How do I do Sorkvild the Raven’s Sload language quest. All i found was an imperial agent in Dagon fel but he won’t tell me s#*! other than there being a popular book by Ngasta. I found a book by Ngasta and the only one mentioned on the wiki and brought it to Sorkvild but he didn’t want it. I guess I should have noticed the copy on his desk.
If I remember correctly, I obtained a copy of some sort, like a manuscrit, from someone that was working on the book. I can't remember if it was doing the mage or Telvanni quests. I'm in the process of redoing it but from the top of my head, there's a female mage in Ald'Ruhn that gives duties and asks for books (even to 'borrow' some), and the Telvanni quests Three questions for Baladas Demnevanni. It might have been one of those that lead me to solve this part of Sorkvild's request.
Sorry I can't be certain, it was months ago. I'll update that when I get a clear answer (I have yet to find the Corpse prepartion book in this playthrough (I don't want to cheat and read those from Sorkvild ;) ).
Yes, I can confirm my previous message. As you do the Telvanni quests for the mouth, in Sadrith Mora, you eventuallyget to meet someone that gives you some help about the language of Sload after you fulfil some more chores (there are also a few people that almost help or can't ;) ).
For anyone trying to level up the Corpse Preparartion skill through the console, set it to "lua" instead of "mwscipt" and type "SkillsModule.getSkill("NC:CorpsePreparartion"):levelUp(1)". Replace 1 with however many levels you want to add.
FYI for anyone using Immersive Lich race, if you use that plus Necrocraft, it makes all guards hostile to you. Thought I might save some people a lot of time wondering why guards killed me on sight as an Immersive Lich!
This is my favorite necromancy mod in all of the elder scrolls games, except maybe 'mysterious bear's epic necromancy' for oblivion. Would love a new patch to fix a little of the jank & a comprehensive tutorial for lichdom. Maybe port it over to skywind when that releases. Probably too much too ask.
I haven't gotten to this point yet but does this mod have a different model for the lich if you start as an Argonian? If not is there any mod that i can use to make that the case. Idk I just think playing an argonian necromancer would be cool but i don't want to just have a normal human skeleton model if i make them a lich.
Might be due to an interaction with another mod in my list (perhaps ashfall because of its crafting menu features) but this mod adds a significant amount of dialogue lag for me so have had to disable it for now, curious if anyone else has experienced this.
There is a certain special skeleton in the Urshilaku Burial Caverns. If you soul trap it in a black soul gem and find some way to communicate with trapped souls (from a certain necromancer in the Balmora Mages Guild, maybe), it will give you some hints.
Can someone please help with the lich transformation.From what I can tell. I have completed all the necessary preparations. Even went through almost all 197 comments to ensure that I did.But every time I try to die in order to complete the transformation, the game freezes before crashing. I can only assume this is what people meant by software locking Note all 3 things are in the chest. Even had to double the number of champion skeletons and filled black soul gems after the first few failures but no diceWhat am I missing?If anyone can get back to me and explain a few things I'd appreciate and thank you in advance
By the way every thing but the lich transformation works just fine.... apart from not getting the Ritual Spell in the secret library but managed to get it by reading through the comments
I first want to say that this is probably my favorite necromancy mod for Morrowind, and I have tried a lot of necromancy mods.
I'm posting because I am having some trouble with the lich transformation. I figured out the entire process, and it seems to work, but when I respawn as a lich I am getting two bugs. First, the skeleton model seems to be messed up; the ribcage is in the wrong spot (up around the skull), for example, and it just looks kind of weird. Second, when I respawn, another hostile skeleton spawns and starts attacking me. I also find that I am unable to cast spells after completing the ritual.
Has anybody else successfully completed the lich transformation and run into any of these issues? Other than these and a few other bugs here and there (such as the issues with Sorkvild's quest, which I was able to fix myself in the construction set with the help of another user's [Venexificus] posts in this thread), the mod is great.
Also, not sure what the policy about spoilers is here, but if anyone needs any hints regarding the lich transformation, I can help. It's pretty esoteric, and I wouldn't have figured it out myself if I didn't look at the mod's additions in the construction set.
