One note regarding this build. The game does not treat "Animate Dead" as an actual summoning spell. Consequently the summoning feats/Mythic Ability do not apply to that spell and it would be best to switch those out with one of the other options I mentioned.
I'd also recommend weapon focus ray or the feat that allows you to extend the range of spells by one range category (so that touch attacks are no longer touch). This would allow you to use vampiric touch for example. Plus as a lich I'd definitely take disintegrate. Its an iconic lich spell (just a preference of mine). Also since you're a lich another iconic one is cloudkill. Since you're epic resistance to everything casting cloudkill would allow you to stand in it and watch as everyone suffocates and slowly die :)
Honestly I have always wanted to create a build that just throws out Cloudkill all the time but never got around to it. My enemies choking and dying while I am unaffected sounds quite wonderful.
I guess for picking the right spells it is a good idea to know which spells you also get from the lich spellbook, so you can double on the best or go a bigger variety, whatever suits you best.
Don't forget about Cold Ice Strike (lvl 6 Spell). It's a swift action cast and can be a life saver if you need to dish out some damage. Though I guess with so many mobs with resist/immunities may not work out so well... Watching this vid makes me want to try this class out and spec Necro/illusion. Both those schools are pretty strong i think.
Necro and Illusion are definitely strong and if I remember correctly the Lich spellbook has a couple of Illusion spells. So it seems like the game treats them as if they go hand in hand.
Wooo ... love the build series ... but I will add, I am really curious about updated builds for our companions. For example, I will sometimes switch Seelah to Martyr at level 2 to get the bard buffs ... or as I mentioned before, switch Lann at level 4 to WanderingHunter. I don't want to switch my companions too much but I do like to tweak them :) You did a lot of those some time ago ... any thoughts / changes as we get closer to launch ?? :)
Yeah there are a couple that would be completely different now. Mind you though a lot of the builds will still be straightforward and sticking to their original class. I am big into roleplaying a character and most party members classes fit exactly who they are.
Warning: long. One thing I will say is that it's *possible* this class is not complete. The pnp version gets abilities every 5 levels, while there's a conspicuous gap at levels 10 & 15 here. Some of them (being able to scry through a summoned undead at level 15) wouldn't translate well to the pc version, but the level 10 ability of being able to 'desecrate' areas with your infusions would give a significant (needed in my opinion) buff to this class. (In addition, it would be nice if Blood Command affected Create Undead as well (and maybe any other undead summon, like the lich-only 'Flay of Purpose' as well), else it's presumably kinda useless once you hit level 6 spells. Soo level 11, meaning it's only both usable and useful at levels 5-10, not counting spellbook merging). And another strange difference: in the pnp, the blood price is '1d4 + the level of the spell being infused', which makes a lot more sense to me. As it is, 'As he increases in level, the power and effects of such infusions increases in power' is an outright lie. Not only do you abilities not increase in power (none of them have any scaling at all), they actually get *worse* as they inflict more self-damage to do the same thing. (Infusing Boneshaker at level 4: 1d4+2 damage. Infusing Boneshaker at level 18: 1d4+9 damage, for the exact same effect!) I really hope this gets fixed (ideally by introducing some scaling - increases to the save dc or duration of sickened as you level up would do a lot to make this class as cool as its theme). As it stands at the moment (nothing gained between levels 6-19 apart from the normal Wizard feats) this class seems custom-tailored to prestige out at level 6, since you lose basically nothing. 1) Question: Does the sickening affect of the sickening infusion wear off at the start or end of your next turn? In other words, if you sicken an enemy with a damaging necromancy spell one round, can you take advantage of the -2 to saves in your next? That makes a rather signficant difference in effectiveness. (By my understanding of the pnp rules, it would last until the start, but I can dream that this class might not be complete trash). 2) Question: does life-dominant soul let you drink healing potions (and actually get healed)? 4:32 Pharasma is an option. That's hilarious. 3) You didn't mention it when you took it, but does the 'life drain' of your infusions take from the temporary hit points of stuff like False Life if you have them, or does it skip them and only take from your 'true' hit points? Big difference in terms of sustainability. Vampiric Touch: *incredibly* useful for this class (admittedly, mainly if your infusions drain temp hit points first), but you need 3 feats: Point-Blank shot, precise shot, and Metamagic: Reach, so you can cast it as a ranged touch attack (and actually hit). Though personally, I tend to take pbs & ps on my squishy spellcaster builds anyway, so they have something semi-useful to do in the early levels if they don't have spells to use (either crossbow on mooks, or actually hit with acid splash vs something actually dangerous). Plus, necromancy has some nice level-draining ranged touch attack spells later on (lower levels = lower saves). Anyway, point being, Vampiric Touch is a very action-efficient spell for this class, and action-efficiency is king at higher levels - it does damage (allowing you to sicken your opponent if you want to infuse), and gives you hit points which you can (hopefully) use to infuse your next spell(s) as well, without having to spend an action healing. 8:05 Criitcal Focus?!? Really? Why? Unless I'm missing something, this will impact a handful of damaging ranged touch-attack spells (which only crit on a natural 20 by default). I mean, maybe I missed it, but have you even taken Weapon Focus (ranged touch attack) (or whatever it's called) yet? (Edit: IIRC that's a thing, but maybe it was added by a mod, or maybe I'm misremembering. It's been a while, so maybe put an asterisk next to that point.) Pretty sure you haven't taken Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot yet either. With a wizard bab progression, you need to *hit* first, before worrying about crits. -4) Do you know whether Augment Summoning affects necromancy summons? I seem to recall hearing that it only affected Conjuration summons, but I don't remember seeing any definitive tests. Because if it doesn't, 3 feats for +1 skeleton (likely completely outclassed by the time you take this) doesn't really seem worth it.- Edit: Answered while I was typing! If you're only taking Reach in order to increase your castings of Animate Dead, why not take Extend Spell instead (also only +1 level)? Increases its duration to 2 rounds/level. Especially for this build with Greater Enduring Spell and a merged spellbook. Greater Enduring Spell makes any spell that lasts 5 minutes or more last 24 hours. 5 minutes = 50 rounds. Once your Caster level reaches 25 (between class level and mythic level thanks to the merged spellbook) (or maybe you need 26, so it's over 5 minutes, not sure), an Extended spell hits that mark, and 1 round/level spells become 24 hour spells. Sure, that's endgame-only, so you wouldn't base your build around it, but if you can fit it in easily, why not? For me, the main reason to take Metamagic: Reach would be to turn Touch spells (like Harm or Vampiric Touch) into Ranged Touch attacks. 15:12 Magic Missile has a potential use later on, I think. I believe there's a Lich ability that lets you damage your enemy's attributes each time you deal damage (edit: withering life! - you take it in this build, actually). Magic Missile (I have heard) does 5 applications of this from a single level 1 spell. That's an effective combo. With Quicken Spell, that's -10 to 3 attributes/turn (with no save possible) for a level 1 and a level 5 (4 if you have Favourite Metamagic (Quicken)) spell slot. That's potentially game-breakingly powerful (if it stays working that way by launch, at least). One thing I have just noticed: Infusing a spell is a swift action. A lot of people swear by Quicken Spell at high levels, for the action economy. Quickened spells are cast as a swift action. You only get 1 swift action a turn. Meaning you won't be able to infuse *either* spell if you Quicken. Not relevant to this build, but I literally only just realised that. Disclaimer: all the above is my opinion, ymmv, etc.
