| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'm preparing a scenario for an upcoming session. The PCs have been searching for the lost tomb of a legendary dwarf warrior and they are about to find it. First a bit of background, but if you don't want to read it all, just scroll down to the last paragraph.
Unbeknownst to the PCs, the warrior was betrayed and murdered by a dwarf wizard friend of his; the crafter of the wondrous weapons, armor and even a minor artifact used by the warrior. The wizard had grown resentful of the warrior using his items to gain fame and renown amongst their people while he himself was still looked down upon for practicing arcane magic. So, in search of respect and aggrandizement, the wizard began entertaining the overtures of some Whispering Way cultists, delved into necromancy and started preparations for becoming an all-powerful lich. If he couldn't make his people love him, then he'd make them fear him... Once well into it, he found that the final ingredient he needed for the vile transformational elixir was a hero's heart, and he figured he'd kill two birds with one stone; taking his revenge on the warrior by murdering him and using his heart in the elixir. Killing the warrior was easy; he didn't suspect the wizard and willingly accepted what he thought was a beneficial spell from his buddy, but which turned out to be a fatal curse instead.
Unfortunately for the wizard, some of the warrior's followers found him as he was brewing the elixir and, by that time, he'd already expended most of his daily spells in the lichdom ritual. So, the followers overpowered the wizard, stripped him of his gear, and shackled him. They didn't really know what he'd been doing, but in anger they force-fed him the vile concoction he'd been brewing (which they took to be poison). Then, as the wizard lay dying, the followers went about the process of converting an ancient subterranean shrine the hero had been using as a home-base into a tomb befitting the hero. After laying the hero to rest inside, they decided that trapping the still-dying wizard inside the tomb near his victim was poetic justice. They then reset a large stone plug into place to seal off the tomb forevermore.
Though the wizard's plans had been interrupted, they weren't necessarily ruined. He was suddenly under the gun however, needing to finish the ritual before his body died. He needed to prepare a phylactery immediately to protect his soul. Unfortunately, he was shackled, weak, low on spells and with few resources beyond the funerary goods inside the tomb. His only option was the minor artifact he'd made for the warrior long ago. He used his feats and what remaining spells he had to transfer his soul into it as his body died. And... it worked. He arose as a lich. It took some doing, specifically the breaking of his own limbs, but he eventually freed himself of the shackles. Unfortunately he had no way to regain his spells without his spellbook.
TLDR: Dwarf necromancer lich is trapped inside a tomb, sealed by a big rock he can't move, with no spells prepared and no gear but alongside a dead hero with magic armor, a magic weapon and the lich's own phylactery.
Now here's the point I need help with. I don't want the lich to have escaped; otherwise there's no encounter for the PCs inside the tomb. But I don't want to cheat the lich; he's an immortal genius with all the time in the world (specifically 700 years or so). What would he have done trapped for 700 years in a tomb with the body of his murdered victim? He was entirely new to undeath and lichdom when he was trapped inside, so just learning his own abilities and limits is step one. He might have tried killing himself, though I don't know if that's even possible since a lich can't overcome its own DR with its natural weapons. Even if he did, he'd simply reform inside the tomb since his phylactery is stuck inside with him. It would be sort of funny if he could succeed in killing himself however, cause he could end up with a potentially infinite number of bodies; forming a new one each time he arose... What else might he have tried to do to escape? Similarly, his natural attacks can't overcome the Hardness 8 of the stone plug since they only deal negative energy, right? The only metal tools he has for digging is the dead warrior's weapon; likely a greataxe or greatsword. But, even if magical, could he use it to deal sufficient damage to beat the rock's hardness 8 and deal the 200 hit points required to breach the stone plug? How much banging into solid stone can a magic axe take before being blunted itself? Would doing so utterly destroy the weapon, or would there be something left of it?
So that's my question; what will the PCs find inside when they open the tomb?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
What is the Necromancer's class and level?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Dwarf wizard (necromancer, undead subschool) 11
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
He can scratch on the walls and turn the whole cavern into a spellbook.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Just because he's a Necromancer doesn't mean he can't use spells from other schools at his disposal; it just means that he has an affinity for Necromancy spells, that's all. Even before he was a Lich, I imagine he has some form of ability to escape from entrapments such as that, via Teleportation (Even Dimension Door may suffice), Plane Shift, Demiplanes, etc. That is, unless they decided to make the tomb completely Anti-Magic (as the Field spell), in which case he'd have just as much success breaking out of it as the PCs have breaking into it.
