"Oh guys, it's just a bear! I've got this!" *The Carrion Hunter reforming next to the bear* "RATTLE ME BONES!" *Fires 17 million arrows murdering the PC*
One of my best villians was a Ranger Revenant that tracked the party relentlessly across an entire continent from levels 8-13 before they were finally able to figure out a way to stop him. It was so fun! I could make the whole party start to panic just by saying, "You notice that the wildlife around has gone silent."
@@mineshafter85 Found clues about who he was in life, found the desecrated remains of his animal companion, gave it a proper burial, defeated him in one last fight, and had a druid consecrate the ground where he and his companion were buried, and then went after the bastard that raised him.
I really like that idea, it gets you the time limit and a way to prevent players from spending hours doing nothing valuable for the plot, also it gives lots of spells such as pass without trace an actual use beyond sneaking into places, since rangers comparative lack of spells means they will quickly run out of tracking spells. Meaning that the players need to use magic for things beyond blowing shit up.
My plot hook for this would be to have two liches that were once friends, but one was a ranger lich that eventually became a soul hound and is now hunting the other lich. Knowing he's BONED if the soul hound finds him he raises some adventurers to get items for him or otherwise further the goal of protecting himself. The idea of a powerful lich being panicked like "You don't understand, he's gonna KILL ME." makes me laugh and i think would be a funny patron.
Monk lich is gonna be interesting. There is a certain real world practice (now taboo) among monasteries where you basically embalm yourself during life to achieve nirvana before dying
The goal of that is to not actually die (in their eyes) and be in a perpetual state of enlightenment, avoiding the cycle of reincarnation. A mumified monk taking that to the extreme is an interesting idea.
@@ulises2084 I personally feel like simply having a companion for the ritual's sake kind of removes the sense of sacrifice that goes on, but whatever. Multisubclassing is probably the way to go, or just getting a companion without going into another subclass.
At the rate that he is going, were gonna end up with 13 different types of lich, which somehow feels super apropriate. Now Im imagening a "councel of 13" scenario, with a organisation containing one of each type of lich working together
"I don't... think so. The Scourge has..." (cracking neck) "Some issues. Rather hard to... find subjects to... serve my benefactor." (Aura glowing) "Especially, when everyone... kept getting... slaughtered! That useless oaf!" The Thaumaturge clutches his own book. Then, he remembered the day, he first set his eyes on it. "So much work, ... yet so little time."
@@aelechdeepestflame4347 There's another thing to maby think about.🤔 Do you think we might need a new term this family of undead beings Like, right now we have the same word for the monster type and the wizard Lich🤔
for the Carrion Hunter vs Tarrasque, I actually imagined a harder mark Carrion Hunter: what will I seek as a harder mark now? Adventurer: don't take this the wrong way but go to Hell Carrion Hunter: EXCUSE ME!!! WHAT?! Adventurer: no no you misunderstand, literally go to Hell the Tarrasque may have been the hardest mark in this plane but Hell is not this plane then you need a wizard powerful enough to make a gateway to another plane you relocate the Carrion Hunter and companion to Hell and close the gate problem solved the entire army of Hell now has an unstoppable wrecking ball eviscerating it whether that wrecking ball is a Carrion Hunter or a soul hound doesn't matter anymore
@@alanherlan3429 That's actually a genius solution to the Blood War. And a plothook. Because before long, the Carrion Hunter might be able to turn the tide of the Blood War - and in doing so, he could upset the delicate balance of the entire cosmos. Like, what if the Carrion Hunter's mark is demons? Then, he makes great strides in the Blood War, devouring archdemons and becoming a Hellish Prince in his own right. But now, due to the decreased pressure on the Hells, the Devils start making moves on other worlds, leading to a many-pronged Devil invasion? That's your next plot point!
This is actually my favorite of these so far. Imagine: The party receives a letter, asking them to slay a formidable hunter and his beast in turn for a large sum of hold and magical artifacts. However, the letter requests that if the party find the fight to be too difficult, to simply flee and they will be paid regardless. And even more confusingly, the party has no indication on who sent the letter, only being given a place to go to. Going there, they are guided by more letters, never able to put a face to the one sending them The twist? The one sending the letters is the Carrion hunter themselves. They are fully aware of how close they are to the point of no return, and are actively seeking a fight too great for them to overcome. This is partly why they ask that the party run if they can't handle it, because if the party doesn't and are killed, the Carrion Hunter will just get stronger, pushing it closer to becoming a Soulhound. Just throw on a tragic reason for the ranger to have become a Carrion Hunter and boom, a villain for your players to cry about!
Something that also might be cool about the carrion hunter is that perhaps in a desperate attempt to prevent it from becoming a soul hound it begins devouring as many souls as possible. It’d be a much more temporary solution, as it would be pursuing quantity over quality in terms of the souls it’s eating. Just a thought.
Personally I like the idea, gives themes of overhunting, anathema of what good rangers would stand for. Plus the Carrion Hunter likely already cut down their potential food source significantly in the process of reaching 'Lichdom'. Having to stop a Carrion Hunter from Genociding an entire species they favored hunting in life is definitely a plot hook.
I kinda like the idea of the lich being unable to find a deadlier mark so it and the companion keep fighting each other... And slaying each other... And reviving next to each other... And fighting again... Kinda like the Abyss Watchers from Dark Souls 3. That's also a tragic end.
Ayo? And that makes a power cap in the setting! Basically if a character becomes too powerful you could say "The Hunt has gained your scent" and you basically unlock a "new game plus" with increasingly powerful litches hunting you down
That was kind of my first thought when thinking about a ranger lich, tbh. Not a master and companion pair, but a pair of hunter and prey, constantly trading places, bound by the pact of "only you are allowed to kill me".
3 other plotlines off the top of my head: Carrion Hunter acting as a patron to farm prey for the slaughter. Carrion Hunter that intentionally tries to make Soulhounds to hunt. Carrion Hunter that is trying to kill a deity
In the case of succeeding to kill a deity, I'd imagine that to be a legitimate way to escape the cycle of NEEDing to hunt stronger pray, since consuming the divine essence would replace the necromantic hunger with godhood. But it would still influence said newly minted god's domain portfolio, so they'd still be an eternal hunter.
I'm thinking of how to use them in my own Faerie-inspired setting. Perhaps in the wars done to hunt the Fae in the ancient past, some people turned into Carrion Hunters, trying kill as many Fae as possible... And now, the Fae found a kid like Huan, who suffered at the hands of humans... And helped him turn into a Carrion Hunter whose marks are Human. And now, now the enemies of the Fae know the horror of being stalked by a horrifying undead hunter.
Or that the only diety they can "hunt" is the Diety of the Hunt as that is what they deem the most powerful in terms of what they see as power. So the throne of the Diety of the hunt is everchanging. It might be so that the Diety is also afraid of this and sends stronger and stronger enemies at the Carrion Hunter to try to kill it as it is unable to directly interfere in the material realm
I love the idea of a carrion hunter who is a secondary villain. He kills a powerful and cherished NPC and defeats the party, abut spare them and tell them to train for the next time he meets them, ensuring he has a new target later.
I was thinking a similar thing. A lich Ranger who levels with the party throughout the adventure. They can defeat him but he keeps coming back. What if as part of being a Lich-Ranger his immortality is tied to nature? Like a whole forest is his whole phelactory? In order to kill him you would need to destroy an entire ecosystem permanently? Or something like that. I didnt really vibe with his take in the video but thats the beauty of it, you can make it your own
@BrandonGiordano I think I was more thinking of an enemy who strikes something the party cares about instead of them directly, but it is way above their level, so it non lethally defeats them, and challenge them to grow so they can beat it later on, ensuring the prey for later that is driven by a hatred of it.
These are always amazing, and I cant wait to see how you do the fighter. That one strikes me as one that doesn't just live on through their legend, but lives for as long as their legend is know, so they are constantly doing heroic deeds to keep their legend alive, even if they're the ones orchestrating the events that they end up saving people from.
I already posted this on the previous video but, since I think it fits with what you said, here it goes again: A draugr is a fighter that, for one reason or another, decided to become immortal. In order to achieve this they learned, either by reading ancient manuscripts or from another draugr, how to imbue pieces of their soul into their attacks. Every time a draugr fights they attack not just the body but also the spirit of their opponent, slowly weakening their soul until it can be consumed to repair the draugr's faulty one. If, however, the opponent is considered to be of sufficient skill, the draugr will instead place a fragment of their soul into the opponent's so that they become a new phylactery. In the event of their 'death' the draugr will take over (similar to the scourge) and inherit the talent of the vessel (similar to the patriarch lich) A powerful draugr wanders from land to land in his search for worthy vessels. They may lead armies, go on adventures, sell themselves to coliseums or even open their own fighting schools in this search! I think this is a good way to implement the whole "fighting spirit" vibe that the fighter has since it makes every duel with them a literal tests of wills over who has the stronger soul.
I'm excited to see a Monk Lich, someone who trained so hard they defeated even death. The closest thing I've seen to an actual Monk Lich in fiction so far is Sukuna from Jujutsu Kaisen
All of these are great ideas, It would be cool if their active consumption of souls was all done through duels. A monk lich that travels from town to city dueling the strongest warrior from each settlement never able to satisfy its hunger for a worthy opponent.
In Pathfinder 1 is a monk of the hungry spirits or hungry souls. A monk who trains to be like some evil spirits. So train to be like this and the harvesting Qi from places or opponents could work.
I just see the Monk training so hard in a certain way that he punches Death so hard he backs off. His soul Tupperware would be a bottle filled with his Qi. He has to collect more energy from others to prepare for his next fight with Death, else it finally claims his soul.
I love this idea! Especially the Carrion Hunter whose companion devoured the soul of a Tarrasque. I think it'd be really cool to have the Carrion Hunter be a Drakewarden, so that when it's Drake Companion consumes the soul of the Tarrasque, and then the Carrion Hunter's soul itself, the resulting Soul Hound is some undead draconic abomination far worse than the Tarrasque ever was.
For people wanting to play a Carrion ranger like this, HeartLeaf Games has a subclass called “The Carrion Ranger” which grants you necromantic abilities. I’d highly suggest it if you want to try a character like this in your games.
Heck! I was wondering and hoping someone would've mentioned the Carrion Master Ranger. They're a subclass from The Delver's Guide to Beast World, the pet is an undead creature made from the body of a dead beast or humanoid with abilities that make your companion more like Frankenstein's Monster than an animal. You can change the type of undead it is, graft body parts of other animals, raise or control other zombies and even exchanging body parts with your undead companion to grant both of you the other's abilities.
@@velocityraptor1661 This is in The Delver’s Guide To Beast World. It’s a DND 5e setting based around a high fantasy setting where Beastfolk are the majority. A dungeon stretches through the world, and the profession of adventuring has caused a cultural revolution.
