Liches, Familiars, and Phylactery's

[Laukai]

Just a couple of questions:
1) If a lich has a familiar and the lich's body is destroyed, does the familiar remain his familiar while he reforms at the phylactery?

2) Can a lich use a homunculus or other construct as a phylactery?

3) If #2 is yes, can that construct be the liches homunculus familiar (similar to Voldimort and his snake familiar)...

[Laukai]

4) If the lich is a mythic PC, can the player use the Universal Path option to make his phylactery a Legendary Item (Major Artifact) so it is intelligent (purpose is to protect the lich's soul) and difficult to destroy?

[Pizza Lord]

1) I see nothing that indicates that a familiar is lost any more than it would be lost to a master who died and was later raised.

2) Not likely. Only if someone designed and created a construct specifically for that purpose would it be likely. Currently, what we know about the forms of phylacteries is:

Quote:

The most common form of phylactery is a sealed metal box containing strips of parchment on which magical phrases have been transcribed. The box is Tiny and has 40 hit points, hardness 20, and a break DC of 40.

Other forms of phylacteries can exist, such as rings, amulets, or similar items.

It seems very far-fetched to assume a construct or other creation falls along the lines of a 'similar item' to a box, ring, or amulet. While some other items might be considered, like a mirror (unlikely due to typical fragility) or a crystal ball, homunculi seem out of that range.

[Meirril]

1) It depends on the familiar. Most had a separate existence to the owner before becoming a familiar. Those all remain if the caster dies. Some familiars that the owner creates will cease to exist without the owner. Other created familiars will continue to exist. Homunculus should continue to exist if the owner dies.

2 & 3) Only if the GM allows it, and mostly as a plot point. It is certainly possible to take an already existing phylactery and put it inside of a construct. There is a cost for a compartment in the golem construction guides. If the golem is destroyed, finding the phylactery should not be difficult.

4) That shouldn't be allowed. A phylactery isn't a standard magic item so class features that are suppose to be used on standard magic items aren't appropriate for it. A phylactery is more of a plot device, as the process of becoming a Lich is something that is intended to be beyond the reach of players and without special preperation, would remove the character from the players control and make the character into a NPC controlled by the GM.

The only rules explicit way to prepare a character to become a Lich without being removed from the player's control is via the Agent of the Grave prestige class.

[Bloodrealm]

I don't know about the construct BEING the phylactery, but you could certainly build a construct that has the phylactery inside of it.

[Dave Justus]

If you are the GM, then you can absolutely create a lich that works like this.

[Laukai]

Obviously, everything is subject to the DM's interpretations and plans. I'm just doing research ahead of time before making my case with the DM.

I'm looking for RAW information that either supports or denies the possibility of a Mythic Lich Player Character using a Golem as his phylactery. I am looking into the possibility that the Golem idea might be a Homunculus familiar instead.

In addition, I would like to use the Universal Path's Legendary Item Ability to make the phylactery an intelligent, major artifact, with the purpose of protecting the lich's phylactery and soul.

In the end, are there rules that support or prevent a Mythic Player Character Lich from using the Universal Path Legendary Item ability to build a Homunculus to serve as his Legendary Item Phylactery and his Familiar?

[blahpers]

1. The same thing happens as when a non-lich wizard dies and is later restored to life. What that is is not well defined.

2. The rules place no hard restriction on what can constitute a phylactery, only examples.

3. See 2.

4. A lich player character is already outside the scope of the rules, so any answer to this question from anybody other than your GM would be meaningless.