So, it would make logical sense, after 700+ years of being inside a cage, that he'd invent a way out through his sorcery.
Of course, while he was there, he'd probably descrate the entire area with all kinds of horrific things, whether it's accursed hieroglyphs (graffiti), defecation and urination of the warrior's corpse (which he would eventually transform into a giant steaming turd of a bodyguard, both out of spite for the hero and justice for his overshadowing).
Another idea is that the "plug" may have been broken by other adventurers within that 700 years after hearing tales of the warrior's treasure being buried there (and of course, it being valuable and/or powerful), only to find that they instead unleashed a powerful lich onto the world, who defeated said adventurers, and added them to his now evergrowing army, using the tomb as a hidden base, covered with notable glamour/illusory magic, filled with numerous undead adventurers guarding his inner sanctum.
After all, one giant spit in the face of the dwarven hero is to turn his place of rest into a spawn of vile undeath, staining his name and reputation from being memorable in a good way, to memorable in one of the worst ways possible.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
He can scratch on the walls and turn the whole cavern into a spellbook.
Not if he doesn't have the spells prepared. You can't just write spells down because you had them written down somewhere before. The whole reason he got trapped is because he had already used up most to all of his spell slots for the lichdom ritual, so he probably did not prepare his basic utility spells like Dimension Door. Foolish, perhaps, but Wizard's an Int class, not a Wis one. You don't need Antimagic Field if the caster has no spells. Similarly, a Wizard without his spells is probably no good against a decently prepared adventuring group, even if he is a lich.
However, 700 years is a long time. What he could have done is invent his own spells. Yes, he'd be basically starting from scratch because the only spell he can prepare from memory is Read Magic, but again, 700 years. The issue then comes from "How is he still trapped there?" and I'm not sure you can solve that issue while still making him a threat to the PCs.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
He can scratch on the walls and turn the whole cavern into a spellbook.Not if he doesn't have the spells prepared. You can't just write spells down because you had them written down somewhere before.
Wizards don't need to have a spell prepared in order to scribe it into a book. You're thinking of scrolls. All they need to do is put in the time to research the spell (or copy it if they already know it). Wizards make copies of their spellbooks all the time, just in case one of them gets destroyed. They don't need to memorize every spell in their book to make a new one.
Mostly, copying spells, or researching spells, is about time and money.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
He can scratch on the walls and turn the whole cavern into a spellbook.Not if he doesn't have the spells prepared. You can't just write spells down because you had them written down somewhere before.Wizards don't need to have a spell prepared in order to scribe it into a book. You're thinking of scrolls. All they need to do is put in the time to research the spell (or copy it if they already know it). Wizards make copies of their spellbooks all the time, just in case one of them gets destroyed. They don't need to memorize every spell in their book to make a new one.
Mostly, copying spells, or researching spells, is about time and money.
Wait, so you're saying that a wizard who loses his spellbook can still remember his spells, write them down somewhere and then prepare them? I've never heard about that.
The rules about writing stuff into spellbooks covers the following cases:- spells gained at level-up
- spells found in scrolls
- spells found in other spellbooks
- spells you have prepared
If he already has a particular spell prepared, he can write it directly into a new book at the same cost required to write a spell into a spellbook. The process wipes the prepared spell from his mind, just as casting it would. If he does not have the spell prepared, he can prepare it from a borrowed spellbook and then write it into a new book.
Nowhere does it say that you can write down spells into your spellbook that you have neither prepared nor in front of you. Copying spellbooks is a completely different case because you actually have the original spellbook.
Even before he was a Lich, I imagine he has some form of ability to escape from entrapments such as that, via Teleportation (Even Dimension Door may suffice), Plane Shift, Demiplanes, etc.
He did know such spells but, as I said, he no longer had any prepared when he was caught; otherwise he would have simply teleported to safety before being entombed. Since he was also deprived of his spellbook, he couldn't prepare the spells thereafter; otherwise he would have teleported out the following morning.
