So I've been making a big bad villain for my campaign and I'd like him to be immortal. However, after pondering a bit, I couldn't imagine how to actually do it without being an alchemist or achieving lichdom. Aside from those two, are there any spells or magical items that allow for immortality?
What level/CR do you want to make him? Wizards and Monks of the Four Winds get immortality at 20.
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A villain I have planned is a Monk of the Four Winds who managed to get trapped in the center of the earth by an foe. After a few centuries, and thousands of reincarnations, he emerged from the earth as both insane and evil. Think of all the racial hatreds, all the different bonuses, thought processes and natural alignment tendencies for every race. Now have a man who's experienced them all.
What level/CR do you want to make him? Wizards and Monks of the Four Winds get immortality at 20.
--Edit--
A villain I have planned is a Monk of the Four Winds who managed to get trapped in the center of the earth by an foe. After a few centuries, and thousands of reincarnations, he emerged from the earth as both insane and evil. Think of all the racial hatreds, all the different bonuses, thought processes and natural alignment tendencies for every race. Now have a man who's experienced them all.
Admittedly probably not that high. Looking at the Wizard immortality, while it looks good, I'd also like to tag in the 'looking younger' part too. I'd rather not limit the BBEG to just being a Wizard.
What about the Clone Spell. You could have the BBEG have a high level wizard or alchemist make it for him. Though this would only be immortality in the combat sense. You could also make an artifact item that keeps him young and immortal. Then he could be any class you want.
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Could make him a druid that is reincarnated over and over again...."I have lived for millenia, in every type of body imaginable. You can never imagine the things I've learned and done unless you too lived as I. Sadly, you won't get that chance for now you shall die."
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that could also lend to his eventual return....an outsider that the druid has a deal with arrives after his death to wisk his mortal shell away to a safe area where the reincarnation that was Contingencied on him goes off.... He shows up in another campaign in a different form.
Contingency is a 6th level wizard spell that he could have someone cast on him, while reincarnate is only 4th level druid....he wouldn't need to be that high of a level.
You could give him a template to make him an outsider (native).
Or, you could just rule 0 it, your villain came across a magic item, or is cursed. Living forever doesn`t really matter in a fight, so it`s not like you`re making him unbalanced. You`re the Dm, make up a story reason.
simple outsider template of some kind is probably easiest, or a kind of undead, or an awakened construct (via the spell), half dragon might be immortal or as near to it as to show no difference, high level monk or wizard has already been mentioned, that weird druid archtype that makes you auto reincarnate when you die.
i'd just go with rule 0 and give him a magic painting.
It is also entirely possible for immortality to be either a curse or an accident. Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman" has the first and Mary Shelley's "The Mortal Immortal" has the second.
Basically, as said before, it's an NPC. Rule 0 whatever it is you feel like and use whatever explanation seems reasonable. Having the same methods not open to the players is fine.
reincarnated druid archetype: 5th level gets the 'many lives' ability which is effectively immortality.
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The Ultimate Magic book describes "arcane discoveries" that wizards can take in place of feats. One of them is Immortality, though the character in question needs to be 20th level. There are numerous other ways, depending on what you consider to be immortal and what material you are drawing from for the game. As already mentioned, reincarnation and clones are good choices. Other threads have discussed the use of Magic Jar and Temporal Stasis spells (perhaps the BBEG has a custom version?). You could simply use a GM caveat to declare that the villian had drank from a fountain of youth, and afterwards he slowly detached from humanity as he watched all those he knew die. There are several characters is books that use a similar idea. The Haunted Lands series of books by Richard Lee Byers has a character with a similar "problem." One of my favorite characters of all time is Erevis Cale, first appearring in the Sembis series, who eventually became an undying shade. Also consider the grand old villian, perhaps the biggest bad guy any group of characters could have ever stood against in any RPG: Iuz the Evil. Should you decide to go the demigod route with your BBEG, Iuz offers some hints as to what a nasty ascended being can do while still walking the material plane.
If you want an immortal villain that has a young look to them, or the appearance of not aging. Many ideas have been posted, now how about something a little different.
Make the villain an intelligent weapon that possesses who ever wields it, using their physical stats, but using the weapons mental stats.
As far as the weapon, mithral or adamantine should work for materials, unless you want a less civilized weapon, then go with iron-wood or dragon-bone.
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Use your DM powers and give him the Unkillable feature. He can be reduced to 0 at which point he is either teleported to a safe haven or transforms into something weak but immune to attacks.
Just don't share details of the villain, such as class/powers/preprepared abilities and hit points with your table.
DMs are the only people in this game allowed to cheat, as long as it's constructive and furthers enjoyment of gameplay.
I've used Immortality as a curse more than once.
I like the intelligent weapon idea, that's a pain to kill off though.
Do Simulacrums age? If not, you could use one as the BBEG. The original might be long dead, ascended to godhood/lichdom, or just off doing other things. Makes for a good continuation hook once the players kill the villein. If you want to wrap the campaign, he was just a forgotten relic. If you want to keep going, there is someone out there with at least twice the HD of the guy you just offed.
Limited wish allows one to cast reincarnate, combine that with contingency and you can come back from the dead with a young adult body.
You could give him a template to make him an outsider (native).
Is there something printed in the rules that says Outsiders, particularly Native Outsiders, don't age? I couldn't find anything in my quick look...
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All of these are wonderful examples of how to do it and most of them require DM fiat to make it work. If you want to do it with less work then that there are 2 REALLY easy ways to do it.
For an Immortal arcane caster play a beast bonded witch (Ultimate magic, witch archetype). At 10th level whenever they die their souls flee to their familiar and from there can permanently possess another body. They can do this forever and make them immortal and insanely hard to permanently kill.
