macmacfire

Y-you...you do realize the lich, as liches generally work this way, was probably once human, right? And is choosing to believe all life must be quelled? Like...that's an example of an irredeemably evil person who is actively choosing to be irredeemably evil. Moron.

What exactly does this mean? If you're ignoring remove curse it's because being able to remove a curse with just a spell is boring - the point of a curse in fiction is to be a challenge to remove.

Lacey's Diner.

I vaguely recall one handbook or another even saying somewhere that a commoner’s stats usually sit around 8 or something, so even a level 1 adventurer is a cut above.

I already knew all of the stuff you mention in this, and this part is just actually wrong outright. I've never heard of any of the rules saying commoners would have such low traits, and have always heard it as - 10 is the average amount for a human/commoner. 7-9 is slightly below average, anything below is remarkably low, 1-2 is near death. Now, yes, even a level 1 adventurer is uncommon and more powerful on a base-line than a commoner, but IMO that shouldn't mean magic should be cheap for them. I suppose I do say uncommon at least, though. Common would probably work too, but requiring attunement would make sense considering it's supposed to be a sort of conduit for an individual's magic, and magic is usually considered very personal as far as fantasy tends to portray it.