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why would a person become a Lich...that's interesting. outside of the cliche' reasons like being powerhungry or similar, i can think of a few:

1."I will not die! i will not allow myself to die!"
             the will to survive is present in everyone. in some people, it manifests as the fight or flight responce, but in others it is more severe than that. a person might be so scared of death that they would have the determination/willpower/courage to find the propper ritual and components, become a Lich, and be willing to face the social and emtional concequences of it, because they consider the inability to appear in public, or even private to almost anybody plus the eventual loss of the ability to feel anything worth the price of avoiding death. this kind of person may be any kind of personality. the main key is they're the kind of character who has a hyper-cautious personality (until they get used to the idea that as a Lich they need not worry about anything).

2. "you cannot kill me; I am immortal!"
           someone who is both naturally talented and highly skilled is likely to be self-centered, narcissistic even, and that kind of person will beleive (at least partially) that he is a god, and the world is his playground. such a person might consider becoming a Lich as the manifestation of his godhood, or perhaps the avenue by which he may realise the immortality of which he beleives his birthright. this kind of person is going to not care what anyone thinks about him, as they are mere sidenotes to the melody of his neverending song.

other, less thorough ideas are things like someone who feels that as a defender of justice he must continue to fight so long as there is evil to fight, and so becoming a Lich is the easiest way to fight evil for the rest of eternity. another thought is that he has something he feels he must do (a specific quest) and he can't stop until he's completed it. if he thinks he's going to need a longer lifespan to fulfill it he might turn to Lichdom to fix the problem (on a side note, this kind of thing also works for any member of the revenant race, as they could simply have been so set on fulfilling their goal that even after they died they continue to strive for completing the goal)


where to hide the phylacterie...obviously its somewhere you don't want it to be found. the best place would be somewhere you can control who gains access. in order of security:

1.a suedo-plane, such as your own personal mini-realm of the astral sea or elemental chaos. obviously, most adventurers, even Liches, aren't going to have one of these. but they are easily manipulated so that the only entrance is through a planer portal, and then the Lich just has to keep the home circle's "address" a secret.

2. a random location within the elemental chaos or astral sea. this is easy to find, but hard to prepare so that the phylacterie is not just haphazardly freefloating in the middle of nowhere. this makes it hard to find, but easy to aquire once found, making it almost to protect from someone with a scrying ritual.

3. a random location within the wilderness. a hidden panel (or magic seal) in the side of a tree in the middle of a forrest work wonders for hiding something you aren't worried about finding again later. the only problem is it's still relatively easy to find if you know where to look. it can also be a problem if a group of lumberjacks come through...

4. a safe in your secret base. hard to get to, because it's behind all the defences of your base, in your most secure location. problem is if someone raids your secret base (or just has a bone to pick with you, no pun intended), they are highly likely to find the safe, and then either crack the safe or blow a hole in it.

5. a safe in your gase. same thing as the previous entry, except everyone who knows you knows that it's the seat of your power. the problem with this plan is that it's the first place people are going to look for it. this is the most classic place to hide it, and that's the problem.

6. Not a phylactorie. this is potentially the most effective technique, but you have to pull it off really well, and most of the time its really going to rely on chance and luck. this technique requires you to make your phylactorie something that seams like a simple good luck charm or trinket. from here you  are going to have to give it away to someone, or sell it. there are two ways to do it. either make it into a valuable one-of-a-kind object, which will become a treasured item in some nobleman's collection, or you make it sound worthless so that it ends up trading hands more often than a sailor goes fishing. in either situation, it could live on for centuries as a family heirloom or a random good luck charm. while you would never know exactly where it was, it would always be relatively safe, as no-one would ever have a reason to break a lucky charm or priceless artifact. but if anyone found out it was your phylactorie, you would be far more vulnerable than any other person, and if someone where to be wearing the lucky charm when they died in a violent manner, it would be entirely possible for it to be broken accidently.


i hope this helps  

^Lord V- good one, he's a tourist! I like it.

1. Researching a spell to extend the life of others without going into lichdom themselves, or some other form of noble research.

2. Complete Accident- He read the wrong words from a mysterious book, or spent too much time fighting the undead himself. His body was altered by the necrotic energy, and he became a lich.

3. If clerics (and thusly resurrections) are difficult to find in your games (probably not in ebberro, but in athas this would work), he lost histrue love to Death, and has sacrificed his humanity to research a way to raise her.

4. The character dies, and the spell thatbrings him back to life goes awry. This could be interference from Orcus or just the world rejecting a soul coming back. Even caster error!

5. -Fight Fire with Fire- His arch-rival/enemy becomes a lich in hopes of defeating your character. To combat this, your character takes up the mantle himself. "We get bulletproof vests, they get armor piercing rounds. We get semi-automatics, they get automatics. We have a guy in a mask..."