I do kind of like the idea. The Lich is a spell caster type, why not use other creatures for the other two forms of combat ( melee + archery ) and possibly play as them as well?

Well, you could go with stealth vampires and combat werecreatures. By the way, since you are able to 'cure' the vampire and werecreature disease, do you think there should be a way to unlich yourself?

Didn't almost everyone in morrowind either shun or attack you when you were a vampire?
(I'm not really sure, it's been quite a long time since I played MW as a vampire)

I'm pretty sure that you were shunned, but you could still do a lot of things. Travel services were denied to you, but with high enough personality/speechcraft you could do lots of other things (but not the mq if I remember correctly).

If I recall right:

Killed/attacked on sight in DF
Strongly disliked in MW
Freely able to interact in oblivion.



Anyone seeing a pattern?

Liches are part of TES games since Arena and have never been left out, but we were never able to become one of them.
Why?
I personally always wanted to play as a lich and think it would be great to be able to (this also mean that they should return as enemies).
There should be a quest to become a lich (of course) and it shouldn't be easy at all.
To star this quest, you should be ether member of Necromancer's Guild (in case we actually have it; would be great if we do) or Dark Brotherhood and you will be given info about the quest by one of the members when you become higher rank in the guild (something ala being able to become a vampire in Oblivion by accepting the offer of Vicente Valtieri, but only you will have to solve a quest instead) or you can gain this quest while asking about rumors some certain NPC(s).
In latter case, it will also require some detective work before you can actually start the quest.
When you finally become a lich you should get following features:

- Something to represent immortality:
A slight constant HP regeneration would do the trick.

- Become stronger spellcaster:
Gain bonuses to certain magic schools would work.
Bonuses to Destruction and fire, frost and shock perks and Conjuration and it's perk for undead and maybe to Alteration (if the system works that way; this is just a wild example).
Also, it would be good that player gains some bonuses to willpower and intelligence.

- Player should be able to improve his lichhood:
By fulfilling certain demands, bonuses gained from becoming a lich should improve (don't have idea what those demands should be though).

- Should gain a disguise ability:
You should also gain a power that will allow you to conceal your lichhood.
When you use that power, you will stop to look like a lich and will return to your normal from, but will ether have to recast this power before it's duration is over or this power will drain MP constantly while in use so you can't stay like this forever and have to watch out that your cover is not blown (you keep your lich bonuses wile under cover since this is only an illusion and not actual transformation and dispel should be able to remove it).
You will not have any bounty for crimes that you committed in your lich form while you are using this power (since people don't know that you are that lich that burned down their hose last night because of disguise) and vice versa.
If your cover is blown, both your bounties will be added to each other (not that it matters since people will try to kill you or run away from you since you are a lich).

- Other liches and undead will stop being hostile towards you:
You are one of them now after all.
You should be able to communicate with other liches and talk to them.
Liches could also have their own small community (few hideouts would be enough, nothing big) and if you kill one of them, it will be considered a crime between them and you will risk of becoming a outcast and they will become hostile towards you again.
Disguise ability shouldn't be able to trick other liches.
There also could be some quests related to them (Spread the plague!) and maybe even be able to become lich king (do not even think about saying something like 'This is not Warcraft/WoW!' since there is a lich king in TES; http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Tribunal:Barilzar).


There, that's all I got for now.
Also, liches should be NPC(humanoids) instead of monsters/creatures like they were before and when you become a lich, you shouldn't be turned into a default lich model, but will be 'lichified' if possible (something like become a vampire; you don't get new face, but your face gets vampire features).
And remember, this is my version of the liches.
Don't dislike the whole idea about being a lich only because you don't like mine idea.
This poll is about being able to become a lich and not my idea.
I just posted this as how do I think it should work and it doesn't mean that it should actually work like that.

Anyway, discuss!

I think the Mages guild and Telvanni didn't shun you.

I don't see many people in Skyrim being likely to be buddies with Liches. Vampires at least still look somewhat humanoid, but Liches are true monsters and would seem absurd to go anywhere near civilization without causing a panic.

I don't see many people in Skyrim being likely to be buddies with Liches. Vampires at least still look somewhat humanoid, but Liches are true monsters and would seem absurd to go anywhere near civilization without causing a panic.

Liches look like that because their "husk" (body) has been dead hundreds if not thousands of years. A fresh lich probably would look akin to your average vampire.

The King of Worms was a Lich, and that guy look like any other high elf.

(Though I consider that lazy game design)

This sounds like a fun mod, but a serious playthrough with the Bethesda released game that involves all the rest of the aspects of the game where you are a Lich? No one but necromancers and maybe some VERY few unsavory sorts would speak with you, but worse than not speaking with you, would attack you on sight. You would not be able to complete any of the main questlines, or almost any of the minor quests normal people would otherwise give you, or be a part of society in any sense, and would basically just wander around pointlessly killing things in the wilderness and dungeons as a Lich. I'm not passing judgment on if this is what you would like to do, but there is just no way this would be part of the stock game. You are somewhat more limited as a vampire in other installments, but not to the point you would be in being a lich.

In some other fantasies, Liches can disguise themselves with illusion spells to appear normal visually, but usually in said fantasies just about any other physical contact or magical effect that comes in contact with them ruins the disguise. Liches in TES have never exhibited this type of capability though... they are always just monstrous killers hiding in ruins.

I must say, this idea never once cross my mind. The ability to play as a Lich, well why not make ideas about playing as ANYTHING in the game? I'm talking Trolls, Goblins, Cliffracers, Slaughter Fish, etc.

A game developer makes a game with one thing in mind. They want the players to have fun. They want the player to struggle, to feel emotions when playing the game, and to enjoy it at the end of the day. Its unfair to a developer for a player to work around all the hard work the developer put into the game and to abuse it in such a way that it blatently shouldn't be happening that way. Its unfair for the developer to leave over powered things in a game, because they are then dangling the worm infront of the fish. The choice of playing by the rules of the world shouldn't be by choice. Sitting on a rock shouldn't make you immortal, the npc's should be smart enough to use a range weapon or find a way to attack the player instead of just running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Yes, you can cheat in a single player game. Cheating by deffinition is to deprive of something expected. The developer expects the player not to jump on the rock and abuse the less than perfect npcs, and the player expects the developer to make a game that is believable and fun.

Which is a bad thing, trust me. In OB, the only things they would have needed to do is remove 100& chameleon, 100% reflects/absorbs/resistances of anything, (Max 75%?) and spell combos. If there are exploits in a single-player game, it ruins the fun for everyone. I sure hope Skyrim is balanced and a certain way to play isn't going to be too powerful.