Badger Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Forgive my ignorance as I am not as informed with the fantasy genre as I am with other genres but...... What is a liche? I have seen that word lately on the boards and is driving me crazy not knowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eosin Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Historically, it is a reference to the Liche gate through which coffins were carried into the cemetary IIRC. In fantasy a Liche or Lich is generally an undead spell caster slightly more powerful that a vampire type. Generally speak, a Lich usually has such a strong desire to live and also a mighty command over magic that they are able to keep thier spirit animating their body. Usually, the lich has removed his soul and a portion of his power and placed it in some gem or jeweld box....the Lich cannot be killed until the source of its power is also destroyed. That is the basics.....a skeletal looking undead magic user, usually a necromancer who is out to give players a very hard time of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorItron Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Eosin's just about covered it all. As if it wasn't obvious enough, a lich is almost always evil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted February 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Thanks! The only thing else I can think of is Is there any special circumstances that previously have happened (like in life or something) that caused him to become a liche? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eosin Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Nope, it is sorta like a sell your soul for immortality kinda thing. Lichs really want to live, so much so that they are willing to be putrid vessels of undead flesh so long as their minds are intact. Call it a poor man's route to immortality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted February 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Yep I think that just about covers it. Thanks for the help Though it looks like in this case immortality is overated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Jogger Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 There was one lich in a AD&D module that wasn't evil. Oddly enough, he was just so focused on his research and unwilling to quit it, that he continued on while his flesh rotted away. Talk about being distracted. "Just a few more years of research and then I'll stop." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barwickian Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 Originally posted by Eosin Historically, it is a reference to the Liche gate through which coffins were carried into the cemetary IIRC. Close. The word "lich" is Old English (ie, Anglo-Saxon) for corpse. It survives in terms like "lich-gate", and in some modern English dialects - for instance, there's a 40-mile walk across the North York Moors known as the Lyke Wake Walk (lyke being the North Riding variant of lich, and wake as in funeral), which follows an old funerary route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimJesta Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 Amusing story time: I think it was a Lankhmar game I called the cemetery a Lich Field, as the Newhonians (spelling?) were sort of Cockney accents and made 'em use alot of Old English as well. My friend Nate was like, "What!?! Why are they there just standing around?!? Holy crap (he didnt say crap, he said worse), I say we leave this city! Pete you added this to the setting yourself didnt you!?!" Or something like that (its was over 10 years ago, so Verbatum is impossible). -=Grim=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 Lichs usually pursue some formulae or treatment to turn themselves into liches in xD&D, which in true xD&D fashion involved some really illogical rule bending. But all that aside, in the HERO System if you want to involve Lich's you could handle it as a "Radiation Accident", to use the Champions terms, with a pre-made template. Declare some process and those conducting it apply a the Template to their character sheet (or in the case of an NPC the GM does so), with appropriate abilities and disadvantages to reflect an Undead State. You should probably be able to get the Disadvantages high enough to pay off most of the abilities, and require the difference as an XP cost. Obviously you'll have to allow the character to exceed Disadvantage limits in most cases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galadorn Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 Originally posted by Eosin Nope, it is sorta like a sell your soul for immortality kinda thing. Lichs really want to live, so much so that they are willing to be putrid vessels of undead flesh so long as their minds are intact. Call it a poor man's route to immortality. Ummmmmm, it depends on your mythology, but a lich is usually preserved by magic. Some GMS say it is simply the desire to live, in a mage, that causes him to live - but this desire works because of magic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 Originally posted by GrimJesta My friend Nate was like, "What!?! Why are they there just standing around?!? Holy crap (he didnt say crap, he said worse), I say we leave this city! Pete you added this to the setting yourself didnt you!?!" Or something like that (its was over 10 years ago, so Verbatum is impossible). Heh. That's almost as good as attacking the gazebo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barwickian Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 http://www.lichfield-tourist.co.uk/ I haven't dared check the "Where to Eat" section... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted February 14, 2004 Report Share Posted February 14, 2004 Ooh! Here's where I can be helpful. Lich isn't derived from Anglo-saxon. It's derived from the nordic root, lich and means body or corpse. That's why the word is most common in the northern part of the country. It survives today in modern Danish (Lig) and Norwegian (also Lig, IIRC). Thus a lich-gate was the gate out of a church enclosure through which the bodies were carried: the term later became sometimes used for any small gate, or a gate through which the dead were carried. Likewise Lichfield - "body field" - a graveyard or sometimes a battlefield. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barwickian Posted February 14, 2004 Report Share Posted February 14, 2004 Me and the OED still go with Old English. However, it isn't surprising there's a similarity with Danish - Old English, Danish and Norse are all teutonic languages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
projecktzero Posted February 14, 2004 Report Share Posted February 14, 2004 If you're interested in the Hero Stats for a Lich, they are in Monsters, Minions, and Marauders which I just picked up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galadorn Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Originally posted by Markdoc Ooh! Here's where I can be helpful. Lich isn't derived from Anglo-saxon. It's derived from the nordic root, lich and means body or corpse. That's why the word is most common in the northern part of the country. It survives today in modern Danish (Lig) and Norwegian (also Lig, IIRC). Thus a lich-gate was the gate out of a church enclosure through which the bodies were carried: the term later became sometimes used for any small gate, or a gate through which the dead were carried. Likewise Lichfield - "body field" - a graveyard or sometimes a battlefield. Regardless, the roleplaying mythology, is a whole other story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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