Love the concept, but i feel like it's different from the other liches. Unlike the others, who could theoretically live forever, it's lifespan is always limited. And unlike the others, where lichdom is achieved through something that every character from that class gets, you're required to get a companion, which less than half of the subclasses have.
I took similar issues with the blight concept. Personally I would have it so that the ranger just has to soul infuse with someone. Animal companion or even some hated foe. The ranger is about relationships to me.
@@elegantoddity8609 A hated foe would actually be a really neat twist on the Carrion hunter. (Although it would probably stray into revenant territory.) Two nemeses locked in an eternal battle after killing each other at the same time. Unlike the soulhound where the souls reunite and combine, the animosity between the nemeses means that they never quite combine. As long as one survives they reform later, restarting the battle once more. The only way for either to die is they both must die. This could create a really fun campaign quest where you have to help someone to slay the lich that cursed them only to discover that they are the phylactery of the lich and the party must kill the cursed soul.
I agree. The only issue with this is the every stronger hunt, which is understandable, but creates such a hard cap that is not present for other liches. Maybe it can be changed for "worthy hunt" - the hunt itself must present a challenge, not that the mark must necessarily be more powerful. A paranoid merchant could be deemed worthy, as he's always moving about, never uses his real name, and pays for defences better than a king might. Killing the mark itself could be easy, but the hunt itself isn't.
Hey! Trying to copy the exercise, I came a cross this idea for the Rogue Lich. Embracing the way of the Rogue is more than merely sticking to the shadows and backstabing; it is about knowing the true power that lies in the unknown and undetected. There are some who will dedicate their life to this thisrt for power. This life, and even more, as they start the path of becoming an Elusive. The Elusive might be the most naive and simple way to escape Death as they seek nothing else than evading the Great Equalizer itself. However, as the Reaper's knowledge is endless, the first step into becoming an Elusive is by methodically remove and destroy any trace of one's existence; one's name must be erased from family trees, debts must be settled, contracts, forged and memories... must be dealt with. One who wish to Elude Death must remove the memory of their own existence from family, friends and foes alike. And if some resort to complex magic of mind, some simply rely on gruesome knife-work... However, an Elusive's work is in constant jeopardy; with time, their spells might loose in potency and memories of them resurface in the nightmares of those who once knew the Elusive's lost identity or maybe the trail of murders they leave behind will forge them a knew identity, one of a demented shadow killing apparent innocents. These mere rumors pose a serious threat to the Elusive as they just might be enough to lead the Pale Hunter back on their trail. Worst, people tracking down these rumors might come across the Elusive's Headstone... The Elusive's Headstone can be any object which holds the one last treasure the undead holds dear: its name. Such is the curse of the Elusive: becoming so perfectly imperceptible that their own identity would slip from their mind without their Headstone, living them but a powerless shadow. It is said that one who would wish to kill an Elusive must destroy its corporeal form while knowing its true name; an ever dangerous task as knowing the name of the Elusive will inevitably set it on the adventurer's trail... A way to incorporate the Elusive in a campaign might be to simply have random quest-giver set the party on the trail of a mysterious murderer. However, as their investigation deepens they discover the undead nature of their enemy; it is only at the end of the final showdown that the quest-giver reappears in its true form: Death itself, unable by the laws that shackle it to undergo such investigation but coming in the end to collect its due... I enjoyed picturing the 'rumors' as anti-philacteries; weaknesses that the Elusive must constantly nip in the bud in fear that they end up leading to the true philactery. And, the more they kill or manipulate, the more the rumors spread... Feel free to harvest the organs of that theory to create your own Liches :D
I feel the pf2e flavor text encapsulates what a ranger is the best: "Some rangers believe civilization wears down the soul, but still needs to be protected from wild creatures. Others say nature needs to be protected from the greedy, who wish to tame its beauty and plunder its treasures. You could champion either goal, or both. You might be a scout, tracker, or hunter of fugitives or beasts, haunting the edge of civilization or exploring the wilds. You know how to live off the land and are skilled at spotting and taking down both opportune prey and hated enemies." They are: 1. good in nature or edge of society and 2. hunters/trackers who are focused on one target at a time for the most benefit that's all need to be a ranger. This also applies to 5e with their signature spell hunter's mark Jet from Cowboy Bebop is a range
Once Pointy Hat has made Liches for all of the different classes, he should get them compiled into a book along with all of that gorgeous artwork, and the absolute banger scenarios he's drawn up for each of them; I'd certainly buy it.
The idea of ranger lich immediately reminded me of Koschei the Deathless, as he is depicted in the Hellboy series. He is employed by Baba Yaga to hunt down Hellboy for vengeance purposes. Really good dark stuff! Anyway, really interesting and inspiring stuff you’re doing here!
The Ritual for the Carrion Hunter can be a testament to the bond between the ranger and their companion if their souls are merged as one and they share the bodies, or a testament to the evil that comes with lichdom if the ranger’s soul inhabits both as they essentially betray their closest companion and inhabit their corpse. Interesting variety for different uses of this lich. Excellent work as always Pointy Hat keep it up!
Okay, but what if the ranger feasts on its beast instead of the beast feasting on the ranger? What if the fractured soul becomes whole in the original body?
The inverse of a bloodthirsty, unstoppable monster could be a harmless baby/monster cub. Good ending: ranger/beast gets another chance at life, find another companion, continue the cycle of nature Bad ending: ranger/beast immediately gets mauled by a low-level predator, total fear and shame being his final thoughts
I'd say essentially the same thing. Instead of becoming an unstoppable beast with a nasty murder streak, the animal instincts of the companion overwhelm the ranger and imbue them with that same hunger. They retain their intelligence and character, but they must hunt everything and anything in their way. You could tie this in with the folklore motif of the Wild Hunt: the Carrion Hunter as the head of the Hunt, leading the souls of the companions they've murdered and consumed into a mad pursuit, plundering and destroying everything in their way, every soul only adding to the army's numbers.
@@HunterTracks I love the idea of tying it into the mythos of a Wild Hunt! Like kind of hybrid of the Barbarian Lich and the Ranger Lich, driven by an insatiable need to hunt, perhaps even motivated by the ranger's atruistic intentions, like in response to massive deforestation by a kingdom, or some other slight against nature wroght by civilization, the Carrion Lich begins hunting humans across the lands.
YOOO the split phylactery is SOO SICK!!! It's literally (what is known in the mmo terms) A council fight when you fight them, that's SUCH A COOL IDEA!!! This is absolutely fantastic!!
This video is PERFECT right now, you have no idea. I'm literally running a campaign where the BBEG is a dark god and his 5 generals (The Shadowfingers) that are 5 unique liches. This gives me so many good ideas for my Shadowfingers! Fantastic work.
The sheer amount of effort and love that is so visable to the audeience throughout the entire video is so incredibly appreciated, from the easy to follow steps in design, to the incredible art, it is so evidentally clear that pointy hat is far mine (and hopefully everyone elses) favourite D&D youtuber, nay favourite youtuber period.
I know this isn’t what you went with the “hunting progressively more dangerous targets” part. But I’m already imagining using this as the main villain for a campaign based on “The Most Dangerous Game”.
It’s okay to tweak that part I think. I mean seriously, an adventure themed around a classic like that? With a Carrion Hunter as its villain?! Shit I’D play that!
@@funnyvalentine6670 yer not entirely wrong that the lich was born of a death comet, but that death comet *was* someone else before being a death comet.
Oof! That's a good idea! Really poetically designed too. I'm welling up with emotion, my dude. And it was just meant to be a character concept video! Beautiful!
Wholly Moly, I am sooo glad you posted a new video today. I had one tryingly oppressive day, and tomorrow looks like more of the same. Bright colors, pretty pictures, cool ideas and thinking about people cooperating, being nice to each other and having fun is EXACTLY what I need. Thank You Thank You Thank You
Okay, this is the best instance of "multiple mementos" I've seen you done. Having just two, and both of which are the corresponding lich is thematically great, as well as mechanically reasonable! I believe this is your best Lich yet!
PS, Pointy Hat, if you see this, "phylactery" has some issues with how it's used. It's a term for a "pouch that contains Hebrew scripture," and tying it to "what an evil undead stores their soul in and sacrifices people to in their quest to obtain a pale imitation of immortality" is... Kinda problematic, to say the least. Pathfinder changed them to "Soul Cages," but that's a bit generic. I recommend "Mementos," derived from "Memento Mori." It's a Latin phrase that means "remember you will die," which feels really fitting for a thing that's literally the physical manifestation of the lich's mortality. Also, it acts as a "memento" of their former life.
@@persiancarpet5535 it would be better to ask that to a Jewish person since they'd probably have more insight on the topic, but from what OP wrote, I think a small and basically effortless change like that ensures that there's no unintended damage done to anyone
Yeah, this inspired me so much for my next game. Gives me real "Folk Horror" vibes. I'm combining this with the Van Richten Guide to Ravenloft "Genres of Horror" section to write my Rangers subplot.
This is incredible. Not only does it work as a one of a kind character. But it doubles as a formatable enemy depeindng on how the party proceedes. Well Done!!!!!
As usual, you don't miss. I think you hit the nail on the head as to the core of the Ranger class. The Carrion Hunter is a fantastic concept, though I am a bit disappointed that the companion's "increasing power" only comes down to being a bigger damage sponge, but I realize anything more complicated would be difficult to adjudicate. It would also be cool to see alternate Carrion Companions to represent other subclasses; a Swarmkeeper with a horde of skeletal rats, for example. It would be tough to figure out how to express the non-pet archetypes with a companion, though.
Its super exited to see another one of these😍😍😍😍 Im kinda hopeing that when all the classes are eventually covered, Antonio ends up makeing a poster showing the class and its lich counterpart, with text showing all the key bullet points for each lich types. Or...better yet....a lich book😍😍😍.
Honestly, the idea of a fighter lich is something I’m super interested in. Especially if you take into account the idea that certain fighting styles have an unbroken chain of masters(mostly from the eastern countries). It would have to work similar to the sorcerer lich, but add in some starwars sith. The lich lives on by training their next body. The way they pass on and get a new body is they are slain by their pupil with a special blade that acts as their phylactery. This also gets a bit of flavor of hex blade, but I feel like it must happen that way.
I like your twist on it, but honestly, I think it would be less of a successor they train and more of an adversary. They purposely make themselves enemies and attempt to push them to become stronger and more experienced until they prove themselves to be a proper challenger to these fighter liches. So when the day comes, they face each other to the death. If the lich wins, the rival soul will be absorbed and the lich moves on to the next candidate. But if the rival wins, the lich will over time take control of them until they have completely overwritten the rival soul. You could have the special blade be used to mark the rival in their final confrontation or in their initial encounter. But this leaves the Lich vulnerable to be permanently ended by an unmarked person.
I think a model of fighter lich is Umbra in Elder scrolls. A great 'immortal' warrior travels around the world challenging others to kill him. After a long time he is so tired of lacks of great opponents that he wish death, until someone defeats him and took his 'magical' sword 'Umbra'. Then the cursed sword philactery graduelly takes possession of the warrior's soul who becomes a reborned Umbra.
