Finding Phylacteries

[Janos Audron]

When either playing / dmming a lich, one of the biggest concerns is your phylactery. Where can you place it so that it can't be found? And how can it be found? I see a lot of Divination spells, but few of the really work:

Augury - Since Augury sees 30 minutes in the future, this won't work...unless the lich was careless.

Locate Object - Can be foiled by metal.

Divination - Same as Augury, though you have more time.

Commune - So, how many Gods know where a lich has hidden his phylactery? Perhaps Velsharoon, but I doubt he's gonna tell...

Discern Location - You must have touched the object.

Contact Other Plane - There is only one way to counter this, and that would be to be *very* loyal and important to a deity, so that the deity can block the spell...but if the spell gets through, what questions do you ask?

Legend Lore - I wouldn't say a phylactery is the stuff of legends.

Vision - Same as Legend Lore

Wish and Miracle - What's the wording?

Hypercognition - Can only be cast at a person, but I don't think it reveals all his magic items...

So, how do you find a phylactery?

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Could you kill it and scry on the lich while it goes back to its phylactery to rematerialize?

AR

 

[Aeolius]

So, how do you find a phylactery?

Adventurer: "I shall defeat you, spawn of evil, for I know that your phylactery rests in the heart of the Forest of Despair!"

Lich: "Foolish Mortal! You shall never defeat me, for I keep my phylactery hidden in the Tomb of Unrest....errr....ummm.... d'oh!"

 

[drnuncheon]

Legend Lore - I wouldn't say a phylactery is the stuff of legends.

Vision - Same as Legend Lore

As a rule of thumb, characters who are 11th level and higher are “legendary,” as are the sorts of creatures they contend with, the major magic items they wield, and the places where they perform their key deeds.

Each lich must make its own phylactery, which requires the Craft Wondrous Item feat. The character must be able to cast spells and have a caster level of 11th or higher.

Now, you can argue that a lich's phylactery is not "a major magic item it weilds" but really, that's nothing more than blatant sophistry. The intent of the spell is to provide information about the things most important to the target, and if there's anything more important to the lich than his phylactery, I have no idea what it would be.

J

 

[Darklone]

His grandmother.

Honestly, killing the lich and waiting where he rematerializes is the best way to go. Btw: Can he put the phylactery on another plane, i.e. would he rematerialize there then?

 

[Caliban]

Just hope that the Lich hasn't played any nasty tricks with his phylactery.

I used a suggestion of Monte Cooke's, and have a lich in my campaign who created his phylactering using a 50,000 gp gem, and then used the gem as the material focus of the "Trap the Soul" spell, and trapped the Tarrasque within it.

If the adventurerers destroy his phylactery, they release the Tarrasque.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Just hope that the Lich hasn't played any nasty tricks with his phylactery.

I used a suggestion of Monte Cooke's, and have a lich in my campaign who created his phylactering using a 50,000 gp gem, and then used the gem as the material focus of the "Trap the Soul" spell, and trapped the Tarrasque within it.

If the adventurerers destroy his phylactery, they release the Tarrasque.

Clever, but "realistically" there would be some weird consequeces for this strategem. After all, a single gem is holding two powerful souls, presumably over a very long period of time.

 

[Caliban]

Clever, but "realistically" there would be some weird consequeces for this strategem. After all, a single gem is holding two powerful souls, presumably over a very long period of time.

Well, we will see what happens. The Lich Phylactery/Tarrasque sharing only occured about two months ago in game time.

The wannabe lich first had to trick the PC's into acquiring the gem for him, in order to stop the tarrasque that was destroying the city...

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Well, we will see what happens. The Lich Phylactery/Tarrasque sharing only occured about two months ago in game time.

The wannabe lich first had to trick the PC's into acquiring the gem for him, in order to stop the tarrasque that was destroying the city...

I am intrigued.

My gut instinct says this is not going to be a happy set of circumstances for our heroes, the Lich, or the Tarrasque.

Maybe someone should write a Soul Miscibility Table?

 

[jgsugden]

Legend Lore:

When completed, the divination brings legends (if any) about the person, place or things to your mind.

There must be legends in the first place. If the item is a secret known only to a select few (like a phylactery would be), the spell will fail.

Vision, OTOH, leaves ambiguity as to how it works. The spell description says that it works like legend lore, but then specifies that the spell results in a vision, not a recounting of legends. I'd allow Vision to work in the absence of legends, but this is a DM call.

Commune should work in most games. This is a DM call. Are Gods omniscient? Can they just find something as powerful as a phylactery at will? This is a DM call, but I'd allow it. Of course, locating the item via yes or no questions is hard.

Contact Other Plane should work as well as commune if the correct being is asked. Again, the simplicity of the answers may prove to be a hurdle to locating the item.

Either Wish or Limited Wish should do the job. A simple phrasing of "I wish that I knew where Zocor the Lich's phylactery was located" should get the job done.

I have *never* included a lich in my campaign without providing clues as to how the phylactery can be found. Sometimes I place a ghost or revenant in the lich's lair ... a fallen foe that seeks to destroy the lich and has some clues as to the phylactery. Sometimes I make the lich cocky and place the phylactery on his person. Sometimes I leave a scroll lying around that has a spell that can be used to locate the phylactery.