Eternal Apotheosis
Source
PCS:OR
School
necromancy [evil]; Level 9
Casting Time 9 hours
Components V, S, M (incense made from ground-up bits of
undeadcreatures), F (phylactery worth at least 120,000 gp), SC (at least 1, up to 21; see text)
Skill Checks
Knowledge (arcana) DC 34, 3 successes;
Knowledge (religion) DC 34, 3 successes;
Spellcraft DC 34, 3 successes
Range primary caster
Duration instantaneous; see text
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
Backlash All secondary casters take 20d6 points of damage. Those slain are reduced to dust.
Failure The primary caster becomes a forsaken
lich, doomed to inevitable destruction in 1d10 days.
EFFECT
The depraved path to becoming a
lich is a deeply personal experience for those who dare tread it. All spellcasters seeking such a goal must spend months, and more frequently years, gathering eldritch knowledge and conducting fell experiments to research the myriad routes to undeath. Even then, it is exceedingly rare for two
liches to have achieved immortality in the exact same way, although their motivations—incredible power without the limitations of a mortal body—are often quite similar.
This ritual represents just one way some
liches have transferred their souls into phylacteries. Other rituals tied to lichdom involve bargains or liaisons with evil
outsiders, caster-created alchemical tinctures infused with the energy of loved ones' souls, and other such trying necessities. Although heinously evil, the eternal apotheosis occult ritual is perhaps the most direct way to achieve lichdom.
The primary caster must begin this incantation at dusk.
The ritual must be performed in a place of significance to the caster and is typically the site where she began her descent into evil, or a site where she committed a great atrocity. Unlike other occult rituals, the secondary casters are simply fodder for the necromantic energies unleashed by the aspiring
lich; they do not contribute to the ritual beyond taking the damage of the ritual's backlash. Unlike with normal occult rituals, these secondary casters do not need to be willing participants, but they do need to be within close range (25 feet + 2 feet per character level of the primary caster) of the primary caster for the duration of the ritual. For every seven secondary casters, the ritual's level is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 6th level), the
casting time is reduced by 1 hour, and the number of skill checks required decreases by one.
When reducing the ritual's level in this manner, the primary caster can choose which check or checks are eliminated. The primary caster also receives a +1 bonus on the required skill checks for every four secondary casters, as normal.
Casting this ritual funnels raw and very painful necromantic energy through the primary caster, possibly eviscerating all of the secondary casters in the process. Successful completion of the ritual allows the primary caster to transfer her soul into the phylactery, forever sealing it within the magical receptacle and turning her into a full-fledged
lich.
