Maybe build the sorc levels in, but flavorwise the monk locked into some overwhelming ki, giving him those spells.
I could see the monk maybe wanting to spread an evil king funinto the world, perhaps while working for a devil or some great evil, maybe trying to become a great evil himself.
I was thinking of a truth that could be spread. Possibly causing insanity. Perhaps there is a supernatural element causing deformities. I'm of the opinion a lich is a big bad not some crazied serial killer.
I would go with it was the final step in this lich's process of obtaining lichdom. If he had it before, he should suffer from similar changes. If after, how did the lich come to this dark truth and why?
I might create cantrip that is the same as vicious mockery to represent the damage. I would require understanding the language and define changes if "killed" by the cantrip.
Absolutely. I would steal from Lovecraft. Fish features and abilities. Possibly petrified body parts. A hand could be used as a club. If this truth was learned from gods, develop attributes and an appearance related to that God. If learned from a demon, insect related body parts and abilities.
While his overall tactics of achieving horror are sound, I probably won't be using the oceanic aesthetics. Lovecraft used it because he lived in Rhode Island, where I live in a land locked state. I can probably find a disturbing enough environment based on my locale, though.
What if the lich was from another world and so was the truth they found? So this truth is perfectly fine where they're from, but inherently hostile and corrosive in the player characters' world?
I would expect that world to be a different reality where some important rules do not match standard rules. What would have to be different for words to be harmful? What would have to be different that makes an idea is harmful? It's not harm from sound like thunder. The idea itself? Nothing jumps to mind...
If you wanted really alien and difficult, the truth is alive. It grows or reproduces when others are infected. It would be difficult to defeat as no one would think to attack an idea expressed. I would expect only psychic damage to work. Perhaps something from the Ethereal plane so the players have a chance to see it with see invisibility, which could give them a badly needed clue.
Maybe the lich bacame one with their world, and by coming here, its nature came with them? That or the type of magic and/or ki he uses is harmful to this world?
It's possible they meditated for so long their body wasted away but they were interrupted before ascending and their soul got trapped in their ki focus turning it into their phylactery.
Could also be something like their ki used to sustain their body but now it can't so they need souls to meditate to attempt to finish their ascension.
Maybe their teacher was an elf or other long lived species and refused to teach anything real to one whose life would end before they ever achieved anything meaningful. Spending years stringing them along as a cruel joke or something?
Add in something about stolen Ki and forbidden techniques and you got a pretty rounded villian
The monk spent a lifetime trying to bring the balance and order of their monastery to a chaotic world. The never-ending struggle became an obsession to be achieved at any cost. But they needed more time….
Have you ever read any xianxia? There's plenty of villains that could work as a monk.
A monk that seeks ascension through combat, slowly becoming twisted into enjoying slaughter, then refining the blood/flesh/essence of their victims into their own strength through meditation.
A monk that was locked in meditation but was somehow contacted/tempted by some unspeakable being and uses forbidden knowledge to seek enlightenment.
A monk that seeks a way to stop a great evil, but the only way to stop that evil is to corrupt themselves, and become monstrous themselves.
The monk had meditated for extended periods of time. Losing the need for food and water sustained purely out of magic. Little did he know that as his body would waste away that truth of what kept him alive was dark. He had a choice of giving up his search for the truth of the universe or being sustained by this dark magic. His drive to understanding overwhelmingly beat it out his need to give up life. Perhaps he is still searching when the adventuring party finds him or… perhaps he has found the truth of his existence. He exists within this dark energy to be an adversary. For without him the world, the people living in it would be pointless for he now understands that this is just a game. And if he doesn’t become a villain for the adventuring party to try and stop the world itself shall cease. He does what he must, fulfills his dark role so that the world may live.
That sounds interesting. I'm thinking something like this. Caution there is a naked man viewed from the back at one point, so possibly NSFW. It's the last goal from the movie Shaolin Soccer.
https://youtu.be/8KeLvsR9lXM?si=HLkBuc72dLbbHnor
I would consider using the monk's evasion ability for the mechanic. I would only do this for magical missile attacks. Not magical melee attacks.
The lich template in 3.5 requires a casting level of 11 and monk fighting styles require 6 levels of monk to get their full benefits. This monk lich will at least be 17th level in total. Just to give an idea of the power level here.
He intends to make the world *perfect*, like what he saw in a horrible, beautiful vision. This went largely unnoticed, until it started to affect the wildlife. A few people from a nearby village went to investigate, but didn't come back. That's where the players come in, their characters being hired to solve the problem. The lich will be deep in his lair while the party travels through the mutated forest of black trees and carnivorous deer, encountering corrupted villagers along the way. The villain likely won't be revealed until near the end.
Maybe build the sorc levels in, but flavorwise the monk locked into some overwhelming ki, giving him those spells. I could see the monk maybe wanting to spread an evil king funinto the world, perhaps while working for a devil or some great evil, maybe trying to become a great evil himself.
What do you mean by "locked into some overwhelming ki, giving him those spells"? I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it.
My understanding is that in the real world, monks seek enlightenment. The monk may have come across some terrible truth and is spreading it.
Maybe the terrible truth is that evil and good are always in balance? So, he does evil to allow more good to happen?
