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 Liches and the undead
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Rezzenthell
Acolyte

17 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  15:38:36  Show Profile  Visit Rezzenthell's Homepage Send Rezzenthell a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
Can anyone point me to a book (downloadable or buyable) or some information on liches, demi-liches and the undead? Must be D&D, 3.5 preferable but not essential, some information on the process to becoming a lich/demi would also be very helpful! Thanks!!

Prepare to be abysserated fool !!

Edited by - Rezzenthell on 22 Dec 2007 15:44:20

Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36779 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  15:59:59  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
You may want to check out a 2E Ravenloft source, Van Richten's Guide to the Lich. It was later included in the Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium, Volume 2.

Though they were for Ravenloft, the Van Richten's Guide series had wonderful information about many of the things that go bump in the night, including ghosts, vampires, and werecritters. Each nastybad was examined in great detail, and contained plenty of ways to customize them, so you could wind up with a vampire that loved eating garlic sandwiches while getting a tan, or a werewolf that ignored silver but was vulnerable to gold, instead... and so on.

The Guides were later compiled into the Monster Hunter's Compendium trilogy. It's something I would recommend for any DM, because it's so chock full of information, and can easily be ported to 3.x (and, I suspect, to D&D Extreme, when they inflict that on us next year).

Edit: Ack! As I was taking advantage of a double post (stupid timeout errors), some other mod came along and deleted the other post! Thank Bob I had copied the text, when I saw it looking like it was going to time out...

Anyway, I'll add that you can download the Monster Hunter's Compendium trilogy, and many of the Van Richten's Guides, from Paizo.com, for a mere $4 each.

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Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 22 Dec 2007 16:06:15
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Kuje
Great Reader

USA
7915 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  16:00:06  Show Profile Send Kuje a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Also, if you can find it, good luck!, the old late 1e/ early 2e original Lords of Darkness for FR.

For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

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Edited by - Kuje on 22 Dec 2007 16:01:53
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31701 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  16:01:18  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
For me, I've never encountered a more accurate and detailed rendering of the lich than in Van Richten's Guide to the Lich for the RAVENLOFT setting. 'Tis available as a PDF download at paizo.com for just $4US.

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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31701 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  16:04:35  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Kuje

Also, if you can find it, good luck!, the old late 1e/ early 2e original Lords of Darkness for FR.

Check out Ed's replies as well. I've asked him one-or-two undead/undeath-related questions in the past, as have some other scribes.

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"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood

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Edited by - The Sage on 22 Dec 2007 16:05:49
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36779 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  16:07:10  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Kuje

Also, if you can find it, good luck!, the old late 1e/ early 2e original Lords of Darkness for FR.



It's pretty easy to find on eBay. I think I accidently bought two, and that was to replace the one that burned, which I'd also gotten from eBay.

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Kuje
Great Reader

USA
7915 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  16:24:31  Show Profile Send Kuje a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

quote:
Originally posted by Kuje

Also, if you can find it, good luck!, the old late 1e/ early 2e original Lords of Darkness for FR.



It's pretty easy to find on eBay. I think I accidently bought two, and that was to replace the one that burned, which I'd also gotten from eBay.



Ah. I don't look on ebay for FR material. :) Besides, I don't need to any more since I have all the sourcebooks.

For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium
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Mazrim_Taim
Learned Scribe

341 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  16:38:01  Show Profile  Visit Mazrim_Taim's Homepage Send Mazrim_Taim a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I buy lots of FR stuff on Ebay and I see it here and there, fairly easy to get. I have a copy of it. I think the thing I have most of is Dreams of Red Wizards, of which I own three. Two are fairly beat up and I bought them in other lots, and one just recently which is almost brand new.

Ed's replies about Larloch are extensive, if you're interested in that. The Shadow King is a special kind of Lich, however.

And if the PCs DO win their ways through all the liches to Larloch, “he” will almost certainly be just another lich (loaded with explosive spells) set up as a decoy, with dozens of hidden liches waiting to pounce on any surviving PCs who ‘celebrate’ after they take Larloch down. As the REAL Larloch watches (magical scrying) from afar. Myself, as DM, I’d be wondering: “Such a glorious game, so many opportunities laid out before your PCs to devote your time to, and THIS fixation is the best you can come up with? Are you SURE you’re adventurers?” -Ed Greenwood

Edited by - Mazrim_Taim on 22 Dec 2007 16:39:13
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Rezzenthell
Acolyte

17 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  16:38:25  Show Profile  Visit Rezzenthell's Homepage Send Rezzenthell a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Thank you for the replies everyone, I'm ordering Van Richten's Guide to the Lich. I have a bit of a lich fetish, they are just so fascinating. Again, many thanks!

