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OK so I was rereading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in preparation for the movie.
And I realized something! Lord Voldermort is a Lich! Didn't realize it first time around.
So I started thinking of using a lich as the BBEG of a series of adventures and I wanted to make sure the PCs knew he was a lich. So of course they will have to destroy its phylactery which is the same as Voldermort's horcruxes.
So, I figure on having the lich split his soul into 3 phylacteries instead of just one.
Now, this is just early story planning so far. But I figure that the Lich has already split up his soul and is now building his power. He has a few minions to help already. What he needs is a base of operations so he can then spread out and absorb one town at a time.
I thought about using Varisia as my starting country, with the Lich conquering Kaer Maga first, then spreading south towards Korvosa.
First problem I have is the ridiculous rule that one cannot control more undead in HD than twice your level. This is a serious Necromancer Lich I want, not some Sunday afternoon tea party! I need an ARMY of undead.
Is there a mechanic already out there that will let me do this? Or do I need to custom create a spell or feat or something to let me do this?
First problem I have is the ridiculous rule that one cannot control more undead in HD than twice your level. This is a serious Necromancer Lich I want, not some Sunday afternoon tea party! I need an ARMY of undead.
Is there a mechanic already out there that will let me do this? Or do I need to custom create a spell or feat or something to let me do this?
In all seriousness...
FUDGE it...the story is what matters, not splitting hairs over printed rules.
I agree that you should just fudge it. If the players ask then say that he created new spells. being undead means having a lot of extra time when a live person would need to be worrying about sleeping and eating to spend on spell research instead.
Definitly fudge it.
The reason your lich can split his soul into peices and make more than one phalactory and the reason he can control so many undead may lie with him finding some ancient artifact (a Book or Tablet perhaps) with dark instructions on how to do so.
Artifacts are great. They are magic items so powerful they are broken and are the perfect excuse for fudging rules. :)
1) Techincally, the limit is your caster level times 4, not 2 (I think you're remembering the rule that you can only creeate an skeleton or zombie with up to double your caster level in a single casting of animate dead). However...
2) ...You remain absolutely correct that this is a pain in the arse for creating BBEGs with an army of the restless dead. A 20th level necromancer can only command up to 80 default human skeletons? Weak! The typical explanation is to have a large number of clerics allied with the BBEG, who can create and command undead of their own. That, or a whole cabal of lesser necromancers. This still doesn't pan out to that many undead, however. Plus, having that many underlings running around just so you can get the undead horde mojo working doesn't jive with every BBEG.
3) So, yeah; fudge it! I like the artifact idea. Corny as it may be, Army of Darkness comes to mind (if only for the Necronomicon). Basically, if a DM just pulls something out of their rear, the players can theoretically object to it. But if the DM just adds, "Oh, he's got an artifact which lets him do this," then it's completely legal!
Artifacts:
Cheesy as hell? Yes.
A DM's best friend? Hell yes.
Dragon magasine no 340 and an artifac cald the black chauldron that i think alowd you to control more undead than normaly
Some useful books for this: Libris Mortis, Heroes of Horror, and the Spell Compendium. The first two have useful feats too (particularly LM).
Some useful classes: True Necromancer (14-level PrC, LM) and Dread Necromancer (base class, HoH). In my opinion, the True Necromancer offers more, including more power over the Undead, and casting spells as a Cleric 15 and Wizard 15 at L 20 (assuming entry as Cleric 3/Wizard 3). The Dread Necromancer has always struck me as being more like a thug and lich-wannabe (who actually becomes a lich at L 20).
Some useful spells: General of Undeath (Cleric 8/SpC), Undead Lieutenant (Wizard 3/SpC), and Plague of Undead (Cleric 9, Wizard 9/SpC). There are of course many more in all three books.
(And I've just noticed a potentially powerful combination, albeit not so with regard to controlling Undead: Cleric 3/Wizard 3/Mystic Theurge 10/True Necromancer 4. At L 20 this character is casting spells as a Cleric 16 and Wizard 16.)