So, it would make logical sense, after 700+ years of being inside a cage, that he'd invent a way out through his sorcery.
That's what I'm exploring here, but so far it seems he's still stuck. :)
he'd probably desecrate the entire area with all kinds of horrific things, whether it's accursed hieroglyphs (graffiti), defecation and urination of the warrior's corpse
I imagine desecration makes sense. But he's undead; so no bodily waste to work with beyond the little he came in with. All he's got to work with in his own malice, bones, and dust.
Another idea is that the "plug" may have been broken by other adventurers within that 700 years after hearing tales of the warrior's treasure being buried there (and of course, it being valuable and/or powerful), only to find that they instead unleashed a powerful lich onto the world
Right. That's what risks happening when the PCs breach the tomb themselves. Having it occur earlier and by NPC adventurers defeats the purpose of this encounter.
What he could have done is invent his own spells. Yes, he'd be basically starting from scratch because the only spell he can prepare from memory is Read Magic, but again, 700 years.
Except that spell research costs approximately 1,000 gp per spell level in exotic supplies; supplies he simply doesn't have. Even etching the spells he has prepared isn't really feasible, again because of the lack of exotic supplies needed for the procedure.
Being the tomb of a heroic warrior, it could have been blessed and sealed with holy symbols of the local faith, perhaps preventing the lich from even getting with in 5-10ft of the exit due to warding magic, and the spirit of the dead warrior may have disrupted alternate plans of escape as well.
I'd prefer to keep things simple if possible. No need to add all kinds of fancy blessings if a big rock is sufficient. ;)
So lvl 11 Dwarf Necromancer(CR 10) with Lich template(CR +2) but hampered by lack of spells? Probably reduce the CR 1 to 3
Don't forget that he's got great saves, crazy skills, a heap of hit points, DR 15/magic+blunt, a fear aura, paralyzing touch, negative energy damage attacks, etc. He's a CR of 8; which is appropriate for the party's level.
or perhaps it regains some of it's spells by destroying the very gear he created for the dwarf warrior, reclaiming spell energies to inscribe new spells?
Sounds like a bit of a stretch...
What is the level of the PCs?
As meta as that sounds, that should be the primary thing to consider when figuring out what, exactly, this lich should have been able to accomplish.
There are a lot of potential ways to handle this.
Option 1) a gearless, spell-less wonder, who has been trapped in a small room (or big complex?) for 700 years: though ostensibly a threat for 11th level heroes, lacking gear and lacking spells, the dude ain't-a-gonna do it. The thing the PCs have to worry about is his paralysis-touch, but he's going to be rocking a terrible attack, and, even then, it's (possibly) going to be not a very big deal - even notoriously easy-to-hit touch AC can be a real pain for an undead menace to really do anything about.
Option 2) a gearless wonder who's managed to scratch-out (i.e. "research") a few spells over the years. This is about the broadest category of options, as the spells he can have learned (i.e. how many he could research and how well he could turn the cavern into a spellbook) could vastly vary in size. Mind you, it normally requires lots of money and material components to create and research spells. The lich has about zero options for making this happen. So wat do?
- Perhaps (on a meta-level) looking at the possibility of somehow utilizing the profession and/or craft skills to make pseudo-money. The universe doesn't really care about literal coin currency, after all, but rather the amount of relative value something has to the wider <insert size here> over-all. So, say, profession (stonework) - a valid profession for a dwarf - would potentially allow for a lich to "earn" money-equivalent-value over time. What does that mean in-character? Probably simply this - he's spent hundreds of years looking over impurities and valuable ores, little tiny things that anyone of reasonable limits wouldn't care about (veins of metal, small dust filings, whatever) and collecting them, then (if necessary) using the craft skill to turn these things into viable magical research components, allowing him to research spells. What spells? I'unno. Doesn't matter. Make it up.
