lich vs cleric PC fight

[miinstrel]

Hi all! So I am running a wizard/loremaster and my friend is a cleric/radiant servant of pelor. My character has his eye on lichdom, but the cleric obviously can't allow that if he finds out about it. We are currently level 10. The fight will not take place at least until level 12, but more likely closer to 15-17. My goal of this post is three-fold:

1. Compile a list of ways to prevent him from discovering I'm a lich.
2. Compile a list of ways to avoid being obliterated by a character designed to destroy undead.
3. Compile a list of ways to defeat him in the inevitable battle. I may also have to contend with the rest of the party also.

So for example, I plan on getting a persistent Undetectable Alignment item so i don't show up on a Detect Evil spell.

Another example, his turning level will beat my turning resistance, so I have a way to avoid being turned entirely but it will cost me 30k and it's a charged item. If you can do it for cheaper that'd be great.

I don't plan on attacking the group until I'm discovered, but I want to be prepared. Any other spells, items, or strategies I should definitely implement? There's already a thread about hiding phylacteries, but if you have any additional ideas about that those are welcome too. Thanks!

 

[Grogg of the North]

It sounds like this may be a campaign ender. Are the players okay with this and just the characters would be against it? If the players may react poorly, I strongly urge you to reconsider. Otherwise....


For the first point:

Gentle Repose every couple of days will keep you looking fresh and healthy.

Mindblank will prevent him from detecting your evil auras or that you're undead. And its just fun to have active. Magical Aura should be able to "cover up" any magic on you.

Otherwise, when preparing for the rites don't let your cleric know what you're up to or have him catch you in the act.


For the second point:

Hide your phylactery somewhere hard to find. A Leomund's Chest, some sort of pocket dimension, or give it to your god (if they're into that kinda thing). If they can't find your phylactery they can't kill you.

There should be an armor enchantment in BoVD that protects you against anything that specifically does extra damage to Evil creatures. I think Libris Mortis may have something that will protect you against the effects of a Disrupting weapon.

Turning is easy to get around. Take the holy symbol and hide/destroy it.

If its just you against the cleric, cast silence on yourself (an oil would work too) and stick close to the cleric. Silence means that there is no spells involved so just start touching.


For the Third Point:

Don't over think this. Wait till its the end of the day and your cleric is low on spells and resting. Get out a scythe and Coup de Grace while he's asleep.

Or you could dominate the fighter or rogue and have them do it.

If he's designed to fight undead, then his saves are pretty good so I'd try to avoid casting Save or Lose/Die on him directly. If you somehow manage to mind control him, see if you can get him to commit some sort of Heresy and get him to fall.

Lastly, and more theatrically, take hostages. Use his goodly compassionate nature against him. "Swear you'll leave me be or I'll kill (pick any) this town, your priestly brothers, your family and friends, or something else." It isn't as "glorious" as combat but still works and would be the route I'd take. If you can get them to be magically bound by the oath even better.


I'm sure there are other people here that can give you a more detailed run down of the crunchy pvp mechanics and how to better min/max it than I.

 

[miinstrel]

It sounds like this may be a campaign ender. Are the players okay with this and just the characters would be against it? If the players may react poorly, I strongly urge you to reconsider.

I thought about that. I don't have a problem with it being my character's end in the campaign, but I think a few of the players might get upset if I killed their characters. My goal is not to "SURPRISE YOU'RE ALL DEAD!!" but rather to give them a shock that I'd do such an evil thing (all in the pursuit of knowledge, of course haha). I figure there will be a bit of a skirmish, maybe one of the players who would be ok with it will die (cleric can raise him), and then I'll teleport out of there thus starting a brand new quest for the group.

Gentle Repose every couple of days will keep you looking fresh and healthy.

Mindblank will prevent him from detecting your evil auras or that you're undead. And its just fun to have active. Magical Aura should be able to "cover up" any magic on you.

Gentle Repose will definitely be going in my spellbook, thanks.

I forgot about all the divination protection provided by Mindblank (stupid computer games making me only remember the mind-affecting immunity...).
There aren't any lower level spells that would have a similar effect are there? I don't recall any.

Otherwise, when preparing for the rites don't let your cleric know what you're up to or have him catch you in the act.

Hah, no kidding. Fortunately I should be able to find some time to get away from the group and take care of this without interruption.

There should be an armor enchantment in BoVD that protects you against anything that specifically does extra damage to Evil creatures. I think Libris Mortis may have something that will protect you against the effects of a Disrupting weapon.

Found the one in BoVD, but didn't see anything in Libris unfortunately. That will still help though, and only a +1 modifier to price.

If its just you against the cleric, cast silence on yourself (an oil would work too) and stick close to the cleric. Silence means that there is no spells involved so just start touching.

This is a great idea. I'm still just a wizard right now, so I didn't even consider eliminating my own spellcasting to break his.

Don't over think this. Wait till its the end of the day and your cleric is low on spells and resting. Get out a scythe and Coup de Grace while he's asleep.

Or you could dominate the fighter or rogue and have them do it.

If he's designed to fight undead, then his saves are pretty good so I'd try to avoid casting Save or Lose/Die on him directly. If you somehow manage to mind control him, see if you can get him to commit some sort of Heresy and get him to fall.

As I said above I don't want to just ambush the party, but more go for the "big reveal." I figure this will probably happen at some point where something happens to me and I'm fine when I should be screwed (survive a barrage of FoDs, licked by a Mohrg, etc.) I'm playing more of a "God" style wizard, so the mind controlling is a definite possibility. I like the idea about making him fall out of grace with Pelor, that would be really interesting.

Lastly, and more theatrically, take hostages. Use his goodly compassionate nature against him. "Swear you'll leave me be or I'll kill (pick any) this town, your priestly brothers, your family and friends, or something else." It isn't as "glorious" as combat but still works and would be the route I'd take. If you can get them to be magically bound by the oath even better.

This could work also. "Hey cleric, we can't easily kill each other, so let's just call it a truce." ... haha he'd never go for this, but it's an idea to keep in mind just in case


As we're fleshing this out a little more, I think I'm going more for making myself nigh unkillable rather than turning the rest of the PCs to dust.

Thanks for the great suggestions so far, Grogg.