Dave Meyer's page

Well, as this has apparently blown up to the part where the GM and the other players have made it abundantly clear that they are not going to do anything to resolve this situation you have a few options.

#1 role up a new character. My advice would be to NOT make a cleric BTW. Pick another class you enjoy, and play that. If that results in no healer for the party, oh well. Because the GM and the other players have made it abundantly clear that they dissaprove of such characters, don't play one.

#2: Play your cleric just as you are but make it very clear that so long as that undead abomination is the property, or pet, or whatever of the ranger in question that you flat out refuse to in any way, shape, or form do anything to aid, comfort, or protect, said ranger. To use your divinely given power to do so would be a violation of the tenents of your faith that you cannot, and will not do. Ranger needs healing? Kill the abomination. Ranger needs buffs? Kill the abomination.

Same goes with those who have decided, for whatever reason, that you are somehow in the wrong for following the tenents of your faith, and have actually attacked you to protect this abomination? There is a word for those people, it is "Heretic" and they should get the same amount of help from you as they gave to you. None.

While this may cause strife, and cries of foul from the offending players, stick to your guns. Point out, repeatedly, that they knew what your characters beliefs where before this even came up, and they still decided that having a horse you don't have to feed is more important than the aid of the party cleric. So be it. It is not your decision, you do not condone it, and while you will not attack the abomination, you will certainly make it be known that there are consequences to their decisions and this is one of them.

What "shell game" are you talking about?? Not sure how you come to that conclusion if his DM was in on it from the start of the campaign. And without knowing what the stats/race/etc. are of the other PC's involved. What is the STR of the barb/monk? (and GAH what a messed up class combo THAT is). What are the power levels of the rest of them? You are jumping to conclusions based on limited information, and screaming "munchkin!!" without all the facts.

The op has deliberatly gimped himself for half the game (If this even makes it to 20th level that is) for a DM approved payoff, that will certainly gain him plenty of new enemies, and new problems. I don't know about your campaign, but there are very few (as in none) lich's casually strolling around my towns and cities, or kipping down to the market for a shiny new toy. Dunno, something about an ambulatory skeleton just puts people off, who'da thunk it?

As a DM I am a bit confused by some of responses the OP has gotten. He and his DM obviously sat down and set up, from the very beginning, for this character to become a lich, or DIE. He has taken significant penelties to his stats, and roleplayed out this lack of stats, and done so in an intelligent manner. All with the stated goal, again one agreed to by his DM, to become a lich. And I see very little difference in his physical stats than from a venerable human commoner either. (Str 2, Dex 6, Con 4)

Will that make him more powerfull? Yes, absolutly. Does it make him overpowered? Nope, not at all. Again, this is something that was PLANNED. If I were running this campaign I would probably make him "sit out" a level for the other players to make up for the LA. But that is about it. And even if/when he does become a lich, his spells are still going to be the same,

Not sure if I was in his shoes if I would have gone to the extreme he has to get to that point, but from an RP perspective he certainly seems to have gone the extra mile to achieve his goal. Personally I would have opted for a Dread Necromancer build, gotten better stats (with the exception of the CHA), better spells, and still would have ended up becoming a lich.

How about a happy medium between the two? Instead of 10 + 1/2 caster level + Ability score modifier have it instead spell level + 1/2 caster level + ability score modifier. This way, the Save DC scales with both caster level AND spell level, and again, makes those lower level spells usefull at higher levels.

Been using this as a house rule for some time, and it has gone a long way towards closing the gap between saves and DC's.