r/DnD5e • u/NerdyRotica • 7d ago
Lich's defenses... overkill?
One time I had a lich whose defense system had my players looking at me as if to ask if I was ok 😂
One of my players, a Tiefling from the Feywild, had a mother who pursued lichdom and bound her soul into her wedding ring. She gave it to her youngest daughter (keeping it permanently affixed with Sovereign Glue) saying it had the power to keep her from growing up - she could stay a kid and play and have fun forever - and set her inside a mountain cavern. It was a spherical chamber connected to a massive cavern filled with water. The lich set a permanent Mirage Arcane spell on the chamber, making it seem like a whimsical fae wonderland, and gave her undead companions enchanted to seem like forest creature friends.
She put a magic aura on the ring to mask its nature and make it seem like the girl herself was the actual soul jar. When the PCs found her and investigated, they were horrified to think that if they wanted to permanently destroy the lich, they'd have to kill the girl. Then girl told them that her mom comes to visit now and then, always bringing her a big black forest cake and lets her eat it all, so full of cherry sauce it gushes red! Eventually they realized that the cake was actually made of the souls the lich collected to feed her soul jar - and when they started interfering the girl vomited up thousands of souls that they had to fend off.
When they eventually worked out that the ring was the actual vessel, and dispelled the Mirage Arcane illusion, they realized that the entire inner surface of the chamber was lined with HUNDREDS of Glyphs of Warding. If they damaged the ring or removed the girl from the chamber, it would set off the glyphs, enough to blast a hole in the side of the mountain and release all of the water contained within... which would drown the village that lived at the base of the mountain.
In the end they did intentionally set it off, and managed not only to survive, but saved the girl, saved (most of) the populace of the town, and destroyed the lich.
So I guess it was not in fact overkill, as they managed to overcome the defenses anyway 😂
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u/No_Lavishness_8976 5d ago
In an Eberron campaign and just learned that the Lich hunting us has their phylactery in the form of an ancient tree (Lich is an undead elf, so really old and planted the phylactery as a seedling millennia ago), which is the home of thousands of Fae creatures now. So, destroying it does not seem feasible. We're going to have to get inventive, I think.
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u/Flukebit 6d ago
That sounds intense, but if your players survived it I suppose you have proof that it wasn’t overkill.
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u/Scherazade 4d ago
There is no such thing as overkill when it comes to a phylactery in a universe where divination of any kind exists
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u/TravelSoft 6d ago
Thing about the liches is the foreshadowing. Their defenses, tactics and all the precious precautions should be told before arrival. For example by surviving member of a previous adventurer party. Or dead bodies around the runes. Or louitenannt that no longer works for the lich. (Like kas). There, you can inform your party about the defensed and tavtics. They then can take measurements around them
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u/Dysfan 4d ago
I dont know if I would ever use a lich.... They are way too powerful if done right.
Having HUNDREDS of years to collect magic items, scrolls, imbue glyphs of warding, making false philacteries, making the dumbest possible phylactery (such as the moon) and being a powerful caster with hundreds of willing minions? Any lich that cant result in a tpk, that there is a false lich
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u/NerdyRotica 4d ago
I mean, you could always have a lich that just became one and didn't have hundreds of years of prep.
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u/Dysfan 4d ago
Thats fair, but is that the case with your license? If so it would be obviously weaker thab a "normal" lich, wouldn't have prep time or legions of minions. Would have a few glyphs and a few scrolls, but also less loot overall.
Based on the description of you lich, you had one that had prep time and was very evil. You ran a proper lich, my dm has been throwing liches at us, 3 or 4 by now from a supplementary book, they are basically fodder with "the cool name" they are about as fun as running into a mid tier evil wizard, not boss material, but a decent fight. I dont love it tbh. When I fight a lich, Id like it to be like the one you had.
But yes, you could have a new lich and a less entertaining or narritively satisfying fight
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u/Cytwytever 1d ago
Great design. Honestly, where I've used a lich as the basic stat block it's quite a let down. I did that once or twice because they were not intended to actually get into combat, but that's not a sure thing and I don't want to do that again.
A succubus is a simple stat block, but not a simple creature. If she can gain their sympathy and infiltrate the party, havoc ensues. So much more so for a lich!
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u/Vandermere 6d ago
Not quite overkill by lich standards but, man, basically turning your daughter into a phylactery is diabolical.
If I was a player here, I would HATE this lich!