My favorite lich story is one where he was the owner of a gladiator arena, funded for the emperor's entertainment. The souls of those who died would go to the lich. No one suspected him; it was incredible
I could imagine a community built around a hospice center built for the same purpose. The players might just think the local culture really honors their elders.
I played a campaign with the same premise. With my character (Luna) learning the guy was a lich, after he counterspelled her fireball, she had no reaction, it could've been my heart pounding too hard for me to hear my thoughts, but I think it would be her knowing that he was a monster. And not just because he's an undead wizard who harvests the souls of the living to buy himself burrowed time. Because life was happening, the DM and I arranged Luna to die. And she was taken out by a Power Word Kill after the lich's reaction to her changed from blatantly toying with her to being annoyed with her to using up his one-a-day ninth level spell to end her. Due to good dice rolls, she got to fire bolt him in the face for 17 damage at lv 5, and pass the Con save for Thunderwave. But Luna had the last laugh, as she managed to cut off the lich's arm with Shadow Blade, and as she felt her heart beat its last beat, she let out a dying curse: A blunt "Fuck. You."
An interesting idea I saw was someone who threw a Lich at their party, and when the group got confused why the Lich's spells were "wrong", the DM informed them that the Lich was using spells from 3.5e instead of 5e, because when they were alive, spellcasting worked differently. Thought that was a cool idea
@@arcturionblade1077 I was about to say something to that regard---if your worried that your lich isn't a terribly potent combatant, it's because you aren't using good magical tactics. Lichs needed to be magic users 18th level+ to attain lichdom---that's spells like Prismatic sphere and Wish. A lich can be in another location using a scraying device, combined with project image, improved invisibility, prismatic sphere, and start blasting the party with chain lightning, delayed blast fireball, and cones of cold----when they start taking 18 d6+18 every round and not be able to hit back---that's a fierce opponant
give'em first and second edition spells. Stinking cloud, used properly, with archers to take advantage of the situation, is absolutely lethal. Even if you save, your crawling out of the cloud one round, and recovering on the second as you are coughing up your guts. Just about anyone can kick you right back into the spell effect. Can anyone say--pin cushion?
Phylactery: An adamantine room with a single chair fused to the floor in its center. When he dies, he reappears in the chair, and if anyone else sits in the chair, their soul is absorbed into the phylactery, feeding the lich. Said lich is a king and an artificer, so it's an abominable wonder of technology, and an excellent way to execute enemies of the state. He had a sort of Dorian Grey meets Elizabeth Bathory type of undeath where he essentially sucks the life force out of his victims to add to his own ticking clock... though his ticks down much faster than average.
My favorite twist on a lick was inspired by the OG pirates of the Caribbean. The Lich had made its phylactery as a single gold coin and kept in a chest with hundreds of other gold. The party found said chest of gold early on and used the money to buy some gear. Only to later on find merchants they had traded with were ending up dead or disappearing. The lich was hunting down people who had come in contact with its gold and possible phylactery. Which lead to multiple encounters with said lich as both parties raced to find it first.
"She don't wanna die, so she never will" is an incredibly catchy lyric, and also a perfect and perfectly simple reason for a lich to go down that road.
Another interesting direction for a lich as a Big Bad is to make them a lich-to-be. It gives them a rock-solid goal - obtain lichdom - and a whole arc to travel through. There's plenty of room for clashes with the party as they search out the necessary knowledge and materials. And even a meaningful change for the party to enact on the plot: either they stop the Big Bad before they complete the ritual, or they have a "new", more powerful Big Bad for the next part of the story.
this would be cool as a starter villain like, party defeats this weird cult-obsessed nerd and sends him home or to jail only to end up with them at the end having accomplished their goal and now the party has to take them out . very cool idea!
Perhaps a human advisor to a party of elves and he/she just be like ‘they’re gonna outlive me before they outgrow me… I need to do something to make me stick around so I can keep an eye on them”.
@@AntirisDark My thoughts exactly. The lich-to-be could send the party to retrieve the rare ingredients to prepare the poison for their undeath ritual, adamantine for the construction and reinforcement of a precious magical item they are working on (their phylactery), old tomes of magic of a bygone era, be interested in buying their most valuable gems, etc. If the party finds out, then they would have the choice to either help or hinder the NPC's efforts (for example, they could make sure the lich-to-be dies in the ritual by fiddling with the poison, etc.). Maybe the lich-to-be even sends them to chase down an actual lich in order to find out more about lichdom and maybe get rid of a potential future rival. Plenty of potential here. Efforts to achieve lichdom can last a looong while! It's not like it's easy either!
I currently have a lich-to-be as my parties patron. It’s a pretty slow moving story though with other things in the foreground. My starting point when writing the game was that the halfway point should be the unveiling of the BBEG. The lich comes from the backstory of a character from another game and when I reach that point in the game I will introduce that player and character to the party.
I do love the idea of a lich, who has reached their goal thousands of years ago, their big plan, their big break-through in arcane studies, that they sacrificed their life for, and now they are just bored. Adventures get to their tower, trying to get the legendary treasure of the ancient, powerful lich, go through monsters and traps, only to find the lich at the top of the tower, just like baking cookies (that they can't actually eat) and seeking a conversation with the adventurers. They resupply their own tower with traps and monsters not to kill adventurers, but so they "wouldn't be too dissapointed" when reaching the tower. The lich ends up just giving each party member a magic item and send them on their way. Liches so old, they essentially just become an immortal grandma.
I like this. It's clever. Trouble is if in 5th edition they have to feed souls to their soul jar, to remain alive then they still need to procure souls. Not sure what motivation an old grandma would have to do that forever if they've already achieved their goal.
@@drekfletch yes that's true. I've certainly never used that in my games. Of course I also still only play 3.5 and didn't actually realize it was a thing that needed to be done.
The vampire stat block just screams "campaign villain" and not encounter enemy the way that it's designed; it's not that interesting to fight but it has incredible power of intrigue. Count Strahd is the famous obvious example that makes full use of those features. The Mummy Lord stat block is also fun because it's lich-like in its ability to come back to life after being defeated but has totally different spells and other abilities, if perhaps not quite as iconic.
A cleric's path to undead immortality was previously becoming a (greater) mummy. I enjoyed that wizards become liches and clerics became mummies. Both terrifying, especially if played with half an effort. Bonus points if they are NOT the big bad, just an NPC in the cast of a campaign 😈
I think the most fun one I’ve played was when the DM allowed us to find the lich’s safe, and we assumed it’s vessel was in there, and it took us several failures to realize it wasn’t in the safe; it was the safe
Demi liches in 2e replaced their teeth with gems. So I made the phylactery one of the gems. The party didn't think any lich was crazy enough to carry it on them and searched for it elsewhere for over half of the campaign!
I'd absolutely love a whole series on different Big Bads. I can always see how cool they'd be to run in my head, but i feel like i can't translate something right in the execution. Mindflayers, Beholders, Hags, Dragons! I want 'em all!
I absolutely want you to talk about hags!!! There is (apparently) a whole kingdom that was ruled by three hags that got ret conned out of the lore of dnd! It’s insane what you can do with those tall ladies
My Lich had pauldrons with giant spikes sticking up, upon each of which was a disembodied head. The heads were his formal rivals he'd revived as his advisors. The heads were forced to obey his commands, but didn't have to be happy about it and delighted in pointing out any perceived failing they noticed.