Actually, thinking on it, there *maybe* is a use-case for Critical Focus (and improved Critical), but not for this build. Not sure if it would work, but prestige out to Eldritch Knight at level 6. *Technically* , its 'Spell Critical' ability simply requires 'a critical hit' to activate, not necessarily a *weapon* critical hit. Ranged Touch spell attacks can critically hit (on a nat 20, but still, possible). With the Eldritch Knight bab progression, you can hit touch attacks pretty reliably, so that's a potential source of 'free' Quickens. Probably wouldn't call it a 'meta' build, not even sure if it would actually *work*, but thinking about why to take crit feats with a spellcaster had me mentally stumble onto the idea, so I thought I'd share. Edit: Random further thought. I believe you can use the Loremaster Prestige class to gain other class' spells. Clerics gain Animate Dead a level earlier than Wizards (3 vs 4). I wonder, if you can use Loremaster to get Animate Dead as both a level 3 & level 4 spell, and if your class buff would apply to both.
1.) I've tested this and honestly it does not seem to be consistent. Regardless I don't consider it trash because the rest of your party will definitely take advantage of the status. 2.) No. It only affects channeled positive energy. You cannot drink potions and you cannot be healed by cure light wounds, moderate wounds etc. 3.) The Infusions do take your temp hit points. I prefer to let the skeletal minion manage my hit points so my main character can strictly focus on damaging and disabling enemies. 4.) Augment Summoning doesn't affect Necromancy summons. I hadn't even considered that would be an issue so didn't test it separately. *facepalm* Your point about Extend makes sense I automatically wrote off 1 round/level spells being affected by Greater Enduring Spells but by the end game it would work. Interesting point about Magic Missile I will test that out when the full game releases. Loremaster is such a fascinating class to me. Looking forward to actually playing around with it.
@@SlanderedGaming Thanks for the answers! This archetype annoys me, as the concept/theme is so cool, yet the mechanics seem lacking, and it really wouldn't take much to make it a strong contender. Hopefully I'm correct in my guess that this will have more work done before release. We'll see, I guess.
At least that infusion ability somewhat makes up for not being able to get benefit for the Mythic Summons ability for your undead. Also, a second metamagic instead of critical focus would let you extend your skellies to an even higher level spell slot. More Undead! Also, isnt' there a mytic feat that lets you ignore spell limits for things like Negative Erruption, letting it keep adding more dice as you level up?
LOVE this video, my guy. Build type videos are awesome and I love this class. My last character in kingmaker was a dark priest focusing on necromancy, and he was a lot of fun to play. So excited I'll be able to play as a vampire in this one. Can't wait Is it possible to get to 20 at the end of the game? I absolutely HATED that I barely got to have level 9 spells by the end of the first game that I used mods every playthrough after that to hit 20 over time
Thank you! There are six acts in the game and by the end of Act 4 I was level 18 so I would say yes you can definitely hit 20. Furthermore some Mythic Paths allow you to combine your spellbook. Doing so will let you gain Spell Levels significantly faster. In my Angel playthrough I had level 9 spells by the time my character level was 16.
@@SlanderedGaming That is awesome mate. Thanks! When they asked in a big post what was one thing that you'd change about kingmaker, reaching level 20 naturally was my reply. Glad they took it to heart, and that makes me like them even more. I wonder if playing a good lich is possible, cause I'm absolutely in love with it but don't care about being evil. Angel is still pretty badass too though. Haha
thanks for the build - some thoughts: 1.) isn‘t CON quiet high given that it will most likely be substituted by CHA once you transform into lich? 2.) wouldnt heighten be better than reach metamagic? 3.) wondering if enduring and greater enduring are a good idea - sorcerous reflexes, elemental barrage etc seem more worthwile 4.) no precise shot - so no ranged touch spells? 5.) overall: is this specific subclass truely better than plain wizard / I get the appeal of strenghtening animate dead but overall doesnt seem worth running around with reduced HP most of the time?
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the build. 1.) You are not full Lich until beyond the point of the beta. So based on the information I have available CON matters more than CHA. 2.) Reach is to give you more slots for Animate Dead. I am not sure what else you would use Heighten for so I don't see it as better or worse. 3.) We don't use elemental spells so elemental barrage doesn't help. There are several buffs used in this build that are "personal" and therefore the only way to extend their time is taking those Mythic Abilities. Unless you have a Brown Fur Transmuter of course. To me it is worthwhile but YMMV. 4.) Correct. I went through the entire spell list and you will notice there are no ranged touch spells listed. 5.) You get three different infusions. One increase the DC of the spell by one, another sickens every character for one round that you damage with a Necromancy spell, and then the other strengths Animate Dead. There is also the roleplay aspect of playing a Dhampir Blood Mage Lich. Outside of that is it better than base level Wizard? That's for you to judge. :)
since lich gets all this necromatic spells i thought why not sorcerer with undead bloodline to make enchantment spells work on your undead party then another bloodline on top of that maybe a angel KEKW? the only thing that is redundant is the undead bloodline spells. so maybe a cross blooded to cherry pick.
That definitely works and is similar to the build I ran during my Lich playthrough on the channel. I like this more because there is no redundancy and the infusions you get are very useful throughout the whole game.
I wonder if you can still infuse your blood when you become a Full Lich which is literally a skeleton since the description says infusion requires a blood and undead ichor, does a Lich even possess blood? It will be strange if it did.
