Liches and XP

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I have this NPC - a Druid/Defiler Lich. She's not a very nice thing, so I suspect the PCs are going to try and kill her.

At the time they're unlikely to know she's a lich. So while they may well kill her... D10 days later she'll be back, courtesy of the phylactery.

How would you award XP for this combat?

I'd like to avoid tipping them off as to what's going on.

Do they get some kind of XP award every time they kill her off?

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Do they get some kind of XP award every time they kill her off?

I'd award them full xp based on the creature's CR every time they manage to "kill" it. The fact that they won't permanently kill it doesn't change the fact that they defeated the lich in that encounter.

 

[Naathez]

Agreed with Lord Pendragon here...

As Red Mage from 8-bit Theater would say, "THAT is quite an XP mine!" ...

True...

...BUT remember the Lich will come back every time with the knowledge of HOW it was defeated... and prepared for THOSE tactics... harder every time....

so it's an XP mine, but a growingly dangerous one.

 

[Li Shenron]

Well, what would be the difference between encountering her twice, or encountering two perfectly identical but separate liches? I'm too for the full Xp.

 

[shilsen]

What everyone else said. I'd personally be more concerned about how much XP to award her every time she kills some or all of the PCs, but maybe that's just me

 

[Maliki]

Another vote for full XP based on her challange rating.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Not only full XP, but even though the lich dies each time, it gains knowledge and (ahem) experience. So, every once in a while, I'd have that lich gain a level; so the party of intrepid adventurers will always have a challenge on their hands.

Not only will it not die, it occasionally gets tougher too.

Dave

 

[Plane Sailing]

Probably worth an additional xp bonus should they ever locate and destroy thy phylactery.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Seems to be a consensus and it makes a lot of sense... Thanks!

I guess they will have earned their XP each time they manage to deal with her.


Naathez - definitely what I had in mind, trying the same trick twice could get particularly messy.

shilsen - She's a nasty one! But XP for dead PCs - that's just mean Although, I was going to advance her if/when her plans start coming together, might provide an amusing reason how.

Going after the phylactery should be funny.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Similar story:

Party is hunting through a standard "evil serpent cult temple sunk into the swamp by the wrath of nature." Okay, maybe not so standard, but there you go.

In one of the rooms is a shadow - of the incorporeal undead variety.

It's completely kicking our collective butts (no real magic weapons to speak of, my wizard focuses on cold evocations and doesn't know any offensive force effects, etc.).

Finally, the cleric's player rolls a 20 on the turning check, with maximum damage. The shadow is turned and, being incorporeal, flees through the wall and into the earth behind it. Turns last for 10 rounds, or 1 minute.

We bug out, into the next room, to regroup. 1 minute later, it returns, angry as all hell and gunning for the cleric. Eventually, we marshall our forces enough to "kill" it.

DM ruled that it was basically two separate encounters, and we successfully overcame each one (as the shadow was guarding the entrance to the next room). We thought about yo-yoing the shadow a few more times, but even our metagamey hearst quailed at the thought of doing something *that* cheesy.