Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2011015" data-attributes="member: 172">Lords of the Night: LichesLords of the Night: Liches is a resource adding additional details to liches in d20 fantasy game. But that's not entirely accurate. It doesn't really do much to the existing lich so much as create a new sort of lich, with various types and stages of development, and some politics, history, and magic behind them. Much of the material appears to be written with potential uses as PCs in mind.Lords of the Night: Liches is published by Bottled Imp Games, and written by Stuart "Karis" Renton.A First LookLords of the Night: Liches is a 128 page perfect-bound softcover book priced at $21.99.The cover has a low gloss finish and has a nice illustration by Ralph Horsely depicting a number of liches surrounding an orb who appear to be startled by some shadowy figures descending the stairs towards them.The interior is black and white. Interior artists include Dave Allsop, Elliot Christian, Ralph Horsely, Brad McDevitt, John McSweeny, Scott Purdy, and Thom Scott. There are some excellent peices by many of the artists. Some good peiced are unsigned and I could not identify the artists, but of those that were signed, I found Purdy's and Horsely's the most interesting and tone-setting in the book. Purdy has done work in various ENPublishing and Mystic Eye games books such as Necromancer's Legacy, and it carries the same dark feel here.Oddly, the interior body text font stands out. Instead of using a standard serif font, a stylized font is used. The choice isn't too bad, and I did not find that readability was greatly impaired, but you can tell the font uses up a little more space than the standard type... space that could have been used on some missing elements (see below.)A Deeper LookLords of the Night: Liches presents several variations of liches for use in a game. But it does more than that. It establishes a whole new mythology for their existence. The mythology is strong enough that you may find it hard to fit into an existing game, but for its efforts it does create an interesting mythology that you may just want to make room for.The assumption is that when the universe was born, there was a primordial creative force called "Arcane" which at that time could be used to reshape the world at a whim. Now it is a pale shadow of what it once was. The liches introduced in this book acheive their transformation into undeath by supplanting their vital force (i.e., constitution) with this "Arcane" energy, eventually supplanting it entirely.Notice the captilized "Acrcane" there? Let's talk about that for a second; It's well enough having it part of the backstory, but it also makes its way to the rules section, and is part of a pattern of bad choices for terminology in the book. A lich created under this system has an Arcane score, wields "Arcane" magic (which is different from spells cast by wizards, bards, an sorcerers, which are merely arcane magic, no capitilization) and also has "Arcana points" which are a different thing entirely. Also, the author uses the term "temporary insanities" to describe an accumulation of points that aren't distinct mental disorders at all, but rather a figure that determines how fast the lich acquires permanent insanities. And permanent insanities, well, may not describe distinct insanities at all, but each "insanity" that the lich gains may only be a single step in a five step progression of an insanity. Finally, many common D&D terms (particularly undead types) are used in a rather specific context in the setting description. I think that in most cases, the author would have been better off striving for less well worn terms (frex, calling "Arcane" energy "Primordial" energy instead.)But being established that you are in for some confusion when reading this book if you try to figure it out, let's move on to the (oft times excellent) content itself.Under the system described, there are various stages or "states" of lichhood. Each state is a distinct template, and are usually progresssed through in order. The first two states aren't undead at all. In the first two states, the would be lich (called Death Touched and Liivng Dead, collectively called Arcane Touched) only replaces a portion of their constitution with Arcane energy. This grants them some of the benefits of the full lich template. Liches eventually progress (either deliberately by means of rituals, or simply though age) into undead lich states, being sunken (which merely looks whithered), necrotic, skeletal, and spectral.The Arcane energy the lich acquires drives many of their lich abilities; many lich abilities are lost if their Arcane score ever goes to zero. Arcane can also be spent to power a number of specific abilities. To discuss the latter, we must first discuss the lich orders. There are seven lich types, each created specifically under one of seven lich orders, each slightly different in appearance and provides abilities (which are usually driven by Arcane point).The seven lich types and their emphasis are:-Artifex Lich: As the name implies, artifex liches are craftsmen. One universal ability is the ability to create a golem spontaneously (much like Astral Constructs from the psionics handbook, or even like the Necromancer in Diablo II).-Darke Lich: Specialists in stealth and concealment, with a battery of stealth related magical abilities.-Dirge Lich: Perhaps the most traditional of all lich archetypes, the Dirge lich have abilities that allow them to better animate and utilize undead servitors.-Frost Lich: As the name should imply, frost liches are masters of elemental magic, particularly cold magic.-Mors Lich: Where Dirge Liches are masters at controlling the undead, Mors liches are masters at defending against them.-Prime Lich: These are sagely liches, with abilities that allow them to better sense others and manipulate "mundage" magic and defend against it.