And when you become a Lich you become a Full fledged Undead, no longer a Half undead like a Dhampir, I'm worried if the mechanics will take this into account and lose the infusion powers.
Edit: Now that I think about it Full Lich would probably be achieved at Mythic Level 10. By that time you will almost certainly be level 20 at which point blood is not required to use the infusions.
@@SlanderedGaming it would be fantastic if it's possible to reach lvl 20 before achieving mythic 10, also are you planning to do a Mythic legend playthrough? You will not have mythic path (maybe you will have one but will have the choice to abandon it later) but your lvl cap will become lvl 40 + extra stats (not confirmed tho), I'm assuming this can only be achieved by playing Solo to horde all of the experience into your PC which is tedious and insane. Mythic Legend is the Power of Ego. LOL 😄
@@touchdown8769 At the end of the last Beta I reached lvl 18 and was Mythic Level 8. There are two more acts after that so I would say it's pretty assured you can get to level 20 before maxing your Mythic path. I plan to play all of the Mythic Paths but honestly Legion is low on the list. I will play Lich, Azata, Devil, Aeon, and then take it from there. Angel will be my first playthrough but I will do that on my own, won't record it for the channel. Speed run to get through the entire game and review it
@@SlanderedGaming It's reassuring to hear that you will play multiple paths instead of just two or one like the others, I also hope to see you play Baldur's gate 3 since it is more popular than WotR right now. Are you also planning to Play Solasta?
Sorry I'm really late, but don't arcane caster's get the second level spell Glitterdust? It should do the same thing effectively as communal true seeing.
Glitterdust must be manually activated, takes off your party members stealth, and can also blind them. True Seeing stays on for a long period of time and does not negatively impact your party.
I will actually run a Dhampir Ley Line Witch: Spontaneous Caster. Makes most of the Lich book, including all Inflict spells, while Camellia does the job of animating dead. - Conduit Surge, as Archetype ability , is basically a far stronger Blood Infusion; picking Rupture Restraints as MA counters the serious Stagger effect. Patron can be either Insanity ( Enchantment/CC ; most in-line with Lich) , - or: Shadows, granting access to all powerful Illusion spells. Attribute distribution: 7/16/10/14/10/20. - Witch is certainly not the typical "Army Mancer" of our power fantasies ; but both Daeran and Cam are very capable in this regard. And: Repurpose from the Lich book lets us revive enemies, for our course, anyways.
Interesting that is very creative. I always considered the Rupture Restraints MA as useless but it makes sense here. Not so sure about that 10 on CON though. There are some enemies that target spellcasters no matter what and you are asking to get blown up by a crit.
@@SlanderedGaming Indeed: One of the very few builds I would even remotely consider Rupture. ;) - For Con, Toughness will absolutely have to be of high priority. And: False Life/ Endurance. And: Moving around like a raw egg. ^^ Still, all other attributes have probably at least an equally high value; 4 skill points e.g. is where I want to rather be here; Persuasion/Knowledge/Lore checks considered. (12 Con/12 Int would be the realistic alternative; more than 12 Con would be far too expensive, anyways)
My Lich build will be Human Wizard 6 / Hellknight Signifier 4 / Eldricht knight 10. 18/10/12/18+5/7 (but not yet sure what happens with CON and CHA when undead so might need to change. Necro school, ban Evocation and Illusion. 16 BAB, 2h, heavy armor, full spell casting, quickened spells on melee crits Death Knight Lich King!
Very nice. In a build like that wouldn't it help you more to ban Divination instead of Illusion? Seems like Mirror Image and Displacement would increase your survivability.
@@SlanderedGaming Could be, I hear that the dangerous monsters all have True Seeing, so it would mostly protect against weaker monsters, but yeah, I might change this.
No need to play the first one and they have tutorials to make getting into it easier. If you have questions just drop a comment on my most current video. I try to get back to anyone who reaches out to me.
kind of late but What skeletal champion do you think is the best you said cleric for later levels but what about the early lich levels? assasin,executioner,marksman, or vanguard?
I’ve been struggling to choose what class I want to do as well since I will be going lich. The front runner is a thassilonian specialist wizard for full thematic, also looking into sword saint magus and battle singer skald.
Keep in mind the Magus and Skald would not be able to combine their spell books with the Lich path. Lich has 9 levels of spells so if you don't combine it will be a LONGGGGG time before you see final level spells.
@@SlanderedGaming Is that a function of the beta or will that be the case for the full game? If the latter then I think the TS wizard will be my choice.
Hi All. I am at lost chapel at Desna's Altar to recruit Arueshalae early but i am not getting the hand symbol on the shrine. I can't do anything at the altar. Did this happen to other people? Somebody has a solution?
3:25 Why choose 19 in Intel when you could instead leave Intel at 18 and raise Dex to 16? I've played 5E for a few years, just learning Pathfinder, and I'm always curious when I see builds with odd numbers for skills when they don't increase the Modifier.
Because Int matters to me so much more than Dex. Lich gets great protection spells so the AC bonus from Dex isn't important and I don't need him to have a crazy high initiative. So therefore a 19 in Int with a 14 in Dex makes more sense.
I considered this subclass as definitely intended for the lich too. I was wondering if Tainted Sneak Attack would allow you to get the Accomplished Sneak Attack feat and go into Arcane Trickster without needing the rogue level. If so, I would go with the Death of Elements lich power as my second. Here is the idea: A high level AT can sneak attack on aoe's. Death of Elements can allow you to make all of your spells Negative Energy. So summon your undead, go invisible, cast fireball for up to 8d6 sneak attack damage, using death of elements and tainted sneak attack to make the enemies vulnerable to all damage if they fail a save. Continue blasting enemies with magic attack aoe, and if the damage type is negative energy, it should heal your undead while it damages all enemies. I would go with the magic resist as my 3rd lich power, and if it works properly now then having a main cleric vanguard skeletal champion would be ideal for keeping you alive. Question though, the infusion for animate dead increases their Con score? They have none. I hope it is replaced with Cha instead.
I can confirm Tainted Sneak Attack allows you to get Accomplished Sneak Attack. Keep in mind this subclass forces you to specialize in necromancy. For your build it would probably be better going in another direction. Currently as a Lich you still use CON to determine how much health you have. I am not certain if the summoned skeletons use CHA even though they should.
