Sorcerous Origin: Lich Soul
In the ruins of what was once a prestigious magic academy, a disgraced wizard reaching the end of their mortal life prepares the daming ritual to save themselves from the curse of death. Filled with grief and hatred in how their life turned out, they prepare to bind their own soul to the mortal world. Regret and revenge swirl around them in equal measure, with only a drop of trepidation from the reality of what they are about to do. The wizard knows it’s too late to turn back. Their eyes turn to the trinket on the windowsill, the phylactery, looking comically unassuming. Yet inside sits the blood of the soul to be sacrificed, already mixed with the poisonous concoction; it belonged to an elven woman they killed a few days prior. She was a recluse. No one would miss her.
A young elf approaches the outskirts of the ruins, acting on the word of a resident of the nearby town who mentioned they saw her sister pass by here. His visit isn’t a friendly one, not by a long shot, a fact made more potent by his unbearably long lifespan. No, the reason he is looking for his sister is a banal one, money. She had robbed him of his half of the inheritance 200 years ago when their parents passed, and he was at her mercy ever since. He had to throw away his dignity, doing all manner of degrading things to see even a fraction of the money he was owed. Through no fault of his own, he lives day by day, constantly under her sister’s mercy. He loathes every moment of it.
Anger fuels the wizard’s resolve as he downs the cursed concoction. The effect is instant as the foul liquid seems to race down his throat into the pit of his stomach, its vile heat spreading outward through his entire body. The concoction burns into their soul as the bonds holding it to its body disintegrate; it falls dead. The soul, composed of the dead wizard’s memories and their power, acts on survival instinct as it will itself to the phylactery to complete the ritual to save him from death. However, its essence is weak, burdened by the toils of its life before and the wizard’s old age. It tries again, a mere five feet separating its desperate self from the sanctuary of eternal life, but the weight of what happened in the wizard’s life encumbers it, and the soul finds itself unable to move.
The elven man picks up a faint thud from the dilapidated building. Why would her sister be here of all places? More importantly, why does he care? She has always been withdrawn, but possessing a sharp mind that bordered on sociopathy. The years make it hard to recall, but when has she ever showed love toward their parents? Or to him? Why didn’t he anticipate his sister pulling such a wicked deed? He hates the life he has to live now, but did he hate her? Surprisingly, he never asked himself such an obvious question before, but as the elf finds himself drawn even more to these thoughts, the answer comes to him easily. All the while his body moves subconsciously to the ruined building.
The wizard’s soul, unable to bring itself to complete the heinous ritual; the elven man, seeking freedom from a humiliating existence he’s forced to live for centuries. At that point, their fates intertwined. The negative emotions emanating from the two fills the crumbling building with a dark aura. Without speaking, each understood the plight of the other.
The soul moves into its new body, hanging on to a facsimile of undeath, and the elf finds new purpose in exploring his newly acquired powers, free from the shackles of his old life.
Lich Soul
Your magic comes from the soul of a failed lich, a wizard who tried to defy death and bind itself to the Material Plane. Wizards who take up the path to lichdom have usually been renowned for their magical prowess during life. Thus, the person whose soul it now inhabits also wields its incredible power.
While the common belief is that lich souls can only latch onto people with an evil alignment, this isn’t necessarily true. A wizard driven to the path of lichdom does so due to various negative emotions, and the soul a failed lich chooses as its new master reflects the motivations it once had in life. Consult the Painful Struggle table for a possible reason for attracting the soul.
Painful Struggle
| d6 | Struggle |
|---|---|
| 1 | You were unexpectedly shunned by your peers for no discernable reason and now harbour a deep seated hatred toward them. |
| 2 | Growing up, you envied the nobles who could want for nothing and obtain everything, while you had to struggle your entire life just to get by. |
| 3 | You were constantly bullied and looked down on as a child, and grew resentful of people as a whole. |
| 4 | Your were kept rooted to your hometown your whole life. There is still so much of the world you haven't seen. |
| 5 | You were afraid of growing old and seeing yourself waste away. |
| 6 | You feared death and the nonexistence that came with it. |
Undead Nature
1st-level Lich Soul feature
Your connection to the lich soul inhabiting your
body grants you a fraction of the experience of
undeath. You no longer require air, food, drink,
or sleep. To gain the benefits of a long rest, you
can spend 6 hours doing light activity.
A Rare Bond
When a wizard aspires to be a lich, they must successfully guide their soul to a phylactery - a prepared container where their soul is to be trapped to keep it anchored to the mortal world. However, if the wizard is too weak, magically or otherwise, the soul acts on survival instinct and seeks a new individual to inhabit, typically of an evil alignment. The soul then becomes subservient to its new master. However, this on its own isn't enough to manifest magic abilities.