In my campaign, the bbeg is a lich whose phylactery is his blood, that’s why his entire bloodline has to be defeated before taking him down. It’s not going to be an easy task because the lich’s blood gives incredible powers to those who carry it. My party was never that invested in a villain before
Add the moral question in the mix, is it okay to kill innocents to stop an immortal big bad? It's always up to the DM but you could make it so his descendants are not all evil, adding to the moral conundrum.
I love the idea of a lich being a god's mortal form. It's an undead ghostly image whose spells can be changed to befit the god. The phylactery can be a temple, and it's a good way for players to fight deitys who can never truly die.
That roleplay foundation also really prepares you for when your players do things that ruin your plans. It helps prepare you for working out how the bad guy would respond
In my last campaign I had a Lich named "Charles Darwin" who when he was a human went around the world trying to help cure diseases but ended up making monsters. So, he became a Lich to have enough time to fix his mistakes and one of my players was his granddaughter who after the campaign finished his work for him so he could rest. Also his phlactere (or how you spell it) was a bit of the string of DNA of a goblin that would always pass down.
@@DSchultz95 He invented a spell called Gene Splice and went around the world looking at the different creatures when people started asking him to help cure the ill. Plus those who were ill specifically had genetic based diseases and I thought it would be funny to have "The Great Lich Charles Darwin"
The sorcerer lich who lives on so long as they have blood descendants leaves so much character potential! Imagine that hundreds of years after the evil sorcerer went into reclusion, an order of paladins dedicated to Malar, god of the hunt, have come close to finally accomplishing their goal of eliminating his bloodline from the face of the Forgotten Realms. Only one still lives, hiding in plain sight, and they're a player character.
"maybe one of the player has accidentally acquired the lich phylactery, but wanted nothing to do with it " Frodo Baggins as joined the chat ! Great video as always, thanks
I hadn't realized 5E liches were presented the way they are; they were a template the last time I ran them, which made treating them as you suggest a lot easier (and also making them a little beefier in combat). But you're absolutely right: They've always been meant to be the scary mastermind behind the scenes, not the "leap into combat with the PCs type." Think Palpatine, not Vader, as it were.
This was awesome! Also, I’d love an exploration on Hags-they’re so weird and wonderful, and seeing as Van Richten’s introduced the concept of Brujas (Hags who turned Good or Neutral rather than Evil), I’d love to see what you have to say about them! “Oh Daughters, oh Sons, oh Roses and Guns. I seek to find a baby born, and force upon his parents scorn…” -Runesmith
Best phylactery I've ever seen is the archmage Dyrr in Menzoberranzan who hid his phylactery in a spider golem in the Houses chapel to Lolth. War of the Spider Queen, book six. Love the vid Ginny!
Great video @GinnyDi ! We’re just a couple of Basic Liches, but we love the deep story potential that actual liches bring as big bads. You showcased them brilliantly! Long “live” the Liches!
Could alternatively base something around the "Suel Lich" - AD&D 2nd Edition-era Greyhawk material introduced it - where the host body is - to all intents and purposes - the phylactery. The "downside" is that the host body ages at several times its normal rate, so the lich has to keep finding new hosts - and this itself could be fodder for the DM/GM, as the lich could then keep changing identities... In addition, if you follow the Suel Lich lore closely, pretty much all these liches are hundreds of years old - they predate the "Invoked Devastation"/"Rain of Colourless Fire" in Greyhawk lore, a millennium back in history; such a lich could have dozens of hidden caches or troves around the game world - plenty of opportunities for a party to go find unusual or unique treasures...
I love cameos of all my favorite RUclipsrs. My current campaign's BB is a druid lich from pointy hat. Thanks for the ideas to further "flesh" her out. And great lich costume/makeup
I'm getting ready to start my first homebrew campaign ever, and your videos have been amazing for tips and inspiration! This one in particular has convinced me that a lich is PERFECT for my campaign so, yes, my big bad WILL be a lich.
My favorite lich phylactyery to date I used, (in agreement with the player), was that one of the PC's was a descendent of a family line that the Lich had bound their soul to. Everytime a new member of the family was born, the "phylactery" became bound to that new child. About halfway through the story, the PC's figured out that one of their own was the source of the Lich's immortality. They faced the moral dilemma of "do we kill one of our own" or find another way. After exhausting resources (and missing some things), it lead to a final climactic battle with the Lich, where the PC who was the phylactery took their own life moments before the Lich was defeated. It lead to a very dramatic moment of both the PC's in shock, and the Lich flying into a panic before it was destroyed. They discovered after the Lich was defeated, that the PC in question did not have to remain dead, that their death freed them from the Lich's soulbinding. It lead to a quest to revive the PC that ended quite well!
I like how you always encourage DMs to be a creative and to think outside the box. To shy away from the clichés. The great transmuter lich that combines animals, for example, is an awesome idea!
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I've always liked the idea of the lich's phylactery being a family item of sentimental value and the party has to learn more about the lich's backstory in order to figure out what form the phylactery takes. Give the lich a tragic backstory, and if it fits the story, have them thank the player for bringing them back to their senses and giving them peace. (Similar to Ketheric Thorm)
I have a necropolis in one of my homebrew worlds with two undead factions warring with each other. One lead by a lich, the other a "death knight" for lack of a better term. The interesting thing is what created this situation was a strange artifact was unearthed in the local salt mine and when the arch mage of the city went to investigate, it surged with a pulse of energy that converted the entire populous into various undead. Now the factions are at odds. The lich (who is the arch mage that accidently unleashed this power) and his followers are both keeping the other faction confined to the city as best they can and trying to get back into the mine to destroy the artifact and end the curse. The "death knight" is trying to defeat the lich's faction to conquer the world. So in this scenario, the lich is the good guy. Unfortunately, the artifact keeps reanimating any fallen undead within the city, so neither side is able to get an advantage over the other.
A death knight is a real thing in D&D! Yours may have been vastly different from how official ones are portrayed, but they share a name at least! Definitely sounds like a fun and interesting campaign! Have your players chosen a side in the conflict, or are they just trying to survive/staying out of the way?
@@darmakx99 I should clarify, it's for Pathfinder 2E. And no, I have this homebrew world like 90% setup but no active games. Tried to start one but my initial group is unreliable for scheduling. My current group I was invited to by the GM and we're currently in Abomination Vaults. If we finish that one, then I might pitch the idea of a campaign in my homebrew.
I suddenly have the fun idea to write a lich who was once a bard, so the big bad turns out to have been the loveable reprobate at the tavern the whole time, who knew the party's plans because they were all made while the lich was sitting at the bar eavesdropping.
This was so helpful! I am running a Victorian Gothic themed campaign where nearly all the monsters are undead, and I was planning on the big bad being a lich. This came out at the perfect time.
We're playing Citadel of the Unseen Sun right now (spoilers ahead). A lich killed us and put us in his phylactery at the end of the first session!! We've spent the past ten sessions just getting out of that! It entailed braving the Ditches, fighting Crawling Graves, escaping to Dream Town, entering people's dreams, and fighting Living Dreams! Even though we haven't seen the lich since the end of session 1, his influence is major as he's created this elaborate prison and brought multiple sidekicks and victims under his control. And it builds up the dread of realizing we're probably gonna have to fight him before this campaign is over...! Also, Pointy Hat?!
It was an amazing video! I would love a series of those In my setting, I have a family of creature that were so afraid of losing each other that they found a way to become immortal in exchange for killing so many people, a few races almost went extinct. Thanks to you, I finally understand that they're actually liches and that I can do so many more things with them!