For an immortal Melee character take the Living Monolith Prestige Class (Osirion companion book). At 10th level they become immortal automatically. No fuss no muss and massive combat bonuses to make them a pain to fight and kill.
These are the easiest ways of doing this without GM fiat or needing to be super high level.
What level/CR do you want to make him? Wizards and Monks of the Four Winds get immortality at 20.
--Edit--
A villain I have planned is a Monk of the Four Winds who managed to get trapped in the center of the earth by an foe. After a few centuries, and thousands of reincarnations, he emerged from the earth as both insane and evil. Think of all the racial hatreds, all the different bonuses, thought processes and natural alignment tendencies for every race. Now have a man who's experienced them all.That is an awesome idea for a villain! I wasn't familiar with the ability and looked it up, and found a problem though. When you reincarnate, you get 2 negative levels. If you get to 1st level, you take 2 points of con damage, until you reach 0 there, then you're dead for good. Also, you can only appear in your new body within 20 miles, and you must have visited the place you reappear. So, if he was say teleported to the center, he couldn't reincarnate his way back out.
Not saying this to shoot your idea down, I really do think it's an awesome villain, just pointing out what I see as some rules problems with the concept so you can fix them. I'd really like to hear how he goes some day :)
He would be a Quinggong Monk with Restoration and Quickened Spell Like Ability. His turn would be Standard(Restoration), Swift(Restoration), Movement(Dimension Door). Part of the hell would be that he wouldn't know which direction is up, so he has a brief 1-3 turns of life and movement he might be heading in the wrong direction. I would rule the term "visited" as a place he walked near before he died. Meaning that the first turn he gets teleported into the Mantel he has "visited" that area of the Mantel.
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I would rule that you could use Restoration more than once in a week as well. That change is for the players as well!
Well, if you are looking for a less mechanic-centric way to create an immortal simply center the campaign around the Test of the Star Stone, and have the BBEG trying to reach god-hood/immortality through the test. That way you can run him and his agents through all levels, have him be a recuring villain, and in the end simply have him become immortal with the PCs using their near god-like powers, assuming level 20, trying to take him down as a last ditch effort/ final battle senario. Granted it is rather tied to Golarian, so if your running home-brew stuff this may not be up your ally.
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So I've been making a big bad villain for my campaign and I'd like him to be immortal. However, after pondering a bit, I couldn't imagine how to actually do it without being an alchemist or achieving lichdom. Aside from those two, are there any spells or magical items that allow for immortality?
You're the GM. POOF! He's immortal.
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Why is this concept always reserved for spellcasters?
It's fantasy, you can do anything you want.
How about the God of Battles appearing befor Grokk the Mighty.
"GROKK THERE ARE TOO MANY ARROGANT SPELLCASTERS IN THE WORLD. I WILL EXTEND YOUR BOOZING AND WENCHING TIME UPON THIS HURTLING SPHERE BY TEN YEARS FOR EVERY ONE SPELLCASTER YOU SLAY!!!"
Grokk: "Yea, verily! Now that's what I'm talking about!!!"
You misspelled AM BARBARIAN.
5 levles of druid can effectively give you immortality. The reincarnate spell indicates you have a young body.
Reincarnated Druid (Archetype)
Spun off into the endless circle of life, an incarnate druid is an embodiment of nature's eternal renewal. She lives many lives and wanders the world devoid of attachments, a stranger to all yet one with all life.
Mysterious Stranger (Ex) : At 2nd level, a reincarnated druids adds 1/2 her druid level to the DC of Sense Motive , Diplomacy , and Knowledge checks to learn about her. This ability replaces woodland stride.
Resist Death's Touch (Ex) : At 4th level, a reincarnated druid gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against death effects, energy drain, and necromancy effects, and on stabilization checks when dying. This ability replaces resist nature's lure.
Many Lives (Ex) : At 5th level, if a reincarnated druid is killed, she may automatically reincarnate (as the spell) 1 day later. The reincarnated druid appears in a safe location within 1 mile of her previous body. At will for the next 7 days, she can sense the presence of her remains as if using locate object as a spell-like ability. If she is killed during these 7 days, she remains dead and does not reincarnate. The many lives ability does not function ifthe reincarnated druid is slain by a death effect. A reincarnated druid cannot be raised from the dead or resurrected, though she can be reincarnated.
Wild Shape (Su) : A reincarnated druid gains this ability at 6th level, and it functions at her druid level – 2.
Cheat Death (Ex) : At 9th level, once per day, a reincarnated druid may reroll a save against a death effect, energy drain, or necromancy effect before the result of the roll is revealed, or reroll a failed stabilization check while dying. She must take the result of the second roll, even if it is worse than the original roll. This ability replaces venom immunity.
Tongue of the Sun and Moon (Ex) : At 15th level, a reincarnated druid can speak with any living creature. This ability replaces timeless body.
Of course you could always take the Dorian Grey approach. Of course if I had a painting that I could never look at it woudl be sequestered on the astral plane in a chunk of cement, but that's just me. I think a dragon magazine actually statted the painting somewhere, though it would hardly be necessary.
Why is this concept always reserved for spellcasters?
It's fantasy, you can do anything you want.
How about the God of Battles appearing befor Grokk the Mighty.
"GROKK THERE ARE TOO MANY ARROGANT SPELLCASTERS IN THE WORLD. I WILL EXTEND YOUR BOOZING AND WENCHING TIME UPON THIS HURTLING SPHERE BY TEN YEARS FOR EVERY ONE SPELLCASTER YOU SLAY!!!"
Grokk: "Yea, verily! Now that's what I'm talking about!!!"
That's actually not bad. Imagine if AM BARBARIAN got this deal.