@@SlanderedGaming Should still be fine. Any damaging spell works for this effect if I understand it right, so I can use this one just as easily. Fireball was just an example, plenty of damaging Necromancy spells to use here, and I like to be thematic, not merely strong. Any spell that does damage should activate sneak attack, and Necromancy has ray attacks too. Less damage maybe compared to scorching ray and so on, but I think the debuffs make up for it. But if you disagree, what do you think might be better for the build? When I tried it in phase 1 beta I wanted to do Thassilonian Necromancy for the extra spell slots, but I couldn't link the spellbook with the lich's mythic book. I similarly tried the Angelfire apostle for the angel spellbook and failed at that too. Do you know if those are valid combinations now? Also, Do the lich necromancy spells qualify for the extra spell slots for your specialist school now?
Does the conjuration summon boosting feats actually boost the undead created from animate dead and create undead? From what I have heard they do not in Kingmaker but maybe it is different in Wrath? -R
Nope they do not and I hadn't even considered that would be an issue. I never used the spell in Kingmaker. I added a note on the video to make sure other people know thanks for pointing that out.
@@SlanderedGaming If they don't boost undead summons then you can just change the spell focus on doing more damage with spells, it would be weird if a Lich started summoning other summons aside from Undead.
Damphir Dirge Bard / Lich Ozzy didn't work? :( On the other hand, the +4 stats for summons you get because of this Wiz build, does it stack with the +4 of augument summoning and the one from the Lich feat? And do those bonuses go for the undead pet?
I already had this build in my head when you mentioned the Dirge bard. I haven't started playing around with Bard's yet. The +4 feat does not stack with your infusion but it's a requirement to get the feat that adds +1 to summoned creatures if more than one was summoned.
Cruorormancer is probably your best best. It gets an infusion that will beef up your skeletons. They can only be Dhampir's so obviously that must be your race. Necromancer gives additional summons you can use as well that will litter the battlefield.
Hmmm do you mean written out? There are no story spoilers in this build video. It was made during the BETA so I couldn't have shown the Lich transformation even if I wanted to.
@@SlanderedGaming Yep just tested both. Level 11 Spellbook at level 8 is nice! btw, for your builds would be nice to breakdown level by level either in a sheet view or pinned comment. Especially now that release may have changed some things from this guide. Just letting you know what others are doing . :) Thanks for the guide btw! Playing the same build, story of my character is a Wiz who is driven to cast the most powerful spells as possible, and the interaction with the wand lead him to the Lich path.
It seems that currently Lich mp is the only one benificial enough for wizards and other intelligence-based spellcasters. Because Lich spells are powered by intelligence. Angel's spells are powered by wisdom. And all other mps are powered by charisma. So if I want to be Aeon and a wizard, I should max two stats. Which is lame. And if I want to be a Lich and a shaman, I should probably max three. XD
Azata is fantastic for Intelligence based spellcasters. Allows you to hit two enemies with one ray spell while significantly increasing the damage. You can also make it so both you and the enemies roll twice and they take the worst result while taking more damage on a successful save. My Elemental Specialists loved that Mythic Path.
@@SlanderedGaming I just think that mps should not be so limited and should take highest of the stats for counting spell damage. This way we could make Demon wizard and Lich shaman and Azata cleric without drawbacks.
Im almost sure 1 necro dc doesnt worth it. Better pick sage sorcerer or magic lineage sorcerer to +2 dc and elf is kinda mandatory due to +2 spell penetration since half of the game have magic resistance.
@@ladybernkastel5696 Absolutely and Elf is the strongest spellcaster no doubt about it. But for roleplaying purposes I think Dhampir makes the most sense as a Lich.
Sorry, but this build is bad and made by someone who can't read or doesn't understand English: 1) Augmented summoning and superior summoning work with conjuration spells only 2) Even if augmented summoning worked with necromancy spells, enchantment bonuses does not stack, so augmented summoning becomes useless because of commanding infusion 3) No point blank shot and precise shot feats for your rays spells 4) CON should be dump stat, because hp scales with charisma after becoming lich 5) You literally picked up life-dominant soul feat, so clerics can heal you with positive energy. Your skeletal champion can be any class you like
1.) Correct this is a mistake and I mention it in my pinned post at the top of the comments section. 2.) The purpose of getting augmented summoning was to pick up superior summoning not for the bonuses. 3.) There are no ray spells in this build. None of the ray spells you could choose are superior to the Lich Necromancy spells you get access to. 4.) That is how it works in tabletop. Last time I played through Lich in the beta CON was still used to determine your health. No idea what they plan to do in full release. 5.) Choosing Lich allows you to run a completely undead party. A cleric who can channel negative energy helps you significantly more.
One note regarding this build. The game does not treat "Animate Dead" as an actual summoning spell. Consequently the summoning feats/Mythic Ability do not apply to that spell and it would be best to switch those out with one of the other options I mentioned.
The mythic ascendant summoning works for necromancy summoning spells. You can test it if you want.
I'd also recommend weapon focus ray or the feat that allows you to extend the range of spells by one range category (so that touch attacks are no longer touch). This would allow you to use vampiric touch for example. Plus as a lich I'd definitely take disintegrate. Its an iconic lich spell (just a preference of mine). Also since you're a lich another iconic one is cloudkill. Since you're epic resistance to everything casting cloudkill would allow you to stand in it and watch as everyone suffocates and slowly die :)
Honestly I have always wanted to create a build that just throws out Cloudkill all the time but never got around to it. My enemies choking and dying while I am unaffected sounds quite wonderful.
@@SlanderedGaming Can't go wrong with web and cloudkill :)
I guess for picking the right spells it is a good idea to know which spells you also get from the lich spellbook, so you can double on the best or go a bigger variety, whatever suits you best.
Yup that is definitely correct. You also get to pick more of the regular spells while upgrading as a Lich so you are not too hamstrung.
Don't forget about Cold Ice Strike (lvl 6 Spell). It's a swift action cast and can be a life saver if you need to dish out some damage. Though I guess with so many mobs with resist/immunities may not work out so well...
Watching this vid makes me want to try this class out and spec Necro/illusion. Both those schools are pretty strong i think.
Necro and Illusion are definitely strong and if I remember correctly the Lich spellbook has a couple of Illusion spells. So it seems like the game treats them as if they go hand in hand.
Wooo ... love the build series ... but I will add, I am really curious about updated builds for our companions. For example, I will sometimes switch Seelah to Martyr at level 2 to get the bard buffs ... or as I mentioned before, switch Lann at level 4 to WanderingHunter.