Once we have all classes covered, we can start adding different lich flavours for each class!! This is a Journey I'm sure we don't want to be finished hahaha
Now I really want to hear the Monk Litch and I think the best way to do this is get the Taraque on it's last legs with the Carrorn hunter and then betray the hunter before the Kaiju is dead. Ohh man I get that Rangers are not pirates so there might be a better class for an undead Litch Piraite captain but it would be badass.
A lich could go like this The Solipsistic is a monk that has achieved lichdom by using the energy within them to turn their body into a phylactery. That has the interesting side effect of making them the healthiest-looking type of lich out there. But despite their appearance, people can tell something is wrong since their mere presence drains the energy from their surroundings. People become tired, plants wither, animals become less responsive, even the area seems to lose some colour/vibrance to it while the Solipsistic looks like the complete opposite. As a Lich, they must not only seek out the souls to sustain themselves but also obtain Ki wherever they can get it. This is the unfortunate consequence of draining life wherever they go, regardless of they want to or not.
captain ahab coulb be a ranger lich...the philactery the arpon or a piece of his body eated for the white whale...doing the ritual inside the monster and them being poop . or like a cannibal explorer with the curse of the wendigo...famine
There's like a handful of channels that when posting a new video cause me to say, either in my head or out loud, "OOH!" This is one of them. These videos are like always filled with great ideas, great humor, and great production.
I love the idea of the Carrion Hunter talking to himself in much the same way you'd talk to an animal companion but in this instance because he can sense/hear the thoughts/feelings of their companion in their head. Hushing the beast to try and calm it because he knows the beast's hunger is rising, or arguing with it about the best course of action. All stuff he could be mumbling beneath his breath, almost like he's unaware that he's voicing his thoughts, since the beast would be just as capable of sensing the hunter's thoughts as the hunter is of sensing it's.
uncorrupt martyr....or his faith and god is the death and is like the ecosystem that forms of the dead body of a whale in the abyss....el milagro doloroso of custodia
Really cool! Love it! Only thing I'd change is that it doesn't HAS to hunt always bigger creatures to fill the phylactery, just hunting SOMETHING is sufficient therefore, but it still WANTS to hunt always bigger things and becoming a Soulhound only if it doesn't hunt anything for to long. By this, the Carrion Hunter is not limited in it's liftime, which would oppose the whole Lich-concept.
im exited for the cleric lich, the idea of a holy person kept alive as an undead is such a cool contrast. And there is so much to do with it, like tying its un-life to its religion
Note: This isn't actually about making them villains, but rather Liches. Liches are the archetypical BBEG, though, so it works as a semi-clickbaity title format.
Eh for me I was thinking more of a Wild Hunt situation. Where the lich's phylactory is a bunch of animals in a flying stampede to hunt more souls for its sport.
Yeah I was thinking about that. But this is a variation no? If you want to Voldemort your phylactery into new members of your hunt you end up with the same thing!
Omg I've been waiting for this for so long!! Ranger is my favorite class, and I've been stoked for the Which Lich, especially because of how awesome you did the Druid. You outdid yourself, Pointy Hat. :)
I want to thank you so much for making these i feel like they add so much to the game and I plan on creating a campaign based around the different liches that you have created trying to become gods. Thank youuu!!!
I've always associated Druid with being a pet class, but that might just be their great summoning magic and my own habit of gravitating towards minion mastery things.
Hear me out for the rogue lich: the Intrusive, a bodyless soul, in the shape of a shadow in the corner, that has to sustain itself by stealing the body of other creatures continously, consuming their souls in the process. As per the recipe: The characteristic of a rogue are: - Being dexterous - Being good in hiding and deception - Stealing things - Killing creatures Now, for the lich part: - The ritual: Idk, I would say stealing more and more from others, until you’re stealing their lives, then stealing their souls, then finally you steal your own from your body - The result: this creature resembles, and is inherently, the shadow of it’s former self in the most literal sense, and on rare occasions can be seen beside their original body, still untouched by time and lacking it’s shadow. In this process, the Intrusive frees himself from the shackles of it’s own body, being able to live forever…as long as they’re able to sustain their soulless body. However, in doing so, the Intrusive lost many ways of interacting with the world, being incorporeal. So it makes up for it by sneaking up on unsuspecting victims, cutting their throats in the dark, and pulling the soul from the wound. Then the Intrusive must transfer the fresh soul to their former body, keeping it pristine and frozen in time, while they can take the soulless husk left behind for themselves, to keep until, soon, it will crumble to dust, leaving again only the Intrusive behind. This way the Intrusive can assume multiple identies and infiltrate society as a faceless ghost, never to be found again. But there’s 2 ways one can spot an Intrusive: the first one is the stolen body, unless it’s fresh, the signs of crumbling can be seen by an active observer, the second one is the shadow of the stolen body, which still resembles the Intrusive and betrays it’s identity. - The aftermath: as mentioned, the intrusive needs to literally steal soul from people to survive, and gets to keep the body in return. For stats I would suggest 2 forms, both of the same creature but called in 2 ways, the Shadow and the Persona (from Youngian archetypes): - The Shadow: this form will have a trait similar to incorporeal movement, but that greatly hinders their ability to influence people as long as they’re seen. Like them being “less real”. When they’re not hidden, the Shadow has troubles moving objects and even attacking or wounding creatures, and has light sensitivity (against any bright light and even dimlight in a smaller measure, but like…really bad, like they’re stunned or banished to the shadowfell unless the light is gone). However this form cannot be slain properly unless the former body of the Intrusive is destroyed (the body also has a name: the Self). This form can fly, move through things, teletrasport in the shadows, cannot be spotted through Darkvision, good stealth and a massive bonus to stealth in obscured areas. When hidden, this form can perform a deadly attack on a creature (think about the same level as Power Word: Kill a normal Lich can use) that may outright kill them, and still has sneak attack (a strong one), then the creature can transfer itself in the body as per a Magic Jar spell, becoming: - The Persona: this form is actually quite frail, stronger than normal people but still not much of a threat (unless the host was stronger, in that case it takes over the stats of the host), but can pass amazingly for a normal humanoid and is perfect to achieve the Intrusive’s goals in a society. The Intrusive gets bonus to deception and a massive bonus when it comes to impersonating the host, retains some of it’s roguish abilities (still good stealth, sneak attack, but not much else and not to the extent of the Shadow) but not much else, and can freely interact with the world and walk in the light.
I've been following your "Which Lich" series for a while now, as I love the idea of a plethora of ways to enter undeath for all eternity. Each one is incredibly well designed, so thanks for putting in all this effort to them! This idea about the companion and the ranger having to kill one another is really cool, because it also shows that the companion, a generally accepted as sentient being all on its own, agreeing to enter this effective suicide pact together only furthers the commitment to their goal. All of that said, I think this is not the most accessible way to go about a Ranger lich in 5e. Every other lich so far has been based on a core class feature that all of them share. Druids and their circle, Barbarians and rage, bards and their masterpiece (less of a class feature and more of a theme, but same diff). This only focuses on a feature that 3 out of the 8 in 5e even have. I know that in 3.5 and Pathfinder the animal companion is a core feature, but that's just not true anymore in 5e. The one thing that all rangers have, across all subclasses, and even the optional Tasha's content, is Favored Foe/Favored Enemy. Across the board, rangers have a single thing in common: If the set an enemy in their sights, it is going to die. For a lich, I think you hinted on the right direction in your introductory theory crafting, with the "enemy they can't catch/kill" idea. But I think that's not broad enough for the attempt at eternal life. Every lich is choosing to be a lich for a GRAND DESIGN, not one dude. And honestly, every lich, across all the classes, should generally be a morally ambiguous person at best, otherwise why would the players even go up against them? I think the motivation would be better if it was an anathema. As in, a particular creature type (or organization to add some alternative ideas) as the anathema, and they refuse to rest until this threat has been entirely purged. So when you mentioned that the ranger must undergo a long ritual hunting their favored foe and not coming into contact with civilization, I think you were half right. The favored foe is the most important part. All liches are embracing the darker urges of their class, and the Ranger literally has weaponized racism built into the base class (Favored Foe from Tasha's is more "screw this guy in particular", but the general vibe is whoever they're hunting, it's a problem that they chose to become undead to get rid of). Giving into that "for the greater good" or even "for my own self interest" idea is a big part of lichdom, since the entire thing is a pretty big risk. I can't think of the best phylactery right now for this version of the Carrion Hunter, other than like "the preserved remains of their greatest enemy" or some nonsense like that. But I think focusing on the favored enemy/foe leads to a situation that allows any ranger, regardless of subclass, to focus on becoming a lich. Because that's the whole point of these videos, right? You often mention "players see this and ask how do I do that?". If the requirement is an animal companion, that's a lot of players that just don't have that option without shoe-horning in an animal companion. You even said in the video that the best embodiment of the ranger is the Hunter subclass. Not the Beast Master, not the Drakewarden, not the Swamkeeper, not Gloomstalker, Horizon Walker, Fey Warden, whatever. Hunter. And the Hunter basically takes the Ranger's ability to better hunt and kill their preferred prey, and makes it better. I seriously hope this doesn't come across as saying you have bad design or anything. I've really enjoyed the stuff you come up with, and I think a lot of what you build is going so well! The reason I get really into the nitty gritty is because I'm slightly obsessive about D&D, and the closer it hits to something I think is cool, the more likely I am to get into the weeds of it. What you've provided is a whole stat-block and lore and design and all the crazy elements that go into this, and it's amazing. My comments aren't trying to say "all dumb, why do you even bother", but just that I think there's another focus that might better exemplify what we're all shooting for: A lich based around the core identity of a specific class. And if I'm being honest, I never even had the idea for a ranger lich until you brought it up. I never would have come up with ANY of the above discussion if not for listening to your video. So even though I'm being a little punk and basically dissecting your stuff, do know that what you do is absolutely integral to the homebrew world of this hobby we all share. TL;DR - I think you're on the right track, I just think there's a smoother way to go about it. Regardless of our different ideas, the stuff that you create is reaching hundreds of thousands of viewers, many of who will internalize this in some way. Your work is awesome, please keep it up.
That's not really the case. If I remember correctly, rangers can get find Familiar Spell? If so, then basically every Ranger can become a lich this way. But instead a battle bear, It will be a raven, scavenging on the kills the Ranger presents, and flying away if their master is defeated.
@@happywiz1833 Find familiar really isn't the same thing as an animal companion. Firstly, it doesn't summon a real animal, but a spirit in animal shape. Secondly, that's not a unique ranger class feature. A good number of casters can pick this up. The point is to use a unique class identity as the core of the lichdom ritual, like the barbarian and their rage.