Soul bound to a tea spoon or a key that's been shoved to the back of a drawer. Bound to a left sock that's disappeared. So many things that can reliably never be found.
Great combination of Lich videos: music, makeup, and game advice. I appreciate the Pointy Hat shoutout, too. Looking forward to seeing what you do next.
I've been working on a Lich BBEG for a long time. I can't say more, here, because my players sometimes watch your videos (I'm constantly sharing them), but I'm very excited to see how things end up going. Also, your makeup game is *always* amazing; if you had a makeup tutorials channel, I know dozens of people of several genders who play D&D and LARP who would love the pointers.
The actual “pen to paper” techniques for building a campaign here are great. Rather than a big picture idea you’ve given me something I can actually do to make my DM’ing better. Thanks.
*Algorithm engagement snacks* I'd love to see more of this kind of analysis and breakdown. I fancy myself creative, but you always manage to present me with new ideas or opportunities I simply overlooked because I'm too deep into the mechanics... Thank you for that
Picture a room covered with trinkets, each of which has a foul, necromantic soul devouring energy. Which of the jars, amulets, crystsl balls, and ivory statues is the phylactery of the lich your party is hunting? None of them. The real phylactery is the stone room itself. 4:19
Ooooooooh, and the various trinkets in the room DO collect souls, but only to act as sort of "slow drip feeders" for the giant soul jar that is the room! Each one with a unique defense, so the players gotta try and figure out how to take/destroy each one, and each one gone is a blow to the lich's overall power but never the end of the lich themself!
not even two minutes in and i'm already OBSESSED with these physical descriptions !! holy crap i might have to make an undead character just to use some of these, i LOVE
Id love to see more like this! You make such a great point when you mention taking just 1 personality trait and making it outside the box. That can be such a game changer in RP because sometimes it influences..everything! That melancholic lich might have had a phase where they tried to preserve all their loved ones who passed away, so there could be tales of folks who were resurected 3 times and went mad from not being allowed to rest. And the Lich's lair could have chambers with the mummified undead of their loved ones, who rise as particularly strong undead if the players fail a puzzle. Stuff like that. The difference in psychology can influence a lot and I think thats super cool.
Please do more of this, I would love to DM one day but coming up with the kind of stories and characters that D&D needs is far harder than regular stories.
Interesting! I find it much easier to have enough ready to run a game than to write a story. Though, this is due to improv which doesn't work with written stories
It's a different style of writing for sure. I'm the opposite, I find it easier to write characters and story arcs for D&D then actual stories, but I think they are distinctly too different styles, so people likely are better one way or the other. In any case, practice makes perfect!
Since early 2014 I've started a Campaign of D&D, as a noob DM i really had no idea how to make a BBEG or even a Villain of the week. IThe two things that inspired me, was the name of the game, Dungeon AND Dragons, so i made as many small Dungeons possible to keep my player intertain, and at the end of their adventures, i did put the biggest Dragon i could find on the old Monster Manual. By that time, a year was gone and i had learn something about being a DM. Beeing also a fantasy writer and the enthusiasm of my friends in playing the game i weekly prepared for them gave me enough inspirations to introduce my book's Villains inside my D&D game. Everything you said in this video, would have help me a lot 8 or more years ago. By today, i can't agree more with you, and i successfully made a BBEG which retroactively connects with every major event of the Characters thus far, making each of their victories a little more bitter with the knowledge that it was all part of "her grand plan", while my player haven't even met her once face to face, but only fought her thralls and heard her laugh at their attempt to stop her. While not forced to be exactly a Lich, playing BBEGs who are extremely intelligent and resourceful, but limited by one crucial factor, places campaigns in such a way as to force Characters to choose their own battles following their own morality and sense of justice, without never let them know if they are acting right or wrong. A frustrated paladin recently asked me, after a very tense roleplay session, "where all the big monsters to attack and kill had gone.", while having the biggest happy smile on his face. Unfortunately, in an almost decade-long campaign at the highest possible levels it is much more entertaining to have an opponent challenge you mentally, rather than something senseless that simply forces you to roll the highest die possible. Those players will be interested more in being active, instead of reactive, and create their own narrative in your World, as they get more invested and personal because the BBEG screwing with them over and over again.
Just had an idea; Have a character who inherits or is given a protection charm from someone they trust who tells them it will keep them safe, but it turns out that item is the Phylactery of a great lich who gave it to the last surviving hero who originally tried to kill them as part of a Rouge's cunning deal. The lich can't be too evil because their soul is always in the hands of a hero, the hero always has massive protection, but the hero usually doesnt know but when they find out they rarely want to part with the power it gives them
Liches are my favorite. I would probably make that lich a neutral good lich, who has been defamed by a rival (whatever) for a couple hundred years, with classic evil lich stories (all false). Then give the phylactety to a paladin or cleric. Let it unfold naturally and have some AMAZING RP moments as the player sees a classic lich, and our friendly neighborhood lich tries to convince them otherwise!
I liked when WotC did some years back when they were doing monsters with PC levels. The drow lich's phylactery was a spider-shaped greater iron golem. As the fight with Sofina in Honor Among Thieves shows, when a lich has their magic stripped away, they are a pushover. But stripping away the magic is... tricky. That's the difference between a villain/BBEG and just an antagonist. A lich is good for both of those roles. Personally, I like the idea of other classes, but give them different flavor. The extra monsters online for Spelljammer had a lich-like creature from a warlock, where the creature that it made the pact with had... taken over, in a ways. Perhaps using the dracolich as a starting point for the Sorcerer, where death removed much of what was human, magnifying whatever else they had been. I liked when I made a death knight monk as a recurring antagonist in a game. That was fun. For me, anyway. Also, I think Imhotep from the 1999 Mummy is a good way to do a lich.
I loved this video and I would be delighted to see more like it! Your discussion videos are always so well written and easy to understand. I really appreciate the concise organization of each point because I have trouble watching longer videos that are more free-form and rambly. Keep up the great work!
This was awesome! Loved the PointyHat collab too! It's be cool to see a focus on big bads that don't get used very frequently, like a Mummy Lord or Rakshasa.
Excellent tips! I love that the focus on the big bad moves to the narrative rather than just a boss fight! The flavoring you suggested at the beginning is awesome too!
I ALSO second that this was super helpful! It is such a useful creative push that really gets the head weasels ready to romp and come up with something fun. Yes please to a series!!🎉
One of the Lichs I used in a campaign used its own finger bones in undead it created giving the undead abilities of the Lich and act as a spore point if the Lich dropped below 20% hit point, his sole jar was the treasure room of the castle he used which had golden walls destroy the gold to get rid of the Lich
I'm down with more of these. Very fun and knowledgeable and a great tool put a spotlight on underused and underestimated BBEGs, I recommend spotlighting Death Knights! For one thing, death knights are created when a paladin falls from grace without atoning for their sins. Sounds like a tragic villain to me! They maintain their ability to cast non-healing divine spells, have control over lesser undead creatures, and can't be killed until they atone. While those things alone don't necessarily make a death knight worthy of being the big bad, take into account its decent Intelligence, high Wisdom, and high Charisma. It wouldn't be out of the question for a death knight, (now mad with grief having been forsaken to undeath) to pull an Arthas and start amassing a hoard of undead.
