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Background: Our group has been together for three years now, and one of our members is moving to a new state and will be leaving the group. I've decided to put together an "end" to their story (the rest of the party wants to reform w/new characters in the same world/story, so it will be a big ending) and I've been having a hard time of making this interesting.
Advice needed:
So, my party is all level 9 (Oracle, Magus, Investigator, Inquisitor, Summoner), yet due to some early power creep from pre-written materials, they can handle a CR14 fight pretty easily. The story has led them to make a contract with Pharasma who has them hunting down a Lich (which happened to be the same enemy that's been menacing them for the past year or more). They know what the phylactery is, and I will have Pharasma deliver it in an epic style after the fight (which will actually create a major change in the world after this happens, but they don't know that yet).
I need this lich fight to be AMAZING. I'm not sure what to do to make it more exciting though... The player who is leaving has requested that he is either killed, or sent to a demonic plane, and I need to figure out a way to have that happen through the lich (or something the lich summons). What are some ways to make this happen?
I also do *not* want this fight to be a Party vs 1-lich fight. I was thinking about making the lich also a necromancer (as this would piss off Phrasma even more), but not sure how to make this happen and also have the lich himself be exciting in combat?
Also, I'm looking for advice on what to make as a target CR for these combatants? This should be a VERY dangerous fight, and they know it, and are prepared. (very prepared)
I've built a couple of ideas for this lich... but ultimately end up not creating a great enemy, so I'm looking for all the help I can get! Thank you so much for the advice :D
Minions are easy enough to make and/or find. Easiest way to explain it off is with one of these and some undead evil party members.
Get some Desecrate going, and use necromancy to it's fullest.
Do you have access to Horror Adventures yet? There's good lich stuff in there.
Do you have a preference for the lich being an arcane caster, versus a divine one?
Having the lich be a cleric of Urgathoa might set up a dynamic opposition against Pharasma (and perhaps even helping to explain what may have delayed Pharasma in arriving with the phylactery, and perhaps what prevented her from simply destroying the lich outright herself). If you went in that direction, you could also build out a suitably powerful Antipaladin companion to provide some strong martial opposition.
This applies especially if you go with an arcane necromancer, but consider having Thanatopic Spell metamagic to counter the inevitable Death Ward that the PCs will throw up (or as I suspect they would, if they know they are fighting a Lich). That way you can pound them with things like Enervation.
Boneshatter can also be an effective spell for a necromancy focused caster. Nice combination of damage and debuff (and which will have some effect regardless of save).
I suspect others will also offer good advice on spending as much time on the terrain for the battle as the lich and its allies. It will be important that the martial PCs don't close out the Lich right away, and choice of terrain can assist with that (possibly combined with some clever illusions, such as cloaking the antipaladin in the guise of the Lich, for example, so the martial characters get sucked in).
To avoid the risk of an early death and anticlimatic fight, consider having a contingency effect in place to either teleport the Lich away to a different area at a certain pre-designated status, or something similar.
Plane Shift can be used offensively to remove an opponent from the fight.
Have the lich Plane Shift him to the Midnight Isles.
A lich wizard/sorcerer is pretty standard. I would highly suggest the new necromancer wizard archetype from Horror Adventures book.
With it the wizard can create swarms of undead (both controlled and uncontrolled) for the PCs to fight through. For extra points, make them bloody skeletons so that they don't actually die without special care being taken. You could swaths of them uncontrolled in the "foyer" of the dungeon where the lich resides (he doesn't worry about what they might do since he can simply lock them out and let them wait for any adventures to come through). He can have stronger bloody skeletons actually under his command in the area where he actually works and will make his defense.
Further, the wizard can use Planar Binding to bind things to protect him. With open ended tasks like "protect me" the bound creatures will stay for days per level, which will apparently be at least 14th level. This means he could reasonably have up to 14 bound outsiders by simply casting the spell once per day. It's only a 6th level spell, and he could cast it more than once per day but lets not go overboard. Some good choices would be either Barbed Devils or Hezrou Demons. You could even mix and match. I suggest having several of each be dedicated defenders for the lich. The lich will use his spell casting to help buff his minions and hamper the party.
Enervation is a powerful spell, the lich should probably have a couple prepared. Dominate Person is another great spell the lich should probably have prepared. A rod of persistent spell is very useful for making sure those spells have a good chance at sticking. Displacement and mirror image are both very good defensive spells. Overland flight for making sure the lich stays out of melee range. Permanent arcane sight with knowledge(arcane) check to know what spells the PCs have buffed themselves and several preparations of greater dispel magic to remove them.
