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Lich, Psychic

This gaunt, ghoulish figure’s skin is inscribed with faintly glowing runes. Short-lived afterimages trail behind it.

Lich, Psychic CR 12

XP 19,200
Human psychic lich psychic 11
LE Medium undead (augmented humanoid)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +11

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 15, flat-footed 19 (+1 deflection, +1 Dex, +5 natural, +3 Wis)
hp 96 (11d6+55)
Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +12
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, psychic feast, rejuvenation; DR 15/bludgeoning and magic; Immune cold, electricity, undead traits
Weaknesses mind-affecting effects

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee touch +4 (1d8+5 plus bewildering touch) or sickle +4 (1d6–1), touch –1 (1d8+5 plus bewildering touch)
Special Attacks bewildering touch (DC 18), phrenic amplifications (defensive prognostication, ongoing defense, overpowering mind, space-rending spell), phrenic pool (8 points), physical push (+3, 3/day)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 11th; concentration +17)

1/day—detect thoughts (DC 17), telepathic bond

Psychic Spells Known (CL 11th; concentration +17)

5th (4/day)—echolocation, mind fog (DC 21), synapse overload (DC 21)
4th (6/day)—aura of doom (DC 20), freedom of movement, id insinuation III (DC 20), mental barrier III
3rd (7/day)—dispel magic, fly, haste, mind thrust III (DC 19), synaptic pulse (DC 19)
2nd (7/day)—bear’s endurance, blur, calm emotions (DC 18), false life, mental block, resist energy
1st (7/day)—ear-piercing scream (DC 17), expeditious retreat, mage armor, magic missile, mindlink, shield
0 (at will)—arcane mark, dancing lights, detect magic, detect psychic significance, ghost sound (DC 16), mage hand, message, prestidigitation (DC 16), read magic

Psychic Discipline self-perfection

STATISTICS

Str 8, Dex 12, Con —, Int 22, Wis 16, Cha 16
Base Atk +5; CMB +4; CMD 22
Feats Craft Wondrous Item, Defensive Combat Training, Improved Initiative, Intuitive Spell, Lightning Reflexes, Psychic CombatantB, Psychic DefenderB, Quicken Spell, Toughness
Skills Bluff +17, Disguise +12, Intimidate +15, Knowledge (arcana) +20, Knowledge (history) +20, Linguistics +20, Perception +11, Perform (oratory) +10, Sense Motive +25, Spellcraft +20, Stealth +23; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception, +8 Sense Motive, +8 Stealth
Languages Aklo, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Gnome, Halfling, Infernal, Sylvan, Undercommon, +6 additional
SQ bodily purge (6d8), detect thoughts, telepathic bond

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Bewildering Touch (Su)

Any living creature a psychic lich hits with its touch attack must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or be permanently confused as its nervous system continuously sends false signals. The creature doesn’t automatically attack the psychic lich if it is targeted by further attacks. Calm emotions or any spell that can remove a curse can free the victim (see the bestow curse spell description) with a DC equal to the bewildering touch’s save DC. As a full-round action, a creature that rolls a result of “act normally” can attempt a new saving throw to end this effect.

Psychic Feast (Ex)

If a psychic lich succeeds at a Will saving throw against an attack that has a reduced effect on a successful save, it instead avoids the effect entirely. If the effect was a spell with the mind-affecting descriptor, the psychic lich also heals an amount of damage equal to 1d8 plus the spell’s caster level if it succeeds at its save. A psychic lich may automatically succeed on any Will save against a spell it casts that targets only itself.

Rejuvenation (Su)

When a psychic lich is destroyed, its body reforms near its astral memoir 10d10 days later. If a creature reads the psychic lich’s memoir, the total time is reduced to one tenth the original result, which could result in the psychic lich’s immediate restoration in a new body. Once the time elapses, the lich wakens fully healed (albeit without any gear it left behind on its old body).

The only way to ensure that a psychic lich does not rejuvenate is to target its memoir with the spell instigate psychic duel or mindscape door or use it as a special focus when casting plane shift or similar magic.

This allows one creature to instigate a psychic duel on a veiled, harmful mindscape with a self-contained shape inhabited by the lich’s astral legend. The legend has the statistics of the lich, can’t leave the mindscape by any means, and is permanently destroyed if reduced to 0 or fewer hit points. An astral legend can’t be destroyed unless the psychic lich’s physical body has also been destroyed and has not yet rejuvenated.

ECOLOGY

Environment any
Organization solitary
Treasure NPC gear (sickle, cloak of resistance +2, headband of vast intelligence +2 [Stealth], ring of counterspells [dispel magic], ring of protection +1, robe of blending, scroll of invisibility, other treasure)

While some liches prefer to spend undeath’s eternity in seclusion, a psychic lich sustains its life force by embracing its personal accomplishments to create a powerful astral echo of itself. Even more megalomaniacal than most liches, psychic liches resemble ordinary liches for the most part, but their every moment is attended by ghostly images of past cruelties, a constantly rotating illusory display of the evil deeds that brought them their power. Most psychic liches are humans, or come from other races renowned for their psychic abilities.

A Psychic Lich’s Memoir and Legend

To become a psychic lich, one must create and infuse a memoir, which serves a similar function to an ordinary lich’s phylactery. This memoir projects the lich’s personal legend into the Astral Plane, which is tethered through the planes to a physical object, typically a magically strengthened book or scroll (10 hit points, hardness 1, break DC 15). The only way to destroy the lich is to destroy his astral legend, which almost always requires the memoir as a special focus. Unless the astral legend is erased, the lich can rejuvenate after it is killed (see Creating a Psychic Lich).

Each psychic lich must create its own memoir by using the Craft Wondrous Item feat. The character must be able to cast psychic spells at a caster level of 11th or higher. The memoir costs 120,000 gp to create and has a caster level equal to that of its creator at the time of creation.

If the physical memoir is destroyed while the psychic lich’s astral legend survives, the physical memoir gradually reforms over the course of 1d10 days at a site central to its creator’s history (such as the library where he first studied magic or the battlefield where he vanquished a powerful rival). It typically reappears hidden among other books or treasures, where an unwitting dupe might begin reading the text and hasten the psychic lich’s return.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Occult Bestiary © 2015, Paizo Inc.; Authors: Josh Colon, John Compton, Paris Crenshaw, Adam Daigle, Eleanor Ferron, James Jacobs, Joe Homes, Mikko Kallio, Mike Kimmel, Ron Lundeen, Kate Marshall, Kalervo Oikarinen, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, and F. Wesley Schneider.

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