Where would you hide your phylactery

[awayfarer]

I'd make my phylactery a fairly ordinary yet durable box. I would put something that LOOKS like a phylactery in said box.

PC 1: Whatcha got there.
PC 2: Evil looking statue carved from a kittens skull. Got it out of this ordinary box.
PC 1: Right. Batter smash it.

 

[ExMachina]

I am very disappointed that it took as long as 18 posts to arrive at this one..... I thought it was an obvious answer that at least deserved reference (like Blightersbane politely achieved) embedded within a serious answer.

I supposed it was unavoidable, I laud the restraint then

 

[Laman Stahros]

In a 2nd ed adventure written by TSR, a green dracolich had his built into a dragon's bane sword named 'Dragon's lair' (anyone casting legend lore would probably has heard Dragon Slayer) that was hidden in his treasure.

This sword is in Dragons of Faerun.

 

[ElectricDragon]

I was just trying to bend my version to the OP's rules of only a box. My liches are never so ordinary as to only have the option of making it a box.

So make the phylactery, cast the polymorph any object spell, then magic it to hold my lifeforce. Easily fixed.

Ciao
Dave

 

[Bacris]

You might personally rule that the essence escapes the phylactery, but by RAW, it's merely temporarily suppressed

 

[lukelightning]

I'd say that it is the DM who decides what a phylactery is, not the player. I'm a traditionalist: Phylacteries are almost always the standard "box form" because that is how the magic of becoming a lich works (though I'd say the item is "diminutive" in size, not "tiny").

Just like a magic circle against evil isn't a triangle, and a prismatic sphere makes a sphere and not a cube, there are certain set forms that magic takes. Due to the metaphysical laws of magic, a lich's phylactery is a phylactery. Not a ring, not a dragon's toenail, not a petrified duck.

 

[Dracorat]

Interestingly, I've never viewed a phylactery as a box. I always though of them as a small hourglass on a necklace.

 

[Wolfwood2]

I'd say that it is the DM who decides what a phylactery is, not the player. I'm a traditionalist: Phylacteries are almost always the standard "box form" because that is how the magic of becoming a lich works (though I'd say the item is "diminutive" in size, not "tiny").

Just like a magic circle against evil isn't a triangle, and a prismatic sphere makes a sphere and not a cube, there are certain set forms that magic takes. Due to the metaphysical laws of magic, a lich's phylactery is a phylactery. Not a ring, not a dragon's toenail, not a petrified duck.

I might compromise to the point of saying that there are different lich "formulas" that result in different phylacteries. However, the most common one found in dark tomes results in a box. (Probably because it's the one created by Vecna, the original lich.) And even if you find a different formula, it's no guarantee it'll result in a shape you like better.

Researching a new one would likely require the aid of dark and ancient powers.

 

[Dracorat]

However, per Libris Mortis pg 151, the phylactery cannot be part of another magical, nor may additional magical properties be built into it.

To add a non-sequitur to this, how long does it take to craft the phylactery? DO you just pay the 120,000ish and xp and that's it? Or do you have to spen ~250 days to make it?

Craft Wondrous Item [Item Creation]
Prerequisite

Caster level 3rd.
Benefit

You can create any wondrous item whose prerequisites you meet. Enchanting a wondrous item takes one day for each 1,000 gp in its price. To enchant a wondrous item, you must spend 1/25 of the item’s price in XP and use up raw materials costing half of this price.

You can also mend a broken wondrous item if it is one that you could make. Doing so costs half the XP, half the raw materials, and half the time it would take to craft that item in the first place.

Some wondrous items incur extra costs in material components or XP, as noted in their descriptions. These costs are in addition to those derived from the item’s base price. You must pay such a cost to create an item or to mend a broken one.

So you would spend 125 days, 62500 GP and 5000 XP.

And trust me, if someone breaks it and I'm still alive and need to craft another, Im gonna be PISSED

 

[ExMachina]

So you would spend 125 days, 62500 GP and 5000 XP.

And trust me, if someone breaks it and I'm still alive and need to craft another, Im gonna be PISSED

I'll bet, but according to Monster Manual, the phylactery costs 120,00gp and 4,800xp to create. So wouldn't that be an actual 120,000gp and 240 days? You'll be even more pissed then.