Green Lich (3.5e Template)

Green Lich
Summary::The green lich, also called a Hyleoroi or Wood Haunts, is a druid who has become one with the natural world and acts as their immortal guardian. As a lich is to undeath and necromancy, the green lich is to life and nature. Like their undead kin they are immortal and difficult to put down, for if slain they will respawn full of anger and fury. Though the process of becoming a green lich is not evil (and indeed many green liches are some form of neutral), they are nearly all zealous in their protection of the forest and as dangerous and wrathful as any beast.

While alive, unlike liches, they are no less terrifying looking. From afar they seem normal but up close they have a feral appearance, with skin seemingly made of bark, and a hole where their heart should be. In its place is a tangled briar where their heart has been removed and replaced with a briarheart, a valuable source of infinite life. Vines run along their body like sinew, and they may be host to various fungi, plants, and insects with the many hollows within their new body.

Creating a Green Lich
This is an acquired template which can be added to any living corporeal creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature), provided it can create the required phylactery. A lich retains all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

The process of becoming a green lich is a difficult one. They must create a phylactery out of a tree, and perform a special ritual communing with nature for 24 hours. At the end of the ritual they submit themselves to the mercy of nature, which summons roots from their phylactery tree to drag the caster underground to be judged. If they are judged as a friend of nature (typically by having levels in druid or ranger) they return changed with a new beating briarheart, else they have to dig themselves out coughing and sputtering.

Size and Type
Their type changes to Type::Fey. Do not recalculate BAB, saves, or skill ranks. Although they are fey, they count as a member of their original type, when beneficial.

Hit Dice
Change all of the creature's racial Hit Dice to d6s. All Hit Dice derived from class levels remain unchanged.

Armor Class
Natural Armor : The green lich gains a +5 natural armor bonus or the base creature's natural armor bonus, whichever is better.

Attack
Natural Weapons : A green lich gains a Slam attack (1d6 for Medium) if it did not possess one before.

Special Attacks
Recycling Touch : A green lich can touch a material and produce blooming flora in the matter, which while beautiful is a destructive influence on living creatures. They take 1d4 points of damage per character level, which bypasses damage reduction and counts as the appropriate damage to bypass regeneration. The vines are especially destructive against Constructs and Undead, dealing d8 damage instead. A creature which has been killed by this ability turns entirely into plant matter, and transforms into a tree. Their body is considered destroyed.

This can be made as part of a natural weapon attack once a round, though it is a normal attack roll instead of a touch attack.

Spell-Like Abilities : At will-calm animals, speak with animals, speak with plants, tree shape; 1/day-awaken, commune with nature, control weather, diminish plants, goodberry, plant growth, reticulating splines. Caster level equals character level, and the saving throws are Charisma based.

Rebuke Animals : The green lich rebukes animals as a cleric of their level. If they already had the ability to rebuke animals, they are considered to be +4 levels higher.

Special Qualities
Adapt Body : A green lich is never harmed by their natural environment, and instantly adapt to all environmental hazards. They could swim in lava and survive in space. However other effects, such as a fireball spell, still affect them normally.

Damage Reduction : A green lich gains DR 15/cold iron.

Immunities : A green lich is immune to critical hits, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, polymorphing, sleep, and stunning.

Low-Light Vision : A green lich has low-light vision.

Quasi-Plant Traits : A green lich seems to be part plant. They gain fast healing equal to 1/2 their character level as long as they are in sunlight, and count as a plant type when beneficial. They gain plant-like immunities (see immunities) and superior to actual plants they do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe. Even so, they have a desire to feed on sunlight daily, even if they do not need it.

Rejuvenation : A green lich can respawn from death. When a green lich is killed, its phylactery (a tree hidden in a forest chosen in the ritual below) immediately begins to regrow the green lich's body nearby. This process takes 1d10 days—if the body is destroyed before that time passes, the phylactery merely starts the process anew. After this time passes, the green lich wakens fully healed (albeit without any gear it left behind on its old body), usually with a burning need for revenge against those who previously destroyed it.

Scent : A green lich gains scent.

Wild Empathy : The green lich gains the wild empathy of a druid of their level. If they already had wild empathy, they are considered to be +4 levels higher.

Abilities
+2 Con, +2 Wis, +2 Cha

Skills
The green lich as a +4 racial bonus on Handle Animal, Knowledge Nature, Ride, and Survival checks. These skills are always class skills.

Environment
Any Non-Urban

Challenge Rating
+CR::2 CR.

Alignment
Usually True Neutral

Level Adjustment
+Level Adjustment::2

The Green Lich's Phylactery
An integral part of becoming a green lich is the creation of the phylactery in which the character binds his life force. The only way to get rid of a lich for sure is to destroy its phylactery. Unless its phylactery is located and destroyed, a green lich can rejuvenate after it is killed. While a normal lich picks items like amulets or rings, the phylactery of a green lich is always a tree.

Each green lich must grow its own phylactery from a sapling which has been augmented by using the Craft Wondrous Item feat. The character must be able to cast spells and have a caster level of 11th or higher. The phylactery costs 120,000 gp to create and has a caster level equal to that of its creator at the time of creation. As part of the augmentation, the sapling grows unusually quickly and becomes a full tree at the end of the item creation process. The environment must be able to naturally support this tree normally, it cannot grow in a place hostile to the tree's life.

The tree appears as any normal tree, but does not require food, water, or sunlight. It remains green and looking fresh in spite of the environment around it changing with time. The tree is strengthed, granting it AC 4, 150 hit points, hardness 20, and a break DC of 45. It is immune to cold and fire, but cold iron deals full damage before hardness applies. Treat the tree as a plant creature for spells and effects which target it, and it makes saving throws as the green lich. If the tree is damaged, the green lich immediately becomes aware. Because most are spellcasters, the green lich is usually there shortly to attack those assaulting its tree.

If the phylactery is destroyed, the green lich cannot respawn and will die for good if killed (or if already dead). A new phylactery can be grown for half the cost, provided a seed or acorn from the previous tree was saved.