I don't want to switch my companions too much but I do like to tweak them :)
You did a lot of those some time ago ... any thoughts / changes as we get closer to launch ?? :)
Yeah there are a couple that would be completely different now. Mind you though a lot of the builds will still be straightforward and sticking to their original class. I am big into roleplaying a character and most party members classes fit exactly who they are.
Also in Blackwater there is a great 2 handed sword that can buff you , a rapier that amplifies vampiric touch
Yup that sword is amazing.
Warning: long.
One thing I will say is that it's *possible* this class is not complete. The pnp version gets abilities every 5 levels, while there's a conspicuous gap at levels 10 & 15 here. Some of them (being able to scry through a summoned undead at level 15) wouldn't translate well to the pc version, but the level 10 ability of being able to 'desecrate' areas with your infusions would give a significant (needed in my opinion) buff to this class. (In addition, it would be nice if Blood Command affected Create Undead as well (and maybe any other undead summon, like the lich-only 'Flay of Purpose' as well), else it's presumably kinda useless once you hit level 6 spells. Soo level 11, meaning it's only both usable and useful at levels 5-10, not counting spellbook merging).
And another strange difference: in the pnp, the blood price is '1d4 + the level of the spell being infused', which makes a lot more sense to me. As it is, 'As he increases in level, the power and effects of such infusions increases in power' is an outright lie. Not only do you abilities not increase in power (none of them have any scaling at all), they actually get *worse* as they inflict more self-damage to do the same thing. (Infusing Boneshaker at level 4: 1d4+2 damage. Infusing Boneshaker at level 18: 1d4+9 damage, for the exact same effect!) I really hope this gets fixed (ideally by introducing some scaling - increases to the save dc or duration of sickened as you level up would do a lot to make this class as cool as its theme).
As it stands at the moment (nothing gained between levels 6-19 apart from the normal Wizard feats) this class seems custom-tailored to prestige out at level 6, since you lose basically nothing.
1) Question: Does the sickening affect of the sickening infusion wear off at the start or end of your next turn? In other words, if you sicken an enemy with a damaging necromancy spell one round, can you take advantage of the -2 to saves in your next? That makes a rather signficant difference in effectiveness. (By my understanding of the pnp rules, it would last until the start, but I can dream that this class might not be complete trash).
2) Question: does life-dominant soul let you drink healing potions (and actually get healed)?
4:32 Pharasma is an option. That's hilarious.
3) You didn't mention it when you took it, but does the 'life drain' of your infusions take from the temporary hit points of stuff like False Life if you have them, or does it skip them and only take from your 'true' hit points? Big difference in terms of sustainability.
Vampiric Touch: *incredibly* useful for this class (admittedly, mainly if your infusions drain temp hit points first), but you need 3 feats: Point-Blank shot, precise shot, and Metamagic: Reach, so you can cast it as a ranged touch attack (and actually hit). Though personally, I tend to take pbs & ps on my squishy spellcaster builds anyway, so they have something semi-useful to do in the early levels if they don't have spells to use (either crossbow on mooks, or actually hit with acid splash vs something actually dangerous). Plus, necromancy has some nice level-draining ranged touch attack spells later on (lower levels = lower saves). Anyway, point being, Vampiric Touch is a very action-efficient spell for this class, and action-efficiency is king at higher levels - it does damage (allowing you to sicken your opponent if you want to infuse), and gives you hit points which you can (hopefully) use to infuse your next spell(s) as well, without having to spend an action healing.
8:05 Criitcal Focus?!? Really? Why? Unless I'm missing something, this will impact a handful of damaging ranged touch-attack spells (which only crit on a natural 20 by default). I mean, maybe I missed it, but have you even taken Weapon Focus (ranged touch attack) (or whatever it's called) yet? (Edit: IIRC that's a thing, but maybe it was added by a mod, or maybe I'm misremembering. It's been a while, so maybe put an asterisk next to that point.) Pretty sure you haven't taken Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot yet either. With a wizard bab progression, you need to *hit* first, before worrying about crits.
-4) Do you know whether Augment Summoning affects necromancy summons? I seem to recall hearing that it only affected Conjuration summons, but I don't remember seeing any definitive tests. Because if it doesn't, 3 feats for +1 skeleton (likely completely outclassed by the time you take this) doesn't really seem worth it.- Edit: Answered while I was typing!
If you're only taking Reach in order to increase your castings of Animate Dead, why not take Extend Spell instead (also only +1 level)? Increases its duration to 2 rounds/level. Especially for this build with Greater Enduring Spell and a merged spellbook. Greater Enduring Spell makes any spell that lasts 5 minutes or more last 24 hours. 5 minutes = 50 rounds. Once your Caster level reaches 25 (between class level and mythic level thanks to the merged spellbook) (or maybe you need 26, so it's over 5 minutes, not sure), an Extended spell hits that mark, and 1 round/level spells become 24 hour spells. Sure, that's endgame-only, so you wouldn't base your build around it, but if you can fit it in easily, why not?
For me, the main reason to take Metamagic: Reach would be to turn Touch spells (like Harm or Vampiric Touch) into Ranged Touch attacks.
15:12 Magic Missile has a potential use later on, I think. I believe there's a Lich ability that lets you damage your enemy's attributes each time you deal damage (edit: withering life! - you take it in this build, actually). Magic Missile (I have heard) does 5 applications of this from a single level 1 spell. That's an effective combo. With Quicken Spell, that's -10 to 3 attributes/turn (with no save possible) for a level 1 and a level 5 (4 if you have Favourite Metamagic (Quicken)) spell slot. That's potentially game-breakingly powerful (if it stays working that way by launch, at least).
One thing I have just noticed: Infusing a spell is a swift action. A lot of people swear by Quicken Spell at high levels, for the action economy. Quickened spells are cast as a swift action. You only get 1 swift action a turn. Meaning you won't be able to infuse *either* spell if you Quicken. Not relevant to this build, but I literally only just realised that.
Disclaimer: all the above is my opinion, ymmv, etc.
Actually, thinking on it, there *maybe* is a use-case for Critical Focus (and improved Critical), but not for this build. Not sure if it would work, but prestige out to Eldritch Knight at level 6. *Technically* , its 'Spell Critical' ability simply requires 'a critical hit' to activate, not necessarily a *weapon* critical hit. Ranged Touch spell attacks can critically hit (on a nat 20, but still, possible). With the Eldritch Knight bab progression, you can hit touch attacks pretty reliably, so that's a potential source of 'free' Quickens. Probably wouldn't call it a 'meta' build, not even sure if it would actually *work*, but thinking about why to take crit feats with a spellcaster had me mentally stumble onto the idea, so I thought I'd share.
