Iron Liches
| Statistic | Wimpy Rules | Power Rules |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | very rare | very rare |
| Intelligence | 13 (high) | 14 (high) |
| Treasure | some gold (check the helmet) | some gold (check the helmet) |
| No. Appearing | 1 | 1d2+1 |
| Armor Class | -3 | -3 |
| Movement | 6 | 6 |
| Hit Dice | 11 HD + 4 | 35 HD |
| THAC0 | 8 | 2 |
| No. of Attacks | 1 : 1 (melee/special) | 1 |
| Damage/Attack | 3d4 (bite) * amputation on 20 | 6d8 (bite) * amputation on 20 |
| Special Attacks | (see above for complete description) | (see above for complete description) |
| Special Defenses | nil | nil |
| Magic Resistance | 10% | 10% |
| Size | L (9') | L (9') |
| Morale | fanatic (18) | fearless (19) |
Special Attacks
| Attack | Wimpy Rules | Power Rules |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ice balls: damage (direct hit only) | 1d4 | 1d8 |
| 1. Ice balls: damage from ice shard shrapnel | 2d6 | 3d8 |
| 1. Ice balls: range | 90 yards | 150 yards |
| 1. Ice balls: radius of shrapnel | 2 yards | 2 yards |
| 2. Column of fire: damage | 2d8+2 (save vs. breath for 1/2 damage) | 5d8 (save vs. breath for 1/2 damage) |
| 2. Column of fire: range | 60 yards | 100 yards |
| 2. Column of fire: height | 20 yards | 50 yards |
| 3. Windstorm: range | 20 yards | 50 yards |
| 3. Windstorm: duration | 1d3 rounds | 1d6+4 rounds |
| 3. Windstorm: damage/rnd | 1d6-1/round | 4d4-1/round |
| 3. Windstorm: NOTE | — | damage adj. for walls is x2 for POWER RULES |
Description
Notes
An Iron Lich is one of the nastiest horrors of D'Sparil's minions. Aside from the immediately unsettling appearance of a giant helmeted skull of an undead, one shudders when trying to picture the size of the body it once stood upon. Nevertheless, the Iron Lich has the innate ability of levitating up to 5 feet off the ground. It can traverse low inclines but cannot levitate to the top of a sheer cliff.
Iron Liches constitute the lower echelons of command of the army of D'Sparil. Accordingly, they will no doubt be accompanied by the legions of those under their control. Of course, few adventurers or troops will ever encounter them without already realizing this, for D'Sparil's chief lieutenants never, ever travel alone. They may even be encountered as groups of Liches, though there are not many who can claim to have seen it.
Weapons
An Iron Lich is built like a juggernaut -- what it lacks in mobility, it makes up in offensive power, in spades. It has four types of destruction available to it:
-
Ice Balls: a single sphere of compressed ice, exploding like shrapnellike ice shards on impact; range and damage is given below.
-
Column of Fire: range, height, and damage are given below; width of the column is 6 feet.
-
Windstorm: summons a miniature tornado that will affect up to one Large - sized creature. The tornado does not instantly engulf the target; an attack roll must be made by the Iron Lich first. Even if the windstorm misses its target, it will continue to move until it is blocked by a solid immobile object.
A tornado launched into a crowd is likely to catch someone even if they were not the intended victim.
Note that a player caught in a windstorm can escape it with the casting or use of any flying spell, ability, or magic item. Thus, a character caught in a windstorm could use the Wings of Wrath to escape the effects.
Whenever a character or creature is caught by the tornado against a wall, it suffers a +1 to damage per round due to being thrown against it. If caught in a corner, it suffers +2 per round; caught in a narrow dead-end (such as an narrow alley blocked off on three sides), +3 per round.
Other statistics for the windstorm power are given below.
The Iron Lich also has a melee weapon: its bite. It has jaws of unadulterated steel that will gnaw easily through flesh; it is essentially a floating meatgrinder. The teeth are not quite considered weapons of sharpness, although they are comparable; a roll of 20 indicates an amputation of a random appendage of the victim, INCLUDING the head (which is one advantage over a weapon of sharpness).
Defenses
The Iron Lich is immune to petrificaion and polymorphing attacks; even the petrification gaze of a medusa has no effect on it. Likewise, an Iron Lich is immune to the effects of Torpol's Morph Ovum, described elsewhere in this NetBook.
It is also immune to all forms of fear effects of creatures that have fewer HD / levels than itself. It is resistant to dragon fear, able to ignore the fear power of any dragon up to 1/2 its own HD, rounded up.
Iron Liches have limited Magic Resistance.
Undead
Liches are considered to be free - willed undead. They do not have energy - draining abilities. Also:
- Wimpy: Iron Liches are considered to be Liches/11+ HD with respect to turning.
- Power: Iron Liches are considered to be Special Undead with respect to turning, with a penalty of -3 against success.