Improved Demilich

[Rastor]

Posted by: Rastor Jun 7 2004, 10:18 PM
The PnP one can pronounce a powerful curse (which can include always being hit regardless of AC or never, ever gaining exp) do a death ray, store energy points from attacks, and can trap your soul, and doing so instantly rots your entire body, destroying it permanently. Plus, it can't be permanently killed unless you soak the fragments of the skull in holy water.

What you guys think? Good thing to put into an improved fights mod? 

Posted by: Grey Acumen Jun 7 2004, 10:28 PM
The holy water thing sounds kind of interesting, but only provided that you had one of the liches carrying a book of some sort that filled you in on the fact that you had to do that.

That's about the extent of my interest though. 

Posted by: Caveman Jun 23 2004, 04:17 AM
Oh Yes! That sounds pretty harsh! It's kind of ironic that the Kangaxx quest can be done by characters early in Ch. 2. I'm not familiar with PnP, but I think that the permanent death with the soul trap is a little too dirty, though(people will just reload). It would make things interesting if the souls were trapped in gems, like that one lich did in ToB(vanGoethe?) and the only way to get the party member(s) back would be to drop everything and go jump through all kinds of hoops to have the curse removed. Example: Find a series of clues that leads you to an old hermit, who turns out to be an archmage who can restore the souls for a price.

A good way to make demilich battles more difficult would be to try and eliminate the cheese methods of defeating them and/or make them cheesier than a bag of Cheetos. 1- Have them cast Dispel Magic on themselves whenever they take damage(from the low level character who bought or stole a Protection from Undead scroll and a +4 weapon) and no enemies are sighted.<would that nullify the effects of the scroll?>
2- Give them immunity or a better saving throw against being turned.
3- Have them do something like that yellow dragon did in 'Tactics'. Cast Spell Immunity: Abj. followed by Prot. from Magic Weapons. 

[MrEnnigma]

The holy water thing sounds kind of interesting, but only provided that you had one of the liches carrying a book of some sort that filled you in on the fact that you had to do that.

You could include a copy of one of Elminster's Ecologies dealing with demiliches.

In general, I've always felt these were one of those creatures to be encountered rarely because they're so damn scary. You respect them for their power or you die. Anything that helps get that point across I'm all for.