Great point op!! Maybe the Carrion Hunter's philactery could be nature itself? But that would require them to have chosen lichdom in order to protect a place and thats not always the case (and it'd be stepping on the Druid Lich's toes). So maybe their philactery could be amulets/souvenirs/totems/talismans they craft from their prey('s remains) after they bring it down? (if it helps, as I was writing this I searched for "amulet synonyms" and the word 'philactery' straight up came up)
definitely a fave right there with the artificer lich, this one fills a more lich but not evil niche that just feels wholesome but still supremely dangerous
@@IamHattmani feel like he will do a wizard lich video just so he can spice up the basic lich. His lich principles are all about making it dramatic, and fankly the basic lich is a wizard who did a ritual™ and now periodically has to kill people. And that isn't nearly as inherently dramatic as any of his liches which are designed to start a whole arc of a campaign.
This is my favorite concept of a lich. Also the legend of the carrion hunter is legitimately one of the most tragic things I've ever heard in D&D. Well done.
All of your ideas are so imaginative and fun! Every lich video could fill any story role from PC, NPC, to entire campaign. Thank you again!. Can you do more one shot ideas like your fey wild video. I unashamedly use your videos as a framework for my campaigns
When you mentioned the Carrion Hunter, I was immediately reminded of the Carrion Master from Delver's Guide to Beast World! Honestly, I feel like the Carrion Hunter would be my character's endgoal as a True Neutral Vulpine Gunslinger Fighter/Carrion Master Ranger!
it would have been very cool to go the "Immortal Snail" route for ranger lichdom. You phylactery is always on the move to kill you, and therefor itself. Forcing you to never settle down for long. The hunter becomes the hunted as a price for immortality.
Love this idea a lot more, tbh, since this doesn't add a whole "you're cursed to eventually be devoured by your companion and go berserk" aspect to things. Add in the notion of having to use souls as ammunition to stop the phylactery from murdering you, and we have a very functional lich.
Thank you so much for this. I am running a homebrew campaign where I twist Disney storylines and making Merida a a lich or a soulhound to protect the land. I am SOOOOOOO happy right now.
My dumbass misread this as "Can Power Rangers" be villains and bow im imagining a group of Super Sentai Necromancers *writes that down for a later campaign*
Fighter Lich: "Yeah there was a fight that didn't end so well... So I wanted to get a second duel. But a creepy fellow in a black robe, with a scyth told me to come with him. Anyway I punched this farmer or whatever in the face and got back to fighting the duel... Never went hungry ever since... strange"
The big tragedy of ranger is theyre actually 2 classes the D&D ranger and the WoW Hunter meaning most of their problems could be solved by splitting them into 2 classes.
There are indeed a few classes like that. Where a single subclass or feels like its own thing. Ranger Def feels more evenly split. Its like if you mixed the fighter with the barbarian and called it barbarian. Personally I wish Eldritch knight fighter was just its own class.
But they did the WoW hunter thing first at the beginning of 3e! So now it's a "legacy" element of the class and they can't extract it from survivalist archer guy without making some grognards mad. But there's always MCDM's Beastheart for a 5e pet class.
Your Ranger lich is fascinating! Binding it to a familiar really helps with the "nature" lore and, to be frank, their whole class identity, as you pointed out in your other Ranger video. As an NPC, their is loads of opportunity: as an enemy, as an ally, as a character of legend.
Another thing you could do with the call of the hunt and maybe offer a near impossible way of satisfying it forever (similar things can be done for other forms of Liches
The Carrion Hunter legit may become the first BBEG of my next campaign and is my favorite of your lich designs so far! Which is wild for me to say cause your barbarian concept was so good and my old favorite!!
I've been working on a few options for the lich on my own time, because I really love this series; one of the things I've settled on (because I like both liches that are forced to keep interacting, and also liches that can just eff off and leave the mortal realm forever if they want) is that there's actually two base types of Lichdom Ritual. Type one is the version you bring up repeatedly - must keep harnessing new souls to keep their own intact, in some way/shape/form; they have a simpler, easier ritual with very little initial cost in terms of sacrifices to it, though it's still very complex and dangerous magic to attempt. Type two lichdom, however, requires an immense amount of work, putting a truly colossal amount of sacrifices into it - easily millions, or even billions of souls being sacrificed all at once to properly stabilize the Phylactery with a sort of artificially-induced divinity. Obviously, this means an entire plane or near to it would need to be sacrificed all at once, and the additional requirements for the ritual are truly insane on their own, but it makes for an excellent 'super-bbeg' for epic level campaigns, or as the end goal of the current BBEG to let them basically try to replace Vecna as the new god-lich.
i love subverting expectations with my very experienced group and doing so with lichs is just so many chef kisses. i had already integrated a Figure Head and a Blight into my campaign but now i'm integrating the carrion hunter as an enemy of the blight and putting my players in a postiotion to choose a side between one undead and another.
Hey, funny thing. There's actually a Carrion Master Ranger subclass from the Delver's Guide to Beast World. It gives you an undead companion and allows you to exchange body parts with it to make it stronger and make you stronger and also making you Undead. It's a very cool and fun subclass, you should give it a look.
I’m slowly coming up with ideas for a new dnd world where each country is ruled over, or at least contains each type of Lich. Every Lich this channel puts out just expands the kingdoms that exist there.
thank you for making this! which lich is my favourite series of this channel, i'm excited to see them all! It would be interesting to see a normal wizard lich reworked as well
Oh this is a good one. Can cause so much drama. Having the animal companion be a part of the lich is great, and given anyone can form a bond with a pet any ranger can do it. As you explained that all I could think of is a ranger that goes off, abandoning their companion to bond with another to save them from lichdom. Only then do they return, the hunger has them, and they feed on them to empower their new undead companion.
Love the which lich series and wait for every new entry. Great work! I think every member of the pointy hat lich menagerie feels like a familiar, yet fresh and interesting take on its class. I just wonder how step two of the lich recipe isn't called a "lichual" yet...
Your videos have inspired me to do my own thinking regarding some of the other liches yet to be covered and I figured I'd post them here. This will be very brief and won't go into too much detail so utilise your imagination to fill in the gaps: Cleric - Fighter - A warrior who diligently practiced an art of fighting (a subclass and fighting style) against all other styles and foes and always came out on top. The fighter's Indomitable fighting spirit and drive to face new and stronger foes lead to his lichdom manifesting. The fighter's phylactery exists in the very essence of their chosen style. They must continue to fight with their chosen style, no matter the opponent. Monk - One who mastered a style of fighting and ki control to the point they conquered death itself. Their phylactery is the style of fighting they teach. They must pass on the style to worthy successors who devote themselves to the monastery. To kill a monk who has achieved lichdom, all of its successors must either forget the teachings of the monastery or be outright killed. Warlock - A simple one. Their patron has granted lichdom in return of eternal servitude, they must act out their Patron's requests to maintain their lichdom. Their patron is their phylactery. To kill a lich Warlock, you must kill the Warlock's patron before you can deliver the final blow.
If this isn't on par with the Hierarch it is better than the Hierarch, this is probably the coolest style of lich you've given us, I've used the Necromaton for a one shot but I'm looking to use probably a different one for my bbeg next campaign, so keep them coming, I think this one is gonna be it unless you top it in the future
Very excited for paladin lich. You become so devoted to your Oath that it literally prevents your demise.
Yooooo, me too
It would be interesting if you had to make them break their vow to truly die
@@Dangerous_DMYeah that could be really cool.
Fizban’s Hollow dragon is basically a paladin lich and a dragon
Looking forward to some Arthas Menethil vibes
"Oh guys, it's just a bear! I've got this!" *The Carrion Hunter reforming next to the bear* "RATTLE ME BONES!" *Fires 17 million arrows murdering the PC*
RATTLE EM BOY!!!
*dog crush’s there bones*
Good boy.
Gotta learn archery before I die to be an archer skeleton instead of a skeleton with a sword in a case a necromancer revives me
Good thinking
i totally agree bro
I wanna be a melee zombie! :D
Ok Zoomber
Got to be wary of the necromancers that lurk around Walmart
One of my best villians was a Ranger Revenant that tracked the party relentlessly across an entire continent from levels 8-13 before they were finally able to figure out a way to stop him.
It was so fun! I could make the whole party start to panic just by saying, "You notice that the wildlife around has gone silent."
How did they stop it?
@@mineshafter85 Found clues about who he was in life, found the desecrated remains of his animal companion, gave it a proper burial, defeated him in one last fight, and had a druid consecrate the ground where he and his companion were buried, and then went after the bastard that raised him.
Oh, that sounds like fun. Imagine being hunted across an entire continent by an anime villain, while going through 25% of your character arc.
Wait that's it. That's the class identity. Tracking and stalking
I really like that idea, it gets you the time limit and a way to prevent players from spending hours doing nothing valuable for the plot, also it gives lots of spells such as pass without trace an actual use beyond sneaking into places, since rangers comparative lack of spells means they will quickly run out of tracking spells. Meaning that the players need to use magic for things beyond blowing shit up.
My plot hook for this would be to have two liches that were once friends, but one was a ranger lich that eventually became a soul hound and is now hunting the other lich. Knowing he's BONED if the soul hound finds him he raises some adventurers to get items for him or otherwise further the goal of protecting himself. The idea of a powerful lich being panicked like "You don't understand, he's gonna KILL ME." makes me laugh and i think would be a funny patron.
That sounds like such a great quest giver npc
Monk lich is gonna be interesting. There is a certain real world practice (now taboo) among monasteries where you basically embalm yourself during life to achieve nirvana before dying
The goal of that is to not actually die (in their eyes) and be in a perpetual state of enlightenment, avoiding the cycle of reincarnation. A mumified monk taking that to the extreme is an interesting idea.
The inspiration for the Sheikah monks in BOTW!
HONEY LICH HONEY LICH
I love that mellification is a thing that works
Also a bunch of Taoist/Daoist Alchemical Ki traditions you could pull inspiration from
Sokushinbutsu!
The Ranger and their companion having to off EACH OTHER to complete the ritual was genius.
Not just that, but _simultaneously._
Best hat.
But… but… my ranger doesn’t have a companion?!
@@calebleach7988 A companion can be made for the ritual. One posibility is multi-subclassing if it was done by a PC or by talking with the DM.
@@ulises2084 I personally feel like simply having a companion for the ritual's sake kind of removes the sense of sacrifice that goes on, but whatever. Multisubclassing is probably the way to go, or just getting a companion without going into another subclass.
@@calebleach7988Find familiar is an option, too
At the rate that he is going, were gonna end up with 13 different types of lich, which somehow feels super apropriate.
Now Im imagening a "councel of 13" scenario, with a organisation containing one of each type of lich working together
DAMN! That’s a really good idea… writing this down.
"I don't... think so. The Scourge has..." (cracking neck) "Some issues. Rather hard to... find subjects to... serve my benefactor." (Aura glowing) "Especially, when everyone... kept getting... slaughtered! That useless oaf!"
The Thaumaturge clutches his own book. Then, he remembered the day, he first set his eyes on it.
"So much work, ... yet so little time."
