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InDungeons & Dragons, one of the most fearsome creatures you can face is the Lich, an undead spellcaster of great power. Yet their undeadness or arcane prowess is not what makes them a Lich; a Lich can only be considered as such when they have a phylactery.
This item allows the Lich to return to life (or rather, unlife) whenever they are destroyed. This makes the Lich not just a feared encounter, but a quest all on themselves, yet how does a phylactery work, and is there a way for players to craft one themselves?
What Is A Phylactery?
A phylactery isan object that holds part of a Lich’s soul, tethering the creature to the material plane (or whatever plane the phylactery might be on). In older editions, it had to bea jar or a metal container, but it can now be something as unassuming as a ring or a necklace.
Having a phylactery is oftenstep one of becoming a Lich, butit isn’t the only step. You also need toperform profane ritualsand sometimesdrink a dark potion, but that information varies from edition to edition, soit is up to the Dungeon Masterto decide the particulars.
In most editions that include the drinking of a potion, said potion has a chance of killing you.
How Does A Phylactery Work?
As far as how the item works in game terms, the phylactery allows the Lich toreturn to life next to it in 1D10 daysafter its demise. There doesn’t seem to be a limitation of distance or number of times the phylactery can do this, but there does seem to be a limit ofonly one phylactery per Lich.
Making a phylactery often weakens the caster that wants to become a Lich, which might make it not even possible for more than one to be had.
Within the lore, while the phylactery holdsa fragment of the Lich’s soul, that isn’t enough to bring it back to life. Older editions had the need ofa fresh body next to the phylactery(similar to how the Clone spell works), but in Fifth Edition, the phylactery instead needsa regular supply of souls.
Narratively speaking, this gives the Licha simple goal to be eviland terrorize the population, preventing them from becoming too passive in any story. Should a Lichfail to feed the phylacteryfor an extended period of time, they wouldbecome a Demilich, a floating skull lacking spellcasting abilities.
If the Demilich manages to feed a soul to their phylactery, they go back into being a Lich.
Finding The Phylactery
The point of a phylactery is thatit is well hiddensincethe Lich’s immortality depends on it.However, since defeating the creature is oftenthe point of an adventure, the Dungeon Master will likely beleaving clues to its whereabouts. It will typically be a placesignificant to the Lich during their natural lifeora secluded dungeonon the outskirts of town.
If you are looking for the phylactery in a social setting,Detect Magic is your best tool for the job.After all, no matter how mundane the object chosen as a phylactery might look, it will always beoozing with necrotic magic, making it stand out.
Destroying The Phylactery
In older editions, the phylactery was justan object with 40 hit points, so destroying it was just a matter ofhitting it really hard. The description of the item in Fifth Edition makes it sound morelike an Artifact, making it immune to most damage unlessa specific condition is met.
It is ultimately up to the Dungeon Master howa specific phylactery can be destroyed, so pay attention to any hints given by them. Then again, without being formally defined as an Artifact,throwing a phylactery inside a pool of lava or a Sphere of Annihilationshould do the trick.
How Are Phylacteries Made?
The real question you might be wondering is,‘can players make phylacteries?’ and the answer is yes, but it won’t be easy. This is due to the information on the dark rituals revolving around making a Lich beingfar from public knowledge, and your Dungeon Master might not even give you a way to learn about them.
The previously mentioned Clone spell can give you most of the benefits of a phylactery without becoming a Lich, although it is an eighth level spell exclusive to wizards.
A fast way to learn these rituals is bybecoming a servant of Orcus, the Demon Prince of Undeath; he might even give you analready powered-up phylactery, saving you time and money. Of course, that means thatyour eternal soul is now bound in servitudeto the demon, but every relationship has its pros and cons.
If you don’t want to make a deal with Orcus, then you shouldwork with your Dungeon Masterfor a way to have your character learn the rituals. One official way to do so is viathe Book of Vile Darkness, an Artifact with many dangers attached to it as well as several benefits, particularlythe Vile Lore section that details how to become a Lich.
Possible Phylactery Recipe
Crafting a phylactery needs to bea costly endeavor, which may or may not translate into gold cost. An ideal price for a phylacteryis 100,000 gold pieces, which could be the price of the container or the price of the components for the spells to be cast on it.
Followingthe rules of Magic Item Crafting in the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, you will also needproficiency with tools associated with the itemworking as a phylactery. The tools in question will depend on the nature of the item: a box would require tinker’s tools, while a ring would require jeweler’s tools.
You can consider a phylacterybeing a Legendary item, and as suchit would take 250 days to make.While you won’t be able to cast spells with it, you may need to have certain spells prepared for the full duration,like Magic Jar, Reincarnate, and Clone.
You can divide the workload among a few assistants, at least halving the time needed to craft the phylactery.
Older editions had a price to pay thatweakened the caster when creating a phylactery, since a portion of their soul would permanently reside there. You may have tolose a hit point diewhen creating the phylactery orenough experience points to go down one level.
The Ritual And Potion
If you are making a phylactery, thenyou’ll likely want to become a full Lich, which also has a few other steps involved. In older editions, there was an emphasis placed ondark rituals and a horrific potion, but you may bundle those together into the same thing.
The ‘dark rituals’ often referred tothe process of becoming a free-willed undead, while the potion was all aboutsacrificing virgins and children. You can have the whole process be a single event: a dark ritual wherethe sacrifice of innocents turns you into an undead.
There might be a gold cost attached to this, but the monetary price wasalready covered by the phylactery.The dark, profane ritual should be aboutthe evil actions that involve being a Lich, with the difficulty being the logistics offinding pure-hearted innocentsand a place to sacrifice them.
