Lichdom
Liches are necromancers who have embraced undeath: they have used an object known as a Phylactery to transfer their soul out of their body so that it might be bound to them again at the moment of their death, thus rendering themselves immortal, undead beings. Liches are resistant to several elements, and able to harness more magicka for spells (a side effect of the transformation process).
The character has completed the Rite of Unlife Ritual successfully and has become a Lich.
Requires 500 XP. The Rite of Unlife having been successfully completed.
The Rite of Unlife
This ritual can be purchased outside of the Lichdom Elite Advance, being a prerequisite of it.
Lichdom is achieved through the Rite of Unlife, an advanced ritual known only to a select few. Becoming a Lich is not a simple task, and simply learning the details of the Rite of Unlife is a difficult task. If a character manages to discover the secret (such as by finding a copy of the forbidden Tome of Unlife) then they can perform it themselves using the following steps:
Becoming a Lich essentially requires enchanting one’s corpse with one’s own soul. This is a three step process, and takes roughly two weeks. First, a number of minor rituals are performed which result in the character’s soul being bound to a temporary storage vessel, known as a Phylactery. Second, the character must remain near the Phylactery for several days as the transfer of their soul completes.
Finally, a third ritual is performed, ending at the exact moment the transfer completes. During this phase, the character dies, and their soul is re-bound to their corpse, granting them full Lichdom.
In game terms, the first stage requires a week long set of rituals to prepare the Phylactery, and the character’s body, for the transition to undeath. Successfully completing these rites requires passing a single -20 Necromancy skill test. The GM should make this test for the character in secret, and note the results. The rites themselves will vary depending on the source from which the character learns of them, but they invariably require a number of gruesome components (the details of which are left to the GM).
The character must also choose an object to be their Phylactery. After the Phylactery is chosen and the preparatory rites are complete, the character is then bound to the Phylactery. If this object passes further than 3 meters away from them while they are bound to it, then the character is killed instantly and their soul destroyed.
The second stage simply requires that the character remain bound to the Phylactery for one week. The third and final stage is a ritual, completed on the last day of the second stage. Completing this ritual requires a Necromancy skill test with a -30 penalty, and several hours. The ritual culminates at the precise moment that the transfer of the character’s soul to and from the Phylactery completes: the character is simultaneously killed and their soul is re-bound to their body. They are now a Lich and are no longer bound to the Phylactery in any way. Apply the appropriate effects.
If the character fails the test, failed the test for the rites in the first stage, or the ritual is interrupted somehow, then the Lich is killed instantly and their soul destroyed.
If a Lich does not preserve its body with the Rite of Mortal Transcendence, when it reaches its natural age of death, its body will die, though its spirit will continue to inhabit it, and it will begin to rot away over about a month, and have its Personality reduced to 5, and gain the Skeletal trait.
Lich Traits
- Dark Sight
- Immune to Frost.
- Resistance (Shock, Normal Weapons, 3).
- Power Well (25)
- Skeletal Claws: 1d8 Slashing, Reach 1m
- Undead: The Lich does not eat, breathe, or require organs to function. The Lich is immune to disease, poison, passive wound effects, aging, Fatigue, Dazed, Deafened, and Organ Damage. Liches cannot take actions that would cause them fatigue.
Special Abilities
Dark Ceremony
Cost: 1 SP + [15 x corpse] Magicka As a Primary Cast Magic Action, the Lich can immediately raise a number of nearby corpses up to their WB for 1 minute, using the profile of Zombies. They will attack any living beings nearby, and are not bound to the will of the Lich, but they will not be hostile to them either. This is not a spell.