That's exactly why I'm letting him cook for my ultimate game
@@aelechdeepestflame4347
There's another thing to maby think about.🤔
Do you think we might need a new term this family of undead beings
Like, right now we have the same word for the monster type and the wizard Lich🤔
I was just thinking something similar for a highlevel campaign!
I feel like eventually carryiog hunters would start turning to other carrion hunters. And the abominations of the ones that could not feed.
Reminds me of Eileen in Bloodborne, the sort of hunter who kills other hunters who have given in to the thrill of the hunt and became beasts
for the Carrion Hunter vs Tarrasque, I actually imagined a harder mark
Carrion Hunter: what will I seek as a harder mark now?
Adventurer: don't take this the wrong way but go to Hell
Carrion Hunter: EXCUSE ME!!! WHAT?!
Adventurer: no no you misunderstand, literally go to Hell the Tarrasque may have been the hardest mark in this plane but Hell is not this plane
then you need a wizard powerful enough to make a gateway to another plane you relocate the Carrion Hunter and companion to Hell and close the gate problem solved
the entire army of Hell now has an unstoppable wrecking ball eviscerating it whether that wrecking ball is a Carrion Hunter or a soul hound doesn't matter anymore
@@alanherlan3429 That's actually a genius solution to the Blood War. And a plothook. Because before long, the Carrion Hunter might be able to turn the tide of the Blood War - and in doing so, he could upset the delicate balance of the entire cosmos. Like, what if the Carrion Hunter's mark is demons? Then, he makes great strides in the Blood War, devouring archdemons and becoming a Hellish Prince in his own right. But now, due to the decreased pressure on the Hells, the Devils start making moves on other worlds, leading to a many-pronged Devil invasion? That's your next plot point!
@@Drekromancer I don't have a group interested in DnD enough to do that but maybe you are lucky enough to set up a campaign where that happens
This is actually my favorite of these so far.
Imagine: The party receives a letter, asking them to slay a formidable hunter and his beast in turn for a large sum of hold and magical artifacts. However, the letter requests that if the party find the fight to be too difficult, to simply flee and they will be paid regardless. And even more confusingly, the party has no indication on who sent the letter, only being given a place to go to. Going there, they are guided by more letters, never able to put a face to the one sending them
The twist? The one sending the letters is the Carrion hunter themselves. They are fully aware of how close they are to the point of no return, and are actively seeking a fight too great for them to overcome. This is partly why they ask that the party run if they can't handle it, because if the party doesn't and are killed, the Carrion Hunter will just get stronger, pushing it closer to becoming a Soulhound. Just throw on a tragic reason for the ranger to have become a Carrion Hunter and boom, a villain for your players to cry about!
Something that also might be cool about the carrion hunter is that perhaps in a desperate attempt to prevent it from becoming a soul hound it begins devouring as many souls as possible. It’d be a much more temporary solution, as it would be pursuing quantity over quality in terms of the souls it’s eating. Just a thought.
Personally I like the idea, gives themes of overhunting, anathema of what good rangers would stand for. Plus the Carrion Hunter likely already cut down their potential food source significantly in the process of reaching 'Lichdom'. Having to stop a Carrion Hunter from Genociding an entire species they favored hunting in life is definitely a plot hook.
Soul potto chips.
@@BrawlSnorlaxbruh 😂😂
I kinda like the idea of the lich being unable to find a deadlier mark so it and the companion keep fighting each other... And slaying each other... And reviving next to each other... And fighting again...
Kinda like the Abyss Watchers from Dark Souls 3. That's also a tragic end.
Ayo? And that makes a power cap in the setting! Basically if a character becomes too powerful you could say "The Hunt has gained your scent" and you basically unlock a "new game plus" with increasingly powerful litches hunting you down
That was kind of my first thought when thinking about a ranger lich, tbh. Not a master and companion pair, but a pair of hunter and prey, constantly trading places, bound by the pact of "only you are allowed to kill me".
3 other plotlines off the top of my head:
Carrion Hunter acting as a patron to farm prey for the slaughter.
Carrion Hunter that intentionally tries to make Soulhounds to hunt.
Carrion Hunter that is trying to kill a deity
In the case of succeeding to kill a deity, I'd imagine that to be a legitimate way to escape the cycle of NEEDing to hunt stronger pray, since consuming the divine essence would replace the necromantic hunger with godhood. But it would still influence said newly minted god's domain portfolio, so they'd still be an eternal hunter.
The god hunter path would be so cool, this bow person and an animal basically going Kratos mode on the dnd gods would be sick.
I'm thinking of how to use them in my own Faerie-inspired setting.
Perhaps in the wars done to hunt the Fae in the ancient past, some people turned into Carrion Hunters, trying kill as many Fae as possible... And now, the Fae found a kid like Huan, who suffered at the hands of humans... And helped him turn into a Carrion Hunter whose marks are Human. And now, now the enemies of the Fae know the horror of being stalked by a horrifying undead hunter.
@@AegixDrakan that is SO COOL!
Or that the only diety they can "hunt" is the Diety of the Hunt as that is what they deem the most powerful in terms of what they see as power. So the throne of the Diety of the hunt is everchanging. It might be so that the Diety is also afraid of this and sends stronger and stronger enemies at the Carrion Hunter to try to kill it as it is unable to directly interfere in the material realm
I love the idea of a carrion hunter who is a secondary villain. He kills a powerful and cherished NPC and defeats the party, abut spare them and tell them to train for the next time he meets them, ensuring he has a new target later.
I was thinking a similar thing. A lich Ranger who levels with the party throughout the adventure. They can defeat him but he keeps coming back. What if as part of being a Lich-Ranger his immortality is tied to nature? Like a whole forest is his whole phelactory? In order to kill him you would need to destroy an entire ecosystem permanently? Or something like that. I didnt really vibe with his take in the video but thats the beauty of it, you can make it your own
@BrandonGiordano I think I was more thinking of an enemy who strikes something the party cares about instead of them directly, but it is way above their level, so it non lethally defeats them, and challenge them to grow so they can beat it later on, ensuring the prey for later that is driven by a hatred of it.
These are always amazing, and I cant wait to see how you do the fighter. That one strikes me as one that doesn't just live on through their legend, but lives for as long as their legend is know, so they are constantly doing heroic deeds to keep their legend alive, even if they're the ones orchestrating the events that they end up saving people from.
I already posted this on the previous video but, since I think it fits with what you said, here it goes again:
A draugr is a fighter that, for one reason or another, decided to become immortal. In order to achieve this they learned, either by reading ancient manuscripts or from another draugr, how to imbue pieces of their soul into their attacks.
Every time a draugr fights they attack not just the body but also the spirit of their opponent, slowly weakening their soul until it can be consumed to repair the draugr's faulty one. If, however, the opponent is considered to be of sufficient skill, the draugr will instead place a fragment of their soul into the opponent's so that they become a new phylactery. In the event of their 'death' the draugr will take over (similar to the scourge) and inherit the talent of the vessel (similar to the patriarch lich)
A powerful draugr wanders from land to land in his search for worthy vessels. They may lead armies, go on adventures, sell themselves to coliseums or even open their own fighting schools in this search!
I think this is a good way to implement the whole "fighting spirit" vibe that the fighter has since it makes every duel with them a literal tests of wills over who has the stronger soul.
I'm excited to see a Monk Lich, someone who trained so hard they defeated even death. The closest thing I've seen to an actual Monk Lich in fiction so far is Sukuna from Jujutsu Kaisen
Shang Tsung from Mortal Kombat is... Close? he's more a Sorcerer what knows Kung Fu, but I digress, lol.
Their metamorphosis could be based on real life self mummification processes.
All of these are great ideas, It would be cool if their active consumption of souls was all done through duels. A monk lich that travels from town to city dueling the strongest warrior from each settlement never able to satisfy its hunger for a worthy opponent.
In Pathfinder 1 is a monk of the hungry spirits or hungry souls. A monk who trains to be like some evil spirits.
So train to be like this and the harvesting Qi from places or opponents could work.
I just see the Monk training so hard in a certain way that he punches Death so hard he backs off. His soul Tupperware would be a bottle filled with his Qi. He has to collect more energy from others to prepare for his next fight with Death, else it finally claims his soul.
I love this idea! Especially the Carrion Hunter whose companion devoured the soul of a Tarrasque. I think it'd be really cool to have the Carrion Hunter be a Drakewarden, so that when it's Drake Companion consumes the soul of the Tarrasque, and then the Carrion Hunter's soul itself, the resulting Soul Hound is some undead draconic abomination far worse than the Tarrasque ever was.
For people wanting to play a Carrion ranger like this, HeartLeaf Games has a subclass called “The Carrion Ranger” which grants you necromantic abilities.
I’d highly suggest it if you want to try a character like this in your games.
Where would I find that? It sounds cool
Heck! I was wondering and hoping someone would've mentioned the Carrion Master Ranger. They're a subclass from The Delver's Guide to Beast World, the pet is an undead creature made from the body of a dead beast or humanoid with abilities that make your companion more like Frankenstein's Monster than an animal. You can change the type of undead it is, graft body parts of other animals, raise or control other zombies and even exchanging body parts with your undead companion to grant both of you the other's abilities.
Hey Makar, thanks for sharing it!
@@velocityraptor1661 This is in The Delver’s Guide To Beast World. It’s a DND 5e setting based around a high fantasy setting where Beastfolk are the majority.
A dungeon stretches through the world, and the profession of adventuring has caused a cultural revolution.
Love the concept, but i feel like it's different from the other liches. Unlike the others, who could theoretically live forever, it's lifespan is always limited. And unlike the others, where lichdom is achieved through something that every character from that class gets, you're required to get a companion, which less than half of the subclasses have.
I took similar issues with the blight concept. Personally I would have it so that the ranger just has to soul infuse with someone. Animal companion or even some hated foe. The ranger is about relationships to me.
He did say he's in the camp of defining rangers as the pet class
@@elegantoddity8609 A hated foe would actually be a really neat twist on the Carrion hunter. (Although it would probably stray into revenant territory.)
Two nemeses locked in an eternal battle after killing each other at the same time. Unlike the soulhound where the souls reunite and combine, the animosity between the nemeses means that they never quite combine. As long as one survives they reform later, restarting the battle once more.
The only way for either to die is they both must die. This could create a really fun campaign quest where you have to help someone to slay the lich that cursed them only to discover that they are the phylactery of the lich and the party must kill the cursed soul.
I agree. The only issue with this is the every stronger hunt, which is understandable, but creates such a hard cap that is not present for other liches. Maybe it can be changed for "worthy hunt" - the hunt itself must present a challenge, not that the mark must necessarily be more powerful. A paranoid merchant could be deemed worthy, as he's always moving about, never uses his real name, and pays for defences better than a king might. Killing the mark itself could be easy, but the hunt itself isn't.
@@IHateUniqueUsernames I like it.
Hey! Trying to copy the exercise, I came a cross this idea for the Rogue Lich.