I will share my Lich story. Before he was a Lich he was a humble mage who grew up with an interesting childhood friend. This child was secretly a pheonix who was cursed to take humanoid form forever. Be it honorable death, self end or a long life the pheonix is always forced to be reborn into the same child body somewhere nearby where it died. They grow up, fall in love yet they know she can never truly die (as far as they know) while he eventually will. So together they delve deep into the magics. Even drawing from forgotten knowledge she recalls from past lives. They succeed and his life force is bound to hers. However he is a man not a pheonix. So instead of being reborn a child like the pheonix is he instead becomes undead and, ultimately, a Lich. Neither are truly evil. Simply twisted and odd after living, dying and coming back over so many centuries together.
I loved using a player item as a souljar. It was an amulet with the only pictures of the family of the player. when the lich was killed we played the "next campaign" because they destroyed an urn which they thought to be the souljar. The lich then started to manifest in the dreams of the player until it regained its form. it was a long process and an emotional rolercoaster. just thinking about them discussing the chance that the amulet could be the link to the lich ... *DRAMA*
A clever lich might do something like cast rope trick, permanency, coil the rope up inside, leave the soul jar withing the extra dimensional space. Then the lich teleports without error outside of the of the permanent enclosed extra-dimensional space it had just created, securing it forever.And just for good measure, with the proper magical protections (say by shape changing into a fire elemental) this might be preformed within the heart of an active volcano on the opposite side of the world from where the lich is actively pursuing their goals.
I made a lich once who was a high-ranking lord of a city... Prior to being undead, he was one of the greatest heroes the city had ever had, and defended them multiple times. But at the end of his life, there was no one powerful enough to take his place. He eventually turns into a tyrant, but it's all for the good of his people, at least in his eyes.
Yes. Please. Make more these. And I’m happy motivation is the driver in the metaphor, because people tend to stick with personality and alignment-which is important-but not as much as motivation. So, great vid, dude!
I like the idea of the phylactery being a magic item bound to one of the players; no matter what, it will always find its way back to them. The players have no way of destroying it, but it still places the lich in a compromising position.
@@TheOldAdageSays that would be multiple phylacteries .. but that could be a possible deviation of the rules as well. .. or make the phylactery something that can be broken down. A puzzle for example.
14:18 "...that's why we have presidential term limits, right? To prevent liches." I'm still rolling around on the ground. Not thinking of Trump at all. Nope. Not me.
I've used liches a fair few times over the years. One of my favourites was actually the one who I created for a horror one shot. The party were investigating a spooky cursed village, trying to get to the bottom of what was gradually turning people blind,. I played up the trope of the terrified but parochial villagers who didn't want "outsiders" interfering despite their offer of help. At the very start they met the leader of the faction that just wanted them gone; a crusty old man named Gaffer Gorm. They found him propping up the bar at the local pub, an elder of the community with everyone at his beck and call. He talked with a very strong west country drawl which I made barely ineligible (for those outside the UK who don't know what that sounds like, basically David Bradley's character in Hot Fuzz). It took them quite a while to figure out that he was the ancient barrow king who they were looking for. Since his ancient kingdom had actually been fairly small by contemporary standards his designs on "world domination" basically consisted of regaining control of the handful of villages which had originally been his domain, and then retreating to the pub to have a pint of cider, on the house of course... Every few hundred years someone would disturb his barrow, at which point his next reign of terror over the local area would commence.
Okay, now I’m thinking of a lich whose phylactery is a living greatwyrm. You want to stop the lich? Have fun fighting the massively ancient dragon they’ve raised from an egg to hold their souls! Heck, maybe this greatwyrm is actually good-aligned, but very naive and brainwashed by the lich, and has been an ally to the party in non-lich-related quests. To stop the lich, they have to kill their dragon friend. (Why yes, I am evil; thank you for noticing.)
My lich plan is to create a simulacrum as a public stand in who is the players' patron, giving them quests and guidance. These quests of course secretly further the lich's needs, like sending them to kill a werewolf because it's terrorizing travelers but also because it refused to swear fealty to the lich.
I have been trying to develop my first homebrew campaign (and first campaign I will be DM-ing for!) but I haven’t come up with a BBEG yet. But your video made me realize a Lich would be perfect! The world it takes place in is right on the cusp of an Industrial Revolution, in a desert that was once an ancient sea, and someone is trying to bring about an ancient prophecy that will flood the desert, returning it to a sea. And a lich is the perfect ancient force to be plotting this! I’m really excited about it and now I’m really excited to run a lich big bad! Thank you!
The Lich Queen Rises!!! 💀👑
High praise from the Lich King!! 🙏
Love your lich series planning any more soon?…
Omg pointy hat 😍
All hail!
@@Extinct-Lizardit seems to be about 2 months between them and the Barbarian lich came out about 2 weeks ago
My favorite lich story is one where he was the owner of a gladiator arena, funded for the emperor's entertainment. The souls of those who died would go to the lich. No one suspected him; it was incredible
I could imagine a community built around a hospice center built for the same purpose. The players might just think the local culture really honors their elders.
Clevver. :D
I played a campaign with the same premise. With my character (Luna) learning the guy was a lich, after he counterspelled her fireball, she had no reaction, it could've been my heart pounding too hard for me to hear my thoughts, but I think it would be her knowing that he was a monster. And not just because he's an undead wizard who harvests the souls of the living to buy himself burrowed time.
Because life was happening, the DM and I arranged Luna to die. And she was taken out by a Power Word Kill after the lich's reaction to her changed from blatantly toying with her to being annoyed with her to using up his one-a-day ninth level spell to end her. Due to good dice rolls, she got to fire bolt him in the face for 17 damage at lv 5, and pass the Con save for Thunderwave.
But Luna had the last laugh, as she managed to cut off the lich's arm with Shadow Blade, and as she felt her heart beat its last beat, she let out a dying curse: A blunt "Fuck. You."
"Came in through the 4th wall!!
that had me CACKLING
This Ginny Di/Pointy Hat crossover cured all my wounds
An interesting idea I saw was someone who threw a Lich at their party, and when the group got confused why the Lich's spells were "wrong", the DM informed them that the Lich was using spells from 3.5e instead of 5e, because when they were alive, spellcasting worked differently. Thought that was a cool idea
Dr. Strange: "OK, that's a bit meta but I'll allow it."
@@arcturionblade1077 I was about to say something to that regard---if your worried that your lich isn't a terribly potent combatant, it's because you aren't using good magical tactics. Lichs needed to be magic users 18th level+ to attain lichdom---that's spells like Prismatic sphere and Wish. A lich can be in another location using a scraying device, combined with project image, improved invisibility, prismatic sphere, and start blasting the party with chain lightning, delayed blast fireball, and cones of cold----when they start taking 18 d6+18 every round and not be able to hit back---that's a fierce opponant
Genius
@@TheCodaCrew That's why high level casters are so terrifying.
give'em first and second edition spells. Stinking cloud, used properly, with archers to take advantage of the situation, is absolutely lethal.
Even if you save, your crawling out of the cloud one round, and recovering on the second as you are coughing up your guts. Just about anyone can kick you right back into the spell effect. Can anyone say--pin cushion?
Phylactery: An adamantine room with a single chair fused to the floor in its center. When he dies, he reappears in the chair, and if anyone else sits in the chair, their soul is absorbed into the phylactery, feeding the lich. Said lich is a king and an artificer, so it's an abominable wonder of technology, and an excellent way to execute enemies of the state. He had a sort of Dorian Grey meets Elizabeth Bathory type of undeath where he essentially sucks the life force out of his victims to add to his own ticking clock... though his ticks down much faster than average.