Edit: Random further thought. I believe you can use the Loremaster Prestige class to gain other class' spells. Clerics gain Animate Dead a level earlier than Wizards (3 vs 4). I wonder, if you can use Loremaster to get Animate Dead as both a level 3 & level 4 spell, and if your class buff would apply to both.
1.) I've tested this and honestly it does not seem to be consistent. Regardless I don't consider it trash because the rest of your party will definitely take advantage of the status.
2.) No. It only affects channeled positive energy. You cannot drink potions and you cannot be healed by cure light wounds, moderate wounds etc.
3.) The Infusions do take your temp hit points. I prefer to let the skeletal minion manage my hit points so my main character can strictly focus on damaging and disabling enemies.
4.) Augment Summoning doesn't affect Necromancy summons. I hadn't even considered that would be an issue so didn't test it separately. *facepalm* Your point about Extend makes sense I automatically wrote off 1 round/level spells being affected by Greater Enduring Spells but by the end game it would work.
Interesting point about Magic Missile I will test that out when the full game releases.
Loremaster is such a fascinating class to me. Looking forward to actually playing around with it.
@@SlanderedGaming Thanks for the answers! This archetype annoys me, as the concept/theme is so cool, yet the mechanics seem lacking, and it really wouldn't take much to make it a strong contender. Hopefully I'm correct in my guess that this will have more work done before release. We'll see, I guess.
All thats missing is a conjured pancakes spell
At least that infusion ability somewhat makes up for not being able to get benefit for the Mythic Summons ability for your undead.
Also, a second metamagic instead of critical focus would let you extend your skellies to an even higher level spell slot. More Undead!
Also, isnt' there a mytic feat that lets you ignore spell limits for things like Negative Erruption, letting it keep adding more dice as you level up?
If you are referring to Boundless Healing I am actually not sure if that applies to Negative Eruption.
LOVE this video, my guy. Build type videos are awesome and I love this class. My last character in kingmaker was a dark priest focusing on necromancy, and he was a lot of fun to play. So excited I'll be able to play as a vampire in this one. Can't wait
Is it possible to get to 20 at the end of the game? I absolutely HATED that I barely got to have level 9 spells by the end of the first game that I used mods every playthrough after that to hit 20 over time
Thank you! There are six acts in the game and by the end of Act 4 I was level 18 so I would say yes you can definitely hit 20. Furthermore some Mythic Paths allow you to combine your spellbook. Doing so will let you gain Spell Levels significantly faster. In my Angel playthrough I had level 9 spells by the time my character level was 16.
@@SlanderedGaming That is awesome mate. Thanks! When they asked in a big post what was one thing that you'd change about kingmaker, reaching level 20 naturally was my reply. Glad they took it to heart, and that makes me like them even more. I wonder if playing a good lich is possible, cause I'm absolutely in love with it but don't care about being evil. Angel is still pretty badass too though. Haha
@@ryanc5572 You can't be good but you don't have to be psycho evil. There are definitely shades of gray in a Lich alignment.
thanks for the build - some thoughts:
1.) isn‘t CON quiet high given that it will most likely be substituted by CHA once you transform into lich?
2.) wouldnt heighten be better than reach metamagic?
3.) wondering if enduring and greater enduring are a good idea - sorcerous reflexes, elemental barrage etc seem more worthwile
4.) no precise shot - so no ranged touch spells?
5.) overall: is this specific subclass truely better than plain wizard / I get the appeal of strenghtening animate dead but overall doesnt seem worth running around with reduced HP most of the time?
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the build.
1.) You are not full Lich until beyond the point of the beta. So based on the information I have available CON matters more than CHA.
2.) Reach is to give you more slots for Animate Dead. I am not sure what else you would use Heighten for so I don't see it as better or worse.
3.) We don't use elemental spells so elemental barrage doesn't help. There are several buffs used in this build that are "personal" and therefore the only way to extend their time is taking those Mythic Abilities. Unless you have a Brown Fur Transmuter of course. To me it is worthwhile but YMMV.
4.) Correct. I went through the entire spell list and you will notice there are no ranged touch spells listed.
5.) You get three different infusions. One increase the DC of the spell by one, another sickens every character for one round that you damage with a Necromancy spell, and then the other strengths Animate Dead. There is also the roleplay aspect of playing a Dhampir Blood Mage Lich. Outside of that is it better than base level Wizard? That's for you to judge. :)
since lich gets all this necromatic spells i thought why not sorcerer with undead bloodline to make enchantment spells work on your undead party then another bloodline on top of that maybe a angel KEKW? the only thing that is redundant is the undead bloodline spells. so maybe a cross blooded to cherry pick.
That definitely works and is similar to the build I ran during my Lich playthrough on the channel. I like this more because there is no redundancy and the infusions you get are very useful throughout the whole game.
I wonder if you can still infuse your blood when you become a Full Lich which is literally a skeleton since the description says infusion requires a blood and undead ichor, does a Lich even possess blood? It will be strange if it did.
And when you become a Lich you become a Full fledged Undead, no longer a Half undead like a Dhampir, I'm worried if the mechanics will take this into account and lose the infusion powers.
Edit: Now that I think about it Full Lich would probably be achieved at Mythic Level 10. By that time you will almost certainly be level 20 at which point blood is not required to use the infusions.
@@SlanderedGaming it would be fantastic if it's possible to reach lvl 20 before achieving mythic 10, also are you planning to do a Mythic legend playthrough? You will not have mythic path (maybe you will have one but will have the choice to abandon it later) but your lvl cap will become lvl 40 + extra stats (not confirmed tho), I'm assuming this can only be achieved by playing Solo to horde all of the experience into your PC which is tedious and insane. Mythic Legend is the Power of Ego. LOL 😄
@@touchdown8769 At the end of the last Beta I reached lvl 18 and was Mythic Level 8. There are two more acts after that so I would say it's pretty assured you can get to level 20 before maxing your Mythic path.
I plan to play all of the Mythic Paths but honestly Legion is low on the list. I will play Lich, Azata, Devil, Aeon, and then take it from there. Angel will be my first playthrough but I will do that on my own, won't record it for the channel. Speed run to get through the entire game and review it
@@SlanderedGaming It's reassuring to hear that you will play multiple paths instead of just two or one like the others, I also hope to see you play Baldur's gate 3 since it is more popular than WotR right now. Are you also planning to Play Solasta?
