How does magical aging, such as the casting of wish spells, affect liches?
"When subject to magical aging, such as casting a wish spell, a lich must make a system shock roll just as any other spell caster does. The DM is free to set the lich's Constitution score at any appropriate value for this purpose (18 or even higher is not unreasonable). However, if the lich fails, its body is ripped apart by the force of the spell and the creature 'dies'."
- Dragon Magazine #173
I think that's wrong. First, Constitution defines a character's:
"physique, fitness, health, and physical resistance to hardship, injury and disease"
- PHB, pg. 14
To me, Constitution describes the life force of living things. Undead do not catch diseases. Neither do golems. Nor can you poison undead, golems, etc.
I'd compare this to a haste spell, for example. Casting a haste spell speeds up the metabolism of the person(s) receiving it, which causes the heart to beat faster, the nerves to transmit signals faster, the muscle fibers to twitch faster, the blood pressure to rise, etc. The recipient ages one year from the spell, due to the incredible strain on his biology, the wear and tear on the heart, the blood vessels, etc. It's like taking amphetamines, then running a marathon - the body's biology just can't handle it.The person has a fatal heart attack. His biological constitution could not handle such a disruption.
But a lich is undead. If you haste a lich, what does it matter? It has no heartbeat to increase. It has no blood pressure to raise. It has no nerves to burn out. It is not a biological entity. It's a magically animated corpse.
Also, aging should have no effect on a lich. It is, in essence, immortal. It lives basically forever, eventually abandoning its full skeleton and becoming a demi-lich. Things such as undead and golems do not age. They exist forever, unless destroyed. They are, more so than even elves, immune to age.
Hell, if anything I'd argue that you wouldn't want a lich to age artificially, because that just brings it closer to becoming a demi-lich!
And then there is the issue of "ripping apart the lich's body", in essence "killing" it. Well no, it has a phylactery, so that's where its spirit goes if its body is destroyed. But if its phylactery is stored in some place where no one will find or access, the lich is trapped in its phylactery - possibly forever. Mortals, on the other hand need only cast a raise dead spell if they succumb to the aging. It shouldn't be harsher on the lich than it is on a living wizard.
In my games, liches and undead, demons, dragons, genies, etc, do not age when casting wish spells.
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And that brings me to wish spells in general. I've never had problems with allowing wishes in my games. I don't pervert them and warp them the way some sadistic DMs do. I've never seen one unbalance a campaign. I think DMs who complain about wishes just seem intimidated by them, and don't realize they can easily prevent any wish from doing harm to the campaign.
But what I don't like are the written rules for the wish spell. This part specifically:
"If it is used to alter reality with respect to damage sustained by the party, bring a dead creature back to life, or to escape from a difficult situation by lifting the spell-caster (and his party) from one place to another, it will not cause the wizard any disability. Other forms of wishes, however, cause the spellcaster to weaken (-3 on Strength) and require 2d4 days of bed rest due to the stresses the wish places upon time, space and his body...Casting a wish spell ages the caster five years."
- PHB, pg. 197
First, why lower Strength? It's useless to a wizard. Better to lower his Constitution. If it puts strain on the body as described, it should lower CON, not STR. As an example, on my 3 workout days each week, I put intense strain on my body. I'm lifting over 80,000 lbs. over the course of several hours each time. Quite a strain, right? But I don't get weaker, I get stronger. Sure, I may be tired afterward, or sore the next day. But I function just fine. If I catch a cold though, or I'm out in 100F weather with high humidity and sun beating down on my all day, that has caused heat exhaustion for me a few times in the past. Often it just gives me a headache and general fatigue if I way overheat. That's a huge strain, but it doesn't lower my STR, it lowers my CON. Of if you don't get enough sleep and nutrition, you catch a cold or flu, or maybe even the dreaded Wuhan virus!
But that's because the strain on your body reduced your CON, not your STR.
Also, I'm a bit ambivalent with the differentiation over what the spell is used for. On one hand, I would argue that a wish spell is a wish spell, regardless of what you're wishing for. So all wishes should weaken the wizard and age him. Now some would say that using a wish as a raised dead spell or to duplicate any other particular spell shouldn't age the wizard because it's as if he's casting the spell which he is mimicking by using the wish spell. Fair enough. I can sort of agree. But then again, I look at it this way...
Using a wish spell to duplicate any other spell without consequence means the wizard is essentially being allowed to "free cast" any spell he chooses, memorized or otherwise, whether it's a spell he's normally able to cast (a wizard spell) or a spell he cannot normally cast (a priest spell). To me, that is still "altering reality" to a large degree. He's giving himself the ability to cast a spell he does not have memorized, or that he normally cannot cast since he isn't a priest.
When a wizard memorizes his spell (according to 2E specifically), he basically encodes the formula of the spell into his mind, then channels that formula through his mind by passing the energy of the spell through the material components, which are consumed during the casting of the spell. The material components take the brunt of the force of the magic being passed through the wizard and into reality - the bat guano and sulfur used in casting a fireball spell "channels" the magic through it as the spell is cast, which is why those components burn up. Only certain spell components (mainly hard metal ones) can endure a second casting and not be destroyed. Even some metallic ones are!
But with a wish spell, the wizard is not using any material components with which to channel the destructive energy of the spell. It's all going through the wizard. He's changing reality simply by channeling the energy of the spell through himself. It is a 9th level spell for a reason. The fact that he cannot cast a wish spell at 1st or 5th or even 10th level means that a wish spell, like all other 9th level spells, is more powerful and therefore uses more energy than a 1st or 3rd or 6th level spell. That's why wizards must go up in level before attaining higher level spells - the higher level spells take more discipline, knowledge, skill, and endurance to handle.
I can see allowing it to not weaken a wizard if used to duplicate any other spell, as shown in the printed rule. But then again, I can see requiring the aging regardless, because casting a wish spell (regardless of how "minor" the wish is), in the end, is still a case of the wizard channeling the most powerful spell in the game.
I've changed how it works in my games. Wizards are reduced to CON 1 for the 2d4 days after casting a wish. That ensures bed rest, since the wizard (who has at most 48 hp at 18th level) how has only 18 hp (due to the -3 pt./level CON hp adjustment). Realistically, an 18th level wizard has (on average) only 33 hp, so with the drop of CON to 1, he really ends up with just 3 hp. Can't go adventuring with 3 hp. Bed rest is still 2d4 days, at which point he recovers totally.