-Umbral Lich: Umbral liches have the ability somewhat like that of the "shadow monsters" type spells, creating creatures out of darkness.In addition to these common abilities that all liches get, liches have access to two other potent resources: arcana and sorcerae.Arcana are selections of abilities, each containing six distinct levels of powers. Arcana are divided into Minor and Major Arcana. Most minor arcana can be used by any lich type (though each type starts out with a few specific ones by default). Each major Arcana is specific to a specific lich type, but some may on occasion be learned by advanced liches of other orders. In addition to access to the various arcana (which is restricted according to the liches state), each individual power must be purchased by an allotment of Arcana points that the lich gets, also according to their state. In essence, the Arcana system is a distinct character creation subsystem. As with other lich abilities, these are driven by the liches Arcane score. Arcana points are accumulated as the lich gains arcane spellcasting levels, but higher state liches gain them faster.The various arcana include the ability to craft special items, create golems, improve spellcasting, and so forth. It seems to me that the addition of Arcana to liches adds a very "World of Darkness" dimension to the lich characters. That said, not all Arcana selections appear to be created equal. Some appear clearly more powerful and enticing than others, and the balance may be a little questionable.Sorcerae (n.b., another ambiguous term in this book that I hate) is the ability to use the primal Arcane energy the way it was originally intended. In essence, Sorcerae allows the lich to attempt almost any magical effect. The lich must spend Arcane points and make a check based on the liches intelligence, wiht modifiers due to state and (if the desired effect falls within the lich type's specialty) type. Failure has potentially devastating consequences, primarily in the form of insanity and corruption.All liches accumulate insanities... some just from being a lich, but a lich has the potential to accumulate additional insanities by risking sorcerae or simply expending too much Arcane in a day. These sorts of actions have a chance of giving the lich "insanity points" (called "temporary insanities" in some places). Once this total goes over a threshold defined by the lich state, the lich gains a rank in an insanity and the threshold is reset to zero.Each insanity is graded in five ranks. At the first or second rank, insanities are fairly harmless (and in many cases, resemble the personalities of some PCs anyways). At rank 4 or 5 is where the trouble lies. Though there are many rules devoted to gaining ranks of insanities, for the most part implementing them is left up to roleplay; each insanities has what ammounts to roleplaying guidelines for each of several mental disorders. (Note that this is no DSM-IV*, and many of these insanities bear only the faintest resemblance to their namesake clinical disorders.)* - Look it up. You have google.Corruption is described much later in the book, and is a concept intracately tied to the backstory. In the backstory, the Void is described as a desctructive primal force that the orders of liches strive against... but liches can fall to its influence and become void liches. Oddly, this puts liches in a somewhat more sympathetic position than I am used to, as they are one of the only things striving against this force that would destroy everything. Vampires, as discussed in Bottled Imps book on vampires, are also servants of this force, which creates an emnity between the orders of liches and vampires.The corruption system is well codified. Several acts such as misusing sorcerae or destroying another Arcane lich have the potential to give the lich void points. Too many of these and you become a servant of the void. Void liches and their powers, on the other hand, are only sketchily codified, more details being promised "in a future release."A good part of the book is background and setting info. A major edifice of the book is Karathis: The City of Lost Souls. This city is located an an otherworldly ashen plane that resides amidst the elemental planes. It is called the City of Lost Souls because those Arcane Touch who have not yet become true liches who are destroyed are cursed to reside here, most of the time reliving their former lives, though powerful emotions can make them aware of their true state. The city is also the home to a powerful and mysterious Guild of Wizards (another all-too-generic term) which presides over the lich orders. The city is an enemy of the void and allows no servant of the void within its walls.ConclusionsThis book is very much not what I expected. If you, like me, came here primarily looking for enhancements to existing liches, you may be surprised that this book is not quite as generic as you had hoped. That said, the concepts are intriguing nonetheless, and many buyers will doubtlessly appreciate the variety that this book lends to liches as well as the additional depth the backstory adds. Now the lich who dominates the nearby tower can be more than just a made mage with dreams of world conquest. He can be part of an ancient order than stands between reality and oblivion.Of course a semi-heroic role may be precisely what some buyers aren't looking for. That said, there are possibilities here for PCs in a rather interesting roles.I see two major problems with this book. The first, as I mentioned, is the use of terminology. The author frequently uses terms that already have a well established meaning, and in other places, use two different terms to refer to the same principle (e.g., Mors Liches and Crypt Liches, Temporary Insanities and Insanity Points). This stands to make a somewhat complex set of subsystems introduced in the book even harder to understand.The second major point is the subsystems themselves. As mentioned, the arcana system which grants liches special powers is a whole new character point subsystems, with many intracacies and implications. I don't have any prescriptions, but in many ways, it seems like it could have been simpler. If you couple that with the fact that part of the intent of this book seems to be targeted at players (who IME often aren't as up to speed on grasping rules as the DM), this can be a real problem.OVerall, I liked the concepts in this book a lot and am intrigued at the depth that it adds. But if you find a little complexity of extra tracking in creating the sort of detailed liches as outlined in this book a bit offputting, you may want to look elsewhere.Overall Grade: B-</blockquote>

Verification