A great tactic is using cloudkill, especially with having so many undead who will be immune to the effects. Combine it with wall of force to trap the PCs inside a particular location with the cloudkill.
Round 1 cast cloudkill using a rod of quicken spell, then cast wall of force to keep them from getting to you and your demon/devil bound minions. Round two, wait for the PCs to figure out how to deal with this scenario where lots of bloody skeletons have been waiting for them and they are now prevented from moving forward due to wall of force and being damaged by cloudkill.
The videogame Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance 2 has a curious battles vs a lich boss.
The lich is untouchable unless you destroyed all the phylacterires which were dispersed through all his castle. So the battles consisted in find secret doors and bbreak orbs while surviving the lich atacks and traps. In your party, some PC (tank casterd ones) would distract the lich while roguish and melee ones find the philacterie and destroy it
Another option: to use the Rasputin rules posted in Paizo blog to afford the lich to resurrect after dying, maybe in demilich form or en dread lich.
It's also worth noting...a relatively smart lich is probably going to have his phylactery some place hard to get to. Buried miles underground in a chamber of worked stone (to prevent earth glide) with the phylactery hidden in a sarcophagus made of lead with obscure object cast on the phylactery. Bonus points for using teleport trap to place would be heroes into someplace unfortunate, like a nearby underground lava chamber or a chamber filled with green slime and russet mold.
Now, I wont suggest actually doing this because you want your PCs to succeed at defeating the lich. And killing the lich to find that his phylactery is hidden away is going to only lengthen the adventure and very possibly lead to their deaths if they are not prepared for green slime/russet mold and I mean large chamber just filled with both. Like the whole ceiling is green slime and the floor is an alternating tile work of russet mold and green slime.
It's also worth noting...a relatively smart lich is probably going to have his phylactery some place hard to get to. Buried miles underground in a chamber of worked stone (to prevent earth glide) with the phylactery hidden in a sarcophagus made of lead with obscure object cast on the phylactery. Bonus points for using teleport trap to place would be heroes into someplace unfortunate, like a nearby underground lava chamber or a chamber filled with green slime and russet mold.
Now, I wont suggest actually doing this because you want your PCs to succeed at defeating the lich. And killing the lich to find that his phylactery is hidden away is going to only lengthen the adventure and very possibly lead to their deaths if they are not prepared for green slime/russet mold.
ON THE MOON!!!! GUARDED BY A LUNAR DRAGON!!!!
ON THE MOON!!!! GUARDED BY A LUNAR DRAGON!!!!It's also worth noting...a relatively smart lich is probably going to have his phylactery some place hard to get to. Buried miles underground in a chamber of worked stone (to prevent earth glide) with the phylactery hidden in a sarcophagus made of lead with obscure object cast on the phylactery. Bonus points for using teleport trap to place would be heroes into someplace unfortunate, like a nearby underground lava chamber or a chamber filled with green slime and russet mold.
Now, I wont suggest actually doing this because you want your PCs to succeed at defeating the lich. And killing the lich to find that his phylactery is hidden away is going to only lengthen the adventure and very possibly lead to their deaths if they are not prepared for green slime/russet mold.
While I know you're trying to be funny, I did consider something like that but it does seem that your required to locate the traps destination point within the area of the casting of the teleport trap so it has to be relatively close (you get 40 cubes equal to your caster level) and arrive in an open space on a solid surface. Initially I had hoped to just have them teleport into space or otherwise completely inhospitable.
Cloud of Death is great spell for a necromancer.
He and his Undead minions can stand inside without being harmed while the heroes will get wrecked hard by it.
The Lich should also have a few contingency spells on him to make him harder to kill.
Maybe give him a few semi-powerful minions, and each minion has a special defense they give to the lich.
For example, one gives the lich Fast Healing 20. Another gives him SR. Another gives him DR 5 or 10/-.
So the PCs have to kill the minions to remove the defenses, or when they concentrate fire on the uber-lich, they have to penetrate those defenses.
Also, you might want to take a page from 5th Edition and introduce Legendary Actions and Lair Actions, and maybe even Legendary Resistances.
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Thank you all for the input! I’ve responded below to a few points. The one thing that hasen’t been touched on yet is: What CR should I make this encounter (or at least the lich)? Also, I’m starting to wonder if a Witch Lich would be good for this with Hexes….?
Do you have a preference for the lich being an arcane caster, versus a divine one?
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I suspect others will also offer good advice on spending as much time on the terrain for the battle as the lich and its allies.
