Curse-Cult Lich

These liches began as high-level members of the curse-gifted orders of the frontier coast, people who carry the curse-born gifts, and used secret alchemy to become undead in pursuit of more power. Just two are known to exist, one haunting the frontier baronies and one in a frontier kingdom of dog-folk.

Each looks different. The base is a skeletal humanoid, not always human, twisted further by the side effects of its gifts. One holding six gifts (weapon hand, growth, projectile, burn, sight and armor), for instance, might sport scales, bony eyestalks, red-glowing sockets, skin hot to the touch, fire leaking from its mouth, a hollow horn jutting from its brow, arms twice normal length and one hand stretched into a bone blade. It dresses as it did in life, in armor or robes of fine but battered make.

Unlike most liches it enjoys a fight and usually has backup: undead, monsters, even living humans or humanoids. It has no fear aura, though its hideous looks send many weak, intelligent creatures running anyway.

It leads with its curse-born gifts and is immune to the harmful effects of any gift it has itself, so one with burn takes no damage when an enemy uses burn on it. It keeps its old class abilities at 15th level, casting spells if it was a wizard, priest or bard, or sneaking, hiding and backstabbing if it was a thief. Armor it wears adds only its magical bonus to Armor Class. Blasting powder does not endanger it as it does living members of the orders, so it may carry wheellock pistols.

Its touch deals 1d10, and the victim must save vs. death magic or suffer one day of the curse's wasting period, whether or not he wears, has ever worn, or even needs a curse-warding red metal. He loses 1 point from the relevant ability score or scores and warps according to his gifts' drawbacks; a victim with no gift gets a random one, and someone with several suffers for all of them at once, which is why these liches target gifted foes first. The touch bypasses the red metal entirely without depleting it. Anyone reduced to 0 or below in any ability other than Charisma dies and rises the next night as a cursed husk; a lair may hold several. Since the lich needs no red metal and cannot be harmed by such husks, it may feed them the metal to speed their turning into crimson steel.

This forced decay is easier to undo than the curse's usual deforming stage. Recovery starts as soon as the victim receives remove curse, as long as he is wearing the red metal, needs no system shock roll, and is always complete.

Nonmagical weapons cannot harm it, and it shares the standard lich immunities, from charm and hold to death spells, cold and electricity. It is turned as a normal lich.

Its life essence lies in a crimson steel object hidden in its lair, perhaps a spent red metal amulet or a weapon or piece of armor. Both body and object must be destroyed. Melting is not enough; it takes disintegrate or a similar effect, though the detonate gift shatters it sufficiently. If the metal is melted and reforged, the essence stays in whichever new piece holds the most of the original. Cunning ones hide it well or use a magical weapon heroes would hate to destroy.

It lives alone in a fortress, mountain hideout or cavern and, remembering its own adventuring days, keeps the location quiet. Hungry for power, though, it may leak rumors to draw weak adventuring parties it can strip of gear and life, preferring to meet them away from home in case it must retreat.

Both known examples devote much time to studying the crimson curse, so a talkative lich, or its journal, is a rich source of lore about the curse, the gifts and the related magical substances. Like the living, these liches take nicknames, grimmer ones: the Cinder Lord, among the first of the orders, and the Pale Outrider, a former wizard who rides a nightmare. They care little for life, and though a good one is remotely possible, the ambition that leads here nearly always produces evil.

It neither eats nor breeds, yet it reshapes its region through plunder and slaughter. The candidate must personally forge the object that will house its essence, ideally from crimson steel it once wore as red metal, and must also brew a difficult alchemical potion akin to the orders' red elixir, made with steel seed, powdered crimson steel, herbs, blood and costly arcane ingredients. The potion must soak for several weeks in the magic of depleting red metal. On drinking it, the candidate must pass a system shock roll or die. Survivors become liches and immediately transform according to their gifts, without losing any ability points; any previously lost are restored.