Why would anyone become a lich?

[DMH]

When you keep your unrotten form and most of your humanity as a shade?

When you can transfer your soul into a contruct?

When you can become a vampire?

When you can become a mummy and learn how to use your connection to the positive plane? There really should be a mummy book that details that.

When you can suck the youth out of others?

I really don't see the advantage of lichdom anymore.

 

[Planesdragon]

1: Because you like who you are, and don't want to forget it.

2: 'cause having the choice between constructs and undead, you'd rather be able to heal. Not to mention the whole "I can go get another body" trick.

3: Because you don't want to have to muddle around with (or harm) lesser mortals.

4: Because you're not a divine-magic-user, and #2.

5: see #3.

 

[Zappo]

When you keep your unrotten form and most of your humanity as a shade?

No core way to do that AFAIK.

When you can transfer your soul into a contruct?

No core way to do that AFAIK.

When you can become a vampire?

Vampires must obey the vampire which created them. Wizards aren't interested in an eternity of service. Sunlight is a major weakness too, worse than the phylactery. Vampire wizards lose their familiar. There are a bunch of other weaknesses too.

When you can become a mummy and learn how to use your connection to the positive plane?

Mummies have -4 INT and are created "through the auspices of dark desert gods". No wizards here.

When you can suck the youth out of others?

No core way to do that AFAIK.

I really don't see the advantage of lichdom anymore.

It gives you +2 INT, and it makes you immortal without having to rely on others. Pretty good IMO.

 

[XCorvis]

Because Lichdom is awesome.

Liches have no major vulnerabilities except the phylactery and virtually no penalties for turning into one, other than the mixed blessing of the undead type. It's all (basically) beneficial.
In 3.5 liches get DR 15/bludgeoning AND magic, a paralyzing touch that is PERMANANT and if they're destroyed, they come back to (un)life. A lich can waltz into a certain-death situation, die, and be back in a week, as long as he wasn't stupid about hiding his phylactery.

 

[DMH]

No core way to do that AFAIK.

And? I used 3rd party book much more than the SRD (I don't have the PH or DMH of either 3.X- I don't need them).

Mummies have -4 INT and are created "through the auspices of dark desert gods". No wizards here.

Um, what about multiclassed people?

1: Because you like who you are, and don't want to forget it.

Becoming a shade allows you to become immortal with a human body- where does it say they forget their old life?

 

[Wombat]

I remember back to my RuneQuest days, the tale of Vivamort, god of the undead.

In Glorantha, the RuneQuest world, the basic concept common to all cultures is that reincarnation is real.

Vivamort, during the massive wars of the gods before Time, was attacked by a chaos creature and was dying. In fear that he would die and not trusting to the gods, he made an unholy pact with chaos -- he would continue his existence, in a half-form, always needing the lifeblood of others. In other words, in fear that he would not be reborn (since he had not experienced this before) led him, through greed, to cling to an almost-life. A matter of lack of faith, as it were.

I would see liches, in many ways, as falling in the same camp -- a combination of greed (I will keep this consciousness and all this knowledge!) and fear (being unsure whether they the promises of the gods are true or not) leads to this horrible act of maintaining a half-life, a life that cannot engender other life, but only greedily cling onto a vile persistence of spirit.

I love the undead as villains, but I have no love for them as individuals

 

[Henry]

To add to this frame of thought, is there any reason a Lich would not take their phylactery, put it in a small steel vault, cast transmute rock to mud on a random patch of floor, and then transmute it back to stone, and then decorate over the spot? In other words, put it somewhere where not only was it well-guarded, but buried?

Another wild thought - a Lich in Eberron may well pay House Kundarak (the banking house) to protect its phylactery. Now THAT would make a heck of an Eberron adventure - you have to break into a Kundarak Bank undetected, and steal the phylactery of your arch-enemy, before you go after him!

 

[DMH]

Because Lichdom is awesome.

But you are a walking carcass that has no ability to touch or taste. Your very presence drives others away so interaction is limited. How are you going to learn from others in your pursuit of knowledge?

 

[Stormborn]

To add to this frame of thought, is there any reason a Lich would not take their phylactery, put it in a small steel vault, cast transmute rock to mud on a random patch of floor, and then transmute it back to stone, and then decorate over the spot? In other words, put it somewhere where not only was it well-guarded, but buried?

Another wild thought - a Lich in Eberron may well pay House Kundarak (the banking house) to protect its phylactery. Now THAT would make a heck of an Eberron adventure - you have to break into a Kundarak Bank undetected, and steal the phylactery of your arch-enemy, before you go after him!

Russian folklore has an evil wizard type called Kashchei the Deathless who hides his heart in a walnut and that in hole in the tallest tree in the furthest valley behind the highest mountain (or some other variantion there of depending on the teller of the tale, he hides it in an egg in this version: http://www.blackdrago.com/famous_russian.htm#kashchei). The parrallels should be obvious. Given a powerful lich lord terroizing the country side, the quest for his phylactery might be a great way for a lower level party to deal with such a BBEG. Perhaps it could be in the lair he used when he was a mortal wizard in the Forbidden Swamp or soemthing, and he figured that the the location was secret and difficult to reach, so left soem guardians (undead and maybe a flesh golem) to guard it and went about his buisness. He probablly also has it Scryed pretty well and can send in support if need be.

Hmmm...a dual campaign...one party distracts the lich, a powerful mob boss perhaps in a vast and decandant city state, the other goes in search of his phylactery.

 

[Neumannium]

But you are a walking carcass that has no ability to touch or taste. Your very presence drives others away so interaction is limited. How are you going to learn from others in your pursuit of knowledge?

You're assuming that someone who is completely power-hungry and willing to become undead would be making rational choices and looking at the future with these petty things in mind.

I think all that matters to them is the 'living forever', and the unbridled pursuit of knowledge/power.

I really don't think they care if they can't taste anything -- and they CAN touch stuff, they're not incorporeal.

Plus you're saying that shades and vampires are all chummy with mortals? I think all undead's interaction with mortals is quite limited. I don't remember the peasants in 'Dracula' knocking on ol' Drac's door and bringing him chicken soup when he didn't feel good.