- Perhaps he has slowly learned how to do magic without materials. Can I hear someone say 'bonus feat'? Due to his unique situation, he may even have learned how to research with fewer materials. Or, perhaps, he learned how to use a focus to 'fake' having materials. Imagine, in this second instance, he has slowly, methodically been collecting things that no one else cares about into viable scrapes and turning it into valuable tracery/inlay/filligree/leaf/etc, while scraping out an ever-growing holy symbol to <insert evil power, real or not, here>. Said symbol may be used as a 'research assistant' via his profession checks (earlier) to effectively "fake" having <meta-money-value> for magical research purposes each weak (effectively giving him two ceilings: his profession check, and his symbol's relative value)
- Perhaps the dwarves left some money/materials/whatever behind, and he had some supplies that he slowly used up attempting to research ways of getting free
- Perhaps he found a secret cache via hidden door (take 20 Perception, yo), and either used it up (if he found it a long time ago), or is in the process of using it up (if more recent)
- Perhaps a teleport mishap of a fellow wizard recently dropped said wizard into his lap, and he's suddenly learning all sorts of things again (see below)
- Perhaps adventurers from <arbitrary time back> did the thing Darksol suggested (see below)
- And so on
Option 3) A spell-less wonder that isn't a gearless wonder. This one requires a bit of finagling, but it's still possible to accomplish in a few different ways. The easiest way, of course, is to simply say he doesn't have any resources that allow him to expend stuff to research magical spells anymore - hence, no spellbook, hence, no magic; however, he could still acquire magical doodads from a number of possible things.
- First, of course, is from that table, right over there, with the dude that he made stuff for and betrayed. That's some nice stuff.
- Second, is still from the table of goods, right over there. It's possible that he somehow managed to either reclaim said goods and turn them into raw magical crafty-essence (allowing him the "money"-value to craft new stuff), or just somehow slowly turned them into something else. Again, if you want meta-mechanics, look to the Profession (metalwork, or whatever) and craft (the same) for ways to make that happen over the ages.
- Third is the possibility of a hidden cache the dwarves from seven centuries back never discovered. A secret door so well hidden, that it took 700 years (give or take a few) for a trapped lich to discover, probably sealed with lead. This could have plot-specific
- Fourth, is, of course, the random encounter. A wandering troupe of wandering adventurers/merchants/etc. (or just one, possibly by way of shadow walk accident, or something; teleport is also fine, even if you don't want him to have it, if it's by way of scroll and it was a mishap). Note that, should a wizard be among those doing stuff, he will likely have spells (though it is hypothetically possible that he failed all his spellcraft checks - though extremely unlikely).
- And so on.
*
**
Atrophied Lich (Ex) A lich that remains immobile and insensible for extended periods of time (as <name removed> did after <spoiler> 10,000 years ago) can grow atrophied. The exact effects of atrophy vary from lich to lich. <spoiler>... effective wizard level <spoiler> declined from 20th to <less than 11th>. Note that these are not negative levels–<name> must earn back the lost XP normally. More troubling to the lich is the fact that until he achieves at least 11th level as a lich, his phylactery is unusable–if he is destroyed, he crumbles to dust, forever dead.
The idea is that he's still a lich, and still got the effects of it, but no longer has a functioning phylactery - not until he's a high enough level, again.
If he makes stuff, of course, you've got to guess where the "value" comes from... but it's not that hard to come up with options (though it may be nearly impossible in-character).
Option 4) a dude with stuff. He may have come across it by wandering encounter (see above), or by research (see also... above). He might have found caches, or maybe made it himself (que interesting new magic gear crafted from locally quarried stone, or perhaps, the leftover bones of his own corpses (from bashing his head into the wall, literally) or that of his dead friend; perhaps the tomb has become his new spellbook. Perhaps he made one. Maybe he used the leftover goods (like, say, a magical dagger) to carefully flay and preserve his own flesh, and, by way of magical induction theory, or parallelism/sympathy/some other whatever-you-want-to-call-it, he used the value of such things to fake having enough to scribe spells and craft magical goods. Could be recently acquired, could be old stuff. Perhaps he has loads of magical doodads he's made from local stone over the years. Also, bear in mind, stone might not all be the same "value" - but it might.