My favorite twist on a lick was inspired by the OG pirates of the Caribbean. The Lich had made its phylactery as a single gold coin and kept in a chest with hundreds of other gold. The party found said chest of gold early on and used the money to buy some gear. Only to later on find merchants they had traded with were ending up dead or disappearing. The lich was hunting down people who had come in contact with its gold and possible phylactery. Which lead to multiple encounters with said lich as both parties raced to find it first.
Awesome concept.
Pretty good concept!
Okay, but this sounds fantastic.
That is cool, I might have to steal that!
In that same vein, the Heart of Davy Jones is another great example of a phylactery!
"She don't wanna die, so she never will" is an incredibly catchy lyric, and also a perfect and perfectly simple reason for a lich to go down that road.
My husband suggested a lich being the BBEG for my campaign not five minutes before this video notification dropped. I think this is the push I needed.
My secret is out... I'm your husband 😬 I should've been more cautious! I gave myself away!!
@@GinnyDi Haha You are Doppleganger, impersonating all of our loved ones making sure we watch your videos
@@GinnyDito be fair your cosplay is pretty good!
I guess he just listened L.I.C.H song again and again since last week x)
Another interesting direction for a lich as a Big Bad is to make them a lich-to-be. It gives them a rock-solid goal - obtain lichdom - and a whole arc to travel through. There's plenty of room for clashes with the party as they search out the necessary knowledge and materials. And even a meaningful change for the party to enact on the plot: either they stop the Big Bad before they complete the ritual, or they have a "new", more powerful Big Bad for the next part of the story.
this would be cool as a starter villain like, party defeats this weird cult-obsessed nerd and sends him home or to jail only to end up with them at the end having accomplished their goal and now the party has to take them out . very cool idea!
how about having them start as a friendly npc that the party even helps with the preparation of the ritual?
Perhaps a human advisor to a party of elves and he/she just be like ‘they’re gonna outlive me before they outgrow me… I need to do something to make me stick around so I can keep an eye on them”.
@@AntirisDark My thoughts exactly. The lich-to-be could send the party to retrieve the rare ingredients to prepare the poison for their undeath ritual, adamantine for the construction and reinforcement of a precious magical item they are working on (their phylactery), old tomes of magic of a bygone era, be interested in buying their most valuable gems, etc. If the party finds out, then they would have the choice to either help or hinder the NPC's efforts (for example, they could make sure the lich-to-be dies in the ritual by fiddling with the poison, etc.). Maybe the lich-to-be even sends them to chase down an actual lich in order to find out more about lichdom and maybe get rid of a potential future rival. Plenty of potential here. Efforts to achieve lichdom can last a looong while! It's not like it's easy either!
I currently have a lich-to-be as my parties patron. It’s a pretty slow moving story though with other things in the foreground. My starting point when writing the game was that the halfway point should be the unveiling of the BBEG. The lich comes from the backstory of a character from another game and when I reach that point in the game I will introduce that player and character to the party.
I do love the idea of a lich, who has reached their goal thousands of years ago, their big plan, their big break-through in arcane studies, that they sacrificed their life for, and now they are just bored. Adventures get to their tower, trying to get the legendary treasure of the ancient, powerful lich, go through monsters and traps, only to find the lich at the top of the tower, just like baking cookies (that they can't actually eat) and seeking a conversation with the adventurers. They resupply their own tower with traps and monsters not to kill adventurers, but so they "wouldn't be too dissapointed" when reaching the tower. The lich ends up just giving each party member a magic item and send them on their way.
Liches so old, they essentially just become an immortal grandma.
I like this. It's clever. Trouble is if in 5th edition they have to feed souls to their soul jar, to remain alive then they still need to procure souls.
Not sure what motivation an old grandma would have to do that forever if they've already achieved their goal.
@@nightfall89z62 Easily resolved. Just ignore the "feed souls" rule. It's your table, you can do what you want.
@@drekfletch yes that's true. I've certainly never used that in my games. Of course I also still only play 3.5 and didn't actually realize it was a thing that needed to be done.
The grandma misunderstood the rules - she ‘feeds souls’ by giving adventurers cookies… somehow it works.
@@kwest9747 I like that. Its clever.
The vampire stat block just screams "campaign villain" and not encounter enemy the way that it's designed; it's not that interesting to fight but it has incredible power of intrigue. Count Strahd is the famous obvious example that makes full use of those features. The Mummy Lord stat block is also fun because it's lich-like in its ability to come back to life after being defeated but has totally different spells and other abilities, if perhaps not quite as iconic.
A cleric's path to undead immortality was previously becoming a (greater) mummy. I enjoyed that wizards become liches and clerics became mummies. Both terrifying, especially if played with half an effort.
Bonus points if they are NOT the big bad, just an NPC in the cast of a campaign 😈
Me seeing your lich: "I can fix her."
...I should call her...
I think the most fun one I’ve played was when the DM allowed us to find the lich’s safe, and we assumed it’s vessel was in there, and it took us several failures to realize it wasn’t in the safe; it was the safe
Demi liches in 2e replaced their teeth with gems. So I made the phylactery one of the gems. The party didn't think any lich was crazy enough to carry it on them and searched for it elsewhere for over half of the campaign!
That lich cosplay is DOPE.
Awesome!
thanks dad, I always just want you to be proud of me 😌
I'd absolutely love a whole series on different Big Bads. I can always see how cool they'd be to run in my head, but i feel like i can't translate something right in the execution. Mindflayers, Beholders, Hags, Dragons! I want 'em all!
I absolutely want you to talk about hags!!! There is (apparently) a whole kingdom that was ruled by three hags that got ret conned out of the lore of dnd! It’s insane what you can do with those tall ladies
Ooooh what is that kingdom called? Do you have any more info on that one?
That sounds like it could be the Daughters of Sora Kell? Three hags that rule the nation of Droaam in the Eberron setting
Pretty sure there was once a domain in Ravenloft where the co-darklords were 3 hag sisters. Took some Shakespearean inspiration if I recall
@@DynamoNuke yes! Sora Kell that saucy minx!
There are also the three hag sisters, who split up the kingdom of an archfey between them in the module "the Wild beyond the Witchlight Carnival".
My Lich had pauldrons with giant spikes sticking up, upon each of which was a disembodied head. The heads were his formal rivals he'd revived as his advisors. The heads were forced to obey his commands, but didn't have to be happy about it and delighted in pointing out any perceived failing they noticed.
In my campaign, the bbeg is a lich whose phylactery is his blood, that’s why his entire bloodline has to be defeated before taking him down. It’s not going to be an easy task because the lich’s blood gives incredible powers to those who carry it.
My party was never that invested in a villain before
BBEG and Sorceror subclass all in one.
Add the moral question in the mix, is it okay to kill innocents to stop an immortal big bad? It's always up to the DM but you could make it so his descendants are not all evil, adding to the moral conundrum.
I love the idea of a lich being a god's mortal form. It's an undead ghostly image whose spells can be changed to befit the god. The phylactery can be a temple, and it's a good way for players to fight deitys who can never truly die.
Your lich lady is so pretty in such a weird way, i love her!!! I really hope youre able to make this format into a series, ot was super helpful
The next trend in makeup: visible bones! 😂 Thank you, I'm so glad you liked it!!
That roleplay foundation also really prepares you for when your players do things that ruin your plans. It helps prepare you for working out how the bad guy would respond
In my last campaign I had a Lich named "Charles Darwin" who when he was a human went around the world trying to help cure diseases but ended up making monsters. So, he became a Lich to have enough time to fix his mistakes and one of my players was his granddaughter who after the campaign finished his work for him so he could rest. Also his phlactere (or how you spell it) was a bit of the string of DNA of a goblin that would always pass down.