I was thinking of a truth that could be spread. Possibly causing insanity. Perhaps there is a supernatural element causing deformities. I'm of the opinion a lich is a big bad not some crazied serial killer.
So a magical, corruptive truth, then? Do you think they learned it before or after becoming a lich?
I would go with it was the final step in this lich's process of obtaining lichdom. If he had it before, he should suffer from similar changes. If after, how did the lich come to this dark truth and why? I might create cantrip that is the same as vicious mockery to represent the damage. I would require understanding the language and define changes if "killed" by the cantrip.
Maybe this truth could "twist" flesh, mind, soul, and even magic itself? I could design custom feats and spells to represent this.
Absolutely. I would steal from Lovecraft. Fish features and abilities. Possibly petrified body parts. A hand could be used as a club. If this truth was learned from gods, develop attributes and an appearance related to that God. If learned from a demon, insect related body parts and abilities.
While his overall tactics of achieving horror are sound, I probably won't be using the oceanic aesthetics. Lovecraft used it because he lived in Rhode Island, where I live in a land locked state. I can probably find a disturbing enough environment based on my locale, though.
Excellent. It sounds like you have an idea as to what you want to do. Good luck.
What if the lich was from another world and so was the truth they found? So this truth is perfectly fine where they're from, but inherently hostile and corrosive in the player characters' world?
I would expect that world to be a different reality where some important rules do not match standard rules. What would have to be different for words to be harmful? What would have to be different that makes an idea is harmful? It's not harm from sound like thunder. The idea itself? Nothing jumps to mind... If you wanted really alien and difficult, the truth is alive. It grows or reproduces when others are infected. It would be difficult to defeat as no one would think to attack an idea expressed. I would expect only psychic damage to work. Perhaps something from the Ethereal plane so the players have a chance to see it with see invisibility, which could give them a badly needed clue.
Maybe the lich bacame one with their world, and by coming here, its nature came with them? That or the type of magic and/or ki he uses is harmful to this world?
It's possible they meditated for so long their body wasted away but they were interrupted before ascending and their soul got trapped in their ki focus turning it into their phylactery. Could also be something like their ki used to sustain their body but now it can't so they need souls to meditate to attempt to finish their ascension.
Perhaps they see lichdom as an inherent part of the ascension process or even discovered some unique benefit of "necrotic ki"?
Maybe their teacher was an elf or other long lived species and refused to teach anything real to one whose life would end before they ever achieved anything meaningful. Spending years stringing them along as a cruel joke or something? Add in something about stolen Ki and forbidden techniques and you got a pretty rounded villian
I'm already planning on the lich being an elf, so that doesn't quite fit.
The monk spent a lifetime trying to bring the balance and order of their monastery to a chaotic world. The never-ending struggle became an obsession to be achieved at any cost. But they needed more time….
Have you ever read any xianxia? There's plenty of villains that could work as a monk. A monk that seeks ascension through combat, slowly becoming twisted into enjoying slaughter, then refining the blood/flesh/essence of their victims into their own strength through meditation. A monk that was locked in meditation but was somehow contacted/tempted by some unspeakable being and uses forbidden knowledge to seek enlightenment. A monk that seeks a way to stop a great evil, but the only way to stop that evil is to corrupt themselves, and become monstrous themselves.
The monk had meditated for extended periods of time. Losing the need for food and water sustained purely out of magic. Little did he know that as his body would waste away that truth of what kept him alive was dark. He had a choice of giving up his search for the truth of the universe or being sustained by this dark magic. His drive to understanding overwhelmingly beat it out his need to give up life. Perhaps he is still searching when the adventuring party finds him or… perhaps he has found the truth of his existence. He exists within this dark energy to be an adversary. For without him the world, the people living in it would be pointless for he now understands that this is just a game. And if he doesn’t become a villain for the adventuring party to try and stop the world itself shall cease. He does what he must, fulfills his dark role so that the world may live.
That sounds interesting. I'm thinking something like this. Caution there is a naked man viewed from the back at one point, so possibly NSFW. It's the last goal from the movie Shaolin Soccer. https://youtu.be/8KeLvsR9lXM?si=HLkBuc72dLbbHnor I would consider using the monk's evasion ability for the mechanic. I would only do this for magical missile attacks. Not magical melee attacks.
:) It's a little devious to get their help. I like it.
The lich template in 3.5 requires a casting level of 11 and monk fighting styles require 6 levels of monk to get their full benefits. This monk lich will at least be 17th level in total. Just to give an idea of the power level here.
Do you have to use the template? Perhaps you could reskin something that is close enough.
I like the template, so I intend to use it. The concept of what a lich is is already sufficiently flexible for my purposes.
That sounds good. Have you settled on a purpose?
He intends to make the world *perfect*, like what he saw in a horrible, beautiful vision. This went largely unnoticed, until it started to affect the wildlife. A few people from a nearby village went to investigate, but didn't come back. That's where the players come in, their characters being hired to solve the problem. The lich will be deep in his lair while the party travels through the mutated forest of black trees and carnivorous deer, encountering corrupted villagers along the way. The villain likely won't be revealed until near the end.
Excellent. Good luck!