Well, if you have 235,000 gp, I would suggest just using a Staff of Power.
One other fun one is to make it something the players are likely to keep, like a spellbook.
What class/level is the lich?
In the game I'm running, I have a 12th level Conjurer lich that has his phylactery stored in a room 300ft. underground under his lair. The room has no entrances or exits; he dug it up and sealed it off with multiple castings of stoneshape, and uses his Dimensional Steps ability to get in and out of it. Seems pretty secure to me.
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I suggest a lot of lead to encase it. Most any divination spell can be flat out stopped by it so invest. What type of caster is this lich, so long as he can teleport hide it underground and be sure he can teleport out. I have actually played a lich before in a campaign, one of the better things to do is make a decoy, once the original is hidden have him carry a similar item on his person.
Keeping it in a stoneshaped chamber 300 ft underground is a great idea. Lining that chamber with 3 feet of lead on all surfaces makes it even better. Then cast Teleport Trap such that it encompasses the entire chamber, with a password bypass known only by the lich. Permancy the teleport trap, and have the teleport trap send anyone who doesn't use the password to the middle of a desert. Preferably that location in the middle of the desert also coincides with a powerful creature's lair (like just inside the entrance to an ancient blue dragon's cave).
Also, keep one (preferably two) iron golems (or whatever kind of golems you can afford) as guardians in that chamber with instructions to kill anyone other than the lich who enters the chamber.
The Lich is a level 20/mythic rank 2 Undead Sorcerer. He is currently "dead", his body will be reforming in 6 days. The players saved his phylactery before it could be destroyed by these crusaders, and now they're protecting it in order to curry favor with the lich for knowledge related to their bigger mission. The Lich's fortress is currently overtaken so they have none of the protections or resources the Lich had originally around his phylactery.
What kind of mobility to the PCs have, compared to the crusaders? It may be best simply to keep moving so that the crusaders don't have a chance to reach the phylactery, if the PCs have superior mobility.
I should clarify what I was mentioning above...
The idea is to stick the orb inside of something where it wouldn't be out of place, would always be on the players (and thus easy to transport), or an item where destroying it to get to the orb would be... suicidal.
Thus, the suggestions of a Staff of Power and a spellbook.
But how would they put it in the staff? If they bought one it would be hard to place it inside without breaking it and causing the massive damage, and they don't have enough time to craft one because by then the Lich would have returned and their task completed. Or am I misinterpreting what you mean by protecting it with a Staff of Power?I should clarify what I was mentioning above...
The idea is to stick the orb inside of something where it wouldn't be out of place, would always be on the players (and thus easy to transport), or an item where destroying it to get to the orb would be... suicidal.
Thus, the suggestions of a Staff of Power and a spellbook.
Hollow out a small portion and slip the bead in there. Should take no more than a couple hours of work, half a day at the most.
That's not a bad idea. If the PCs keep teleporting they should be able to keep pace for a few days, but the crusaders have a wizard to keep up at a relative pace and might end up catching on and dimensional anchoring them. But it would be a good way to burn a few days for the Lich to regenerate.
Do you know how the crusaders are able to track the phylactery? If they're simply tracking the PCs, the witch casting Mind Blank on the four of them each day will put a stop to that. If they're able to track the phylactery directly, that's much more difficult. I'm not aware of any spell that stops Discern Location except for Mind Blank - which doesn't work on objects.
Edit: How many crusaders are there pursuing the PCs?
What about using a Bag of Concealment, according to the description anything placed in the bag's pocket is "undetectable" though that may be fluff.
Get the witch to swallow it. Edit - use Poly Any Object to make it super small (not Imp sized as OP mentioned in a later post).
Ensure witch has a Mind Blank and other protective spells active (contingencies, etc). Ensure all the companions of said witch are Mind Blanked too. Keep the group as untrackable as possible.
Then, enchant some small glass orb to make it *look* like a phylactery and act like that item is the one you are protecting at all costs (lead lined box, etc). Make a decoy device, heck, make a few.
Trying to get to the swallowed glass bead should prove to be difficult. Although there are certain practical issues involved (digestion being what it is...), at least you know where it is at all times.
Alternately, and playing upon Insaneogeddon (great handle, BTW) idea of the bunny - use Poly Any Object to turn Glass Orb INTO a creature, say, a bunny, and then Imprison the bunny (perhaps after casting Mind Blank on the bunny too). People will be looking for an Orb - not a creature. Heck, Poly Any Object the orb into "Bob the Commoner", put a Mind Blank on him, and keep him around in the biggest city there is. Security through obscurity. Just stay close by. Also, you'll have to refresh that Poly Any Object on a regular basis.