...
To avoid the risk of an early death and anticlimatic fight, consider having a contingency effect in place to either teleport the Lich away to a different area at a certain pre-designated status, or something similar.
I do not have a preference, but when I was building arcane casters I didn't feel like it was quite right. I was kind of leaning towards a Cleric of Orcus, but Uragathoa may work too!
I have a lot of great things happening for terrain, but am more than happy to get more advice. The basics are they will be interrupted while performing a rite at the top of a very dangerous mountain, so there will be high winds, fly/climb checks, gaps, and elevation changes.
And thanks! I didn't think about having a backup for things going wrong... Which I know is stupid, but I've just been assuming I'll plan this well enough.
Plane Shift can be used offensively to remove an opponent from the fight.
Have the lich Plane Shift him to the Midnight Isles.
This sounds perfect… except that it’s save or suck (Will) and the person who this will be used against has a very high Will Save… any advice on how to get over that? The only thing I can think of is Misfortune, but that’s a lot of setup and action economy usage.
Lots o Spell Stuff
Took notes off this! Thanks! That cloudkill is MEAN!
Maybe give him a few semi-powerful minions, and each minion has a special defense they give to the lich.
For example, one gives the lich Fast Healing 20. Another gives him SR. Another gives him DR 5 or 10/-.
So the PCs have to kill the minions to remove the defenses, or when they concentrate fire on the uber-lich, they have to penetrate those defenses.
What kind of rules would exist to make this work? I actually dig this idea a lot (I’m a fan of gimmicks and puzzles), but unsure how to make it work in game without house-rules.
fyi, kingmaker book 3 has an entire huge dungeon with a delevelled lich you can steal and relevel as you wish.
I highly recommend some melee mooks in the fight, as though a lich can be good on melee (paralyze, mm) it's best used like a traditional caster, standing in the back with potent necromancy/enchantment/etc
While I know you're trying to be funny, I did consider something like that but it does seem that your required to locate the traps destination point within the area of the casting of the teleport trap so it has to be relatively close (you get 40 cubes equal to your caster level) and arrive in an open space on a solid surface. Initially I had hoped to just have them teleport into space or otherwise completely inhospitable.ON THE MOON!!!! GUARDED BY A LUNAR DRAGON!!!!It's also worth noting...a relatively smart lich is probably going to have his phylactery some place hard to get to. Buried miles underground in a chamber of worked stone (to prevent earth glide) with the phylactery hidden in a sarcophagus made of lead with obscure object cast on the phylactery. Bonus points for using teleport trap to place would be heroes into someplace unfortunate, like a nearby underground lava chamber or a chamber filled with green slime and russet mold.
Now, I wont suggest actually doing this because you want your PCs to succeed at defeating the lich. And killing the lich to find that his phylactery is hidden away is going to only lengthen the adventure and very possibly lead to their deaths if they are not prepared for green slime/russet mold.
I'm actually doing this in my campaign currently.
It's the sequel campaign to the Mythic Lich of Doom I linked above.
Thank you all for the input!
Maybe give him a few semi-powerful minions, and each minion has a special defense they give to the...
I think you would just make it a custom "template."
I think it might be flavorful to give the minion the same augmentation that it provides.
For example, 5 mummies and give each mummy one of the following:
DR 10/- and Acid Resistance 20
SR 20 and Cold Resistance 20
Fast Healing 20 and Electricity Resistance 20
+5 Profane Bonus (or untyped) to AC and Fire Resistance 20
+5 Profane Bonus (or untyped) to Saving Throws and Positive Energy Resistance 20
Each mummy gives its "special defense" to the lich also. Kill the mummy, and the lich loses its "special defense" too.
Obviously, you may need to tweak the numerical amounts to make it fair and balanced--and most especially--FUN!
For the exit of the PC have a closer look at the spell Trap the Soul, in the trigger variant, which allows no save. If it serves as the trigger of the fight ("and now it i your turn!") or as it's aftermath depends on you. I would probably make sure he gets it after his last hooray - say as a reward by a rescued "victim" which makes off with it afterwards.
Visuals are up to you, and there is no spellcasting to observe; might easily be mistaken for something else.
Or if the lich is already halfway towards becoming a demilich, he might already have a soultrapping diamond eye?
A sphere of annihilation has also some attraction. It used to be quite the terror in the days of 1E.
Don't overdo it, as fights against major casters tend to be fast and furious. Firestorm plus something quickened from inside an antilife shell can mess a party up, although arcane casters have a definite edge there. Nonetheless, plane shift with reach and persistent spell is just 8th level...
