Now, vampires and liches and lycanthropes are de facto templates to apply to existing characters (usually NPCs) rather than static enemies, as they once were in Monstrous Compendium I. I took a look at them and wondered how powerful they really are.
Liches: Once upon a time, these were hailed as the greatest of undead, and in the Monster Manual 3.5, they still are identified as such, albeit tentatively. These are my personal favorite undead, and I generally like to view them as cold, calculating enemies who are rarely, if ever, distracted by mere emotions.
In terms of the dice and abilities and powers, they have spellcasting ability, but nowadays any template that can use mage or cleric spells has that too. They have some nice immunities, to cold/fear/charm/polymorph, and their touch attack is moderately powerful, with an insidious secondary effect if save failed.
But in terms of on the ground fighting, they are not as powerful as vampires, and their spellcasting and intellect are much more DM-dependent. They cannot fly, do not transmit disease, do not drain energy levels, and their magical skills are actually readily available to any other creatures who have access to mage/cleric class levels. Because of these, I believe they are actually among the weakest of the undead. Their main saving grace is their phylactery, which is still inferior to a vampire's coffin, because they only have one phylactery whereas a vampire (like Dracula or Strahd) can have many coffins.
Liches also do not regenerate damage (unless you agree that they can use their negative energy touch attack on themself, in which case they "heal" 1d8+5 points per full action).
How do you like to role play liches? What tactics are especially devastating with them? Especially, what valid spell combinations do you like to play around with, using liches?
Vampires: These got a considerable boost in 2nd and 3rd edition, and now with ability increases by age, these are in my opinion among the strongest undead foes. To allow PCs a chance against them, the focus is no longer on swordplay and more on role playing... but instead of creatively plotting out strengths, as with the lich, the DM needs to creatively plot out weaknesses for the vampire. Where is the coffin? What revulsions does it have? What NPC plot devices can the DM justify as "untouchables" for the vampire? One major advantage the lich has over the vampire - the fact that it does not risk senility or psychological deterioration with age - is unquantifiable and is entirely up to the DM to adjudicate. Few bother.
Combatwise, the vampire is a powerhouse. Its charm plays havoc with PCs, and its drain ability accelerates combat in a way that spells and swords do not. It shrugs off a lot of damage with reductions that liches do not have, and even if you do injure it, its regeneration goes beyond anything a lich has. Plus, they fly!
Just add a few wizard classes to the mix, and you wonder why any mage would even bother with the troublesome potion and the expensive Craft Phylactery process. Wouldn't it be easier to find a vampire, submit to its will, and then get your friends standing by to whack it and free you from thrallhood?
(Obviously this is mostly facetious but there's an element of genuine inquiry here.)
Wolfwere, greater: These also are often overlooked, but they have one deadly ability that makes them very hard to kill - they regenerate all damage at the end of each combat round. Using conventional means, that means the only way you have a chance against it is to gang up on it, hoping to deal enough damage to slay it in one round of combat. Introducing more than one of these beasts is very bad news for most PC parties.
Baron Urik von Kharkov is one interesting example. He's a werebeast and a vampire, giving him a host of special powers. A pity he didn't have any Vistani blood in him, or accidentally get mummified.
Either way, tell me what you think and we'll get some tips going for how to use monsters creatively.
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