Hey Pointy Hat, love your videos! ❤ I love the idea of making something evil more complex and nuanced, for my favourite stories are morally grey instead of black and white. For example doing something bad, evil for a arguably good result. Something utilitarian at the cost of life, like the forsworn sisters you made. It made me think about this idea, the possibility of combining different type of liches you made, for reading between the lines of the forsworn, the communal lich. They have their original oath and take up a new one to be forsworn. In essence it is not excluding or overriding their original oath. What if we take that train of thought to its logical extreme and extend it to different types of lichdom. Let's say a hierarch (sorcerer lich) or a virtuoso (bard lich) decide that they wish to have a failsafe to maintain their unlife and find like minded individuals or even their family and found an order of forsworn. Now they have multiple ways to maintain their unlife through song or family blood lines alongside their oath brethren. That further encourages the narrative possibility of something arguably evil using less savoury ways to achieve good, or vise versa. Imagine an order that proselytize through music, a hymn perhaps or induct new members who are exclusively of certain bloodlines, alongside the possibility bringing back fallen knights through retaking their own oath. I dunno it sounds funny :D. It certainly is an intriguing combo, but most importantly it showcases the fact that your patented lich making series is filled to the brim with creativity and possibilities. I most certainly will partake in using your ideas as a spring board of creativity for my own games :D Thank you for the endless inspiration, loads of love from a which lich enjoyer<3 -Ventus
I'm about to start a campaign where I have it lined up for the party to have an encounter of some sort at the end of every milestone culminating in the "main quest giver" npc being the big bad, harvesting the parts of their kills along the way all just to get back into the castle that has been overrun by shadow folk and monsters that are looking to recover an artifact that the "quest giver NPC" stole from the shadowfell in the one shot pre-campaign. He is planning on harvesting the power from it to do something, I haven't gotten to that part yet, it's a long campaign, I have time. TLDR; the big bad was their friend all along trying to defeat the creatures that were just trying to get back what was theirs before something bad happened and all the while the party was building their boss encounter by helping him.
As soon as you mentioned they were a group, I immiediately thought of Super Mario Bros style where each big fight is a forsworn until eventually reaching the big Bowser Lich
I've been working on an anti paladin for some time now. It is not a dark paladin or an evil paladin. The idea is a character designed specifically to kill paladins of all kinds. There is no oath involved as it is not a paladin. It is born with a natural five foot magic nullification field that shuts down both magic and anti magic. It can be killed like most other classes, so it's definitely not over powered. Paladins are it's main choice of prey. It cannot use any kind of magic or magic item. Wielding a weapon makes that weapon be able to nullify both magic and anti magic. It's as strong as whatever any other character would be in terms of stats. They cannot taste anything or talk because the anti paladins are born without tongues. They get no magic abilities except for their innate magic nullification field. This race is sensitive to the presence of paladins as a sense to replace their lack of taste. Dark gold skin to brown gold. Silver eyes. Light grey hair to medium grey. Life span of 62 years at best. Cannot become any kind of undead. Their bones can be used to make magic nullifying tools and weapons. Have any questions?
Hey, great video. Any reason why the phylactery pally girls seem to have their hearts on the "right" spot (due to the location of their unhealing wounds on the group pic @15:58)??? 🤔 Wait. Those devious fiends can shift their wounds!!! (as seen @17:03) What's the lore behind this phenomenon?
In the videogame "Divinity: Dragon Commander" there was a church all about turning people into liches and other undead, because they were the only ones who could GUARANTEE life after death.
Robot Racism sticks around forever as a trope because it ISN'T just an allegory, it's virtually guaranteed to happen if robots reach a certain advancement level. It's something that is instantly and sadly believable and relatable. Racism is just a fact of life, and not only do they fill in well for whatever -ism you want your allegory to be about...I mean, we will 100% have massive hatred towards sentient machines if such a thing is possible. Humans suck.