As attractive as the idea of supporting minions is, it will expose the group to several rounds of fire, which will probably annihilate them. It works well in MMO raids, but not so well on pen & paper.
It looks like your party is mostly 6/9 casters. Maybe make the lich a 6/9 caster too? Maybe a warpriest and burn through Fervor for tons of action economy.
Liches are immune to electricity. Lots of lightning bolts might be hammering around during a mountain-top storm. Great environmental hazard.
Especially if the lich has an NE druid ally, or can summon lightning elementals.
Maybe allow the lich to use a "sacrifice minion" reaction once per round (or even as a Legendary Action) that lets him auto-succeed an attack roll, saving throw, or skill or ability check, but it kills one of his minions; the lich also heals a number of hit points equal to the remaining hit points the minion had.
I can see that as useful for extending the existence of the lich (no instant death for it!) as well as a good way of saving the PCs if they are overwhelmed by the NPCs. It would make them have to split their focus between the lich and its minions, so they can't just focus all their firepower on the lich.
You can even make the minions monstrous cultists; just take a fun, low level monster that's easy to run, and add Adept and/or Warrior levels to it so it has some additional spells and/or hit points.
Another thing you can do is make killing the lich the beginning, not the end. It has horrible death throes and rises up as a dread wraith, its undead spirit is immediately corrupted into some kind of fiend. Or maybe the doomed PC decapitates the lich and it becomes a demilich, and immediate feasts on the PC's soul. Or maybe it possesses the PC, making it evil, and then sic the PC on his friends!!!!
Which character is the leaving player playing? Would it be fun for him to engage in some in-character PvP action without upsetting anyone at the table? While I generally advise against PvP stuff, under the right conditions, it can be really fun.
My suggestion is to have the lich be more of a buffer/debuffer and crowd control type. To assist him give him a vampire and a graveknight; the vampire is a swashbuckler or magus, the graveknight is an Antipaladin. If the lich is going to be, say, 13th level, I make him a wizard 3/cleric(ecclesitheurge) 3/mystic theurge 7, with a staff as his arcane focus and a unholy Symbol as his divine focus. The amulet provides a constant spell (corruption resistance keyed to resist good, treat as 15th level caster), and the staff has Harm (3 charges), wall of negative energy (2 charges; as wall of fire but negative energy) and black tentacles (2 charges).
This allows him to have good healing for himself and minions, crowd control effects and frees up his spells for minor offensive spells and other utility spells.
Morganstern has some great insight there. Selecting the NPC gear is key. And having the lich buff, debuff, and crowd control will probably extend its rounds of combat, since the PCs will have to concentrate on the crowd it is buffing.
EDIT:
You could probably even go wizard 3/cleric 3/mystic theurge 10 since it just increases versatility. Maybe even go sorcerer 4/oracle 4/mystic theurge 10 and use all of the Charisma! And as undead, it would add its Charisma modifier to Fort saves and hit points, and some oracle revelations even add Charisma to Reflex saves.
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Thanks for all the comments. There's some really mean stuff in here, I love it! I ended up just going with a straight up Cleric of Orcus, and focused most of the Lich's spells on being interesting (i.e. Vision of Hell) rather than being heavily damaged focused. Also, since this will be "ending" the campaign for this group of characters (and 1 player) I decided to equip the lich to the gills with expensive gear that buffs him and even has auras. This way, when he's eventually dead, the party can't really power-creep off them too hard.
I have also decided that the Lich himself will do little in the means of combat. There will be two mummies as guards which will be constantly, actively, using aid another on him but I have modified it to do what SmiloDan was refering to above.
I plan on having an Antipalidin as well to do combat, and a slew of weaker undead characters. So I like to have contingency plans for what happens if things don't go as planned, so I've figured out the following: If the fight is too easy I will have the combat location scattered with corpses that the lich can re-animate to join the fight.
Now here's the kicker. After a gruelling fight, the heroes slay the lich, the other casters lie dead, they're victorious! Everyone starts to relax and congratulate each other on a job well done. But slowly they notice the portal isn't closing. On the contrary, it appears to be getting bigger. An appropriate skill check informs the party that a freely given...
This is pretty genius. I do have a lot of random atmospheric effects in place, and could easily replace them with this... I like that you have a ritual associated with this, but I'm actually thinking that for my story line that a portal throught the dark tapestry may open somehow (the party has been carrying around a copy of Secrets of the Dreaming Dark for a couple years at this point, and have had a very Old Gods based story for a while), maybe have tentacles come out ala the Black Tentacles spell...
