Building Better Monsters | Liches

The lich looks godly in that painting. Absolutely gorgeous.

That's perhaps the most Bad-ass Lich backstory I've ever heard.

I would love to hear your take on how to do a "Folklore" monster in game. Something that's deeply ingrained in the surrounding areas culture with bizarre powers that can only be killed in some weird, specific, way.

bathing the lich in incredible magic items kind of makes them a foil for PCs. Like this is where a life of power creeping and amassing powerful relics gets you.

Have you checked out the “Kill Every Monster” podcast? They are attempting a similar thing. In the first half of each episode they bring on a guest to discuss a D&D monster and see how they can make it better. Then in the second half they run a short combat encounter. And spoiler: the adventurer typically ends up being more monstrous than the creature.

I really love how much you're drawing on the bible for the æsthetic inspiration in this series. It's such an æsthetically strong source, that so often gets overlooked.

Beautiful work here, you gave me some food for thought. I decided that one of the penultimate BBEG in my current campaign is a Lich and his Death Knight lieutenant. The actual BBEG is a God (we'll deal with it if we get there). And now, I have this idea of the DK being the "Collector" his job is to hunt down new artifacts to add to the arsenal of his master. In fact, this is easily tied into what I was doing at the beginning of the campaign. Having rival groups of adventures hunting down items for a mysterious and shady cabal. Now, it's for the cult that's grown up around these two.

Okay. Your art is fantastically enviable. I love watercolor, and you inspire me to pick them back up. And your thinking and approach to the actual game is very instructive for me -- this story about the lich is fire. But this right here: "He has taken on a form barely recognizable to where he began life, one that can survive -- if not thrive -- in the yawning paths of aether that he travels on his blasphemous quest." Your writing/speaking is also

The deep blue haziness just screams "cursed" to me! And a fantastic approach to treat the lich as a magical collector specifically.

When he was splattering the green paint all over I was like: "wait, what are you doing?!?" But the end result is stunning. Also, the new Monsters of the Multiverse has revamped spellcaster monsters to make them easier to play. No more spell slot management and less "what does this spell do again?"

Turning Adam into a lich.... that's definitely a new take.

One idea I've had for making liches more interesting is having non-undead/necromancy liches. A lich is someone who as achieved immortality by removing their soul. What other ways can one do this other than necromancy? The soul can be transformed into a demon. They can become a ghost possessing their own corpse. They can graft their soul into another being. Some classic characters that are liches but don't fit the typical lich aesthetic are: Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean. Voldemort. Emperor Palpatine (by Episode XI). Ganondorf.

The way you built this out of the phylactery was interesting and you're a really good artist. I also appreciate that you open this by just stating that its already a really solid concept and youre just finding a different angle, it's hard to do a straight improvement in the way that you did (IMO) with the owlbear. This idea of the lich having just a horde of random magical items reminds me of the anime fate's gilgamesh.

I LOVE THIS PAINTING SO MUCH!!! Liches have always been my favorite things in fantasy and this perfectly demonstrates just how awesome they are!

Awesome! I also hate to run spellcasters as a DM, I always forget the spells they have. I much prefer having a couple of "powers" in my arsenal. Like, if the dragon can breathe fire, that ain't a spell, that's a "power" in my head. So a lot of my NPC mages work like that: he doesn't "cast Sleep", he has the power to put people to sleep 3 times a day or something.

The scepter and the throne pose give solid Overlord vibe. Cosmic sorcerer king ainz ooal gown, I love it.

Fantastic video, I shall record your knowledge within my grimoire, decipher it, and use it to create a ritual capable of ascending me to greater power.

My favourite lich is Dorian Grey. He's immortal and doesn't age unless he painting is destroyed. The secret of his lichdom isn't the horrible ritual from endless magical study, it's that it's a curse.

Found your channel this morning- have been watching different videos with glee- love the artwork as you go into your topics!

Bruh, this is a sublime rendering. As well as an awesome concept