Does destroying a lich's phylactery while it's still active kill it as well or not? If not, does it weaken the lich in anyway? And can it build a new phylactery?
i think destroying it only prevents them from rejuvenating at the phylactery in the event the lich's body is killed
Breaking the phylactery only prevents the Lich from coming back.
It doesn't do anything else to the Lich.
The Lich is absolutely capable of crafting a new phylactery given the proper resources and time.
How are you finding their phylactery is the better question...
Immortal magicians seldom leave the key to their immortality just carelessly laying around for random adventurers to find and destroy.
The phylactery is likely purposefully hidden on a completely different plane of existence.
And even there, it is probably well guarded and cleverly trapped.
Yeah, every lich I've ever imagined has always hidden their phylactery on another plane of existence in a lead lined box protected by some sort of automaton.
Best part is, it's been clarified that personal demiplanes are basically impossible to get to unless you find the tuning rod to that demiplane in the lich's lair.*
*Planar Handbook laid out rules for the rarity and creation of tuning rods, and demiplanes basically can't be reached unless you created it or have spent a significant amount of time there previously.
Without a merciful GM using it as a plot-hook, the chance of finding the phylactery is effectively zero.
One Lich I created. Has his Phylactery be a cursed ring (think the one true ring from LoTR where the owner was obsessed with it. He then planted it on adult dragon (with its own cult) the ring had a few abilities to booster the wearer so if the players were to take down the lich they need to fight through the cult. Kill the dragon then find the ring in the horde of treasure and beat the will save to not become obsessed.
I'm not sure that a lich can create a new phylactery if the old one gets destroyed.
But yea by RAW there's no overt consequence to the lich if you destroy it while it's alive, other than the fact that rejuvenation won't kick in.
One lich I faced many, many years ago had his phylactery inscribed in a form of arcane runes on his own ribcage.
Seems counterproductive but unless you know that this is in fact the phylactery, how many people have a habit of pulverizing bodies of slain enemies?
I dunno, in the case of a Lich, any runes are bound to rise a flag when it comes to finding its phylactery. Kinda sounds like the worst place to put it.
In my current campaign, this exact scenario came up. The PC's had to kill a lich, so they secretly found his phylactery first. They thought about destroying the phylactery, but I told them that if they destroy it, the Lich would undoubtedly be alerted because his soul would be returned to him. So they decided to kill the lich and then immediately destroy the phylactery after.
As far as I know, there isn't any guidance from D&D or Pathfinder in exactly how the phylactery "works", so it's up to the DM on how it "works".
Unless you're making the Lich a recurring BBEG, I see no reason to send the party on an interplanar egg-hunt, looking for a random object that they have no description of, with 5 days to find it.
I made an Incorpreal Wildshaping Lich Blight Druid Necromancer that wears its phylactery in the form of an Amulet of Grasping Souls. Not very creative, but mechanically decent.
In my opinion, the Lich is the challenge, not its phylactery.
Honestly, I feel like the phylactery should have had limitations on its rejuvination ability, such as being on the same plane as the Lich's remains, or even within a certain distance.
Because if you have a really high level caster who has 1 macguffin that keeps him alive, naturally he would spend great effort and resources to make that thing unfindable and undestroyable.
But then that makes for terrible play.
Yeah, that's why it's up to the DM to make the phylactery "findable". Honestly, if I wanted to make a phylactery "unfindable", I'd cast a Permanent Secret Chest and put the replica chest in some kind of derelict spot at the bottom of the ocean and the players would never find it.
Throughout the years, I've used two liches, and both times I made the phylactery "easily findable, but hard to get" via clues of its whereabouts. Otherwise, the players would get frustrated beating their heads against the wall with nothing to go on.
Keep in mind the lich respawns right next to its phylactery. Which means they would have to put it in someplace they can get out of fairly easily. Also keep in mind all the gear on their person gets left behind when they die, although I assume most liches are smart enough to store some back-up equipment near their phylactery for such an occasion (including another spellbook if they're a wizard.)
A good old-fashioned bribe, maybe?