Embracing the way of the Rogue is more than merely sticking to the shadows and backstabing; it is about knowing the true power that lies in the unknown and undetected.
There are some who will dedicate their life to this thisrt for power. This life, and even more, as they start the path of becoming an Elusive.
The Elusive might be the most naive and simple way to escape Death as they seek nothing else than evading the Great Equalizer itself. However, as the Reaper's knowledge is endless, the first step into becoming an Elusive is by methodically remove and destroy any trace of one's existence; one's name must be erased from family trees, debts must be settled, contracts, forged and memories... must be dealt with. One who wish to Elude Death must remove the memory of their own existence from family, friends and foes alike. And if some resort to complex magic of mind, some simply rely on gruesome knife-work...
However, an Elusive's work is in constant jeopardy; with time, their spells might loose in potency and memories of them resurface in the nightmares of those who once knew the Elusive's lost identity or maybe the trail of murders they leave behind will forge them a knew identity, one of a demented shadow killing apparent innocents. These mere rumors pose a serious threat to the Elusive as they just might be enough to lead the Pale Hunter back on their trail.
Worst, people tracking down these rumors might come across the Elusive's Headstone...
The Elusive's Headstone can be any object which holds the one last treasure the undead holds dear: its name. Such is the curse of the Elusive: becoming so perfectly imperceptible that their own identity would slip from their mind without their Headstone, living them but a powerless shadow.
It is said that one who would wish to kill an Elusive must destroy its corporeal form while knowing its true name; an ever dangerous task as knowing the name of the Elusive will inevitably set it on the adventurer's trail...
A way to incorporate the Elusive in a campaign might be to simply have random quest-giver set the party on the trail of a mysterious murderer. However, as their investigation deepens they discover the undead nature of their enemy; it is only at the end of the final showdown that the quest-giver reappears in its true form: Death itself, unable by the laws that shackle it to undergo such investigation but coming in the end to collect its due...
I enjoyed picturing the 'rumors' as anti-philacteries; weaknesses that the Elusive must constantly nip in the bud in fear that they end up leading to the true philactery. And, the more they kill or manipulate, the more the rumors spread...
Feel free to harvest the organs of that theory to create your own Liches :D
Sickest idea ever
This is Great! Def using it at some point
I am absolutely going to use this!
I feel the pf2e flavor text encapsulates what a ranger is the best:
"Some rangers believe civilization wears down the soul, but still needs to be protected from wild creatures. Others say nature needs to be protected from the greedy, who wish to tame its beauty and plunder its treasures. You could champion either goal, or both. You might be a scout, tracker, or hunter of fugitives or beasts, haunting the edge of civilization or exploring the wilds. You know how to live off the land and are skilled at spotting and taking down both opportune prey and hated enemies."
They are:
1. good in nature or edge of society and
2. hunters/trackers who are focused on one target at a time for the most benefit
that's all need to be a ranger.
This also applies to 5e with their signature spell hunter's mark
Jet from Cowboy Bebop is a range
This is why i prefer SO MUCH the Pathfinder 2e Ranger than the D&D Ranger. PF2E Ranger has its own essence.
Let’s go rangers! I can’t wait until all the classes are covered
Once Pointy Hat has made Liches for all of the different classes, he should get them compiled into a book along with all of that gorgeous artwork, and the absolute banger scenarios he's drawn up for each of them; I'd certainly buy it.
@@misone01 Name it "The Tome of Lichdom"
I hope the next Lich we get is a Monk Lich. I need my Undead Wuxia Kung-Fu Boss
Get some Shang Tsung up in here, lol.
How dare you make me look at an undead, skull-faced, bear again. Like I haven't been traumatized enough by Annihilation.
The idea of ranger lich immediately reminded me of Koschei the Deathless, as he is depicted in the Hellboy series. He is employed by Baba Yaga to hunt down Hellboy for vengeance purposes. Really good dark stuff! Anyway, really interesting and inspiring stuff you’re doing here!
The Ritual for the Carrion Hunter can be a testament to the bond between the ranger and their companion if their souls are merged as one and they share the bodies, or a testament to the evil that comes with lichdom if the ranger’s soul inhabits both as they essentially betray their closest companion and inhabit their corpse. Interesting variety for different uses of this lich. Excellent work as always Pointy Hat keep it up!
Okay, but what if the ranger feasts on its beast instead of the beast feasting on the ranger? What if the fractured soul becomes whole in the original body?
The inverse of a bloodthirsty, unstoppable monster could be a harmless baby/monster cub.
Good ending: ranger/beast gets another chance at life, find another companion, continue the cycle of nature
Bad ending: ranger/beast immediately gets mauled by a low-level predator, total fear and shame being his final thoughts
You want to get undead werewolves?
This is how you get undead werewolfes.
I'd say essentially the same thing. Instead of becoming an unstoppable beast with a nasty murder streak, the animal instincts of the companion overwhelm the ranger and imbue them with that same hunger. They retain their intelligence and character, but they must hunt everything and anything in their way.
You could tie this in with the folklore motif of the Wild Hunt: the Carrion Hunter as the head of the Hunt, leading the souls of the companions they've murdered and consumed into a mad pursuit, plundering and destroying everything in their way, every soul only adding to the army's numbers.
@@HunterTracks I love the idea of tying it into the mythos of a Wild Hunt! Like kind of hybrid of the Barbarian Lich and the Ranger Lich, driven by an insatiable need to hunt, perhaps even motivated by the ranger's atruistic intentions, like in response to massive deforestation by a kingdom, or some other slight against nature wroght by civilization, the Carrion Lich begins hunting humans across the lands.
@@averyodowd6448 I wonder if anything strange would happen is multiple Carrion Liches ate eachother? Or if the Carrion Lich just hunted other liches?
YOOO the split phylactery is SOO SICK!!! It's literally (what is known in the mmo terms) A council fight when you fight them, that's SUCH A COOL IDEA!!! This is absolutely fantastic!!
This video is PERFECT right now, you have no idea. I'm literally running a campaign where the BBEG is a dark god and his 5 generals (The Shadowfingers) that are 5 unique liches. This gives me so many good ideas for my Shadowfingers! Fantastic work.
The sheer amount of effort and love that is so visable to the audeience throughout the entire video is so incredibly appreciated, from the easy to follow steps in design, to the incredible art, it is so evidentally clear that pointy hat is far mine (and hopefully everyone elses) favourite D&D youtuber, nay favourite youtuber period.
I know this isn’t what you went with the “hunting progressively more dangerous targets” part.
But I’m already imagining using this as the main villain for a campaign based on “The Most Dangerous Game”.
It’s okay to tweak that part I think. I mean seriously, an adventure themed around a classic like that? With a Carrion Hunter as its villain?! Shit I’D play that!
the adventure time lich might be my favorite lich outside of D&D. something about them just always manages to impress
What's even cooler about that lich is it wasn't a person before he appeared, he just spawned after a major apocalyptic event of death made him.
@@funnyvalentine6670 yer not entirely wrong that the lich was born of a death comet, but that death comet *was* someone else before being a death comet.
Ya love to see a lil guy with a bow become an immortal, god-like being.
Oof! That's a good idea! Really poetically designed too. I'm welling up with emotion, my dude. And it was just meant to be a character concept video!
Beautiful!
Wholly Moly, I am sooo glad you posted a new video today. I had one tryingly oppressive day, and tomorrow looks like more of the same. Bright colors, pretty pictures, cool ideas and thinking about people cooperating, being nice to each other and having fun is EXACTLY what I need. Thank You Thank You Thank You
Goblin Slayer as a Carrion Hunter Lich is definitely something i didnt expect. Also instantly adding it to my setting.
Okay, this is the best instance of "multiple mementos" I've seen you done. Having just two, and both of which are the corresponding lich is thematically great, as well as mechanically reasonable!
I believe this is your best Lich yet!
PS, Pointy Hat, if you see this, "phylactery" has some issues with how it's used. It's a term for a "pouch that contains Hebrew scripture," and tying it to "what an evil undead stores their soul in and sacrifices people to in their quest to obtain a pale imitation of immortality" is... Kinda problematic, to say the least.
Pathfinder changed them to "Soul Cages," but that's a bit generic.
I recommend "Mementos," derived from "Memento Mori." It's a Latin phrase that means "remember you will die," which feels really fitting for a thing that's literally the physical manifestation of the lich's mortality. Also, it acts as a "memento" of their former life.
@@JustAnotherJames3if it's problematic, why is it in the game?
@@persiancarpet5535because problematic stuff is present in most media even if it was not done intentionally with the aim of hurting people?
@@chumboxx3103 is it hurting people?
@@persiancarpet5535 it would be better to ask that to a Jewish person since they'd probably have more insight on the topic, but from what OP wrote, I think a small and basically effortless change like that ensures that there's no unintended damage done to anyone
Yeah, this inspired me so much for my next game. Gives me real "Folk Horror" vibes.
I'm combining this with the Van Richten Guide to Ravenloft "Genres of Horror" section to write my Rangers subplot.
This is incredible. Not only does it work as a one of a kind character. But it doubles as a formatable enemy depeindng on how the party proceedes. Well Done!!!!!
As usual, you don't miss. I think you hit the nail on the head as to the core of the Ranger class.
The Carrion Hunter is a fantastic concept, though I am a bit disappointed that the companion's "increasing power" only comes down to being a bigger damage sponge, but I realize anything more complicated would be difficult to adjudicate.
It would also be cool to see alternate Carrion Companions to represent other subclasses; a Swarmkeeper with a horde of skeletal rats, for example. It would be tough to figure out how to express the non-pet archetypes with a companion, though.
0:01 He knows my name!
Its super exited to see another one of these😍😍😍😍
Im kinda hopeing that when all the classes are eventually covered, Antonio ends up makeing a poster showing the class and its lich counterpart, with text showing all the key bullet points for each lich types.
Or...better yet....a lich book😍😍😍.
Honestly, the idea of a fighter lich is something I’m super interested in. Especially if you take into account the idea that certain fighting styles have an unbroken chain of masters(mostly from the eastern countries). It would have to work similar to the sorcerer lich, but add in some starwars sith. The lich lives on by training their next body. The way they pass on and get a new body is they are slain by their pupil with a special blade that acts as their phylactery. This also gets a bit of flavor of hex blade, but I feel like it must happen that way.
I like your twist on it, but honestly, I think it would be less of a successor they train and more of an adversary. They purposely make themselves enemies and attempt to push them to become stronger and more experienced until they prove themselves to be a proper challenger to these fighter liches. So when the day comes, they face each other to the death. If the lich wins, the rival soul will be absorbed and the lich moves on to the next candidate. But if the rival wins, the lich will over time take control of them until they have completely overwritten the rival soul.
You could have the special blade be used to mark the rival in their final confrontation or in their initial encounter. But this leaves the Lich vulnerable to be permanently ended by an unmarked person.