I wonder if its possible to fit a centipede animal companion somewhere in this build, just for the roleplay fun
I actually have always wanted one as a companion. You have just convinced me I should do that for the Swarm playthrough.
@@SlanderedGaming awesome!
Sorry I'm really late, but don't arcane caster's get the second level spell Glitterdust? It should do the same thing effectively as communal true seeing.
Glitterdust must be manually activated, takes off your party members stealth, and can also blind them. True Seeing stays on for a long period of time and does not negatively impact your party.
I will actually run a Dhampir Ley Line Witch: Spontaneous Caster. Makes most of the Lich book, including all Inflict spells, while Camellia does the job of animating dead.
- Conduit Surge, as Archetype ability , is basically a far stronger Blood Infusion; picking Rupture Restraints as MA counters the serious Stagger effect.
Patron can be either Insanity ( Enchantment/CC ; most in-line with Lich) , - or: Shadows, granting access to all powerful Illusion spells.
Attribute distribution: 7/16/10/14/10/20.
- Witch is certainly not the typical "Army Mancer" of our power fantasies ; but both Daeran and Cam are very capable in this regard.
And: Repurpose from the Lich book lets us revive enemies, for our course, anyways.
Interesting that is very creative. I always considered the Rupture Restraints MA as useless but it makes sense here. Not so sure about that 10 on CON though. There are some enemies that target spellcasters no matter what and you are asking to get blown up by a crit.
@@SlanderedGaming Indeed: One of the very few builds I would even remotely consider Rupture. ;)
- For Con, Toughness will absolutely have to be of high priority. And: False Life/ Endurance. And: Moving around like a raw egg. ^^ Still, all other attributes have probably at least an equally high value; 4 skill points e.g. is where I want to rather be here; Persuasion/Knowledge/Lore checks considered. (12 Con/12 Int would be the realistic alternative; more than 12 Con would be far too expensive, anyways)
@@Badbentham Gotcha so you are going to level it off with some of your other choices. Nice.
My Lich build will be Human Wizard 6 / Hellknight Signifier 4 / Eldricht knight 10.
18/10/12/18+5/7 (but not yet sure what happens with CON and CHA when undead so might need to change.
Necro school, ban Evocation and Illusion.
16 BAB, 2h, heavy armor, full spell casting, quickened spells on melee crits
Death Knight Lich King!
Very nice. In a build like that wouldn't it help you more to ban Divination instead of Illusion? Seems like Mirror Image and Displacement would increase your survivability.
@@SlanderedGaming Could be, I hear that the dangerous monsters all have True Seeing, so it would mostly protect against weaker monsters, but yeah, I might change this.
In my experiencing 90% of the time Mirror Image stays up. Definitely standout as far as defensive spells.
I hope i can get into this game easy. Im planning on getting it. Never played the 1st one.
No need to play the first one and they have tutorials to make getting into it easier. If you have questions just drop a comment on my most current video. I try to get back to anyone who reaches out to me.
I know you need persuasion, but Gebian necromancer background just looks too good to skip. +3 Hp for undead summons.
😂 My Lich will probably be focused more on flat out damage than summoning creatures so I felt comfortable letting it go.
+3 hp does not sound like a lot. Is it multiplied by something like levels?
@@PowerSenpai at 1st look I was thinking it was good but 3hp is less than a wizard gets
Sorceror with Undead Bloodline is the way for Lich.
Absolutely but that's the build I already ran on this channel. I want to do something different when the game releases.
@@SlanderedGaming Yeah of course, was basically talking to myself there lol. God I can't wait.
kind of late but What skeletal champion do you think is the best you said cleric for later levels but what about the early lich levels? assasin,executioner,marksman, or vanguard?
I don't have a good answer for that because I don't know who all of the Lich companions are and what skills they have available.
I’ve been struggling to choose what class I want to do as well since I will be going lich. The front runner is a thassilonian specialist wizard for full thematic, also looking into sword saint magus and battle singer skald.
Keep in mind the Magus and Skald would not be able to combine their spell books with the Lich path. Lich has 9 levels of spells so if you don't combine it will be a LONGGGGG time before you see final level spells.
@@SlanderedGaming Is that a function of the beta or will that be the case for the full game? If the latter then I think the TS wizard will be my choice.
Hi All. I am at lost chapel at Desna's Altar to recruit Arueshalae early but i am not getting the hand symbol on the shrine. I can't do anything at the altar.
Did this happen to other people? Somebody has a solution?
If you messed up the Desna quest from Act 1 then you are blocked from doing this.
@@SlanderedGaming Thx for the help Samori. I like your content. Keep up the good work.
3:25 Why choose 19 in Intel when you could instead leave Intel at 18 and raise Dex to 16? I've played 5E for a few years, just learning Pathfinder, and I'm always curious when I see builds with odd numbers for skills when they don't increase the Modifier.
Because Int matters to me so much more than Dex. Lich gets great protection spells so the AC bonus from Dex isn't important and I don't need him to have a crazy high initiative. So therefore a 19 in Int with a 14 in Dex makes more sense.
in Pathfinder you get 1 point to add to stats every 4 levels so with a 19 you end at 24 at max level
I considered this subclass as definitely intended for the lich too. I was wondering if Tainted Sneak Attack would allow you to get the Accomplished Sneak Attack feat and go into Arcane Trickster without needing the rogue level.
If so, I would go with the Death of Elements lich power as my second. Here is the idea: A high level AT can sneak attack on aoe's. Death of Elements can allow you to make all of your spells Negative Energy. So summon your undead, go invisible, cast fireball for up to 8d6 sneak attack damage, using death of elements and tainted sneak attack to make the enemies vulnerable to all damage if they fail a save. Continue blasting enemies with magic attack aoe, and if the damage type is negative energy, it should heal your undead while it damages all enemies. I would go with the magic resist as my 3rd lich power, and if it works properly now then having a main cleric vanguard skeletal champion would be ideal for keeping you alive.
Question though, the infusion for animate dead increases their Con score? They have none. I hope it is replaced with Cha instead.
I can confirm Tainted Sneak Attack allows you to get Accomplished Sneak Attack. Keep in mind this subclass forces you to specialize in necromancy. For your build it would probably be better going in another direction.
Currently as a Lich you still use CON to determine how much health you have. I am not certain if the summoned skeletons use CHA even though they should.