Option Final-that-I-can-think-of-now) Finally, have you considered that he might not be trapped anymore just by virtue of pressure and time*? The dude has been there for a looong time. That said... he could have developed agoraphobia. After all, he's undead, he's been alone with the corpse of his betrayed friend for seven centuries, and the last he saw of his friends' loyal folks, the went back to that "outside" place. Sure, he might overcome it eventually, but that's plenty of time and reason for a sane man to go mad, and maybe even think that he "needs" to stay here - "just in case". For damaging objects, it's probable that the sword/axe/thing has a lot higher of a "hardness" than mere stone, and it makes it far more likely that the dude would be able to use it a lot against the rock for a longer period of time than might otherwise be imagined. Plus, given that rock is smashable, the blade need not be sharp to be effective - the primary purpose of weapons is to turn momentum into a usefully condensed hitting space (hence edges), but, as rocks don't need that kind of hitting value, it's probable that a blunted-but-still-hard weapon would be useful. Similarly, killing himself (even several times) isn't beyond the pale, either: he merely needs to overcome his own DR. This could be by lots of direct damage - so, say, using that weapon, and hoping to get a max damage roll (not an impossibility, given enough time; ) - or (at least in principal) by putting enough "pressure" to "add up" to damage over time (like, say, by engineering a really heavy rock slide, trapping and squeezing his skull until it shatters).
*
In any event, these are just a few things to consider and look at from a meta- and in-character perspective. I hope it helps you take some of these ideas (or produce your own!) and make a great and entertaining story!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
One thing:
Cantrips: Wizards can prepare a number of cantrips,
or 0-level spells, each day, as noted on Table 3–16 under
“Spells per Day.” These spells are cast like any other spell,
but they are not expended when cast and may be used again.
A wizard can prepare a cantrip from an opposed school, but
it uses up two of his available slots (see below).
So, unless the wizard was mind wiped, he still has cantrips memorized. This gives him the potential to have some sort of way to gain assistance from the outside world or a way to slowly (think Shawshank redemption) reduce the integrity of his prison and eventually escape.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So, unless the wizard was mind wiped, he still has cantrips memorized. This gives him the potential to have some sort of way to gain assistance from the outside world or a way to slowly (think Shawshank redemption) reduce the integrity of his prison and eventually escape.
Not to mention that if he has Mending prepared, he can easily smash the rock with the Greatsword and fix the Greatsword if it ever breaks from that (which it actually never does if we go by the rules). He wouldn't be trapped for 700 years. He wouldn't even be trapped for a day.
So, logically, Transmutation would need to be one of his opposition schools or this wouldn't even be an issue.Reducing the integrity of his prison isn't really an option, though. Damaging cantrips do 1d3 damage which would never go through rock hardness.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Could it be "the Lich is trapped" is a convenient fiction maintained by the Lich deciding to stay put therefore keeping people from interrupting whatever he's doing down there? For a while "don't go in there, you might let loose the lich who is otherwise forever trapped" kept people away, but in 700 years a lot of stuff happened and the locals forgot (or there aren't any locals anymore.)
The OP noted that the place was there before the hero and lich-to-be started using it as a base of operations. It's probable that most of the thing, ancient as it is, was magically treated stone. As for acquiring resources, perhaps in an ancient struggle, that was broken (or perhaps the wizard's ritual weakened or shattered a small hole in the ground) - either way, the lich could have dug for a thousand years, and still not gotten to a place it could really do anything with.
(It doesn't actually give rules for magically treated floors, but... come on. There are clearly magically treated floors in existence.)
(think Shawshank redemption)
Hah! I ninja'd you!
TL;DR wins again!
>:D
(Sorry, I can't help but celebrate small victories. I so rarely ninja people.)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Wait, so you're saying that a wizard who loses his spellbook can still remember his spells, write them down somewhere and then prepare them? I've never heard about that.
The rules about writing stuff into spellbooks covers the following cases:
spells gained at level-up
spells found in scrolls
spells found in other spellbooks
spells you have prepared
You're forgetting "spells learned through research."
That's what I'd do in this situation. I'd research Stoneshape or Move Earth or Teleport. I'd be pretty much guaranteed to succeed since the spell already exists and I already learned it once.
I'd use the various gear around the tomb as the cash component for the research. The rules are deliberately unclear about what form the monetary components of research take. It can be whatever the GM wants. All that matters is that it is expended by the research.