I think a model of fighter lich is Umbra in Elder scrolls. A great 'immortal' warrior travels around the world challenging others to kill him. After a long time he is so tired of lacks of great opponents that he wish death, until someone defeats him and took his 'magical' sword 'Umbra'. Then the cursed sword philactery graduelly takes possession of the warrior's soul who becomes a reborned Umbra.
Once we have all classes covered, we can start adding different lich flavours for each class!! This is a Journey I'm sure we don't want to be finished hahaha
dont forget about all sub classes
Easily my favorite series on this channel, and seeing new liches always makes my week better.
Now I really want to hear the Monk Litch
and I think the best way to do this is get the Taraque on it's last legs with the Carrorn hunter and then betray the hunter before the Kaiju is dead.
Ohh man I get that Rangers are not pirates so there might be a better class for an undead Litch Piraite captain but it would be badass.
A lich could go like this
The Solipsistic is a monk that has achieved lichdom by using the energy within them to turn their body into a phylactery. That has the interesting side effect of making them the healthiest-looking type of lich out there. But despite their appearance, people can tell something is wrong since their mere presence drains the energy from their surroundings. People become tired, plants wither, animals become less responsive, even the area seems to lose some colour/vibrance to it while the Solipsistic looks like the complete opposite.
As a Lich, they must not only seek out the souls to sustain themselves but also obtain Ki wherever they can get it. This is the unfortunate consequence of draining life wherever they go, regardless of they want to or not.
captain ahab coulb be a ranger lich...the philactery the arpon or a piece of his body eated for the white whale...doing the ritual inside the monster and them being poop .
or like a cannibal explorer with the curse of the wendigo...famine
There's like a handful of channels that when posting a new video cause me to say, either in my head or out loud, "OOH!" This is one of them. These videos are like always filled with great ideas, great humor, and great production.
I love the idea of the Carrion Hunter talking to himself in much the same way you'd talk to an animal companion but in this instance because he can sense/hear the thoughts/feelings of their companion in their head. Hushing the beast to try and calm it because he knows the beast's hunger is rising, or arguing with it about the best course of action. All stuff he could be mumbling beneath his breath, almost like he's unaware that he's voicing his thoughts, since the beast would be just as capable of sensing the hunter's thoughts as the hunter is of sensing it's.
damn this comment is the badass cherry on top of the badass ice cream
Looking forward to the Cleric Lich. Very interested how the religious tones are going to fit in with the class!
Cleric Liches are somewhat canon actually - mummy lords
uncorrupt martyr....or his faith and god is the death and is like the ecosystem that forms of the dead body of a whale in the abyss....el milagro doloroso of custodia
@@boomfanfic-a-latta8996 not somewhat, Mummy Lords just are cleric liches,
Really cool! Love it! Only thing I'd change is that it doesn't HAS to hunt always bigger creatures to fill the phylactery, just hunting SOMETHING is sufficient therefore, but it still WANTS to hunt always bigger things and becoming a Soulhound only if it doesn't hunt anything for to long. By this, the Carrion Hunter is not limited in it's liftime, which would oppose the whole Lich-concept.
im exited for the cleric lich, the idea of a holy person kept alive as an undead is such a cool contrast. And there is so much to do with it, like tying its un-life to its religion
There's actually a cleric lich on the monster book, if I remember correctly it's name is master of mummies or something
The Mummie Lord is althe Cleric Lich ❤
right then.... got a new encounter for my players.......
Anything can be villain if it has a reason and the means to do so
Yeah, the nice thing about a villain is it doesn't need to be a bad or malicious person necessarily. It's just someone who is currently opposing you.
A villain who uses a bow? Impossible. Have you ever heard of such a ridiculous thing.
antagonist != (is not) a villain. Antagonists just opose the party, while villains are actually evil.
Note: This isn't actually about making them villains, but rather Liches.
Liches are the archetypical BBEG, though, so it works as a semi-clickbaity title format.
@@JustAnotherJames3 I know
Love these. I'm definitely going to use the sorcerer one. Also, I can't wait to see you make ranger useful.
So basically lich version of a Ranger is a murder hobo.
You know that is actually super appropriate for a theoretical worst outcome for a player character class.
I love this series. In the past I've come up with a few other classes becoming Liches as well. Good to see you expanding on it
Eh for me I was thinking more of a Wild Hunt situation. Where the lich's phylactory is a bunch of animals in a flying stampede to hunt more souls for its sport.
Fun fact.
Mechanicaly a swarm counts as just one creature.
Yeah I was thinking about that. But this is a variation no? If you want to Voldemort your phylactery into new members of your hunt you end up with the same thing!
15:19
Only Wizard to ever take bestow curse instead of fireball 💀
Omg I've been waiting for this for so long!! Ranger is my favorite class, and I've been stoked for the Which Lich, especially because of how awesome you did the Druid. You outdid yourself, Pointy Hat. :)
That frontal shot of the ranger and bear skulls is pure awesomeness.
I want to thank you so much for making these i feel like they add so much to the game and I plan on creating a campaign based around the different liches that you have created trying to become gods. Thank youuu!!!
I've always associated Druid with being a pet class, but that might just be their great summoning magic and my own habit of gravitating towards minion mastery things.
Hear me out for the rogue lich: the Intrusive, a bodyless soul, in the shape of a shadow in the corner, that has to sustain itself by stealing the body of other creatures continously, consuming their souls in the process. As per the recipe:
The characteristic of a rogue are:
- Being dexterous
- Being good in hiding and deception
- Stealing things
- Killing creatures
Now, for the lich part:
- The ritual: Idk, I would say stealing more and more from others, until you’re stealing their lives, then stealing their souls, then finally you steal your own from your body
- The result: this creature resembles, and is inherently, the shadow of it’s former self in the most literal sense, and on rare occasions can be seen beside their original body, still untouched by time and lacking it’s shadow. In this process, the Intrusive frees himself from the shackles of it’s own body, being able to live forever…as long as they’re able to sustain their soulless body. However, in doing so, the Intrusive lost many ways of interacting with the world, being incorporeal. So it makes up for it by sneaking up on unsuspecting victims, cutting their throats in the dark, and pulling the soul from the wound. Then the Intrusive must transfer the fresh soul to their former body, keeping it pristine and frozen in time, while they can take the soulless husk left behind for themselves, to keep until, soon, it will crumble to dust, leaving again only the Intrusive behind. This way the Intrusive can assume multiple identies and infiltrate society as a faceless ghost, never to be found again. But there’s 2 ways one can spot an Intrusive: the first one is the stolen body, unless it’s fresh, the signs of crumbling can be seen by an active observer, the second one is the shadow of the stolen body, which still resembles the Intrusive and betrays it’s identity.
- The aftermath: as mentioned, the intrusive needs to literally steal soul from people to survive, and gets to keep the body in return.
For stats I would suggest 2 forms, both of the same creature but called in 2 ways, the Shadow and the Persona (from Youngian archetypes):
- The Shadow: this form will have a trait similar to incorporeal movement, but that greatly hinders their ability to influence people as long as they’re seen. Like them being “less real”. When they’re not hidden, the Shadow has troubles moving objects and even attacking or wounding creatures, and has light sensitivity (against any bright light and even dimlight in a smaller measure, but like…really bad, like they’re stunned or banished to the shadowfell unless the light is gone). However this form cannot be slain properly unless the former body of the Intrusive is destroyed (the body also has a name: the Self). This form can fly, move through things, teletrasport in the shadows, cannot be spotted through Darkvision, good stealth and a massive bonus to stealth in obscured areas. When hidden, this form can perform a deadly attack on a creature (think about the same level as Power Word: Kill a normal Lich can use) that may outright kill them, and still has sneak attack (a strong one), then the creature can transfer itself in the body as per a Magic Jar spell, becoming:
- The Persona: this form is actually quite frail, stronger than normal people but still not much of a threat (unless the host was stronger, in that case it takes over the stats of the host), but can pass amazingly for a normal humanoid and is perfect to achieve the Intrusive’s goals in a society. The Intrusive gets bonus to deception and a massive bonus when it comes to impersonating the host, retains some of it’s roguish abilities (still good stealth, sneak attack, but not much else and not to the extent of the Shadow) but not much else, and can freely interact with the world and walk in the light.
THIS. THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME.
I've been following your "Which Lich" series for a while now, as I love the idea of a plethora of ways to enter undeath for all eternity. Each one is incredibly well designed, so thanks for putting in all this effort to them! This idea about the companion and the ranger having to kill one another is really cool, because it also shows that the companion, a generally accepted as sentient being all on its own, agreeing to enter this effective suicide pact together only furthers the commitment to their goal.
All of that said, I think this is not the most accessible way to go about a Ranger lich in 5e. Every other lich so far has been based on a core class feature that all of them share. Druids and their circle, Barbarians and rage, bards and their masterpiece (less of a class feature and more of a theme, but same diff). This only focuses on a feature that 3 out of the 8 in 5e even have. I know that in 3.5 and Pathfinder the animal companion is a core feature, but that's just not true anymore in 5e. The one thing that all rangers have, across all subclasses, and even the optional Tasha's content, is Favored Foe/Favored Enemy. Across the board, rangers have a single thing in common: If the set an enemy in their sights, it is going to die.
For a lich, I think you hinted on the right direction in your introductory theory crafting, with the "enemy they can't catch/kill" idea. But I think that's not broad enough for the attempt at eternal life. Every lich is choosing to be a lich for a GRAND DESIGN, not one dude. And honestly, every lich, across all the classes, should generally be a morally ambiguous person at best, otherwise why would the players even go up against them? I think the motivation would be better if it was an anathema. As in, a particular creature type (or organization to add some alternative ideas) as the anathema, and they refuse to rest until this threat has been entirely purged. So when you mentioned that the ranger must undergo a long ritual hunting their favored foe and not coming into contact with civilization, I think you were half right. The favored foe is the most important part. All liches are embracing the darker urges of their class, and the Ranger literally has weaponized racism built into the base class (Favored Foe from Tasha's is more "screw this guy in particular", but the general vibe is whoever they're hunting, it's a problem that they chose to become undead to get rid of). Giving into that "for the greater good" or even "for my own self interest" idea is a big part of lichdom, since the entire thing is a pretty big risk.
I can't think of the best phylactery right now for this version of the Carrion Hunter, other than like "the preserved remains of their greatest enemy" or some nonsense like that. But I think focusing on the favored enemy/foe leads to a situation that allows any ranger, regardless of subclass, to focus on becoming a lich. Because that's the whole point of these videos, right? You often mention "players see this and ask how do I do that?". If the requirement is an animal companion, that's a lot of players that just don't have that option without shoe-horning in an animal companion. You even said in the video that the best embodiment of the ranger is the Hunter subclass. Not the Beast Master, not the Drakewarden, not the Swamkeeper, not Gloomstalker, Horizon Walker, Fey Warden, whatever. Hunter. And the Hunter basically takes the Ranger's ability to better hunt and kill their preferred prey, and makes it better.
