dropped text from the lich in Gary's Monster Manual

[geoffrey]

From Supplement I: GREYHAWK:

LICHES: These skeletal monsters are of magical origin, each Lich formerly being a very powerful Magic-User or Magic-User/Cleric in life, and now alive only by means of great spells and will because of being in some way disturbed. A Lich ranges from 12th level upwards, typically being 18th level of Magic-Use. They are able to employ whatever spells are usable at their appropriate level, and in addition their touch causes paralization [sic], no saving throw. The mere sight of a Lich will send creatures below 5th level fleeing in fear.

From the Monster Manual:

A lich exists because of its own desires and the use of powerful and arcane magic. The lich passes from a state of humanity to a non-human, non-living existence through force of will. It retains this status by certain conjurations, enchantments, and a phylactery...

Liches were formerly ultra powerful magic-users or magic-user/clerics of not less than 18th level of magic-use. Their touch is so cold as to cause 1-10 points of damage and paralyze opponents who fail to make their saving throw. The mere sight of a Lich will cause any creature below 5th level (or 5 hit dice) to flee in panic from fear. All LICHES are able to use magic appropriate to the level they had attained prior to becoming non-human.

Consider the two sentences that I have put in bold print above:

"A Lich ranges from 12th level upwards, typically being 18th level of Magic-Use."

"Liches were formerly ultra powerful magic-users or magic-user/clerics of not less than 18th level of magic-use."

That looks for all the world like homeoarchy to me, which is when a scribe's eyes accidentally wander from the end of one word to the identical end of a later word, resulting in him not copying the text between the two endings. The intended text for the Monster Manual was probably as follows:

"Liches were formerly ultra powerful magic-users or magic-user/clerics of not less than 12th level, typically being 18th level of magic-use."

Alas, the eyes of our scribe wandered from "12th" to "18th". He thought that he had already copied down the words "12th level, typically being", so he inadvertently dropped them, giving us the erroneous text printed in the Monster Manual.

I have penciled the dropped words into my own copy of the Monster Manual.

[doublejig2]

Considering what he was working on, perhaps it was the text itself that moved his eye and not the other way around, and thus completing the described lich's own arcane ritual, which gained it six levels, its hellfire plan all along.

[Parzival]

It reads to me like a deliberate change, not an error. “Not less than” is specific language with a very specific meaning. I suspect that Gygax had decided that wish was a necessary spell to achieve lich-hood. Since, by rule, only an 18th level Mu or higher can cast wish, this would mean that a 12th level Mu is not going to become a lich. I think Gygax decided that liches should have a higher power base than they were initially given, and simply changed the rules for the MM.

[doublejig2]

Here's a lich.