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If you want to use a stock lich in the fight, you could look to Emerald Spire for inspiration.
Beyond that, he's a stock Bestiary 1 lich.
Yeah, environments really help make a fight more memorable. A custom Wall of Force with invisible arrowslits would be a fun challenge, possibly.
Also, forcing the PCs to make significant decisions every round is exciting. Having multiple creatures (and multiple types of creatures) to target, non-Attack Roll options, different kinds of terrain to choose from, different paths to choose along the battle map, being able to assess different threats and acting accordingly, etc.
If you're going to do the ritual, maybe have a few different timed events that could go off. One making a portal, one corrupting or transforming another creature, one setting up a powerful buff for the enemies, one dispelling a powerful good outsider ally, etc. etc.
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Yeah, environments really help make a fight more memorable. A custom Wall of Force with invisible arrowslits would be a fun challenge, possibly.
I currently will just have the massive elevation changes, and a couple different terrain types, and some rough terrain based on corpses. I drew it all out last night and I have the landscape reflect two phases of the fight, and a location for the lich to cast annoyances from high up/afar. There will also be rope bridges with some flimsy wood holding it all together, which the mummies will cut part of the moment the fight starts.
I've thought about some traps... but my previous implementation of them has been, let's just call it too deadly... So I get a bit gun shy when it comes to adding them these days.
Also, forcing the PCs to make significant decisions every round is exciting. Having multiple creatures (and multiple types of creatures) to target, non-Attack Roll options, different kinds of terrain to choose from, different paths to choose along the battle map, being able to assess different threats and acting accordingly, etc.
Yes, I'm hoping to mock up the fight tonight to see if it's challenging/too much/too easy. While I was finalizing my Antipaladin last night I was realizing that every round could be very deadly for ... well anyone. I don't like pulling my punches, particularly in end-game fights I like to roll in the open for BBEG so they all see what my rolls are. A confirmed crit from my AP could kill most of the players (not just unconscious). I'm thinking once they see that things are very dangerous they'll be building out a very in-depth strategy. I'm hoping that terrain will provide some safety and escape routes for some of the more squishy folks, while also giving others the ability to aim for more advantageous positions.
If you're going to do the ritual, maybe have a few different timed events that could go off. One making a portal, one corrupting or transforming another creature, one setting up a powerful buff for the enemies, one dispelling a powerful good outsider ally, etc. etc.
This is interesting to contemplate. I already plan on having some random tentacle effects and weather effects... but this could add to the tension... maybe making a chart for a D6 with like 1/3 of the effects being good, then bad, then neutral... I like making the players roll for things like this and I could have them do this as the timed event goes off. I like it!
Cool!
Any thoughts about my idea about when the lich gets killed, its spirit possesses the outgoing PC and sics the PC against the other PCs?
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Any thoughts about my idea about when the lich gets killed, its spirit possesses the outgoing PC and sics the PC against the other PCs?
So... since I'm pretty sure that my gaming group isn't here... here's what'll happen at the end:
The group thinks they're just going up to a mountain top to perform a rite for Pharasma to appear... when they get there it will be the Lich which stole their names and wiped them from the annals of history.
The lich (Nametaker) uses a part of Orcus (probably his toe?) as his phylactery because while the Lich uses this body part, Orcus is also removed from history. This allows the evil god to operate while the mass population is pretty much unaware of the danger here.
Phrasma has become aware of the plan, and has set it up so that she has the party going to kill the lich while she is removing this body part from Orcus. When the party finishes killing the lich and then does the ritual that summons Pharasma this will extract her from any danger... because you never know what will happen when gods fight.
Orcus has been orchestrating (orcus-strating?!) a connection between the Dark Tapestry and Golarion, and since no one know he exists, he's been free to pull all the strings totally unsuspectingly. So far the party has completed closing a main portal, then a time rift created by another portal, and secured a pocket dimension which a cult of the Elder Gods was using to pull in creatures from the Dark Tapestry, and cleaned up a handful of issues that happen as a side effect (basically I recreated Shadow over Innsmouth and The Color out of Space as two missions).
The party will interrupt the Lich attempting to use the missing pages from their copy of Secrets of the Dreaming Dark--which the party has been looking for--to open a rift large enough to let the elder gods through easily (hence the tentacles coming through).
Defeating the lich, completing the rite to call Pharasma, then destroying the phylactery will "awaken" Orcus... through really it will just be that everyone has their memory returned. Also, the Nametaker took the party's names, so no one would remember them so they didn't receive any help for their good past deeds and were suddenly treated with distrust... now they will be known again for their deeds.