And don't forget Practised Spellcaster (C.Arc.) to increase the caster level for one or both entry classes!
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Is there a mechanic already out there that will let me do this? Or do I need to custom create a spell or feat or something to let me do this?
Somewhere there is a feat that lets you double the HD you can control.
You can use leadership, with a variant somewhere, for undead followers.
You can use lieutenants to control lesser undead.
Finally, use free-willed undead that are just loyal. You do not get the same total control, but you get more hordes of dead things. If you dig out the Eberron Campaign Sourcebook there are Karnathi skeletons and zombies. Libris Mortis has necropolitans.
You still ultimately hit a limit of just how many 1 HD skeletons and 2 HD zombies and such you can have running around directly controlled by a single individual, and there is no way around that without a fiat rules change. With the above techniques you should be able to manage a decent army.
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OK how's this then...
Our yet to be named Lich is wearing a necklace made from the vertebrae of other liches. Each vertebra contains the essence of the slain lich, lending its power to command undead to the wearer. There are 10 vertebrae in the necklace, averaging 18th level. This means the necklace alone adds 180 levels, with 4x HD commanded allowing 720HD undead to be commanded, in addition to the ones commanded by the lich himself. So, nearly 800HD undead commanded at a time!
Perhaps to spice it up a little, the necklace grants every undead a +2 vs turns and all undead are at max HP.
Is that too much you think?
It is a small army to be sure, but still an army. Not enough to conquer Korvosa, but there is a Ritual hidden in The Sunken Queen that grants unlimited numbers of undead control. This is the last place the lich has to visit before conquering Korvosa, and where the BBEG showdown should take place. The lich just doesn't know that is where the ritual is stored at...yet.
We can start the adventure in Kaer Maga without the necklace. Just a bunch of undead killing and spreading mayhem. The truth is our lich friend is stalking a lore master and is seeking the resting place of the necklace. The lich finds the lore master and forces the location of the necklace from his dying lips and learns about the ritual- but not the location of the ritual. He learns the necklace is hidden in the bottom of The Storval Deep. The PCs learn this also from a scrap of paper written during the attacks, in case the lore master is killed. It is found in a Tome. The Tome is written is a strange language that defies even magic to read it.
The PCs follow the lich to Storval Deep but get there too late and have to fight a few mer-zombies in an underwater temple. (problem is PCs need to breathe underwater at a low level...)
I am tired and this is as far as I have gotten so far. Need some help on the rest. :) Any ideas? Feel free to change anything so far to get a better idea. I really wanna challenge the PCs with this one.
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To add more horror you could have the ritual contained in "The Gluttonous Tome" (detailed in Magic of Thassilon web enhancement). Then not only do they eventually have to fight the lich but possibly the Runelord of Gluttony as well.
Where is Magic of Thassilon? I have not seen it. That sounds very interesting.
Perhaps the ritual to take such unlimited control over the undead involves the Runelord of Gluttony? What if the lich doesn't need to actually awaken him, but rather absorb his essence (destroying the dormant Runelord) and thus gainging his massive power. The party may then have to decide between unleashing the Runelord to prevent the Potter-esque lich from completing his plans, or trying to stop the BBEG themselves. If the party has to awaken the Runelord, he would like turn on his would-be attacker, but after that threat was ended, begin his own take-over-the-world plan. It could divide the campaign into two parts: first fighting the lich, who appears to be the BBEG; then the Runelord who really is the BBEG. Not sure if that's what you had in mind or if it interests you, but it would certainly be a twist for the players.
You might check out the Gazetter, Pathfinder Chronicals. There is an entire nation ruled by an ghost and his undead bloodlords called Ged.
To add more horror you could have the ritual contained in "The Gluttonous Tome" (detailed in Magic of Thassilon web enhancement). Then not only do they eventually have to fight the lich but possibly the Runelord of Gluttony as well.
Where is Magic of Thassilon? I have not seen it. That sounds very interesting.
Here is the link to More Magic of Thassilon. I have no idea why they didn't put the link on the PF 5 page!