Edit again - ok, Bob isn't viable (20 minutes isn't too good). But, Poly Any Object into a creature, Mind Blanking the creature and THEN using Imprisonment would work very nicely, I think.
How are the crusaders finding/chasing you? Surely you are all protected by mindblank and similar effects, aren't you?
Once you teleport you should be GONE as far as they are concerned unless one of their allies chances seeing you and reports to them.
Permanently polymorph it into a common rock. Drop it in the local equivalent of the Mariana trench. Take a six-day power-nap. Demand payment.
EDIT Go anachronistic. Polymorph it into an old Nokia phone. GIVE it to the crusaders. Laugh diabolically/uncontrolably/maniacally.
Probably the only reason I worry about dropping it somewhere "hard to get to" is that it cedes the initiative to the opposition (read: DM). So now, instead of having to contend with the active defenses of a party, he just has to solve a problem - how do I find and get to the phylactery? And magic has a way of making the impossible very possible.
As an unattended item, couldn't it just be "wished" into your hand? Or something equally easy?
So, I'd keep the phylactery close and "attended". I want a character to save against an effect, not an unattended object. Makes it harder to find and destroy, I think.
Keep mindblank up at all times, and have a contingency spell up to teleport away when your hit points drop to a certain point.
Also try to hide the fact that you are a lich. If they dont know you are a lich, they wont know to look for a phylactery.
If they had enough time, I would suggest hiding the orb inside a bricked-up wall in a monastery.
Make it smaller and have a character replace one of their eyes with it.
I think the best way too hide something like that is both extremely well hidden as wel as in plain sight.
So a well protected room (lead, mindblank etc.) will work. But make sure that the rooms( seems) to be a treasure room with several chest full of coins. Place the phylactery inside a plain simple lock chest containing copper coins, but make sure that the other chests in the room are more ornate and better locked. Simple lead lined hidden compartments in the simple chest could hide the philactery and make sure several fake phylacteries (or even spare phylacteries) are in the room as well. It's smart to use some obvious fakes as well as some reserve phylacteries and one fake one using all kinds of magics to obscure it's non-functioning. Fake magic aura and such. And trap the most expensive chest with the best lock.
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You could Poly Any Object the phylactery into just another copper coin. Put some high powered anti-divination spells on it. Then cast Magic Aura (1 day/level) on the coin so that it doesn't radiate magic. Hide in a treasure trove with 100,000 other copper coins.
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Make phalactery out of something NOBODY has touched, feed it to a bunny rabbit, cast imprisonment on the bunny rabbit.
= No discern location, no one will use wish or miracle to find some random missing bunny never mind find the spot and cast freedom there.
PS make it a spot easy to destroy after you cast imprisonment - the side of a volcanic mountain, a small island you can disintegrate etc and so even if some gm bs means they find the place they cannot even cast freedom.
This is pretty excellent, except that the lich might not be able to reform its body in such circumstances. My refinement:
1) Craft a clockwork soldier, or other strong, relatively cheap construct that is not immune to spells.
2) Name the construct. Tell no one the name.
3) Give the construct a great wooden chest, large enough for a lich’s body to regrow in. Toss in a scroll of greater teleport and the phylactery.
4) Cast Imprisonment on the construct.
Just keep up your healthy paranoia (you got to this level by being paranoid, not reckless) and teleport to the biggest cathedral of Asmodeus in the biggest evil empire in the world. Hang out with your new evil buddies and regale them with tales of the weaknesses of the crusaders. If the heroes show up, just teleport to the next biggest cathedral of Asmodeus... Why fight fair, the enemy of your enemy is your friend.
Alright Pathfinder pros, in our group we have a level 20 Cleric of Asmodeus (Evil, Trickery) and a level 20 Witch with the Enchantment Patron, along with a Monk and an Anti-Paladin. They need to protect a Lich's phylactery, which is a Tiny glass orb for this particular Lich. Using these two spell lists, what protections should be placed on it to prevent heroes from breaking it.
- It cannot be taken away from Earth, such as being sent into space or plane shifted to a different plane.
- No uses of Miracle, Wish, or similar such magic may be used to fortify/protect it.
