Phylactery Questions

[Jeremy16]

I'm trying to make a lich for an adventure I'm writing up, and while I've found plenty of resources on building one from scratch, I have a few lingering questions about how the phylactery operates...

First, every source I've read says a lich that is confined to its phylactery "grows" a new body within 2 weeks but does that body appear out of thin air? Or does it need an already living (or dead) body that is close enough to take over?

Second, can a lich detect the location of its phylactery if it is stolen by PCs?

Third, some sources say that the phlyactery has to be "fed" souls in order to maintain the lich's lifeforce (I believe this may be from 5e). What does that exactly look like? A ritual murder, a magic jar spell, or something else?

Any help on this subject would be greatly appreciated!

[Igor the Henchman]

The rules for lich phylacteries have undergone some changes between D&D editions.

AD&D 1st edition didn't provide any game mechanics for how a lich's phylactery worked, only mentioning that it was a necessary component for maintaining the lich's unliving existence. This seemed to imply that one could destroy the lich by simply locating and destroying its phylactery, instead of facing the monster in battle.

In AD&D 2nd edition, a phylactery was described as functioning like the magic jar spell. That meant that upon death the lich's essence would return to its phylactery, and from there it could attempt to magically possess a creature within the distance of 1 foot per level of the lich. The 2e Ravenloft accessory Van Richten's Guide to Liches retconned this, specifying that the target had to be an undead creature, or a dead corpse within 60 feet of the phylactery (in the latter case, the process took a full day). The same book also encouraged the DM not to be afraid to come up with their own mechanics, such as letting the lich possess the first character who touched the phylactery, or springing some other cruel surprise.

In D&D 3rd edition, the rules were changed further, specifying that the lich would "reappear" within the span of 1d10 days as long as the phylactery wasn't destroyed.

During that time, a popular D&D parody comic The Order of the Stick showed its lich antagonist gradually "regrow" its undead body after it had been destroyed in battle, first reappearing as a talking skull, then gradually regenerating back to its full shape, at one point making a memorable one-liner: "Hey, look, I just regenerated a finger. Guess which one?" Many D&D players saw the comic and decided that it was how phylacteries officially work.

4e D&D kept the "reappear within 1d10 days" rule, adding the precision that the lich had to appear at the phylactery's location.

Finally, D&D 5e introduced the necessity to periodically feed mortal souls to their phylactery, which requires the lich to cast an imprisonment spell on the victim. The phylactery takes 24 hours to consume the imprisoned soul, during which the victim's soul can still be rescued by destroying the object. Lich NPCs featured in official D&D 5e adventures have typically been described as having a preserved or nearly-alive appearance when they consumed souls regularly, or looking more decayed/skeletal when they went a long time without consuming any.

To the best of my recollection, there haven't been any rule that allowed the lich to sense the location of its phylactery, however I'd imagine that spells like Locate Object would do the trick.

[IanFordam]

Just to build on top of Igor the Henchman's wonderfully detailed response...

In Roots of Evil, the eyes of Azalin's phylactery flash and glow whenever the phylactery is oriented toward Azalin. This feature is called out as special to Azalin's phylactery, but it certainly opens the door for similar tailoring. If you're looking for a reason to allow your lich to sense where his phylactery is, there's your precedent.

[Baron Von Stanton]

Considering as how the phylactery houses the lich's soul, I would think it would be common sense that the lich would automatically know where its phylactery is at all times.

As for creating a new body, I would also assume that the lich either wills its body back together, or that it animates a nearby suitable corpse, or even casts a variation of major creation or limited wish to create or restore its body.

The 5e requirement that a lich needs to devour souls feels like an extension or expansion on the various power rituals discussed in Van Ritchen's Guide To The Lich that liches uses to maintain and enhance their powers and undead nature.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Speaking of Van Richtens Guide series of accessories on gothic monsters and the Vistani I would say that all there can be variables of liches. As the Van Richten's Guide series was made to make monsters different and make DMs think out of the box I believe these all can be variations of different liches and phylacteries.

One may need a fresh corpse while another more dreadful version could possess an unfortunate person as if a magic jar spell was cast and the soul of that person may be either destroyed or even trapped in the phylactery (and the PCs now are tasked to release the poor person's soul along with destroying the lich. Another may transform its own body from thin air as discussed while another weaker version needs to perform some kind of ritual to gain another body.

This way the adventurers may be surprised when their plan fails or have to do detective work to learn how to destroy that specific lich. It is also a good way to make a lich adversary playable in various levels by making weaker versions or more powerful ones.