If anyone is familiar with the shojo anime _Princess Tutu,_ Herr Drosselmeyer, the chaotic neutral mentor/big bad and writer of tragic fairy tales _could_ be seen as an Intoner with a storyteller motif...
A fun twist that occurred to me while watching this-- what about a group of Forsworn who take over the local merchants' guild. Players note that there seems to be a strange level of collusion and corruption in all the shops in town, and that all the shopkeepers get together for a secret meeting periodically, and they decide to bust in. Surprise!
The Vow of Archamak is a tale of caution sown into the order's archives. Such a bow so devote, one's soul is plunged into the divine realms, laid bare to great divines. Arrogant and blasphemous such a fool ignorant of humility. The Fall of Saint Luthwain is the destination of the order's pilgrimage. Peer into the waters and seek reflection, for the judgement of the Arbiter Militant is purged of mercy. Hone your awareness. No bird, no hare, or insect dwells within the Silent Lands. Wickedness chains you, and life itself bestows life onto the Arbiter Militant. The pilgrimage is a divine trial the order embarks with honor, reverence, and for mercy. The Silent Lands expands with each falter and offense from each member of the order, seasoned and fledgling.
It is a failure to have a wizard turned into a Ranger with melee and magic. The concept has been magic casters, clerics and fighting men. Wizards are as well craftsmen making scrolls and potions. Without it the fighter gets no potions and the Wizard doesn't need a book it can write it down on scrolls. When you bundle scrolls they become a book. The Wizard is meant to earn money by selling potions to party members.
Death knights aren't always made by gods, they can choose to become death knights, it's literally listed on the Book of Vile Darkness that it has the secret to becoming a death knight, meaning you can choose to become one.
I know I can be pretty critical, but... bro... this shit was amazing! While you were talking about the Holy Sister Knights, I was already coming up with concept after concept of what I could do with a character. Like, imagine this; apparently Revenants are a thing, yeah? I remember something like it being a thing in 4E. But essentially they're somebody raised from the dead for a specific purpose. As player characters, they're pretty much sentient undead. Don't know if they have to do the whole lich thing. Like, imagine your character dealing with the Sisters is a *former pirate*, and he was brought back to life by the very god the sisters worshipped. Perhaps it's a god he, at one point in his life, was wholly against for one reason or another. Perhaps he was the member of a smaller faith that was wiped out by the paladins (guess who) of a strange order of a small island nation? And so he joined with a pirate crew that he knew was intending on ransacking this particular island. He didn't care about their treasures, only their *heads*. And so he sought to take them. He and a few others broke into the royal family while the paladins were kept busy, and they slaughtered the royal family, so locked as he was in a blood-drunk frenzy of revenge. And while successful, he was defeated by Sister Milagros. But rather than being killed outright, he and the few pirates that had been taken alive were going to be imprisoned for purposes none of them understood. Not until Milagros and four others approached their cells, blade in hand, with open wounds upon their chests over their hearts. He and the other pirates were swiftly, and mercilessly cut down, the ebb and flow of his soul being pulled through their body and used as fuel to empower their oath. And yet, it was not the end for him. Not yet. Souls are... powerful things. Regardless of how humble or how powerful, a soul cannot be destroyed. It can't simply... *stop* being. A soul is perpetual and everlasting, regardless of the passage of time or the trauma of magic or other supernatural forces. And while many horrific fates can await a soul, the souls of those used as fuel to empower the Foresworn Oath instead become one with the deity to whom the Oath has been cast. And sometimes, that god can be merciful. Such as it was to the young pirate. He was given a chance... no longer for revenge, but now for redemption. The Holy Sister Knights had been in the state between life and death for more than a thousand years, and it was becoming alarmingly apparent that they were no longer able to use legitimate means to maintain the power of their Oath. Numerous innocent souls had been fed to the goddess to whom the Oath had been sworn, and no longer could she simply stand by and allow them to continue on like this. The Foresworn were fighting the enemies of their nation well and true, but rather than allowing themselves to pass and for others to take up the Foresworn Oath in their place, they had instead opted to keep upon themselves the curse of lichdom, damning themselves to a horrific fate. In exchange for not only his freedom, but for forgiveness of his crimes, the once murderer is tasked with slaying the Holy Sister Knights, putting a stop to their Oath, once and for all... Yeah, I'm gonna play this character. xD
I love this idea, but my twist would be if one of the Foresworn was defeated, it would alert the other Foresworn, but their abilities would become stronger. Their bond is so strong that as you try to kill them, one-by-one, each member alive would take on their power and grow more resilient to the Oath being broken from death. Also, I like the idea of each existing member stabbing the new Foresworn member ala John Snow style to fully accept the burden of this Oath.