*Phylactery
@@LucasDeziderio Thank you. I promise this is not sarcasm, I can just never spell that word lol
Okay, but…why name him after Darwin?
@@DSchultz95 He invented a spell called Gene Splice and went around the world looking at the different creatures when people started asking him to help cure the ill. Plus those who were ill specifically had genetic based diseases and I thought it would be funny to have "The Great Lich Charles Darwin"
@@DSchultz95 He wanted to live long enough to see evolution happening :)
The sorcerer lich who lives on so long as they have blood descendants leaves so much character potential! Imagine that hundreds of years after the evil sorcerer went into reclusion, an order of paladins dedicated to Malar, god of the hunt, have come close to finally accomplishing their goal of eliminating his bloodline from the face of the Forgotten Realms. Only one still lives, hiding in plain sight, and they're a player character.
"maybe one of the player has accidentally acquired the lich phylactery, but wanted nothing to do with it "
Frodo Baggins as joined the chat !
Great video as always, thanks
I hadn't realized 5E liches were presented the way they are; they were a template the last time I ran them, which made treating them as you suggest a lot easier (and also making them a little beefier in combat). But you're absolutely right: They've always been meant to be the scary mastermind behind the scenes, not the "leap into combat with the PCs type." Think Palpatine, not Vader, as it were.
This was awesome! Also, I’d love an exploration on Hags-they’re so weird and wonderful, and seeing as Van Richten’s introduced the concept of Brujas (Hags who turned Good or Neutral rather than Evil), I’d love to see what you have to say about them!
“Oh Daughters, oh Sons, oh Roses and Guns. I seek to find a baby born, and force upon his parents scorn…” -Runesmith
I second that!
You no act evil around the Bruja, she beat you with her chancla.
The weirder you get with it, the better your villain will be - I love that! Such good advice.
Best phylactery I've ever seen is the archmage Dyrr in Menzoberranzan who hid his phylactery in a spider golem in the Houses chapel to Lolth. War of the Spider Queen, book six. Love the vid Ginny!
Great video @GinnyDi ! We’re just a couple of Basic Liches, but we love the deep story potential that actual liches bring as big bads. You showcased them brilliantly! Long “live” the Liches!
A Lich that can puppet(put their minds into) a newly dead person until it decompose is how I did it.
Love the eye makeup Ginny
Could alternatively base something around the "Suel Lich" - AD&D 2nd Edition-era Greyhawk material introduced it - where the host body is - to all intents and purposes - the phylactery.
The "downside" is that the host body ages at several times its normal rate, so the lich has to keep finding new hosts - and this itself could be fodder for the DM/GM, as the lich could then keep changing identities...
In addition, if you follow the Suel Lich lore closely, pretty much all these liches are hundreds of years old - they predate the "Invoked Devastation"/"Rain of Colourless Fire" in Greyhawk lore, a millennium back in history; such a lich could have dozens of hidden caches or troves around the game world - plenty of opportunities for a party to go find unusual or unique treasures...
I love the Pointy Hat collab! More of this please!
Unrelated to the video but thanks for introducing me to W.I.T.C.H.
I’m not on TikTok so I didn’t know what to expect. But DANG does that base hit.
I love cameos of all my favorite RUclipsrs. My current campaign's BB is a druid lich from pointy hat. Thanks for the ideas to further "flesh" her out. And great lich costume/makeup
I'm getting ready to start my first homebrew campaign ever, and your videos have been amazing for tips and inspiration! This one in particular has convinced me that a lich is PERFECT for my campaign so, yes, my big bad WILL be a lich.
Heck yes!! 🔥 Good luck with your first homebrew campaign, you're gonna kill it!!
Yes a series of this would be so good! I hope this video blows up!!
My favorite lich phylactyery to date I used, (in agreement with the player), was that one of the PC's was a descendent of a family line that the Lich had bound their soul to. Everytime a new member of the family was born, the "phylactery" became bound to that new child. About halfway through the story, the PC's figured out that one of their own was the source of the Lich's immortality. They faced the moral dilemma of "do we kill one of our own" or find another way. After exhausting resources (and missing some things), it lead to a final climactic battle with the Lich, where the PC who was the phylactery took their own life moments before the Lich was defeated. It lead to a very dramatic moment of both the PC's in shock, and the Lich flying into a panic before it was destroyed. They discovered after the Lich was defeated, that the PC in question did not have to remain dead, that their death freed them from the Lich's soulbinding. It lead to a quest to revive the PC that ended quite well!
I really love the litch's book in a great library idea. Genius!
I love the idea of this intelligent item just talking the ear off (perhaps even literally) of an immortal lich.
I like how you always encourage DMs to be a creative and to think outside the box. To shy away from the clichés. The great transmuter lich that combines animals, for example, is an awesome idea!
Thanks to Kobold Press for sponsoring me w̶i̶t̶h̶ h̶u̶m̶a̶n̶ s̶o̶u̶l̶s̶ with normal currency!
Get "Deep Magic" in print or PDF at koboldpress.com/kpstore/product/deep-magic-volume-1-2-2023 (Limited edition holographic covers will be coming to the shop before the holidays!)
I've always liked the idea of the lich's phylactery being a family item of sentimental value and the party has to learn more about the lich's backstory in order to figure out what form the phylactery takes. Give the lich a tragic backstory, and if it fits the story, have them thank the player for bringing them back to their senses and giving them peace. (Similar to Ketheric Thorm)
I have a necropolis in one of my homebrew worlds with two undead factions warring with each other. One lead by a lich, the other a "death knight" for lack of a better term. The interesting thing is what created this situation was a strange artifact was unearthed in the local salt mine and when the arch mage of the city went to investigate, it surged with a pulse of energy that converted the entire populous into various undead. Now the factions are at odds. The lich (who is the arch mage that accidently unleashed this power) and his followers are both keeping the other faction confined to the city as best they can and trying to get back into the mine to destroy the artifact and end the curse. The "death knight" is trying to defeat the lich's faction to conquer the world. So in this scenario, the lich is the good guy. Unfortunately, the artifact keeps reanimating any fallen undead within the city, so neither side is able to get an advantage over the other.
A death knight is a real thing in D&D! Yours may have been vastly different from how official ones are portrayed, but they share a name at least!
Definitely sounds like a fun and interesting campaign! Have your players chosen a side in the conflict, or are they just trying to survive/staying out of the way?
@@darmakx99 I should clarify, it's for Pathfinder 2E. And no, I have this homebrew world like 90% setup but no active games. Tried to start one but my initial group is unreliable for scheduling. My current group I was invited to by the GM and we're currently in Abomination Vaults. If we finish that one, then I might pitch the idea of a campaign in my homebrew.
I suddenly have the fun idea to write a lich who was once a bard, so the big bad turns out to have been the loveable reprobate at the tavern the whole time, who knew the party's plans because they were all made while the lich was sitting at the bar eavesdropping.
I would absolutely love the video on how to do a dragon right! A series on super villains sounds awesome.
I love the idea of more videos like this. Wonderfully inspiring.
This was so helpful! I am running a Victorian Gothic themed campaign where nearly all the monsters are undead, and I was planning on the big bad being a lich. This came out at the perfect time.
You got me with the 4th wall joke.
