Different Liches [Magic/Horror]

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I don't know. When I try to explain the concept of "Lich" to folks who aren't part of gaming, I get a lot of comments about Voldemort.

I'm specifically referring to the term "lich," here, not its description. When you describe some sort of undying entity that gains its undying nature by binding (part of) its soul to an object, comparisons to other entities that have done the same will invariably crop up (prior to Harry Potter, the description of a lich may well have brought up comparisons to Dorian Gray, or prior to that comparisons to Koschei or similar myths). Of course, the phylactery is one of the things that doesn't always make the transition from That Other Game to other media, but "skeletal spellcaster" pretty much always does, which is why I stuck to that part of it in my description. Note, of course, that neither of AlexanderHowl's templates have any sort of phylactery.

My point isn't that lich couldn't ever be used to refer to something other than a skeletal spellcaster (apparently it's really just an archaic term for "corpse"), but rather that it typically shouldn't be, as it will lead to needless confusion.