of a million gold.
They can disenchant it and sell it off, for about half of that. Or knowingly sell it for the full amount (as players) and continue to spread and sow evil in the world for indulging their greed.
Mwa- mwahahahahaha!
Love it... and i have seen that movie.... LOOOONG time ago!
Excellent video
That was awesome man. Super glad I stumbled onto your channel!
Welcome aboard and thank you for listening!
In my current WIP setting, the Lich’s phylactery is instead known as a “soul anchor” because, having learned about the origins of the phylactery in our real world from this video, I personally don’t feel comfortable using the word to describe a cursed artefact that acts as such an evil being’s tether to the material plane, especially when it has its roots in religious beliefs. Although I am pagan and don’t associate my beliefs with the word or its original context, I still think it’s important to show proper respect to its origins and, because this setting takes a lot of inspiration from real world folk lore and mythology as well as real world history, the term phylactery would probably be used in its original context somewhere in the world so it clears up that confusion. I also feel as though the term “soul anchor” is much more appropriate for the many various forms it can take.
Nice, been looking forward to this
Hope you enjoy!
Make a dragon into a phylactory. Not only got a beat the Lich but then Gita beat another hard fight also
love this! :)
it was the late 80's ww where a small group and i was trying to be a wizard ..but age would do me in so as the others wanted to be heros i was trying to live langer i wanted to learn more .. and more .. and soon all magic so we left to go do other things but in the 2000's we once again started to play .. and this in 3rd ion forgotten realms .. soon we where heros in our own right and two of the group had church's and the warrior was a king .. and thy where asking me what did i have to show for my deeds . i told them i have a small plot of land with a nice farm ... it was a frunt for my underground onix mine .. and my undead the worked the mine .. soon we al where going to take on a necromancer that by hearsay was looking to become a lich .. as we where on our quest we had to find all kinds of monster and a few city's full of undead .. as we go to the castle honed out of the top of a moutne range my character had been kidnaped .. as the party went into the castle it was a hard few months lost in the vast castle thy fought there way throw .. as it was not for a magical item for food and water thy would have been slane .. as the go to the thrown room there thy found a vamipre the rom was fills with light and gems the made the room glow with Beauty and mirrors the mirrors where two way scrying portals so others could see .. like scype .. as the party was talking to this vampire to find out the vampire was a good king and helped all thy was in there realm and would feed on the evils and people the did wicked cimes .. as the party killed the vampire all the other kingdoms saw was the party killing an just king .. as that was going on i felt sad as thy had kill my character youngest sun .. the party did not know as this was going on the last part of my deeds where done .. as the rescued my Simulacrum thy fleed out throw the castle but the claric stoped and felt the evil as the party ran to confrunt the litch i Resurrected my vampire sun and awakened all of there family's as the party got to the room there thy was the lich being crowned by the vampires and my Simulacrum walked forword the talk begain how i evil and wicked needed to die and as the party came into the room thy found it was a Library shrine and in the middle a the biggest work of art thay had ever seen it glowed with magic there made of platinum gold silver and copper encrusted with gems the size of a bulls head was massive 8 story tall Monument to mystra and was a time space anchor to the web of magic ... and was the key stone for the hole of the castle and if destroyed would end magic ..... yes my Phylactery was the keystone ..... muh ha ha ha but i let them all live .. and leave my lands ...
Very cool story... my favorite part of these lore videos is that it stirs up memories and experiences from others and occassionally like with your story, the subscribers will share!
That... to me... is one of the best aspects of the TTRPG community!
Thank you for watching and sharing your stories... I love them and hope to read thousands more in the years to come!
Gave the players an enchanted adamantine sword
Its a phylactery, and they have been unknowingly feeding it *hundreds* of souls
like a better Dorian grey for that portrait, you could of used the old blood of said alive lich, and maybe the painting seems to LOOK AT YOU with intent, or follow your every movement , along with the hidden symbols engraved within the painting, the whole painting emits uneasiness, however seems indestructible to any mortal means, as if slashed the blood envelops to recreate said painting or repair itself lol i went deeper on this then the kraken, though i will say the kraken , ship gem on the ships wheel oh man, so many power options and a pet undead kraken WHO DOESNT WANT THAT!!