We're playing Citadel of the Unseen Sun right now (spoilers ahead). A lich killed us and put us in his phylactery at the end of the first session!! We've spent the past ten sessions just getting out of that! It entailed braving the Ditches, fighting Crawling Graves, escaping to Dream Town, entering people's dreams, and fighting Living Dreams! Even though we haven't seen the lich since the end of session 1, his influence is major as he's created this elaborate prison and brought multiple sidekicks and victims under his control. And it builds up the dread of realizing we're probably gonna have to fight him before this campaign is over...!
Also, Pointy Hat?!
It was an amazing video!
I would love a series of those
In my setting, I have a family of creature that were so afraid of losing each other that they found a way to become immortal in exchange for killing so many people, a few races almost went extinct.
Thanks to you, I finally understand that they're actually liches and that I can do so many more things with them!
I absolutely love the atmosphere of the lich's lair.
Great makeup! Both you and The Litch. Thank you for your video.
Soul bound to a tea spoon or a key that's been shoved to the back of a drawer. Bound to a left sock that's disappeared. So many things that can reliably never be found.
Great combination of Lich videos: music, makeup, and game advice. I appreciate the Pointy Hat shoutout, too. Looking forward to seeing what you do next.
I've been working on a Lich BBEG for a long time. I can't say more, here, because my players sometimes watch your videos (I'm constantly sharing them), but I'm very excited to see how things end up going. Also, your makeup game is *always* amazing; if you had a makeup tutorials channel, I know dozens of people of several genders who play D&D and LARP who would love the pointers.
The actual “pen to paper” techniques for building a campaign here are great. Rather than a big picture idea you’ve given me something I can actually do to make my DM’ing better. Thanks.
I love this Lich big bad character so much 😍 I'd be fascinated by your ideas of how to make dragon big bads unique!
*Algorithm engagement snacks*
I'd love to see more of this kind of analysis and breakdown. I fancy myself creative, but you always manage to present me with new ideas or opportunities I simply overlooked because I'm too deep into the mechanics... Thank you for that
Picture a room covered with trinkets, each of which has a foul, necromantic soul devouring energy. Which of the jars, amulets, crystsl balls, and ivory statues is the phylactery of the lich your party is hunting? None of them. The real phylactery is the stone room itself. 4:19
Ooooooooh, and the various trinkets in the room DO collect souls, but only to act as sort of "slow drip feeders" for the giant soul jar that is the room! Each one with a unique defense, so the players gotta try and figure out how to take/destroy each one, and each one gone is a blow to the lich's overall power but never the end of the lich themself!
@@darmakx99 Brilliant
not even two minutes in and i'm already OBSESSED with these physical descriptions !! holy crap i might have to make an undead character just to use some of these, i LOVE
Id love to see more like this! You make such a great point when you mention taking just 1 personality trait and making it outside the box. That can be such a game changer in RP because sometimes it influences..everything! That melancholic lich might have had a phase where they tried to preserve all their loved ones who passed away, so there could be tales of folks who were resurected 3 times and went mad from not being allowed to rest. And the Lich's lair could have chambers with the mummified undead of their loved ones, who rise as particularly strong undead if the players fail a puzzle. Stuff like that. The difference in psychology can influence a lot and I think thats super cool.
@0:42 - "Oh, I just came in right through the fourth wall over there."
LOL! One of your best meta moments yet.
Please do more of this, I would love to DM one day but coming up with the kind of stories and characters that D&D needs is far harder than regular stories.
Interesting! I find it much easier to have enough ready to run a game than to write a story. Though, this is due to improv which doesn't work with written stories
It's a different style of writing for sure. I'm the opposite, I find it easier to write characters and story arcs for D&D then actual stories, but I think they are distinctly too different styles, so people likely are better one way or the other. In any case, practice makes perfect!
Since early 2014 I've started a Campaign of D&D, as a noob DM i really had no idea how to make a BBEG or even a Villain of the week. IThe two things that inspired me, was the name of the game, Dungeon AND Dragons, so i made as many small Dungeons possible to keep my player intertain, and at the end of their adventures, i did put the biggest Dragon i could find on the old Monster Manual.
By that time, a year was gone and i had learn something about being a DM. Beeing also a fantasy writer and the enthusiasm of my friends in playing the game i weekly prepared for them gave me enough inspirations to introduce my book's Villains inside my D&D game.
Everything you said in this video, would have help me a lot 8 or more years ago.
By today, i can't agree more with you, and i successfully made a BBEG which retroactively connects with every major event of the Characters thus far, making each of their victories a little more bitter with the knowledge that it was all part of "her grand plan", while my player haven't even met her once face to face, but only fought her thralls and heard her laugh at their attempt to stop her.
While not forced to be exactly a Lich, playing BBEGs who are extremely intelligent and resourceful, but limited by one crucial factor, places campaigns in such a way as to force Characters to choose their own battles following their own morality and sense of justice, without never let them know if they are acting right or wrong.
A frustrated paladin recently asked me, after a very tense roleplay session, "where all the big monsters to attack and kill had gone.", while having the biggest happy smile on his face.
Unfortunately, in an almost decade-long campaign at the highest possible levels it is much more entertaining to have an opponent challenge you mentally, rather than something senseless that simply forces you to roll the highest die possible.
Those players will be interested more in being active, instead of reactive, and create their own narrative in your World, as they get more invested and personal because the BBEG screwing with them over and over again.
me, currently running a game where the BBEG is a lich: well, this is VERY convenient for my needs
You rattle off genius ideas, one after another. Incredible. You're a treasure!
Just had an idea; Have a character who inherits or is given a protection charm from someone they trust who tells them it will keep them safe, but it turns out that item is the Phylactery of a great lich who gave it to the last surviving hero who originally tried to kill them as part of a Rouge's cunning deal. The lich can't be too evil because their soul is always in the hands of a hero, the hero always has massive protection, but the hero usually doesnt know but when they find out they rarely want to part with the power it gives them
I mean, baelnorns are good liches. So yeah...
Liches are my favorite.
I would probably make that lich a neutral good lich, who has been defamed by a rival (whatever) for a couple hundred years, with classic evil lich stories (all false).
Then give the phylactety to a paladin or cleric. Let it unfold naturally and have some AMAZING RP moments as the player sees a classic lich, and our friendly neighborhood lich tries to convince them otherwise!
I would definitely be on board for a Taking20 style "kill your party with" Big Bad of the week series.
I liked when WotC did some years back when they were doing monsters with PC levels. The drow lich's phylactery was a spider-shaped greater iron golem.
As the fight with Sofina in Honor Among Thieves shows, when a lich has their magic stripped away, they are a pushover. But stripping away the magic is... tricky. That's the difference between a villain/BBEG and just an antagonist. A lich is good for both of those roles.
Personally, I like the idea of other classes, but give them different flavor. The extra monsters online for Spelljammer had a lich-like creature from a warlock, where the creature that it made the pact with had... taken over, in a ways. Perhaps using the dracolich as a starting point for the Sorcerer, where death removed much of what was human, magnifying whatever else they had been.
I liked when I made a death knight monk as a recurring antagonist in a game. That was fun. For me, anyway. Also, I think Imhotep from the 1999 Mummy is a good way to do a lich.
I loved this video and I would be delighted to see more like it! Your discussion videos are always so well written and easy to understand. I really appreciate the concise organization of each point because I have trouble watching longer videos that are more free-form and rambly. Keep up the great work!
I'm very nervous to run my first game, but your videos make me feel a touch more prepared!! Thanks Ginny!!!