I seriously hope this doesn't come across as saying you have bad design or anything. I've really enjoyed the stuff you come up with, and I think a lot of what you build is going so well! The reason I get really into the nitty gritty is because I'm slightly obsessive about D&D, and the closer it hits to something I think is cool, the more likely I am to get into the weeds of it. What you've provided is a whole stat-block and lore and design and all the crazy elements that go into this, and it's amazing. My comments aren't trying to say "all dumb, why do you even bother", but just that I think there's another focus that might better exemplify what we're all shooting for: A lich based around the core identity of a specific class. And if I'm being honest, I never even had the idea for a ranger lich until you brought it up. I never would have come up with ANY of the above discussion if not for listening to your video. So even though I'm being a little punk and basically dissecting your stuff, do know that what you do is absolutely integral to the homebrew world of this hobby we all share.
TL;DR - I think you're on the right track, I just think there's a smoother way to go about it. Regardless of our different ideas, the stuff that you create is reaching hundreds of thousands of viewers, many of who will internalize this in some way. Your work is awesome, please keep it up.
That's not really the case. If I remember correctly, rangers can get find Familiar Spell? If so, then basically every Ranger can become a lich this way. But instead a battle bear, It will be a raven, scavenging on the kills the Ranger presents, and flying away if their master is defeated.
@@happywiz1833 Find familiar really isn't the same thing as an animal companion. Firstly, it doesn't summon a real animal, but a spirit in animal shape. Secondly, that's not a unique ranger class feature. A good number of casters can pick this up. The point is to use a unique class identity as the core of the lichdom ritual, like the barbarian and their rage.
Great point op!! Maybe the Carrion Hunter's philactery could be nature itself? But that would require them to have chosen lichdom in order to protect a place and thats not always the case (and it'd be stepping on the Druid Lich's toes).
So maybe their philactery could be amulets/souvenirs/totems/talismans they craft from their prey('s remains) after they bring it down?
(if it helps, as I was writing this I searched for "amulet synonyms" and the word 'philactery' straight up came up)
definitely a fave right there with the artificer lich, this one fills a more lich but not evil niche that just feels wholesome but still supremely dangerous
Love this series! Can’t wait to see what you do with the wizard!
I mean.. the stock Lich is basically the wizard lich.
Which is why I'm sure he'll have wizard Lich as the series capstone.
@@IamHattmani feel like he will do a wizard lich video just so he can spice up the basic lich.
His lich principles are all about making it dramatic, and fankly the basic lich is a wizard who did a ritual™ and now periodically has to kill people. And that isn't nearly as inherently dramatic as any of his liches which are designed to start a whole arc of a campaign.
This is my favorite concept of a lich. Also the legend of the carrion hunter is legitimately one of the most tragic things I've ever heard in D&D. Well done.
This is definitely your coolest Lich as it isn’t “evil”, but gluttonous.
Was the bard much eveil
@@itsmefirefox I forgot about the bard (._. )
All of your ideas are so imaginative and fun! Every lich video could fill any story role from PC, NPC, to entire campaign. Thank you again!.
Can you do more one shot ideas like your fey wild video. I unashamedly use your videos as a framework for my campaigns
When you mentioned the Carrion Hunter, I was immediately reminded of the Carrion Master from Delver's Guide to Beast World! Honestly, I feel like the Carrion Hunter would be my character's endgoal as a True Neutral Vulpine Gunslinger Fighter/Carrion Master Ranger!
Oh hell yeah!!
Can't wait for the Monk lich 😂
it would have been very cool to go the "Immortal Snail" route for ranger lichdom. You phylactery is always on the move to kill you, and therefor itself. Forcing you to never settle down for long. The hunter becomes the hunted as a price for immortality.
Love this idea a lot more, tbh, since this doesn't add a whole "you're cursed to eventually be devoured by your companion and go berserk" aspect to things. Add in the notion of having to use souls as ammunition to stop the phylactery from murdering you, and we have a very functional lich.
Love the ranger class. So glad you feature it and make it better. Love to see it getting some love ❤
These lichee keep getting better and better! Love the favored for mechanic being entwined to the ceremony
Thank you so much for this. I am running a homebrew campaign where I twist Disney storylines and making Merida a a lich or a soulhound to protect the land. I am SOOOOOOO happy right now.
My dumbass misread this as "Can Power Rangers" be villains and bow im imagining a group of Super Sentai Necromancers
*writes that down for a later campaign*
*quickly plays it off like his dumbass didn’t also think it said power rangers*
What’s next?
Warlock + Lich?
Fighter + Lich?
Rouge + Lich?
Commoner + Lich
hopefully paladin + lich
@@IamHattmanhe summons peasant railguns
Monk + Lich is something that kind of already exists so that’d be pretty dope
Fighter Lich:
"Yeah there was a fight that didn't end so well... So I wanted to get a second duel. But a creepy fellow in a black robe, with a scyth told me to come with him. Anyway I punched this farmer or whatever in the face and got back to fighting the duel... Never went hungry ever since... strange"
The big tragedy of ranger is theyre actually 2 classes the D&D ranger and the WoW Hunter meaning most of their problems could be solved by splitting them into 2 classes.
There are indeed a few classes like that. Where a single subclass or feels like its own thing. Ranger Def feels more evenly split. Its like if you mixed the fighter with the barbarian and called it barbarian.
Personally I wish Eldritch knight fighter was just its own class.
But they did the WoW hunter thing first at the beginning of 3e! So now it's a "legacy" element of the class and they can't extract it from survivalist archer guy without making some grognards mad. But there's always MCDM's Beastheart for a 5e pet class.
Your Ranger lich is fascinating!
Binding it to a familiar really helps with the "nature" lore and, to be frank, their whole class identity, as you pointed out in your other Ranger video. As an NPC, their is loads of opportunity: as an enemy, as an ally, as a character of legend.
Another thing you could do with the call of the hunt and maybe offer a near impossible way of satisfying it forever (similar things can be done for other forms of Liches
rogue lich is just kelsier. you can't change my mind.
There's always another secret.
Die and nail your soul to your friend's body through the eye. It is definitely edgy enough for a rogue
You really outdid yourself by making a ranger version of a boneclaw
"Rangers have a poor class concept, because they actually have different options that are not just the equivalent of recolors."
The Carrion Hunter legit may become the first BBEG of my next campaign and is my favorite of your lich designs so far! Which is wild for me to say cause your barbarian concept was so good and my old favorite!!
I love this series so much, you're killing it (haha) with these lich variants. The Carrion Hunter is on my top 3 NPC ideas.
I've been working on a few options for the lich on my own time, because I really love this series; one of the things I've settled on (because I like both liches that are forced to keep interacting, and also liches that can just eff off and leave the mortal realm forever if they want) is that there's actually two base types of Lichdom Ritual. Type one is the version you bring up repeatedly - must keep harnessing new souls to keep their own intact, in some way/shape/form; they have a simpler, easier ritual with very little initial cost in terms of sacrifices to it, though it's still very complex and dangerous magic to attempt. Type two lichdom, however, requires an immense amount of work, putting a truly colossal amount of sacrifices into it - easily millions, or even billions of souls being sacrificed all at once to properly stabilize the Phylactery with a sort of artificially-induced divinity. Obviously, this means an entire plane or near to it would need to be sacrificed all at once, and the additional requirements for the ritual are truly insane on their own, but it makes for an excellent 'super-bbeg' for epic level campaigns, or as the end goal of the current BBEG to let them basically try to replace Vecna as the new god-lich.
Oh, also, I gotta say that your idea for a new version of the Demilich concept in the Soul Hound is amazing ^^
This is an amazing build, I love it so! I adore the idea of having to slay both liches at the same time
i love subverting expectations with my very experienced group and doing so with lichs is just so many chef kisses. i had already integrated a Figure Head and a Blight into my campaign but now i'm integrating the carrion hunter as an enemy of the blight and putting my players in a postiotion to choose a side between one undead and another.
I watch a lot of dnd videos, the lore on this in chapter 5 is some of the best ive seen, absolutly awesome work
Hey, funny thing. There's actually a Carrion Master Ranger subclass from the Delver's Guide to Beast World. It gives you an undead companion and allows you to exchange body parts with it to make it stronger and make you stronger and also making you Undead. It's a very cool and fun subclass, you should give it a look.
I love this series, I've got a big bad lich boss for my game, and these have been working *perfectly* as minions/mini bosses for my BBEG
I’m slowly coming up with ideas for a new dnd world where each country is ruled over, or at least contains each type of Lich. Every Lich this channel puts out just expands the kingdoms that exist there.
thank you for making this! which lich is my favourite series of this channel, i'm excited to see them all! It would be interesting to see a normal wizard lich reworked as well
This series is fantastic! Can't wait for more unorthodox liches. Would love to see a rogue lich by you!
Oh this is a good one. Can cause so much drama. Having the animal companion be a part of the lich is great, and given anyone can form a bond with a pet any ranger can do it. As you explained that all I could think of is a ranger that goes off, abandoning their companion to bond with another to save them from lichdom. Only then do they return, the hunger has them, and they feed on them to empower their new undead companion.
Omg I just cannot get enough of the incredible lore and mechanics behind the lichdom of these classes ;-; Thank you so much they are awesome!!!
I NEED A PALADIN LICH PLEASE!!!! I’m actually doing a campaign based on this series starting next spring and I NEED a Paladin Lich for it!!!
I love this channel! I've used a couple of this channel's stat blocks and my players were on the edge of their seats every time!
Love the which lich series and wait for every new entry. Great work! I think every member of the pointy hat lich menagerie feels like a familiar, yet fresh and interesting take on its class. I just wonder how step two of the lich recipe isn't called a "lichual" yet...
Your videos have inspired me to do my own thinking regarding some of the other liches yet to be covered and I figured I'd post them here. This will be very brief and won't go into too much detail so utilise your imagination to fill in the gaps:
Cleric -
Fighter - A warrior who diligently practiced an art of fighting (a subclass and fighting style) against all other styles and foes and always came out on top. The fighter's Indomitable fighting spirit and drive to face new and stronger foes lead to his lichdom manifesting. The fighter's phylactery exists in the very essence of their chosen style. They must continue to fight with their chosen style, no matter the opponent.
Monk - One who mastered a style of fighting and ki control to the point they conquered death itself. Their phylactery is the style of fighting they teach. They must pass on the style to worthy successors who devote themselves to the monastery. To kill a monk who has achieved lichdom, all of its successors must either forget the teachings of the monastery or be outright killed.
Warlock - A simple one. Their patron has granted lichdom in return of eternal servitude, they must act out their Patron's requests to maintain their lichdom. Their patron is their phylactery. To kill a lich Warlock, you must kill the Warlock's patron before you can deliver the final blow.
If this isn't on par with the Hierarch it is better than the Hierarch, this is probably the coolest style of lich you've given us, I've used the Necromaton for a one shot but I'm looking to use probably a different one for my bbeg next campaign, so keep them coming, I think this one is gonna be it unless you top it in the future