D&D 5E Players don't know they have a phylactery

[Blue]

My players don't know that they have the phylactery of a lesser lich that they previously killed. Not someone who would be a challenge to the party by herself.

So, how does a lich manifest from it's phylactery? I'm fine pulling inspiration from other editions or games to make it interesting, they never had to deal with it before.

Or rather, not her real phylactery. They pulled her soul into a item but it won't be able to contain it for long, making a temporary phylactery. If that broke her connection to her real phylactery is unknown, whatever works better for plot.

So, what fun would you have? With this particular bunch I wouldn't want something silent with no chance of observation like spying from within (if that's even possible). But I'm fine doing things like having her manifest in dreams first - the item she's in can't really contain her.

UPDATE: She was part of ancient set of ruins that was raised out of the earth, she has no access to any organization outside it (which the PCs destroyed in spectacular manner) nor a current understanding of the "modern" world. Also, she's significantly weaker than the PCs in a straight up fight, say about even for two 8th level PCs, the group is five 11th level PCs. Though she does have good abilities to command and buff other undead.

 

[MNblockhead]

So the Phylactery allows the Lich to be reformed, but how this occurs isn't clear. I would have the Lich take the body of some corpse and then slowly gain strength over time, tracking/hunting the party and looking for opportunities to get its phylactery back. It probably won't reveal itself to the party or attack them itself. Especially in weakened condition. But it should have minions/followers who will attempt to get.

I would have a number of encounters that are easily dismissed as typical random encounters, but over time, the party suspects someone organizing against them, but they don't know why.

1. First, there would be minions that track down the party and try brute force. Kill the party and take it.
   
2. That doesn't work (unless your want a chance of a TPK on what to the players will feel like a random encounter), so then there is another attack, but this time it is a distraction for higher-powered stealthy types to attempt to find and escape with the phylactery.
   
3. If that works, the party has a quest to try to track the bad guys back down, perhaps back to a secret hideout where the lich may or may not be. If the party doesn't take up the chase, then over time, they start hearing rumor of bad things occurring until they realize that the lich is back.
   
4. If the smash and grab doesn't work, however, than maybe a new tact is taken. Some NPC ingratiates himself with the party. It should seem like just some vanilla NPC that the DM throws into a quest for a session or a few sessions. The NPC will attempt to determine who has the phylactery, how it is stored, and will attempt to steal and sneak off with it. Go back to #3
   
5. If none of the above work, have the party be tracked. If they attempt to sell it, the minions arrange for someone to buy it or take it from the merchant the party sells it to.

A heavier handed approach: one of the party members starts to come under the control of the lich. The lich shares the players body, eventually destroying the players soul and resuming its lich form using the players soul and body to do so. You have to know your players to know if this is something your player would enjoy and if they can pull off role-playing the divided personality. If the lich succeeds in destroying the player then it become a DM-run NPC again.

Hope this gives you some ideas to play with. Let us know what you end up doing and how it goes!

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I would have the Lich take the body of some corpse and then slowly gain strength over time, tracking/hunting the party and looking for opportunities to get its phylactery back. It probably won't reveal itself to the party or attack them itself. Especially in weakened condition. But it should have minions/followers who will attempt to get.

That could provide a neat bit of misdirection if the party sees a former foe skulking after them in the shadows. They'd probably try to figure out how wicked Prince Johan survived their attack and what his plans are, without considering it's really the lich and without working against the her plans.

 

[Blue]

So the Phylactery allows the Lich to be reformed, but how this occurs isn't clear. I would have the Lich take the body of some corpse and then slowly gain strength over time, tracking/hunting the party and looking for opportunities to get its phylactery back. It probably won't reveal itself to the party or attack them itself. Especially in weakened condition. But it should have minions/followers who will attempt to get.

Sorry, I should have gone into more detail.

She was part of ancient set of ruins that was raised out of the earth, she has no access to any organization outside it (which the PCs destroyed in spectacular manner) nor a current understanding of the "modern" world.

I can have her manifest in a corpse, I like the idea of them seeing a named enemy is back up. But random minions would have to be newly recruited. And if she can bully them into serving her, they are no match for the PCs. I mentioned "lesser lich", she's about the power of two 8th level PCs while the party is five 11th level PCs.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Cyrinishad]

My players don't know that they have the phylactery of a lesser lich that they previously killed. Not someone who would be a challenge to the party by herself.

So, how does a lich manifest from it's phylactery? I'm fine pulling inspiration from other editions or games to make it interesting, they never had to deal with it before.

Or rather, not her real phylactery. They pulled her soul into a item but it won't be able to contain it for long, making a temporary phylactery. If that broke her connection to her real phylactery is unknown, whatever works better for plot.

So, what fun would you have? With this particular bunch I wouldn't want something silent with no chance of observation like spying from within (if that's even possible). But I'm fine doing things like having her manifest in dreams first - the item she's in can't really contain her.

A lot of story potential here... Have you thought about the Phylactery influencing one of the PCs Familiars or Animal Companions? Something like that could lead to the PCs having their strings pulled for a long time, while unwittingly rebuilding the Lich's power to exceed the party. That could be a good compromise without being totally heavy-handed and taking over a PC.

 

[jaelis]

Just start reading here:
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0147.html
Then that story line picks up again here and finishes the regeneration:
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0190.html

 

[rgoodbb]

Wow.

I read the title of the thread, and I totally expected that it would be, "So, my players got a phylactery, only they don't know it, because they don't know what a phylactery is. I was like, it's a small leather box with some parchment in it ... and they were all like, wut? And I was like, you can wear it ... and they were like, huh?"

I read the title and assumed that each player had their own personal phylactery but didn't know it.

That's one evil DM right there. But interesting.....