Amazing work, oh wonderful magical head accessory! I'm actually planning on using your Hierarch for the BBEG of a homebrew campaign I'm running (with a few tweaks to fit a theme I made for them, specifically shadow-magic). I will definitely see if I can add this as an upper-echelon member of the Hierarch's followers, or maybe as a rival organization in a foreign kingdom (the possibilities are endless...). However, I must ask, do you have any updates regarding the Adept Devils and their system for converting mortals into more of their kind? I saw you made a post about a year ago about it, but I was wondering if you have any more updates about it? I love your work and style, and I can't wait for your next video!
You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Power Corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The entity that granted the Sisterhood the deathless oath so they could become Forsworn, is playing the long-game. He's letting them damn themselves while digging their way into debt to him. When the bill finally comes due, they order will be forced to serve at his beck and call. What is he? A surviving Nuperibo devil from before Asmodeus conquered the Nine Hells and created the Ba'atezu. One of the original lawful-evil Devils who escaped the purge. He's building this order of undead holy-women up into the ultimate hit-squad. He's what's attracting more conventional devils/demons to the archipelago, they're hunting for traces of him that he's deliberately using as bait to keep the sisterhood distracted and besieged. Or that's how I would take it.
I once made a Paladin be the personal main villain for one of my player's revenge story arc. A Oathbreaker Paladin who is a vampire and an absolute bastard who has a 'never my fault' mentality.
Wizards can use weapons if they're proficient, leaning on dex weapons... see elves and dwarves that are racially proficient with particular weapons. How about a dwarf wizard with either a dip into fighter or a feat to get a fighting style to have the throwing weapon fighting style, and then seek out the lightning javelin and there is a +3 axe that have the throwing and returning returning properties along with extra lightning damage. Abjuration wizard that throws shit.
Funny enough, when i first tried my hand as a dm, I had to spend a month to really make sure i knew what themes i wanted, how to steer the campaign, be fair to the players but also make..... The BBEG. I struggled creatively on how to go about this approuch. Then as if a damn bolt of lightning hit me when i listened to metallicas spit out the bone hit the radio, my love for DOOM came to mind. Hence came Graphic!!!! The soul Arc. A brilliant artificer adventurer brought low in years of torture mentally by a mindflay made his choice by making the lich poison. However he had to alter the main recipe in his madness with his torturers blood. It caused a unthinkable mutation during his lichdom turnings for his flesh, blood and very mind were lost in a flame of many rays of color his very bones became hardened crystals in a clear saphire diamond that made this lich very durable for physical and and mental attacks. Killed every mindflay and mother brain to take their abilities by taking their very abilities for his own. It wasn't enough however... for he lacked in magical essences. So he in a single night slaughtered a whole city itself to convert it into his personal forge, amalgamating everything once living into hellish designs of mutations through potions with wicked designs in mind. It definitely hit the party group hard in my horror setting.
probably the best twist vid and concepts you made so far ngl, especially because, being these liches and being directly intertwined with the world, it makes them recurring villains(or antiheros?) too, which is something notoriously hard to pull off well in dnd as you can't exactly show off the villains time and time again relatively safely in dnd with how dnd parties often think and act. i dig this *HARD*. if there's a concept that's gonna gimme the "constant presence and bond of the baddies withthe mc" as dmc, resident evil and mgs titles did in a ttrpg, i feel it will be this concept.