They also will need to close the gate. The soul that was given to open the gate was given by the Son of the General of Oppara, who has a "statue" in their foyer of their son who "died in the line of duty" but the group has already suspected that the body is actually alive and in stasis. The soul to close the portal will release the other soul (awakening the General's son) and then the new soul will be removed and the body placed in stasis (Turning our leaving player into a statue). The group has been trying to solve what happen to the Son for a long time.
This will end most of their open story lines, and since the party wants to re-form with new characters and at a lower level this will also create a whole new world dynamic in the game and a new BBEG that they have a personal connection to: a new evil god enters the arena, Orcus the Forgotten.
So, as you can see that won't really work out for the story.
OK, cool. Your story is intense!!!
I once played a character that got totally wiped from history (Charisma draining monster from Dragonlance) so no one even knows I played him!
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Thanks! I like it intense ;) The group really leads this, honestly, they're amazing. I rarely give restrictions on how they can do something and constantly encourage creative and original thinking. I also try to support an atmosphere of collaborative story telling. The result is a really rich world that we've created together, with some unforgettable times. We were lucky to know that our group is breaking up long enough in advance for me to plan this culmination too.
As for the wiping from history thing, that sprouted from another thread I made here about some story/plot ideas earlier in the game. The group had gotten themselves stuck in a nasty place and then sent forward in time four years... and I needed a sort of red herring. So I stole their past, and names, ruining all their efforts they'd built up in Oppara. I had to think of a damn good reason to do this, so I set about raising a god out of it. Sounded like fun ;)
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Also, Thought I would output the stat-blocks for anyone to see what I did. I'm pretty sure that these are not optomized, but for the amount of time I spent I think I did well enough. (Also, I loaded them up on gear since the party can't use it HAHAHAHAHAH!)
Tzarnomen
Angel-blooded aasimar (angelkin) antipaladin 12 (Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of Angels 21, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 118, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 7)
CE Medium outsider (native)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
Aura cowardice (10 ft.), despair (10 ft.), vengeance (10 ft.)
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Defense
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AC 24, touch 11, flat-footed 23 (+10 armor, +1 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 111 (12d10+24)
Fort +19, Ref +15, Will +17
Immune disease; Resist acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee +2 flaming burst wounding falchion +20/+15/+10 (2d4+27/18-20 plus 1d6 fire and 1 bleed)
Special Attacks channel negative energy 5/day (DC 21, 6d6), smite good 4/day (+5 attack and AC, +12 damage)
Antipaladin Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th; concentration +17)
At will—detect good
Antipaladin Spells Prepared (CL 9th; concentration +14)
3rd—deadly juggernaut[UC], litany of sight[UC]
2nd—bleed for your master, litany of defense[UC], litany of eloquence[UC]
1st—protection from law (3), wartrain mount[UM]
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Statistics
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Str 28, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 20
Base Atk +12; CMB +17; CMD 32
Feats Cleave, Furious Focus[APG], Intimidating Prowess, Lunge, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (falchion)
Skills Acrobatics -1 (-5 to jump), Diplomacy +15, Heal +1, Intimidate +27, Perception +0, Sense Motive +3, Spellcraft +4, Stealth +3; Racial Modifiers +2 Heal
Languages Celestial, Common
SQ cruelties (cursed, diseased, nauseated, sickened), fiendish boon (fiendish servant), touch of corruption 11/day (6d6)
Other Gear mithral full plate of speed, +2 flaming burst wounding falchion, amulet of natural armor +3, belt of giant strength +6, cloak of resistance +5, headband of alluring charisma +4, ring of force shield, 150 gp
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Special Abilities
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Antipaladin Channel Negative Energy 6d6 (5/day, DC 21) (Su) Positive energy heals the living and harms the undead; negative has the reverse effect.
Aura of Cowardice -4 (10 ft.) (Su) Enemies in aura are not Immune to fear and take -4 to saves vs. fear effects.
Aura of Despair -2 (10 ft.) (Su) Enemies in aura take a -2 to all saves.
Aura of Vengeance (10 ft.) (Su) As a standard action use 2 smite good, allies in area gain smite at your bonus for 1 min.
Cleave If you hit a foe, attack an adjacent target at the same attack bonus but take -2 AC.
Cruelty (Cursed, DC 21) (Su) When you use your touch of corruption ability, the target is cursed, as if you had cast bestow curse, using your antipaladin level as the caster level.
