How does one make a lich bbeg that isn't just an ordinary

>bbeg
>"big bad evil guy"

Ha ha, you talk dumb.

>>51098201
All-out catholic church aesthetic.

>>51098201
>What's some ways to make him stand out?
Pick a motivation for lichdom other than "lol immortality", flesh them out from there.

File: Strahd.jpg (159KB, 459x600px) Image search: [Google]

159KB, 459x600px

>>51098201
If your setting reached the point where there are "ordinary" liches, there have to be some changes. Look at Curse of Strahd for inspiration - Strahd is a simple, ordinary vampire, but the way his story is interconnected with the story of Barovia makes him a menacing and memorable villain.

>>51098201
He dresses like a peasant and wants to raise an army of skeleton farmhands, trying for ages to grow the perfect potato.

Either you go the stupid route
>It's not just a lich, it's a DEEEEEEEEEEMON LICH!

Or you go the route of actually giving him an actual personality. You know, like how you make any good villain. Or any good character in general.

>>51098201
Easy mode: have the lich be a different race, like an illithid or beholder
Hard mode: make the lich a nuanced character, with motivations

>>51098201
The Lich is actually dedicated to what they consider the well being of the realm and has counciled generations of the royal family.

Now with the the new ruler having different ideas, the lich secretly puts him under arrest.

File: 1483567520985.jpg (202KB, 829x1043px) Image search: [Google]

202KB, 829x1043px

>>51098201
My GM actually has a reoccuring character that's a lich, though he isn't exactly a BBEG, just a skeleton riding around on a horse mugging people, incling our party on several occasion.
As far as we know he has no motivation beyond money and booze, which might or might not affect him.

Think of a complex villain with decent motivation whose motives are difficult to argue with, give him a fear of death and the ability to circumvent it.

>And then add the lich layer on top like a slap of paint

Quite literally the same answer to any 'How do I make 'character' interesting question: What are their motivations, how do they deal with problems, and how they interact with others?

>>51098201
He sings

Op got me thinking, what was the name of that lich on d&d that's just a skull on a pillow being carried by a little girl? Might have been a demi lich too

The lich's phylactery is a half-finished thesis. He was recently killed while engrossed in his research.
His library got sacked, and he's trying to reclaim important (and dangerous) reference material.

>>51098201
Don't call him litch.

They're are not supposed to be ordinary litch. Building him as a wizard so powerful he could conquer death, something even other dark wizards fear to talk about. Make it out as a legendary evil rarer then 'high-level' boss.

Sure any experience player will work it out and call it but it help set the tone.

>>51098484
>GMed long running game
> New player was interested but hadn't played DnD before
> got to the big bad
> gave really dramatic description of a litch, a wizard so evil he broke the vail of life and death itself
>'Ah, I get, anon, so you telling me this guy is a voldemort..'
>A Voldemort....

File: 133123121321321322123123.png (587KB, 899x1200px) Image search: [Google]

587KB, 899x1200px

>>51098201
>>51098387
This. The beast in over the garden wall kind of felt like a druid based lich. The entire series is only like 2 hours long if want to check it out.

>>51098201
A lich that doesn't use necromancy as the main force of their army could be rather interesting. Simply by merit of being a lich, perhaps they want to keep their necromantic powers to themselves and prefer to keep undead only at the disposal of their most important dungeons. It may not even be known to the adventurers that what they're dealing with is a lich, and their prescence being osbscured by all by the most inquisitive of agents should make them a scary threat to be bested. If the Lich can use barbarians, warlords, and other agents to do his will outside of an army of undead, I feel that makes them more competent and scary than the run of the mill "lich is making lots of badguys to slay and kiling him makes them all fall."

>>51098201
The Lich was, in life, a member of an incorporeal race. As an incorporeal undead, they have the option of haunting an object; in this case, a suit of armor. If you want a standard evil overlord, they shove a corpse in it and cast some spells like Continual Flame to make it look intimidating so that folks think the corpse is the overlord. When you want an evil tempter, the lich whispers advice to the wearer and protects them from harm by using its formidable spellcasting prowess (although, per the haunting rules, this does require them to physically manifest - presumably passing themselves off as a spirit of the wearer's ancestors or something).