The Great Lich Debate (and necromancers, too)

[mo123813]

Im sticking with my view on it. But anyone may go about it however they please.

[SirDionysDobermann]

I disagree. I believe theives, assassins, and necromancers could make good heroes! That's like saying a half-orc is a bad idea for a hero (I made a Half-Orc character. Check it out under Heroquest Additions; Mo's Homebrewd Heroes)
Even though they have a bad side to them, they use it to help save the world. Besides, Necromancers are having trouble, since Zargon keeps stealing all the skeletons. They could be joining for their own selfish reasons. Same thing for thieves. They're in it for the gold stuff.

I disagree to the idea that Necromancers and Assassins could make good heroes. On the other hand, Thieves can (and have; Bilbo Baggins was - wrongfully and deceitfully by Gandalf - introduced as a thief).

As has been said on this topic before, Necromancers (and Assassins) are loners by definition of their aims in life. When joining a group of Heroes, to my opinion they automatically lose their calling (or rather job description). Moreover, no Hero of whatever personal alignment would want to work together with either of them. Except, of course, it was a group of Assassins and other rogues - but that would be too far from the HeroQuest games we play. Would Mentor (or Prince Magnus) ever assign quests to a group of Assassins? Not officially, I guess!

They could make excellent one-off characters (preferably Non Player Characters, mercenaries or guest Heroes), though.
They would be even great recurring employers for Heores, sometimes accompanying the group, sometimes not.

Liches are out of the question as Heroes. They either smell, or generally make other (living creatures) uncomfortable when they are too close.

[el_flesh]

If you like.

But I wouldn't play with you as a DM then! Nothing personal,just wouldn't find it fun...
For us, it's simply being a band of people in dire straits that take whatever help they can find. Don't you read http://www.lfgcomic.com ?
I started out as a pretty weakish necromancer; certainly not able to take on an entire quest by myself! Why wouldn't I team up with someone else who also couldn't take on a quest by themselves? Why wouldn't they team up with me when there was no other option? Seems nobody wanted to employ a half-Orc at the time...

Mental couldn't find anyone else nearly as powerful for his new group of adventurers, it seems...so he went with us.

[SirDionysDobermann]

If you like.

But I wouldn't play with you as a DM then! Nothing personal,just wouldn't find it fun...

Can understand that!

Sorry, but Liches are not welcome in our HeroQuest group.

Half Orcs are, by the way! And I always would have loved Ratmen / Skaven Heroes, but as yet no such adventurer has proposed to join.

Oh, thanks for the link by the way!

[el_flesh]

Richard, the Lich just KILLS me!
Check out the video "slaughter your world"

[Thrawn]

Since HQ is based on the warhammer world...I'll go to the official definition of a Liche (I guess that's a British spelling, but it's the warhammer spelling) right from the Warhammer Undead army book.

"Some wizards are powerful enough to defy death itself and return to the world of the living as an evil-hearted Liche. A Liche is an undead Necromancer."


So the official GW definition the Liche is undead, meaning they did die. Much of what has been quoted here is D&D based definitions.

[el_flesh]

I use a British definition too: the Lich (a female would be a Liche, hopefully a Lithe Liche,) puts his (entire) "soul" into a Phylactery, or, as JK Rowling called it, a Horcrux. Maybe the Horcrux is for her idea of torn bits of a "soul".

Depending on your mythology, does the body of the wizard now immediately start to rot with no "soul" in it? No longer needing food nor sleep?

[knightkrawler]

I use the interpretation that when a necromancer makes "pacts" by using "foul" magic he prolongs his life, but without altering the ageing of his body. Just his soul is encased therein and at the same time keeps it in (un)life (which basically means the soul keeps the body moving). The decaying (and later, decayed) body is just a vessel for the necromancer's soul. At the point where the body of a non-necromancer would die (i.e. when the soul seperates from it) the necromancer becomes a lich.
In that sense (the soul not leaving the body) it didn't even die, so the lich's life is not undeath, but unnaturally prolonged.
Of course, liches are nevertheless - as necromancers - linked to undeath in a thematic sense.
My , anyway.

What is life, anyway? Metabolism? Active Movement? Reproduction?

[Daedalus]

What is life, anyway? Metabolism? Active Movement? Reproduction?

A Bitch. Or Bitche, if you use the Warhammer interpretation.

[knightkrawler]

HA! That's riche!