Quote Originally Posted by JeenLeen View Post
Next game I run, I may try to put in an evil wizard trying to do such a ritual. When he succeeds, the party finds out it was a joke by some ancient being they've been in touch with from time to time.
Hm - the joke I'm getting at is that the ritual doesn't work, so ... he can't really succeed. But an interesting twist would be if your ancient entity gains control of the wizards soul =)

But then it's more of a trap, and less of a practical joke.

It's a good joke, though. I hadn't really thought it through, but next game I run, the players will absolutely find a dead wizard, who carved out his own heart and just died, following instructions in a book that promised lichdom. And they'll have to wonder - did the wizard just botch it? Because ... even with such evidence, it's unlikely they'll think it was just a practical joke.

That's frankly so evil, though. Pulling that on my unsuspecting players - does that make me a bad person?