if anyone has heard of the illuminated order mod from morrowind, that was basically a necromancer mod where at the end you become a lich

the difference between it and the normal 'necromancer' style things was that illuminated pretty much dropped out all cliche's. and i loved it

they should do somthing like that in TES V

Agreed. But this doesn't address the time honored tradition of vampires in the TES series (or werebeasts for that matter).

I don't even want to get into how badly implemented those two options were.

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. 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).

Um, a lich would work great. To become a lich, you have to reek of magical prowess. The game wouldn't be over unless you were an idiot and did it with like 25 illusion. For liches, they should be able to learn a spell that gives them the illusion of looking like a race of their choice for 600 seconds. Now should this spell be cheap or easy to attain? Nay. Should it be costly for the mana? Yes. Should it allow conversation? Yes.

If you became a lich, you'd be righteously powerful. And to the person who spoke of the hourglass, that's only during the ritual. Afterwards you're fine. And it wouldn't be easy. To be honest, I think the MINIMUM requirements to becoming a lich should be as followed.

Level 25
70 Endurance
80 Intelligence
80 Willpower

90 Conjuration
90 Mysticism
75 Destruction
75 Restoration
75 Alteration

Now, I will explain why.

70 Endurance - You need to be insanely strong to survive the transformation to becoming a member of the living dead.
80 Intelligence - Few people have the brains to comprehend the formulas
80 Willpower - You must want it with a ravenous hunger.

90 Conjuration - You must be near a master of the art of conjuration. A lich must be able to control the most powerful undead warriors.
90 Mysticism - You need to be able to survive the transformation, both physically and mentally. You must transfer your soul to a bauble of some sort during the ritual.
75 Destruction - Necromancy controls life and DEATH. You must be able to extinguish the life-force of your foes with ease.
75 Restoration - Necromancy controls LIFE and death. You must be able to heal your allies without turning them to undead.
75 Alteration - You must be able to control that around you, such as mystically strengthening your minions and yourself.

Now the perks of this...

They should be immune to disease, poison, and paralysis. They should have heavy frost and shock resistances, and minor fire weakness.

Any undead 'summoned' by the lich should last 600-3600 seconds (10-60 minutes based on their strength) and the mana cost of summoning them should be divided by four.

Any destruction spells that damage attributes, health, mana, or skills should have their cost be halved.

Any restoration spells should cost half as much.

Control Undead - A lesser power that forces the undead being targeted to make a save vs. magic (with amazing penalties), failure will result in him being 'converted' for 600 seconds. It should cost minimal magicka.


This is just off the top of my head.

Most liches I have read about in various fantasy worlds had ways to disguise there lichdom. illusions, minor transformation effects etc. They could interact with society fine, though some chose not to, going the reclusive hermit route. I'd assume if they introduce liches into the game for Pcs they would include some method to hide the effect so they can get along in town.Heck some of those methods could be cool for non liches, a spell that make syou look like e Nord or a Orc etc so you can improve relations, join certain factions, hide from the guards and other story related ideas.

Amen brother

buddy we are the same, check out my lich poll and vote, i have to be honest it isnt looking that well for the poll, but, then again this is only what a hundred person vote, and how many people are like us probably a few hundred thousand maybe more, so i still have hope of the lich being added to skyrim.

Well...I'd say, a person wanting to become a lich doesn't need to be a master summoner for the reason you described, but I'd say it's for someone who understands the body pretty well, which goes hand in hand with necromancy. However, since necromancy is not a skill, conjuration it is.

Also, I think you should remove the endurance requirement, as your body needs to die off in the first place. The soul is kept in a temporary storage unit, so that the one performing the ritual doesn't lose it as his/her body dies off. Once the ritual is complete, the body is nothing more than a zombie-like corpse or skeleton suited for retaining the soul. Hell, if one insane mage wanted, that mage could probably perform the ritual and come out as a floating undead head. The lich's body is pretty much just an enchanted vessel. A whole undead body is more preferred, as one can still walk around and use their hands.

But, with what you are saying is much more convincing than what everyone else has been saying. You did keep in mind the fact that a mage needs to be powerful already (and educated).

hey just a thought maybe they should add some kind of oghma infinium for liches or necromancers that insanely increases your arcane knowledge, some kind of necronomicon of evil forbidden books???

no...I don't see how being a necromany or undead makes one more literate..

plus, I'm in the position to believe necromancy and lichdom are not evil, but they do carry quite a bad rep. Hell, the dunmer culture nearly revolves around necromany, but they changed the name and call it holy to not "appear" hypocritical.

yeah what did mannimarco say when you confront him in echo cave, good and evil are manifestations of the same thing, basically a view from two people standing opposite of each other over a fence are both right.

There is already a topic about being a lich