Lichdom

[Sjogga]

Have you thought about using the name Nether Lich instead of Demilich? As stated in the lore article:

Nether Liches were normal liches, but, for a certain time were weakened by a destruction of one of their Phylacteries.

 

I also wonder whether or not you've read The Path of Transcendence. It's a diary from Oblivion, written by a necromancer who is undergoing the transformation to a lich.

[kromey]

In the lore it mentions that after Mannimarco made the transformation to a Lich, his blood was "as acid".

 

You could have some minor poison effect (and the chance of a stagger) applied to all enemies who score a melee hit on the Player character.

Ooh, interesting. I don't think it would be too unbalancing -- I mean, you have that massive vulnerability to blunt weapons, and no health regen, so melee is exactly where you don't want to be! -- but it would be a lot of fun!

 

Edit: I also really like the Idea of the Phylactery being forged at the lunar forge. To make the ritual even harder - do you think it could be done under the light of the "necromancers moon" ?

I hadn't heard of the "necromancer's moon" before. Even if it's no longer actually legitimately magical or whatever, at the least it would be neat to mention it as a sort of superstition among necromancers in the new lore...

 

While I don't intend to make the phylactery craftable only at night, the ritual that makes it work will have to be done under the moons (i.e. outdoors, at night).

 

Have you thought about using the name Nether Lich instead of Demilich? As stated in the lore article:

Nether Liches were normal liches, but, for a certain time were weakened by a destruction of one of their Phylacteries.

 

I also wonder whether or not you've read The Path of Transcendence. It's a diary from Oblivion, written by a necromancer who is undergoing the transformation to a lich.

Yup, I've already made the change to calling it Nether Lich -- changed it in the OP, but didn't bother going through the whole thread. Consider "Demilich" to be a synonym for "Nether Lich", used mostly by the uneducated. ;)

 

Thanks for the diary link, I'll take a look at that (I have not read it, but from your description it's exactly what I plan on writing for this mod -- in 5 fragments to make the quest a bit more difficult, but still the same idea.

[Zephyr2011]

Sorry... I should have read the lore more carefully. I've been meaning to play oblivion - but Morrowind has me somewhat sidetracked haha.

 

However if the moon still has magical properties perhaps the point still stands.

 

I completely understand, I got a new computer to finally play Skyrim on ultra, played it for less than a week and have been playing Morrowind for nearly a month haha.

 

Like I said, in Oblivion they actually go back against their own lore a bit to make it convenient. Mannimarco managed to make himself a moon but was banished from god hood so he returned to Nirn as a lich still but with the moon in tact. Beth wanted some neat-o way to make black soul gems so they made Revenant still have magical powers, it doesn't make sense really considering their explanations. (they keep referring to Him and His and what not but there's no god in there now, just a red moon, they explain this in a few other books and when the Dragon Break actually happened) But since the moon has magical powers in Oblivion it can be assumed that it still has powers in the fourth era. I see no reason why it couldn't although, by the same token, Mannimarco and Zurin Arctus were both able to become liches without Revenant existing (as well as all the liches in Daggerfall and prior to the Dragon Break) so it shouldn't be necessary although it would be cool if it could facilitate something like make the ritual easier or somat.

[kromey]

Status update: Most of the passive bonuses and penalties are done now. Had a bit of a false start with the waterbreathing ability that left me scratching my head for a bit, until I realized that my perk was trying to assign the spell Waterbreathing as an ability -- which, of course, didn't work too well. The remaining passives are effects that will be added by the relevant transformation spells. Well, that and the still-as-yet-to-be-determined boosts to undead minions, as well as the potential boost to Destruction.

 

And, don't forget I'm still looking for authors who want to contribute books, notes, letters, or other writings to be included in my mod, and make it feel more integrated into Skyrim's lore! Details here.

 

 

Edit: I did find one potential issue, where the removal of natural Health, Stamina, or Magicka regeneration (the latter only in the case of the Nether Lich) nonetheless allows gear that boosts these regeneration rates to still function -- e.g. wearing an amulet with +20% Health Recovery allows the lich to recover health at 20% the usual rate.

 

I haven't decided yet if I want that or not, as e.g. my mage with gear totalling to something insane like +400% Magicka regeneration still has more than impressive Magicka recovery as a nether lich. Not sure how I could "fix" that if I do decide it's a problem, though...

Edited January 20, 2013 by kromey

[jack013]

you might be able to do use the dispell effects with keywords and add the enchantment ones, not sure.

[skulleris]

Could you maybe give it something like -999% magicka regen, so then like he couldn't get any magicka regen without actually cheating? :confused:

[Deleted1308005User]

I'd say it's not such a big deal if enchanted items grant you regeneration rates.

 

I mean, if one wants to have normal health regen, he imbues his boots, gloves, hood and robes. But now he can't use other enchantments on those items.

And only thing he achieved is normal Stamina regen? Not big deal.

[skulleris]

I'd say it's not such a big deal if enchanted items grant you regeneration rates.

 

I mean, if one wants to have normal health regen, he imbues his boots, gloves, hood and robes. But now he can't use other enchantments on those items.

And only thing he achieved is normal Stamina regen? Not big deal.

I guess that's true.

[Zephyr2011]

I think that lore wise there shouldn't be anything overly strange about this as you are still allowing the lich to use healing spells (whether they have to learn some special ones or not) to restore health and stamina, and they also can use potions. I don't see why enchantments would be any different. The magic in the artifacts is what provides the healing bonuses rather than yourself so I don't see a big issue there. In terms of balance I agree with Shadowjin, if you enchant the heck out of all your gear so that you manage to get normal or slightly better than normal regens you lose the ability to be more powerful. Increasing magicka regen is almost redundant for when you're in full lich form and your enchantments would be better spent increasing max magicka or making spells cheaper/more effective or bolstering defenses like resistances to that pesky fire. Regens really help the lich when they get relegated to Nether Lich status (well, except health but ideally you should be able to destroy most people before they get close enough to you to inflict serious damage, and if they do get close enough health regen isn't going to help much) while resistances help you from getting to Nether Lich in the first place. So it all evens out in the end if you ask me.

[jack013]

really they're just hit-points and if anything shouldn't an undead be better at fixing damage, they just need to snap a bone back in place; they don't have to worry about muscles and cartilage, blood or fluid loss, infections. what would really be awesome is if they could heal themselves with some icky graphics that look like maggots under their skin... so, wouldn't a lich be super awesome at being the best, healthiest lich, 'cause of all their magic power, but have really low upper limits on their maximum health and defences. Edited January 20, 2013 by jack013