The picture idea is very creative reminds me of the book three picture of Dorian gray
phylactery properties are insane, and you would need almost multiple lifetimes to acquire, so if you got gold you just might be able to exbibyte the process
The Emperor of Mankind from warhammer 40k is a lich.
I have never played much Warhammer but love the setting and lore... wish I knew more.
My all time favorite band... without question though is Bel'akor... does that count? Even have some permanent ink on me in admiration. :)
I like the idea of the _Portrait of Dorian Gray_ phylactery. But you can make it better than just a pricey painting. What if the painting were able to heal people? The image took on the injury, and the injured person recovered? Better, the painting could only be attuned to one person at a time, so party members might fight over it! What if the painting, after healing so much HP, somehow acquired the soul of the person? Or all the damage it healed sped the Lich's regeneration time?
What if the painting were animate, AND knowledgeable?? It may know forbidden secrets... Or have knowledge of all the Lich's dealings! Things like many demon's True Names, and how to summon & bind them! Or which Nobles were conspiring with the Lich for their own agendas? Not only would that be valuable to the players and NPCs, but I expect the villains would do ANYTHING to keep it from falling into hands that might pose a threat to them.
best living phylactery i've ever seen: one of the PCs.
So basically it’s a horcrux from Harry Potter or like the one ring that stores Sauron’s soul. Hmm so you could make the object a weapon or item of immense power and value that would tempt players to keep the object 10x more than their desire to destroy it and the lich could use that to trick the players into thinking they could control the lich if they kept the item but the more the player uses the object they become more as more Tainted and influenced mentally and psychologically by the lich.
I only used a lich once. It hat the heart type phylactery. The next one will have a grandfather clock as his phylactery. A realy creepy one like in the last unicorn.
Have you seen Pointy Hat's bard and sorcerer homebrew Lich variants?
I am aware of the channel but purposely do not watch any other lore channels... not because they are not good... many of them motivated me to start this channel (for various reasons :) but once I started I wanted to make sure I did not actively or even accidently be influenced by others work.
+1 for using the kraken eye.
you players should shit their pants when that undead beastie shows up to the party.
LOL you are not wrong :)
That last one was basically the story of Dorian Grey.
Could the entire lair be a phylactery? I'm thinking of an underground labyrinth with traps, and all adventurers that die within having their souls consumed by the lair
Pure cunning, make a Phylactery that is also a keystone in important national landmark or monument
I would have Phylactery be a T-Rex skeleton. Then when the party goes to destroy it the Lich possess the T-Rex skeleton for one final fight. Basically a T-Rex with Lich powers and its personality.
A lich's phylactery should, imo, be within a short distance of them. If it's not the lich loses power the further they are from it, and if they are too far they die. This puts some risk on the lich if its wants to move from its home. Otherwise, a lich could go to another plane and act carelessly with no fear. If the lich wants to travel, they need to take the phylactery with them or risk dying.
Player character that is the living phylactery.
anyone ever wonder what would happen if a lich made the planet he is on a phylactery?
What if the phylactery is a useful object, like a weapon or a spellbook or magical armour or jewellery, which people wouldn't want to destroy but use.
ok if im at sea, and i find a kraken,..... you know what im doing bwhahah that is a great idea, better then the cards however i do not think as safe, def more problematic The deck is a great concept oh my nicely done !!!
why dont use a human being, that transfer the soul of the lich in the newborns (through generations), maybe this family is peculiar, this bloodline give birth to four twins, so the dilemma is even harder, you should kill innocents to kill the lich, and if you are a good aligned character can be hard, maybe this is a family of kings, or prince or even some very wealthy and powefull family, if the DM can add this "little" secret to a PC Background, so the player dont even know about this, and this thing can be also transformed into a background quest.
