As I tried to say at the now locked-down-thread:
Well, I like the idea. We have already been given the opportunity to become werewolfes and vampires, so why not liches? Werewolfes were for the more warrior-type, while vampire was kind of versatile (favoring rouges?), while a lich could be the way to go for mages/necromancers.Of course this needs some fleshing out, but to be a creature of evil (yeah, no good liches!), have a fearsome spire, with dungeons, lackeys, minions, gardens, library, "preparation table" and so forth, would be really, really fun.
And you should have read what I wrote in that same thread
No offense, but that is incredibly short-sighted.
Werewolves are very strong, very fast, and very stealthy. The only problem is that you can't loot, you have to kill a man/mer/beastman, and you can't use magic. If anything, werewolves are high damage sneakers, who can also shred armor to bits, and are not harmed by non-magical items/daedric/silver. A werebear would be a bit of an opposite. While they would still be faster than a normal human, I'd say they're more about having incredible strength, superb endurance, and high defense than being a very stealthy killer with high damage. Yet, a lycan can still integrate into society during the day, just as long as they get away from civilization during the full moon.
Vampires run the gambit of being extremely strong, magical, or stealthy, along with variances between those three (depending on the clan-strain). There are vampires more adept at healing, magic, killing, sneaking, all-rounded, or hiding in plain sight. Though vampires, in general, will be stronger, faster, and more stealthy than non-vampires. However, they are rejected by most of civilization (save for magical guilds), and they take sun damage (save for a recently fed Cyrodiilic vampire).
As for liches, the process isn't done for magical gain or power, it's done for immortality (dying a natural death is annoying). Lichification is a means to continue to pursue an end, and it is irreversible. They are universally hated, except may a select few (but don't count on it).
The phylactery would after the transformation need to be protected in your "Spire of darkness" by your minions and servants which you can create. If you have it in your tower/spire, you would upon destruction be transported back to your phylactery, lose some experience (equipment?), and would have ti wait in your spire for some days to regain your strength. if you don′t feel comfortable to have it in your spire (it might get attacked, though never during main quest; don′t know how that would work), you could carry it with you, altough if you are destryed while wearing it, you would be completely destroyed (load).
Leave the DnD at the door, the liches in TES are a bit different. First off, the phylactery becomes just another worthless item after transformation. Also, why would a lich try to draw attention to itself with a big scary tower? Most liches are often so far removed from society in an effort to continue their research, protect something, or practice up in their magical skills for an indefinite amount of time. Hell, even Mannimarco lived underground (Daggerfall Mannimarco), and he surrounded himself around ancient vampires (ouchies), ancient liches (very ouchies) and plenty of naked dancers.
Your skill in necromancy (which we all hope will be added as a skill or magic school) will be able to reach new heights, your INT and WIS would rise, while dexterity and endurance would be lowered. People would react negatively to you, except for necromancers and some mages (not in the guild), and prehaps the dark brotherhood, though I doubt it. Most people won′t attack you, because of fear, awe or simply just not feeling like it, but you will have a more difficult time interacting with other people.
Uh, lichification is never done for power, and if someone does do it for power, they're being silly. Lichification is, more or less, performed to gain cheap immortality, so I do not understand how being a bunch of bones or a conscious zombie makes one more intelligent, or gain more willpower. Hell, to become a lich, one needs to be powerful in the first place.
At the end of the questline to become a lich, you also have a choice to turn from the path, or do something good instead, like sacrificing the ingredients needed to make the phylactery to save someone else (or something like that).
I'm pretty sure one can be alone to perform the ritual of lichification. Look at Aesliip, he was a pretty good guy. Sure, he practiced necromancy and was banished from the Skaal because of it, but never sought revenge, and just practiced his craft in solitude, disturbing no one. Yet one day, daedra somehow entered where Aesliip lived, and found out they wanted to destroy Solstheim. So Aesliip imprisoned them, and kept the barrier up. However, he grew old, so he lichified himself, in order to keep the barrier up, and was alone all this time.
Being a lich, you would get some more quests, generic and otherwise, that never end (any ideas what those quests might be, anyone? Fighting of paladins and "good" mages perhaps and assisting your necromantic buddys).
Liches and necromancy in TES are not beings of evil, though they are often portrayed that way (often, they're amoral). With a lot of liches that one has interacted with, they often don't care what's really going on, and often they're intruded upon because people think necromancers are all puppy kickers. Hell, the dunmer culture of ancestor worship practically revolves around necromancy. The only thing that makes it different is that they changed the name and call it holy.
You people really need to leave the DnD at the doorstep, because it does lead to incorrect conclusions. Just use what's in-game for crying out loud!
» Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:43 pm 