- They cannot hire any casters above 9th level to assist them with additional spell lists.
- They currently have a little over 200,000 gp in coinage to spend on components and/or magic items.Looking mostly for different kinds of spells to place on the phylactery, but suggestions such as placing it into a welded steel box and dropping it into the ocean or similar such shenanigans are also appreciated and considered.
Phylactery protection in these simple steps.
Step 1. Get naked and prepare your spells.Step 2. Cast a contingency with the trigger of "I want to be destroyed" and then anchor a self-destructive spell such as undeath to death.
Step 3. Use greater teleport to explore the cosmos and find a nice planet somewhere out in the material plane that's uninhabited and fairly safe.
Step 3-A. Should your explorations go awry and you would somehow get stuck in space (say the planet you teleported to isn't there anymore for some reason) you can simply allow your contingency to go off, willingly fail the save, and try again in 1d10 days.
Step 4. Place your phylactery on this planet. Preferably a planet that is hostile to life, such as one with unpleasant gravity, lack of breathable air, poison gases, a waterless wasteland, no atmosphere, etc. Given that most phylacteries before magical enhancements have a hardness equivalent to adamantine it should be safe.
Optional
Option 1. Ideally, use craft wondrous item to make a permanent private sanctum effect bound to your phylactery.
Option 2. Make your phylactery an Intelligent magic item (only +500 gp) which makes it into a construct and a creature.
Option 2.A. Cast mind blank on your phylactery (which can now be targeted by it as a creature). It is now immune to all attempts to divine it.
Option 2.B. Cast imprisonment via yourself or a magic item that you have created on your phylactery, which sets your phylactery in stasis, untouchable, timelessly, at the center of whatever planet you decided on, impossible to affect or divine.
Alright Pathfinder pros, in our group we have a level 20 Cleric of Asmodeus (Evil, Trickery) and a level 20 Witch with the Enchantment Patron, along with a Monk and an Anti-Paladin. They need to protect a Lich's phylactery, which is a Tiny glass orb for this particular Lich. Using these two spell lists, what protections should be placed on it to prevent heroes from breaking it.
- It cannot be taken away from Earth, such as being sent into space or plane shifted to a different plane.
- No uses of Miracle, Wish, or similar such magic may be used to fortify/protect it.
- They cannot hire any casters above 9th level to assist them with additional spell lists.
- They currently have a little over 200,000 gp in coinage to spend on components and/or magic items.Looking mostly for different kinds of spells to place on the phylactery, but suggestions such as placing it into a welded steel box and dropping it into the ocean or similar such shenanigans are also appreciated and considered.
if the lich is reforming in 6 days just hold on to it until then. And when he he reforms force him to help you. What kind of badguys go around helping Each others. Threaten to destroy his phyllactry You wont be able to spend 200000 on item creation in 6 Day any Way.
If you (a lich) reforms within an imprisonment spell (assuming that's possible) how are you not then trapped in stasis within the imprisonment spell yourself?
If you (a lich) reforms within an imprisonment spell (assuming that's possible) how are you not then trapped in stasis within the imprisonment spell yourself?
You're not affected by imprisonment. There is no "within an imprisonment spell". The worst argument would be that you might end up reforming in a nearby cave that won't result in your destruction, at which point Spell Mastery (including greater teleport or similar traveling spell) pretty much takes care of your returning to your regularly schedule.
If you (a lich) reforms within an imprisonment spell (assuming that's possible) how are you not then trapped in stasis within the imprisonment spell yourself?You're not affected by imprisonment. There is no "within an imprisonment spell". The worst argument would be that you might end up reforming in a nearby cave that won't result in your destruction, at which point Spell Mastery (including greater teleport or similar traveling spell) pretty much takes care of your returning to your regularly schedule.
Ahh. So you're reforming near the "small sphere far beneath the surface of the ground" and not within the sphere itself. Gotcha.
That's rather brilliant actually.
A Phylactery is not a creature so improsonment wont work on it. But wrap it up and give it to some guy and cast the spell on him:)
A Phylactery is not a creature so improsonment wont work on it. But wrap it up and give it to some guy and cast the spell on him:)
If you make the Phylactery an intelligent item for +500 gp, it is now considered a construct and thus, a creature.
If all else fails, you can cast invisibility on it and toss it through a portal into the Plane of Air.
A Phylactery is not a creature so improsonment wont work on it. But wrap it up and give it to some guy and cast the spell on him:)If you make the Phylactery an intelligent item for +500 gp, it is now considered a construct and thus, a creature.