Me... Come in
I started with original D&D in the 1970s. After DND2 I stoped and found a better game solution. I tryed to join a DND 5 group but found it useless. It wasn’t fun at all
Be it demon, daemon, devil or an abberation or each as one when it comes to those encompassed by negating & positive energy each all at once, the revenant, are all too often their victim. A victim unawares. 👣
Is Voldemort a lich?
Kind of. He tethers his soul to the living world but instead of being undead he reincarnates new living bodies using magic and alchemy, basically a lich who lives inside cloned living bodies.
Please tell me Julius Cheeser let out an “Et tu…” when he was ultimately slain
~_~
What about a ornate front door knocker? The party will b very likely to not think of it as a phylactary.
No lich playlist? =[
Excellent feedback... there is now. Along with one on the Dragons. Will continue to update for future variants.
Thank you!
@@RichesandLiches Dude, I literally slept like a baby listening to your lecture on Lichdom. You're like the Baldermort of D&D.
@@RichesandLiches I rang the bell, You earned it by treating me like a person not a view.
You know what? I feel like I'm spamming, but I'd love nothing more than to make myself available. You ever wanna play, reach out. I'm the worlds best singing, dancing, fighting chaotic good monk/bard.
Or the boy who lived.......
You keep calling it "FI-lactery'" that is incorrect it is pronounced (Fill-lactery) '"Phylactery".
Old habits die hard... I have used that pronounciation since I was a child, likely wont change :) but appreciate the comment and correction.
@@RichesandLiches Fair enough. Btw I really dig your content, well done sir.
Thank you! Comments like these are why I make those videos, really appreciate you watching.
The lich’s soul needs to be in a container. A grave n of sand isn’t a container. Also because a lich is based from evil , and lich’s absorbs souls , they have to be evil only. I keep watching videos lich this one and for some reason they think a lich doesn’t have to be evil, wrong.
The Archlich might disagree with you (forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Archlich) but i do get your point and tend to agree with you... I also mention that a container is required... the grain of sand was a metaphor meant to illustrate that a DM should not try and hide thje phylactery to that level... I did not mean for anyone to take it literally.
Great feedback, thanks for listening and commenting.
@@RichesandLiches this will end an argument for those using the arch lich as their example. A lich is evil. Uses a phylactery, absorbs souls, and is fueled by negative energy. And serves orcus( lord of the dead) who is chaotic evil. All I just wrote is powered by evil. I don’t care what kind of lich is used. Absorbing souls is an evil act. Beings made of negative energy( all undead) are evil. All undead serve orcus . Tsr / the people who wrote about being a non evil lich from 2nd edition - 5th are just plain stupid. It goes completely against the lore / history of the lich.
Love the channel . Keep up the good work.
I'm a little iffy on container being a hard requirement. I absolutely agree with liches being evil, though. Lawful evil, most likely, since it takes astronomical levels of dedication and discipline to even learn how to be a lich, unless you ask Orcus
@@johntheherbalistg8756 the container is necessary because of it containing the soul or essence of a character. Containers can be a jewel to a box or even har. As long as it is a magical device strong enough to contain the power of a soul.
@@thetruthhurts4542 True, but souls aren't made of matter, so what can contain them is different from what could contain matter
I love julius cheeser! I am thinking of using a flumph as a phylaktory. Maybe it was tortured inside a contraption to harvest its tears, but this is not its real use.
The flumph would be havely wounded and missing some tentacles or so.
LOL i had forgotten all about those little underdark guys! Keep me posted on any outcomes... sounds awesome!
QUESTION: Do you use AI-generated art in your videos ???
I use a commercial/professional license and dedicated workstation for most of my images so that i retain ownership and right to use, deliver and even provide to my patrons. I promise you (if you care to know :) that the process is not a simple or inexpensive one) and the only way you will see "my images" anywhere else is if I provided them or they were copied from the videos. They are one off.
Thanks for the question!