Prepare to be abysserated fool !!
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Mazrim_Taim
Learned Scribe

341 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  16:41:01  Show Profile  Visit Mazrim_Taim's Homepage Send Mazrim_Taim a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Indeed this scroll has also made me interested not only in Van Richten's Lich guide, but in the others as well. I was never much into Ravenloft and so have never heard of such treasures!

And if the PCs DO win their ways through all the liches to Larloch, “he” will almost certainly be just another lich (loaded with explosive spells) set up as a decoy, with dozens of hidden liches waiting to pounce on any surviving PCs who ‘celebrate’ after they take Larloch down. As the REAL Larloch watches (magical scrying) from afar. Myself, as DM, I’d be wondering: “Such a glorious game, so many opportunities laid out before your PCs to devote your time to, and THIS fixation is the best you can come up with? Are you SURE you’re adventurers?” -Ed Greenwood
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Herkles
Seeker

82 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  20:08:39  Show Profile  Visit Herkles's Homepage Send Herkles a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I have a question of my own, aside from cormanthor EoE which contains a section on bealnorns, where can i find more information on them?
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36779 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  22:27:04  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I don't recall a lot of specific lore on baelnorns... I believe they were first introduced in the Ruins of Myth Drannor boxed set, but I could be mistaken on that.

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Mazrim_Taim
Learned Scribe

341 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  22:47:16  Show Profile  Visit Mazrim_Taim's Homepage Send Mazrim_Taim a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Doesn't Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerűn have something on them? I seem to recall it, but can't verify at the moment.

And if the PCs DO win their ways through all the liches to Larloch, “he” will almost certainly be just another lich (loaded with explosive spells) set up as a decoy, with dozens of hidden liches waiting to pounce on any surviving PCs who ‘celebrate’ after they take Larloch down. As the REAL Larloch watches (magical scrying) from afar. Myself, as DM, I’d be wondering: “Such a glorious game, so many opportunities laid out before your PCs to devote your time to, and THIS fixation is the best you can come up with? Are you SURE you’re adventurers?” -Ed Greenwood
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31701 Posts

Posted - 22 Dec 2007 :  23:04:05  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Yes, it does. The Fall of Myth Drannor module has a few tidbits as well.

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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)

"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood

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Edited by - The Sage on 22 Dec 2007 23:05:01
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore

USA
1537 Posts

Posted - 23 Dec 2007 :  01:23:41  Show Profile  Visit Jamallo Kreen's Homepage Send Jamallo Kreen a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage

For me, I've never encountered a more accurate and detailed rendering of the lich than in Van Richten's Guide to the Lich for the RAVENLOFT setting. 'Tis available as a PDF download at paizo.com for just $4US.




It is truly wonderful! It is one of the best books ever written for D&D.

Lords of Darkness (the SECOND edition one written by Ed, not the 3rd edition book of the same name) has information on several types of undead and gives the Realms slant on liches. Together with Van Richten's Guide you've got pretty much all most DMs would ever need to know about the subject.

Champions of Ruin has a big entry on Aumvor the Undying, who apparently found a way to extend his life without either lichdom or Iolaum's Longevity. Then came Karsus ...

... apropos of whom, How the Mighty are Fallen, the Arcane Age module set in the very last days of Netheril, features a lich whom I don't think has ever been positively identified. The descriptions of his lair and hench-creatures are worth reading.


I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.


Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.

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Purple Dragon Knight
Master of Realmslore

Canada
1796 Posts

Posted - 23 Dec 2007 :  04:14:55  Show Profile Send Purple Dragon Knight a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Rezzenthell

Can anyone point me to a book (downloadable or buyable) or some information on liches, demi-liches and the undead? Must be D&D, 3.5 preferable but not essential, some information on the process to becoming a lich/demi would also be very helpful! Thanks!!

Check my sig for the free 3.5 rules, which include the lich template; for more extravagant answers buy Libris Mortis, the 3.5 book on undead creatures.
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Rezzenthell
Acolyte

17 Posts

Posted - 28 Dec 2007 :  03:03:12  Show Profile  Visit Rezzenthell's Homepage Send Rezzenthell a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Recieved Van Richten's Guide to the Lich today. It's freaking amazing!!!!!!! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! Ciao!

Prepare to be abysserated fool !!
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore

USA
1537 Posts

Posted - 28 Dec 2007 :  18:25:28  Show Profile  Visit Jamallo Kreen's Homepage Send Jamallo Kreen a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Told ya so!



I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.


Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.

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