You may only apply a single Cruelty ability to each use of touch of corruption, chosen w
Cruelty (Diseased, DC 21) (Su) When you use your touch of corruption ability, the target contracts a disease, as if you had cast contagion, using your antipaladin level as the caster level.
You may only apply a single Cruelty ability to each use of touch of corruption, c
Cruelty (Nauseated, DC 21) (4 rounds) (Su) When you use your touch of corruption ability, you may also make your target nauseated for 1 rd per 3 Antipaladin levels.
You may only apply a single Cruelty ability to each use of touch of corruption, chosen when used.
Cruelty (Sickened, DC 21) (12 rounds) (Su) When you use your touch of corruption ability, you may also make your target sickened for 1 round per Antipaladin level.
You may only apply a single Cruelty ability to each use of touch of corruption, chosen when used.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Detect Good (At will) (Sp) You can use detect good at will (as the spell).
Energy Resistance, Acid (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Acid attacks.
Energy Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Energy Resistance, Electricity (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Electricity attacks.
Furious Focus If you are wielding a weapon in two hands, ignore the penalty for your first attack of each turn.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Lunge Can increase reach by 5 ft, but take -2 to AC for 1 rd.
Power Attack -4/+8 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Smite Good (4/day) (Su) +5 to hit, +12 to damage, +5 deflection bonus to AC when used.
Touch of Corruption (6d6 hit points, 11/day) (Su) As a standard action, touch channels negative energy and applies cruelties.
Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.
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Here's the Lich:
Nametaker
Human lich (Chelaxian) cleric of Orcus 13 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 188)
CE Medium undead (augmented humanoid, human)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +27
Aura fear (60 ft., DC 20)
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Defense
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AC 27, touch 11, flat-footed 26 (+9 armor, +1 Dex, +7 natural)
hp 146 (13d8+78)
Fort +16, Ref +9, Will +19
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, death's embrace, rejuvenation; DR 15/bludgeoning, 15/magic, 2/—; Immune cold, electricity, polymorph, undead traits
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee +2 spell storing heavy mace +11/+6 (1d8+2) or
touch +9 (1d8+6 negative energy plus paralyzing touch)
Special Attacks channel negative energy 7/day (DC 22, 7d6), chaos blade (6 rounds, 2/day), paralyzing touch (DC 20)
Domain Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13th; concentration +20)
10/day—bleeding touch (6 rounds), touch of chaos
Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 13th; concentration +20)
7th—blasphemy (DC 24), destruction[D] (DC 24), repulsion (DC 24)
6th—create undead[D], epidemic[UM] (DC 23), harm (DC 23), plague storm[UM] (DC 23)
5th—greater contagion[UM] (DC 22), major curse[UM] (DC 22), dispel law[D], mass inflict light wounds (DC 22), plane shift (DC 22)
4th—aura of doom[UM] (DC 21), chaos hammer[D] (DC 21), fleshworm infestation[UM] (DC 21), plague carrier[UM] (DC 21), unholy blight (DC 21), unholy blight (DC 21)
3rd—dispel magic, dispel magic, inflict serious wounds (DC 20), inflict serious wounds (DC 20), magic circle against law[D], protection from energy, vision of hell[UM] (DC 20)
2nd—align weapon (chaos only)[D], boiling blood[UM] (DC 19), boiling blood[UM] (DC 19), darkness, darkness, desecrate, desecrate
1st—detect good, detect law, divine favor, protection from law[D], protection from law, reinforce armaments[UC], restore corpse[UM]
0 (at will)—detect magic, detect poison, guidance, read magic
D Domain spell; Domains Chaos, Death
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Statistics
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Str 10, Dex 12, Con —, Int 15, Wis 24, Cha 18
Base Atk +9; CMB +9; CMD 20
Feats Channeled Shield Wall[UM], Combat Casting, Command Undead, Extra Channel, Improved Channel, Quick Channel[UM], Reactive Healing[ACG], Toughness
Skills Acrobatics +11 (+7 to jump), Appraise +7, Climb +1, Diplomacy +9 (+11 to influence wolf-like magical beasts), Fly +6, Heal +11, Intimidate +20, Knowledge (religion) +10, Linguistics +6, Perception +27, Sense Motive +19, Spellcraft +11, Stealth +15; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception, +8 Sense Motive, +8 Stealth
Languages Abyssal, Azlanti, Common, Shadowtongue
SQ variant channeling (undeath variant channeling[UM])
Combat Gear belt of teeth[UE], howling helm[UE], quicken metamagic rod, reach metamagic rod (greater)[APG], ring of blinking, ring of blinking, wand of fireball (cl 6); Other Gear +3 etherealness putrid adamantine mountain pattern armor[UC], +2 spell storing heavy mace, amulet of natural armor +2, cloak of resistance +4, glove of storing, golem manual (flesh), headband of mental prowess +2 (Wis, Cha), winged boots, 150 gp
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Special Abilities
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Bleeding Touch (6 rounds, 10/day) (Sp) Melee touch attack deals 1d6 bleeding damage.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Channeled Shield Wall Enhance your shield and the shields of allies adjacent to you
Chaos Blade (2/day) (Su) Touched weapon temporarily becomes anarchic.