[alhoon]

Finally, D&D 5e introduced the necessity to periodically feed mortal souls to their phylactery, which requires the lich to cast an imprisonment spell on the victim. The phylactery takes 24 hours to consume the imprisoned soul, during which the victim's soul can still be rescued by destroying the object. Lich NPCs featured in official D&D 5e adventures have typically been described as having a preserved or nearly-alive appearance when they consumed souls regularly, or looking more decayed/skeletal when they went a long time without consuming any.

Where does it say that? I have not noticed this in the MM.

[Speedwagon]

Finally, D&D 5e introduced the necessity to periodically feed mortal souls to their phylactery, which requires the lich to cast an imprisonment spell on the victim. The phylactery takes 24 hours to consume the imprisoned soul, during which the victim's soul can still be rescued by destroying the object. Lich NPCs featured in official D&D 5e adventures have typically been described as having a preserved or nearly-alive appearance when they consumed souls regularly, or looking more decayed/skeletal when they went a long time without consuming any.

Where does it say that? I have not noticed this in the MM.

It’s in the sidebar for Demilich in the 5e Monster Manual, iirc. Hope that helps!

[Igor the Henchman]

Where does it say that? I have not noticed this in the MM.

I mean, it's right there in the MM's description?

Soul Sacrifices. A lich must periodically feed souls to its phylactery to sustain the magic preserving its body and consciousness. It does this using the imprisonment spell. Instead of choosing one of the normal options of the spell, the lich uses the spell to magically trap the target’s body and soul inside its phylactery. The phylactery must be on the same plane as the lich for the spell to work. A lich’s phylactery can hold only one creature at a time, and a dispel magic cast as a 9th-level spell upon the phylactery releases any creature imprisoned within it. A creature imprisoned in the phylactery for 24 hours is consumed and destroyed utterly, whereupon nothing short of divine intervention can restore it to life.

A lich that fails or forgets to maintain its body with sacrificed souls begins to physically fall apart, and might eventually become a demilich.

Huh. I'd forgotten about the 9th-level dispel magic bit.

[alhoon]

Where does it say that? I have not noticed this in the MM.

I mean, it's right there in the MM's description?

Believe it or not, I have not read those things or I have forgot about them. Including how the lich moved to a more... traditional lich that is practically an undead spell library with little interest aside of research. You know, exactly how Strahd described them in I, Strahd.
I love that part about feeding souls in the phylactery. And as we now know, feeding TOO MANY souls in the phylactery leads to KABOOOOM of epic proportions.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Soul Sacrifices....
A lich that fails or forgets to maintain its body with sacrificed souls begins to physically fall apart, and might eventually become a demilich.

I love that part about feeding souls in the phylactery. And as we now know, feeding TOO MANY souls in the phylactery leads to KABOOOOM of epic proportions.

Although a certain lich that did that actually aspired to become a demilich...
Isn't this a bit oxymoron?

[alhoon]

That lich was hit by a curse that made it impossible for him to learn new knowledge. If he had learned in undead-highschool that if you feed too many souls to your phylactery you become a demilich unburdened by it, he would never ever learn otherwise.
The Dark Powers gave him aaaaaall the rope he needed to hang everyone.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

I read Van Richten's Guide to the Lich.
Liches feeding was pretty creepy, but I don't recall the Guide saying the lich devoured souls, just a fresh (?) body that had been rendered into an essential powder of some sort and must be sprinkled into its eye sockets.
They weren't terrible gluttons about it, either.

[Baron Von Stanton]

I read Van Richten's Guide to the Lich.
Liches feeding was pretty creepy, but I don't recall the Guide saying the lich devoured souls, just a fresh (?) body that had been rendered into an essential powder of some sort and must be sprinkled into its eye sockets.
They weren't terrible gluttons about it, either.

In the "Rituals of Sustenance" section in Chapter 1, the lich needs to steal, embalm and then incinerate the heart of a sentient being before applying the ashes of aforementioned heart to their eye sockets. Though, between you and me, if I were a lich, I'd rather just animate a new body than have to go through all this trouble to imitate Mola Ram every month.

[alhoon]

Though, between you and me, if I were a lich, I'd rather just animate a new body than have to go through all this trouble to imitate Mola Ram every month.

Trouble? Incinerating peasants not because you really need to but because you just like to? And for no other reason that because your failing body is worth more than their pathetic lives? Sure, sure, it could be easier to get another one, I suppose. As it would be easier for a billionaire to buy from amazon new pijamas every day instead of personally feeding the washing machine with the ones he has.
But come on! Why would you take some of the last vestiges of joy out of your existence?

Tsk, tsk, tsk... I guess you would never make a good lich.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Pseudolich!

New monster, created when a wizard fails to become a lich but does not "die" in the process...
Their crumbling bodies need negative energy to survive (meaning killing peasants regularly).
I am not sure if they should have a phylactery though, maybe they are trying only to survive, thus their pathetic undead existence has nothing to do with the thirst of knowledge normal liches have.