How does a lich heal himself?

[xnosipjpqmhd]

Good day to my fellow Evil GameMasters (tm) out there.... Here's a question I have about liches.

The current evil bad guy in my campaign is a lich. Near the end of the campaign, the heroes faced off against him and managed to whittle him down to about 40% hp, at which point the lich decided to flee to fight again another day. The lich is quite adamant about getting his revenge, and the heroes are still in the immediate vicinity.

The question is, what in-game mechanics would the lich reasonably have access to that would allow him to "heal" himself? Specifically are there any wizard spells that would do this? (He's a former wizard, not a former priest.)

Obviously, I could just make up an "Amulet of Undead Regeneration" or something, but I'd prefer to use a method that's already published somewhere, to give it more plausibility.

Any ideas?

ironregime

 

[diaglo]

Any ideas?

touch living things and drain the energy from them to regain his hps.

 

[BlackMoria]

Undead are 'healed' by negative energy. So any arcane spell which does negative energy damage would heal the lich.

 

[Victim]

Don't liches come standard with a negative energy touch attack that could be used for healing his undead form?

 

[Staffan]

The first one that comes to mind is Vampiric Touch. The second is Polymorph Any Object. Other than that, he should partner up with a cleric who can make a couple of potions of Inflict ____ Wounds. As for items in the SRD, the only ones that apply even a little are Periapt of Wound Closure (double natural healing), Rod of Lordly Might (casts a 2d4 "mini-Vampiric touch" at will), and Ring of Regeneration.

I don't think it would be out of the question to allow the lich to have researched a series of Necrotic Repair spells, like the Repair ____ Damage spells that allow a wizard to heal a construct (which in turn work like the cure spells, but only on constructs).
Note that as an intelligent undead, the lich does heal naturally.

 

[WizarDru]

Enervation gives an undead temporary hit points. If the undead was damaged, would that heal them? Strictly speaking, probably not. The same applies to Energey Drain.

Plane Shift could take him to the Negative Energy Plane, where he could heal naturally just by standing around for a little while.

The Fast Healing ability (possibly gained by a wish?) works on living and the undead alike.

Shapechange works on a target of "you", not "willing living creature" like Polymorph, which would allow the undead to heal.

I'm sure there are plenty of other ways, including diaglo's theory: use summon creature and do nasty things to it, finishing it off with a death knell. Hell, even summoning a planar being and then getting it to heal you would work, if it's the right kind of being and can be bound or dominated. The level of danger associated with such an action varies, naturally.

 

[Ravellion]

Undead are 'healed' by negative energy. So any arcane spell which does negative energy damage would heal the lich.

Exactly. Black robed wizards from Dragonlance can even select a feat that all their damaging spells deal half negative energy damage, and half their usual type. Wear an amulet of fire resistance, fireball everyone around you and yourself, get free healing

Rav

 

[Henry]

(Undead) Cannot heal damage on its own if it has no Intelligence score, although it can be healed. Negative energy (such as an inflict spell) can heal undead creatures. The fast healing special quality works regardless of the creature’s Intelligence score.

So, by implication, intelligent undead heal naturally if they have an INT score.

 

[WayneLigon]

The more intelligent undead IMC will usually have some kind of healing magic on them. Most commonly, they'll have a couple potions of inflict serious wounds, courtesy of some clerical minion or maybe a Wand of Inflicting Serious Wounds, much like a PC will make sure he has potions of CLW when he knows there is going to be trouble.

It's also fun the first time they meet something like that and they drink a remaining potion, thinking 'Hey, it cured him, it must be a potion of CLW', before the cleric can tell them 'No!'.

 

[Danzauker]

Exactly.

Intelligent undead heal "unnaturally" just as living creatures do. They need to rest and wait.

Of course this is not to be intended as a biological process, but if negative energy gives them the power to move, speak, see, tink and stuff, why shouldn't it give them the power to mend their physical bodies?