On extremely rare occasion, a soul may find an individual that it feels a kinship with. This person need not be evil. They might have fallen on hard times or is currently going through a painful struggle. The soul might empathize with the person’s own plight. Or perhaps the person triggered a particularly strong memory. Whatever the reason, this stronger affinity causes the individual to develop magic powers of a much stronger degree, as it inherits a portion of the dead wizard’s powers and, sometimes, their memories.
You can find out more about how liches are created in page 202 of the Monster Manual.
Restoration
1st-level Lich Soul feature
Your body acts as a phylactery for the lich soul, and is able to confer some of its regenerative properties onto you. You can use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to your Charisma modifier + your sorcerer level.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until the end of a short or long rest.
Lich Magic
1st-level Lich Soul feature
You learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown on the Lich Spells table. Each of these spells counts as a sorcerer spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of sorcerer spells you know.
Whenever you gain a sorcerer level, you can replace one spell you gained from this feature with another spell of the same level. The new spell must be a conjuration or a necromancy spell from the sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell list.
Lich Spells
| Sorcerer Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 1st | tasha’s hideous laughter, inflict wounds |
| 3rd | enthrall, ray of enfeeblement |
| 5th | summon undead, counterspell |
| 7th | mordenkainen's private sanctum, otiluke's resilient sphere |
| 9th | geas, scrying |
Raise Boneclaw
6th-level Lich Soul feature
When the lich soul chose to bind itself to you, you inherited not only its powers, but also its body. As an action, you can cast summon undead by expending a spell slot as normal or by spending a number of sorcery points equal to the spell's level. You must have the spell slot required (but not unexpended) to cast the spell at that level.
If you cast the spell using sorcery points, you can only choose the skeletal form as you summon a boneclaw; the undead body of the failed lich bound to your service. The spell lasts for 1 minute, and requires no verbal, somatic, or material components.
The boneclaw gains the following benefits when casting in this way:
- You can cast spells from it at a level of up to half the sorcery points you used for this feature.
- When a visible creature moves within 5 feet of it, you can use your reaction to order the boneclaw to make one melee spell attack against the target. If the attack hits, it deals 2d4 + 3 + the spell’s level necrotic damage.
- While in dim light or darkness, it can take the Hide action as a bonus action.
- As an action, you can see through its eyes and hear what it hears until you use an action to return to your normal senses. While perceiving through the skeletal form’s senses, you gain the benefits of any special senses possessed by it, though you are blinded and deafened to your own surroundings.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once) and regain spent uses at the end of a long rest.
The Boneclaw
When the soul of a failed lich finds a new master, its body reanimates into a boneclaw. The boneclaw acts on the whims and desires of its new, black-hearted master, driven by all manner of evil desires. Sometimes, the boneclaw might form in front of its new master. Other times, they might not even know of its existence. Regardless, a boneclaw can’t be destroyed while its master lives, or until its master turns to the path of good.
A stronger affinity to the failed lich’s soul grants its master better mastery over this undead creature. Where a normal boneclaw could only be motivated by evil acts, a bonded master can use a boneclaw to enact their own will, regardless of the intent's alignment.
You can find out more about how boneclaws are created in page 121 of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.
Casting Mastery
14th-level Lich Soul feature
Your magical prowess has allowed you to become highly efficient with your casting. Choose a 1st-level and 2nd-level spell from your spell list. You can cast those spells at their lowest level without expending a spell slot. If you want to cast either spell at a higher level, you must expend a spell slot as normal.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once) and regain spent uses at the end of a long rest.
Path of Lichdom
18th-level Lich Soul feature
The lich soul that resides within you has completely melded with your own, creating an entirely new being possessing some lich attributes whilst still retaining a semblance of humanity. You gain immunity to poison and necrotic damage.
In addition, when using the Raise Boneclaw feature, the skeletal form gains resistance to cold damage, as well as bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks. You can also spend 3 sorcery points to switch places with the skeletal form, as long as you are within 60 feet of it and on the same plane of existence. When you do, each creature of your choice within 5 feet of the skeletal form must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 3d10 necrotic damage.
Credits
- 1st page art by blistkrieg from Guild Wars 2.
- 2nd page art by OakKs.
- 3rd page art - official art by WoTC, see footer disclaimer
- 4th page art by rspixart.
- Made by /u/Stuffies_12
- Made in The Homebrewery & GM Binder