Giving your soul to another creature is a bad idea. Even if you make it NE or whatever flavor or evil, if you seal it away long enough it is guaranteed to turn on you thanks to a combination of Murphy's Law and the narrative imperative. And then it starts gaining new powers as the plot demands.
Giving your soul to another creature is a bad idea. Even if you make it NE or whatever flavor or evil, if you seal it away long enough it is guaranteed to turn on you thanks to a combination of Murphy's Law and the narrative imperative. And then it starts gaining new powers as the plot demands.A Phylactery is not a creature so improsonment wont work on it. But wrap it up and give it to some guy and cast the spell on him:)If you make the Phylactery an intelligent item for +500 gp, it is now considered a construct and thus, a creature.
The idea is to turn your Phylactery into an intelligent item. Cast Mind Blank on the creature, then cast Imprisonment. For the creature, time stops flowing (so Mind Blank never runs out). All of the spells used to gather information about the creature are now blocked by Mind Blank except perhaps Wish/Miracle, but even then there is an argument there.
So, now your Phylactery is Imprisoned below the surface of the planet in an undetectable field of temporal stasis and can't be found due to Mind Blank. The Phylactery can't turn against you because it can't take actions and isn't even aware of the time passing.
It just stays there... forever. No one can find it, no one can destroy it.
"I wish X's phylactery is destroyed." Imprisonment doesn't block wish. Mind Blank doesn't stop a wish from affecting you, so long as the wish isn't trying to get information about you.
"I wish X's phylactery is destroyed." Imprisonment doesn't block wish. Mind Blank doesn't stop a wish from affecting you, so long as the wish isn't trying to get information about you.
I don't recall 'destroying something' as falling under the purview of Wish... at least not RAW anyway :P
At best, you're looking at using Wish to duplicate something like Disintegrate on the Phylactery. Won't work though, because Imprisonment places the subject in a state of suspended animation and then references the Temporal Stasis Spell which says the following:
You place the subject into a state of suspended animation. For the creature, time ceases to flow, and its condition becomes fixed. The creature does not grow older. Its body functions virtually cease, and no force or effect can harm it. This state persists until the magic is removed (such as by a successful dispel magic spell or a freedom spell).
No force or effect (including Wish spells) can harm a target in a suspended animation. If the very planet itself were to suddenly be engulfed by a star, and the star were to suddenly go super nova and explode, the Phylactery would still be there, in it's little bubble of suspended animation.
I'm sure a properly-worded wish could. "I wish X's phylactery no longer existed" is, technically, not harm, but semantics. "I wish X's phylactery and its surroundings were no longer magical" also works to make it useless, although the dispel check technically might not succeed. In the end, secrecy is the best defense.
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I'm sure a properly-worded wish could. "I wish X's phylactery no longer existed" is, technically, not harm, but semantics. "I wish X's phylactery and its surroundings were no longer magical" also works to make it useless, although the dispel check technically might not succeed. In the end, secrecy is the best defense.
Sure, but remember, the only RAW Wishes are those outlined in the Wish spell, so at best, the carefully worded wish would result in a spell attempting to destroy the phylactery (which would be harming it and doesn't work) and wishing away it's magic would, at best, result in a possible Mage's Disjunction on the Phylactery; as there is a 5% chance of the item's magic being permanently destroyed (roll a natural 1).
Remember, the current incarnation of Wish in Pathfinder is the least powerful it's ever been in any incarnation of D&D. In previous games you could wish for wealth or magic items or carefully worded wishes such as yours, but that's not how it works in Pathfinder.
To get an effect that you want, would be more inline with the Miracle spell.
Realistically though, if the crusaders were going to use Miracle/Wish in such a way, they would have already used them.
With imprisonment the only access is if you cast freedom on the same spot. You just destroy the spot and your golden.
Volcanoes on islands are good for that - i will never forget Vesuvius, i heard Dave Arneson once say it was totally worth it all those years ago to hide his phylactery ; )
How do you destroy a place. Change it yes. Burn it Down yes. But it is still there.
I suddenly realised something.
Would it be possible to hide your phylactery in another time??
Like on the same planet you are on but a proto-planet or far into the future???
Would a wish accomplish such a scheme????? (perhaps temporary and simply rehide every now and then??)
Places in dnd are places not time/space coordinates.
what Does this sentence meen?