Where would a lich have gates to?

[Marimmar@Home]

Since your party seems to go toe to toe with liches, I recommend the gate to lead to the starting points of the following adventures:

S1 - The Tomb of Horrors (what better place to steal ideas for lair security)
Q1 - Queen of the Demonweb Pits (It's nice to be in contact with a mighty demoness)
H4 - Throne of Bloodstone (just modify the story a bit and your players are up against Orcus himself)

Another gate might lead to the 'Endless Stairway' and thus to endless planehopping adventure madness!

~Marimmar

 

[MaxKaladin]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this, but one could go to a city. Even liches need to buy stuff occasionally. Perhaps he uses magic to disguise himself and go into a city every once in a while to buy parchment, ink, replacement glassware for his lab, common spell components and to browse the bookshops for new books for his library. Perhaps he even has contacts there who are willing to do custom work for him, like a smith who custom items when he needs something for a magic item he's making, a bookstore owner who keeps an eye out for "special" texts and so forth. If there's a city in your world that's both big enough and either a haven for evil (like Skullport or Zhentil Keep in the Realms) or "neutral" (doesn't persecute evil folks, like maybe Calimshan in the FR) then that's an ideal spot.

 

[Pants]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this, but one could go to a city.

Sigil maybe?
Or the City of Brass on the Elemental Plane of Fire?
Dis in the Nine Hells?

 

[Xavim]

Or better yet, the city of Shade in Anauroch on FR. Or another city of the good old nethril exiles floating around in the plane of shadow. Seems a logical place to go to me.

Why settle for a city when you can get a city of mages?

 

[Toj]

I guess a dragon wouldn't just forget about a gate... I mean he did do it when he was young and not a "genius", but it just makes more sense if it's a different dragon all together. So I'll say the dragon that was an ally of the lich was taken out by another dragon.

The group is actually not that powerful. When they got the castle, they were only 5 - 6th level. The lich was already vanquished (supposedly) and the heroes that had vanquished it were unable to find any treasure. Well a paladin of the party heard about the castle in the woods and thought it would make a nice home base. So the paladin enlisted the help of the other members and they cleared out the castle (which was infested with goblins). So the party has had the castle for a while now and has there own little city (70 or so workers, guards, smiths, farmers, etc) and they have been trying to get more people to come out in the woods and live around the castle.

Also, this campaign takes place on a homebrewed world, which I really need to make a website for. Some other information you guys might need, or that might be helpful:
The party currently consists of:
Level 10/1, Monk/Dragon Clan Master
Level 3/8, Rogue/Wizard
Level 5/4 , Fighter/Rogue
Level 8 Cleric

Now on to the ideas:
* Treasure room: Could be a portal to a gigantic room carved out of the heart of a mountain, in which something nasty guards the apparent treasure. When the PCs go to pick any of it up, mimics galore assault them.

The lich was 19th level, so what do you think he would have guarding his treasure room? It doesn't have to be something that the party can take out now, it could be something they fight and retreat, and come back later (when they are higher level) for.

I do think I am going to have one of the gates lead to the Forgotten Realms. I used to run all my games there, but then I made up a new world. This gate to the realms would actually lead into a big story arc, since there are not suppose to be ways to travel to other primes (history of the world stuff).

I know that the Negative Material Plane heals undead, and also harms the living... but what are the mechanics? All undead heals 1d6HP per round and living takes 1d6? All undead gain +2 to turn resistance? Do undead hang out in this plane? Is it a big cemetary?

 

[Xavim]

To quote the SRD:

NEGATIVE ENERGY PLANE
To an observer, there’s little to see on the Negative Energy Plane. It is a dark, empty place, an eternal pit where a traveler can fall until the plane itself steals away all light and life. The Negative Energy Plane is the most hostile of the Inner Planes, and the most uncaring and intolerant of life. Only creatures immune to its life-draining energies can survive there.
The Negative Energy Plane has the following traits.
• Subjective directional gravity.
• Major negative-dominant. Some areas within the plane have only the minor negative-dominant trait, and these islands tend to be inhabited.
• Enhanced magic. Spells and spell-like abilities that use negative energy are maximized (as if the Maximize Spell metamagic feat had been used on them, but the spells don’t require higher-level slots). Spells and spell-like abilities that are already maximized are unaffected by this benefit. Class abilities that use negative energy, such as rebuking and controlling undead, gain a +10 bonus on the roll to determine Hit Dice affected.
• Impeded magic. Spells and spell-like abilities that use positive energy, including cure spells, are impeded. Characters on this plane take a –10 penalty on Fortitude saving throws made to remove negative levels bestowed by an energy drain attack.
Random Encounters: Because the Negative Energy Plane is virtually devoid of creatures, random encounters on the plane are exceedingly rare.

The major Negative energy means thus:
Negative-Dominant: Planes with this trait are vast, empty reaches that suck the life out of travelers who cross them. They tend to be lonely, haunted planes, drained of color and filled with winds bearing the soft moans of those who died within them. As with positive-dominant planes, negative-dominant planes can be either minor or major. On minor negative-dominant planes, living creatures take 1d6 points of damage per round. At 0 hit points or lower, they crumble into ash.
Major negative-dominant planes are even more severe. Each round, those within must make a DC 25 Fortitude save or gain a negative level. A creature whose negative levels equal its current levels or Hit Dice is slain, becoming a wraith. The death ward spell protects a traveler from the damage and energy drain of a negative-dominant plane.

Enjoy!