That makes me so happy to hear!!
Nervous is one shade of anxiety away from excitement.
Grab that part, and jump in before you second guess yourself! You will be so happy you did!
POINTY HAT!!!! Which Lich is such a phenomenal series! Picking a favorite is impossible.
This was awesome! Loved the PointyHat collab too!
It's be cool to see a focus on big bads that don't get used very frequently, like a Mummy Lord or Rakshasa.
I really enjoyed this! And I had a huge surprised smile when I heard 2 of my favorite dnd RUclipsrs in one video!
This is such a fun video and a great way to help DMs with a concept that can seem very daunting. I hope this becomes a series! 💜
"I just came in right through the 4th wall over there." - perfect!
Please make more content like this, how to flesh out & embody classic Big Bads.
Please do more. I would love to have more.
I would love to see more videos like this exploring different big bads!
Excellent tips! I love that the focus on the big bad moves to the narrative rather than just a boss fight!
The flavoring you suggested at the beginning is awesome too!
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You. Are. A genius. Absolutely do that series.
awesome video! I'd love to see more of these. Mind flayers are pretty popular right now, also a doppelganger big bad could be really interesting
I ALSO second that this was super helpful! It is such a useful creative push that really gets the head weasels ready to romp and come up with something fun. Yes please to a series!!🎉
Feeding the algorithm so Ginny can feed us 🍏 🍏 🍏
(Those apples are poisoned, it felt thematic)
Such an iconic monster. There is so many opportunities to do something cool with your campaign with a monster like this. Great
One of the Lichs I used in a campaign used its own finger bones in undead it created giving the undead abilities of the Lich and act as a spore point if the Lich dropped below 20% hit point, his sole jar was the treasure room of the castle he used which had golden walls destroy the gold to get rid of the Lich
I'm down with more of these. Very fun and knowledgeable and a great tool put a spotlight on underused and underestimated BBEGs, I recommend spotlighting Death Knights!
For one thing, death knights are created when a paladin falls from grace without atoning for their sins. Sounds like a tragic villain to me!
They maintain their ability to cast non-healing divine spells, have control over lesser undead creatures, and can't be killed until they atone.
While those things alone don't necessarily make a death knight worthy of being the big bad, take into account its decent Intelligence, high Wisdom, and high Charisma.
It wouldn't be out of the question for a death knight, (now mad with grief having been forsaken to undeath) to pull an Arthas and start amassing a hoard of undead.
I will share my Lich story. Before he was a Lich he was a humble mage who grew up with an interesting childhood friend. This child was secretly a pheonix who was cursed to take humanoid form forever. Be it honorable death, self end or a long life the pheonix is always forced to be reborn into the same child body somewhere nearby where it died. They grow up, fall in love yet they know she can never truly die (as far as they know) while he eventually will. So together they delve deep into the magics. Even drawing from forgotten knowledge she recalls from past lives. They succeed and his life force is bound to hers. However he is a man not a pheonix. So instead of being reborn a child like the pheonix is he instead becomes undead and, ultimately, a Lich. Neither are truly evil. Simply twisted and odd after living, dying and coming back over so many centuries together.
Okay, but the puppet strings idea was absolutely incredible!
I loved using a player item as a souljar. It was an amulet with the only pictures of the family of the player. when the lich was killed we played the "next campaign" because they destroyed an urn which they thought to be the souljar. The lich then started to manifest in the dreams of the player until it regained its form. it was a long process and an emotional rolercoaster. just thinking about them discussing the chance that the amulet could be the link to the lich ... *DRAMA*
A clever lich might do something like cast rope trick, permanency, coil the rope up inside, leave the soul jar withing the extra dimensional space. Then the lich teleports without error outside of the of the permanent enclosed extra-dimensional space it had just created, securing it forever.And just for good measure, with the proper magical protections (say by shape changing into a fire elemental) this might be preformed within the heart of an active volcano on the opposite side of the world from where the lich is actively pursuing their goals.
Yes please make more of these! ❤
I made a lich once who was a high-ranking lord of a city... Prior to being undead, he was one of the greatest heroes the city had ever had, and defended them multiple times. But at the end of his life, there was no one powerful enough to take his place. He eventually turns into a tyrant, but it's all for the good of his people, at least in his eyes.
Yes. Please. Make more these.
And I’m happy motivation is the driver in the metaphor, because people tend to stick with personality and alignment-which is important-but not as much as motivation. So, great vid, dude!
I like the idea of the phylactery being a magic item bound to one of the players; no matter what, it will always find its way back to them. The players have no way of destroying it, but it still places the lich in a compromising position.
Imagine Undead Keraptis did it to the Three Weapons of White Plume Mountain.
Isn’t it harry potter haha
@@TheOldAdageSays that would be multiple phylacteries .. but that could be a possible deviation of the rules as well. .. or make the phylactery something that can be broken down.
A puzzle for example.
Yes do more! I would love some hag inspo! She’s the next big bad in my evil campaign I’m running and I want her and her swamp to be absolutely iconic
14:18 "...that's why we have presidential term limits, right? To prevent liches." I'm still rolling around on the ground. Not thinking of Trump at all. Nope. Not me.
I've used liches a fair few times over the years. One of my favourites was actually the one who I created for a horror one shot. The party were investigating a spooky cursed village, trying to get to the bottom of what was gradually turning people blind,. I played up the trope of the terrified but parochial villagers who didn't want "outsiders" interfering despite their offer of help. At the very start they met the leader of the faction that just wanted them gone; a crusty old man named Gaffer Gorm. They found him propping up the bar at the local pub, an elder of the community with everyone at his beck and call. He talked with a very strong west country drawl which I made barely ineligible (for those outside the UK who don't know what that sounds like, basically David Bradley's character in Hot Fuzz). It took them quite a while to figure out that he was the ancient barrow king who they were looking for. Since his ancient kingdom had actually been fairly small by contemporary standards his designs on "world domination" basically consisted of regaining control of the handful of villages which had originally been his domain, and then retreating to the pub to have a pint of cider, on the house of course... Every few hundred years someone would disturb his barrow, at which point his next reign of terror over the local area would commence.
Dang adventurers disturbing the poor guy while he's having a pint. That would send me on a rampage, too! :)
Okay, now I’m thinking of a lich whose phylactery is a living greatwyrm. You want to stop the lich? Have fun fighting the massively ancient dragon they’ve raised from an egg to hold their souls! Heck, maybe this greatwyrm is actually good-aligned, but very naive and brainwashed by the lich, and has been an ally to the party in non-lich-related quests. To stop the lich, they have to kill their dragon friend. (Why yes, I am evil; thank you for noticing.)
ahh love the shout out to pointy hat! I love love love his bard lich concept and I’m itching to make a story with it.
My lich plan is to create a simulacrum as a public stand in who is the players' patron, giving them quests and guidance. These quests of course secretly further the lich's needs, like sending them to kill a werewolf because it's terrorizing travelers but also because it refused to swear fealty to the lich.
I have been trying to develop my first homebrew campaign (and first campaign I will be DM-ing for!) but I haven’t come up with a BBEG yet. But your video made me realize a Lich would be perfect! The world it takes place in is right on the cusp of an Industrial Revolution, in a desert that was once an ancient sea, and someone is trying to bring about an ancient prophecy that will flood the desert, returning it to a sea. And a lich is the perfect ancient force to be plotting this! I’m really excited about it and now I’m really excited to run a lich big bad! Thank you!