[RPG] Where does a lich reappear after its destruction

dnd-3.5eundead

The key thing about being a lich is that destruction never sticks – the lich's soul is locked away in his phylactery, and ensures that the lich always returns to plague the living:

Unless its phylactery is located and destroyed, a lich reappears 1d10 days after its apparent death.

But there don't seem to be any rules in the Monster Manual, nor Libris Mortis, that elaborate on this. Specifically, the location of the lich's reappearance. So a would-be band of lichslayers are left to wonder where they ought to lie in wait for their foe.

When a lich reappears after death, where does it reappear?

There are some tangentially related cases I know of: Dracoliches explicitly regenerate near their phylacteries, and Pathfinder sensibly plugs this rules hole. The webcomic Order of the Stick famously depicts a lich regrowing its body from scratch near its phylactery. But none of them directly address the issue.

Best Answer

A destroyed creature with the template class lich refoms up to a few miles from its phylactery

The Wizards of the Coast Savage Progressions Web column "Lich and Weretiger Template Classes" includes in its description of the lich template class's class feature phylactery the following text:

Once the phylactery has been completed, the lich can avoid permanent destruction as long as her phylactery survives. If she dies or is destroyed, she reappears 1d10 days after her old body's death. She gains her new physical form by grafting her undead spirit to a humanoid corpse, mindless undead, or some weak-minded creature within a few miles of her phylactery. The new body has all the abilities and powers of her old one, though any items she used to carry are lost (probably taken by those who slew her old body). Likewise, any spells or effects bound to her old body with permanency do not spontaneously appear on her new one. Most liches who recover from death spend a year or more tracking down their items and learning more about their attackers, and it is not unusual for a lich to wait decades before exacting her revenge.

Emphasis mine. Whether the same is true of all basic liches is unknown, but without additional guidance this seems a good enough rule as any.

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