Cleric Channel Negative Energy 7d6 (7/day, DC 22) (Su) Positive energy heals the living and harms the undead; negative has the reverse effect.
Cleric Domain (Chaos) Granted Powers: Your touch infuses life and weapons with chaos, and you revel in all things anarchic.
Cleric Domain (Death) Granted Powers: You can cause the living to bleed at a touch, and find comfort in the presence of the dead.
Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive.
Command Undead (DC 22) Channel energy can take control of undead.
Damage Reduction (15/bludgeoning) You have Damage Reduction against all except Bludgeoning attacks.
Damage Reduction (15/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Damage Reduction (2/-) You have Damage Reduction against all attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Death's Embrace (Ex) Heal damage from channeled negative energy.
Fear Aura (DC 20) Foes in 60 ft are frightened (below 5 HD) or shaken for 13 rds (Will neg).
Immunity to Ability Drain Immunity to ability drain
Immunity to Bleed You are immune to bleed.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Death Effects You are immune to death effects.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Exhausted You are immune to the exhausted condition.
Immunity to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Nonlethal Damage You are immune to Nonlethal Damage
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Physical Ability Damage Immune to ability damage to your physical abilities.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Immunity to Polymorph You are immune to Polymorph effects.
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to sleep effects.
Immunity to Stunning You are immune to being stunned.
Paralyzing Touch (1d8+6 negative energy dam, DC 20) Touched foe takes dam & permanent paralysis (Fort part). Seems dead unless examined.
Quick Channel Channel energy faster by expending more uses
Reactive Healing When dmg would reduce you to 0 or fewer hit points, expend channel or lay on hands as imm act to heal yourself.
Rejuvenation (Su) Liches can return after a few days.
Touch (DC 20) (Su) Touched foe is paralyzed permanently (Fort neg). Seems dead unless Percep DC 20 or Heal DC 15.
Touch of Chaos (10/day) (Sp) With a melee touch attack, target takes the lower of 2d20 for each d20 roll for 1 round.
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
Undeath Variant Channeling Enhanced healing for Undead
Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.
Looks good. I would boost the lich's Strength so it can at least hit 50% of the time with its mace's first attack.
What is the 2nd highest AC of your group? You should aim to hit that 50% to 75% of the time. And is Conductive the special weapon property that lets you add your special Touch attacks to your weapon attacks?
You don't have to use a point buy for NPCs... ***evil grin***
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So....
The battle should go: Crypt Guards + Antipaladin, which can then blend into the Mummies (one advanced and one fiendish for the different types of protection they'll grant to the Lich). Below the mummies are pits of dead creatures that the Lich can raise if they start to get too close (the fiendish part is that the players will roll for their own champion to fight against ranging CR 8 to 11 each). If that goes well they'll advance to the Juju Zombie Shadow Mastiffs, and the Lich himself. The Lich will end up being mostly toothless by this point considering he'll be casting spells in the background the whole time, however if the fight getting there is too tough on the group, this will still give them a solid victory... I have a soft spot for the players... I hang my head in shame ;)
Then the rest should go as I described in the spoiler above.
What spell will you spell store?
Can you combine the mace with one (or more) of the metamagic rods?
Can you somehow make that Touch of Chaos a Beam of Chaos or Word of Chaos to give it some range?
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What spell will you spell store?
Dispel Magic, because I'm annoying like that ;)
Can you combine the mace with one (or more) of the metamagic rods?
Since you cast a spell into the weapon, I believe you can as long as the spell level isn't raised above 3.
Can you somehow make that Touch of Chaos a Beam of Chaos or Word of Chaos to give it some range?
You mean like with that Metamagic rod of Reach ;)
I meant a Rod of Quicken Spell/Mace +2 of spell storing in one.
And maybe a crown to use those domain abilities at range? And maybe as a swift action to boost action economy?
