Are Warlocks Eligible to Become Liches?

[AFGNCAAP]

Quick question for those of you with access to Complete Arcane:

Since a warlock can, at higher levels, create magical items with just the appropriate feat & the Use Magic Device skill, is it viable/feasible for a warlock to become a lich? I don't really see anything that says otherwise, but I wasn't too sure about it.

One reason why is because I'm contemplating modifying this BBEG concept (which I haven't had a chance to use yet) from a multiclassed fighter/sorcerer/spellsword/archmage to a warlock with innate powers (the eldritch blast seems very appropriate). He wouldn't have the selection of spells as a sorcerer, but the warlock's ability to craft magic items (w/o the necessary spell prereqs.) could easily enable him to have plenty of magic items on hand for any spells or particular spell effects that he'd need. I still may have him as an epic-level threat, but I'll figure that out later.

Appreciate any info that you could provide.

 

[Cheiromancer]

To make the phylactery "the character must be able to cast spells and have a caster level of 11th or higher."

Now, a warlock does not cast spells, but CA says (p.7) that "a warlock's caster level with his invocations is equal to his warlock level."

So find some way for an 11th level warlock to cast spells (maybe one of those nifty feats), and you are all set.

 

[nameless]

I'd rule that they can. Their ability to make any magic item with a UMD check means that they can make ANY item they have the feat for regardless of other requirements.

And the lich template doesn't do anything funky that requires spellcasting, so the rules work just fine. Do it, it's cool!

 

[Nightfall]

I'd say this would work since even though they are spell-like abilities, they still are spells per-se. It is true they don't count as spells but it seems to me if you can get around/away with having a Warlock/Archmage, I don't see why it couldn't work for lich either.

 

[Azaar]

I would say yes as well, albeit for different reasons.

Libris Mortis introduced a variant lich known as the lichfiend: outsiders who achieved lichdom. The spells aside, outsiders technically aren't eligible for the lich template, but the lichfiend seems to be an exception to the rule, since they're introduced as a variant from the standard fare of liches.

If WoTC is going to say an outsider can become a lich, then I don't see the problem with a warlock becoming a lich. The only difference is that your warlock is going to have to be at least 12th level (since that's when Imbue Item becomes available), but that shouldn't be a problem. Imbue Item allows the warlock to create the phylactery, so I think you're in the clear.

I'd suggest, if you want this BBEG to be an epic threat... get your warlock to level 21, make sure you max out Spellcraft and Use Magic Device in the process, then go blackguard. Dark blessing makes the Dark One's Own Luck invocation obselete. Sneak attack damage will stack with your eldritch blast damage. Proficiency in all armor types (can you say Battle Caster feat?), as well as martial weapons (which means you can create that Unholy Despoiler from the ELH once you get Create Epic Magic Arms and Armor).

Oh yes... the wheels, they are a-turnin'. I'm gonna set up a warlock/blackguard and see just how nasty the potential is... *evil grin*.

 

[Greatwyrm]

If you're the DM and you think it would make for a cool and memorable bad guy, then yes, they can. The rules serve the story, not the other way around.

 

[Alzrius]

To make the phylactery "the character must be able to cast spells and have a caster level of 11th or higher."

Now, a warlock does not cast spells, but CA says (p.7) that "a warlock's caster level with his invocations is equal to his warlock level."

So find some way for an 11th level warlock to cast spells (maybe one of those nifty feats), and you are all set.

You have the right idea Cheiromancer. Since the phylactery requirements just require that you cast spells, and have the requisite caster level, any creature with said caster level that can cast a spell can thusly become a lich (so long as it's a humanoid, or an illithid for an alhoon, or an Outsider for a lichfiend).

One way a warlock could get around this is to have one level in a spellcasting class.

However, if you don't want to waste a level, there is at least one feat that can help. The feat Magical Training, from page 41 of Player's Guide to Faerun (or, for the older version, page 36 of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting) allows you to cast three 0-level arcane spells as a sorcerer or wizard.

Admittedly, this is rules-lawyering your way in, but it works. The only downside is that this is a regional feat, but still, it's a viable combination.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I was thinking of the feats in Complete Arcane like Necropolis Born (cause fear, ghost sound, touch of fatigue, each 1/day), Night Haunt (dancing lights, prestidigitation, unseen servant), Communicator (arcane mark, message, comprehend languages), Spell Hand (mage hand, open/close, Tenser's Floating Disk) etc.

And yeah, it is rules-lawyering. Better to go by analogy to lichfiend.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Those are all SLAs, I believe, Cheiromancer.

 

[Alzrius]

I was thinking of the feats in Complete Arcane like Necropolis Born (cause fear, ghost sound, touch of fatigue, each 1/day), Night Haunt (dancing lights, prestidigitation, unseen servant), Communicator (arcane mark, message, comprehend languages), Spell Hand (mage hand, open/close, Tenser's Floating Disk) etc.

And yeah, it is rules-lawyering. Better to go by analogy to lichfiend.

The difference is that lichfiend explicitly states Outsiders may take it...the same way alhoon says that for illithids, and dracolich says that for dragons.

As John Q. Mayhem pointed out, all of the feats you named grant spell-like abilities, not spells, so they wouldn't help.