@@SlanderedGaming Should still be fine. Any damaging spell works for this effect if I understand it right, so I can use this one just as easily. Fireball was just an example, plenty of damaging Necromancy spells to use here, and I like to be thematic, not merely strong. Any spell that does damage should activate sneak attack, and Necromancy has ray attacks too. Less damage maybe compared to scorching ray and so on, but I think the debuffs make up for it. But if you disagree, what do you think might be better for the build?
When I tried it in phase 1 beta I wanted to do Thassilonian Necromancy for the extra spell slots, but I couldn't link the spellbook with the lich's mythic book. I similarly tried the Angelfire apostle for the angel spellbook and failed at that too. Do you know if those are valid combinations now?
Also, Do the lich necromancy spells qualify for the extra spell slots for your specialist school now?
Does the conjuration summon boosting feats actually boost the undead created from animate dead and create undead? From what I have heard they do not in Kingmaker but maybe it is different in Wrath? -R
Nope they do not and I hadn't even considered that would be an issue. I never used the spell in Kingmaker. I added a note on the video to make sure other people know thanks for pointing that out.
@@SlanderedGaming If they don't boost undead summons then you can just change the spell focus on doing more damage with spells, it would be weird if a Lich started summoning other summons aside from Undead.
@@touchdown8769 Agreed. Honestly it's disappointing to me that Lich doesn't have a larger variety of summons.
Damphir Dirge Bard / Lich Ozzy didn't work? :(
On the other hand, the +4 stats for summons you get because of this Wiz build, does it stack with the +4 of augument summoning and the one from the Lich feat? And do those bonuses go for the undead pet?
I already had this build in my head when you mentioned the Dirge bard. I haven't started playing around with Bard's yet.
The +4 feat does not stack with your infusion but it's a requirement to get the feat that adds +1 to summoned creatures if more than one was summoned.
I dip into 1 level of cleric for self healing and damage to start
Yup that makes sense but Cruoromancer gets to use infusions for free at level 20 so I am trying to get that.
I have a question, I want to create a lich summoner skeletons, what class and race to choose? how do i do it?
Cruorormancer is probably your best best. It gets an infusion that will beef up your skeletons. They can only be Dhampir's so obviously that must be your race. Necromancer gives additional summons you can use as well that will litter the battlefield.
@@SlanderedGaming very thank , i will take your advice
Is this game getting dlc??? I want to wait for the the complete experience. I love owlcat, obsidian and larian
It is getting DLC but the game tells a complete story. I would say the DLC is probably going to be very separate from the main campaign.
Do you have this build listed somewhere? I would like to try it but don't want to watch all the episodes ahead to spoil my play? Please?
Hmmm do you mean written out? There are no story spoilers in this build video. It was made during the BETA so I couldn't have shown the Lich transformation even if I wanted to.
@@SlanderedGaming I have seen other builds that are not play throughs.. its just 1-20 level descriptions.
Where is this +6 INT helmet?? :)
I picked it up somewhere in Act 4. Sorry I finished that version of the beta months ago so don't remember the exact location.
Do you merge spell book (Wizard) or go with separate?
Merge all day. Do that and you can access level 9 spells 3 or 4 levels earlier than you usually would.
@@SlanderedGaming Yep just tested both. Level 11 Spellbook at level 8 is nice! btw, for your builds would be nice to breakdown level by level either in a sheet view or pinned comment. Especially now that release may have changed some things from this guide. Just letting you know what others are doing . :) Thanks for the guide btw! Playing the same build, story of my character is a Wiz who is driven to cast the most powerful spells as possible, and the interaction with the wand lead him to the Lich path.
It seems that currently Lich mp is the only one benificial enough for wizards and other intelligence-based spellcasters. Because Lich spells are powered by intelligence. Angel's spells are powered by wisdom. And all other mps are powered by charisma. So if I want to be Aeon and a wizard, I should max two stats. Which is lame. And if I want to be a Lich and a shaman, I should probably max three. XD
Azata is fantastic for Intelligence based spellcasters. Allows you to hit two enemies with one ray spell while significantly increasing the damage. You can also make it so both you and the enemies roll twice and they take the worst result while taking more damage on a successful save. My Elemental Specialists loved that Mythic Path.
@@SlanderedGaming I just think that mps should not be so limited and should take highest of the stats for counting spell damage. This way we could make Demon wizard and Lich shaman and Azata cleric without drawbacks.
Im almost sure 1 necro dc doesnt worth it. Better pick sage sorcerer or magic lineage sorcerer to +2 dc and elf is kinda mandatory due to +2 spell penetration since half of the game have magic resistance.
The majority of spells in the Lich spellbook are unaffected by spell resistance. Having an Elf is cool but by no means mandatory.
@@SlanderedGaming yeah, forgot about that. Still having +2 penetration on sirocco and viel of banshee would help alot.
@@ladybernkastel5696 Absolutely and Elf is the strongest spellcaster no doubt about it. But for roleplaying purposes I think Dhampir makes the most sense as a Lich.
Life dominant does not work right now with vampires be warned and do not waste the feat
Really? Wow that's interesting it worked in the beta. Thanks for letting me know.
@@SlanderedGaming also if you respec out of vampire you are bugged and still take damage from positive energy XD ( lots of vampire issues)
still busted as of this date
how can this be a viable Lich build?
Liches don't have blood
Yet still they allow the mechanic to work. 😂
Have a like. And a sub
Thank you! Welcome to the channel!
Sorry, but this build is bad and made by someone who can't read or doesn't understand English:
1) Augmented summoning and superior summoning work with conjuration spells only
2) Even if augmented summoning worked with necromancy spells, enchantment bonuses does not stack, so augmented summoning becomes useless because of commanding infusion
3) No point blank shot and precise shot feats for your rays spells
4) CON should be dump stat, because hp scales with charisma after becoming lich
5) You literally picked up life-dominant soul feat, so clerics can heal you with positive energy. Your skeletal champion can be any class you like
1.) Correct this is a mistake and I mention it in my pinned post at the top of the comments section.
2.) The purpose of getting augmented summoning was to pick up superior summoning not for the bonuses.
3.) There are no ray spells in this build. None of the ray spells you could choose are superior to the Lich Necromancy spells you get access to.
4.) That is how it works in tabletop. Last time I played through Lich in the beta CON was still used to determine your health. No idea what they plan to do in full release.
5.) Choosing Lich allows you to run a completely undead party. A cleric who can channel negative energy helps you significantly more.