Edit: Some updates. I was wrong about not being able to cast spells. It turns out that I can cast spells just fine, so I can easily take care of the hostile skeleton that spawns. The skeleton model for my character, however, is still very deformed. Technically, this is just a visual thing, but does anybody have any ideas how I might fix that?
Edit2: Okay, leaving the cell I was in fixed the visual issue, so I guess I'm good. Everything seems to be working fine now. One last question: does anybody know if there is a way to cast conceal undead on myself?
It would be awesome if you could help me. What are the requirements?? I'm, sure other people want to know. A step by step guide of sorts would be awesome!!! even if it's only a few sentences.
skjustforsh wrote: I first want to say that this is probably my favorite necromancy mod for Morrowind, and I have tried a lot of necromancy mods.
I'm posting because I am having some trouble with the lich transformation. I figured out the entire process, and it seems to work, but when I respawn as a lich I am getting two bugs. First, the skeleton model seems to be messed up; the ribcage is in the wrong spot (up around the skull), for example, and it just looks kind of weird. Second, when I respawn, another hostile skeleton spawns and starts attacking me. I also find that I am unable to cast spells after completing the ritual.
Has anybody else successfully completed the lich transformation and run into any of these issues? Other than these and a few other bugs here and there (such as the issues with Sorkvild's quest, which I was able to fix myself in the construction set with the help of another user's [Venexificus] posts in this thread), the mod is great.
Also, not sure what the policy about spoilers is here, but if anyone needs any hints regarding the lich transformation, I can help. It's pretty esoteric, and I wouldn't have figured it out myself if I didn't look at the mod's additions in the construction set.
Edit: Some updates. I was wrong about not being able to cast spells. It turns out that I can cast spells just fine, so I can easily take care of the hostile skeleton that spawns. The skeleton model for my character, however, is still very deformed. Technically, this is just a visual thing, but does anybody have any ideas how I might fix that?
Edit2: Okay, leaving the cell I was in fixed the visual issue, so I guess I'm good. Everything seems to be working fine now. One last question: does anybody know if there is a way to cast conceal undead on myself?
gartenyuiop wrote: It would be awesome if you could help me. What are the requirements?? I'm, sure other people want to know. A step by step guide of sorts would be awesome!!! even if it's only a few sentences.
Sure! Obviously, this will contain a lot of spoilers, so stop reading if you want to figure it out yourself.
Spoiler:
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The first thing you need to do is get access to the Corpse Preparation skill by reading the three volumes of the same titled books. Doing so will allow you to accept quests from necromancer NPCs. You may also need to complete the Mages Guild Quest "I Am Not a Necromancer." I am unsure if this step is required, but I did complete it before proceeding. If you are having trouble, the Amulet of Shadows helps a lot. Next, advance a bit in the main quest of the base game, just far enough until you complete Sharn-gra-Muzgob's (the orc in the Balmora Mages Guilld) errand.
After you get the information about the Nerevarine cult from her and take it to Caius, return to Sharn and she will have a quick necromancer quest for you. If you complete the quest correctly, you will learn the spell Soulful Conversation, which allows you to communicate with souls trapped in black soul gems. You will need a number of black soul gems to become a lich. You can buy a couple from Dedaenc in the St. Delyn Plaza in Vivec, but it is better to complete Tirer Belvayn's necromancer quest, which allows you to turn Grand Soulgems into Black Soul Gems.
You will also need to complete Sorkvild the Raven's necromancer quest. Unfortunately, this quest is bugged. You can fix this in the construction set, but it might be easier to just give yourself the spell with the following console command player->addspell NC_ME_DeathPact.
Finally, you need the book The Darkest of Rituals, which is hidden in the Secret Library in Vivec in a locked chest. One of the necromancers (Delvam Andarys) gives you a quest to retrieve this book, but you might not need the quest to learn the spell from it. Reading the book should teach you the spell Darkest of Rituals.
There is a special skeleton in the Urshilaku Burial Caverns called the Worm Lord. You will next need to soul trap this skeleton in a black soul gem, and cast soulful conversation. The Worm Lord will give you some vague hints, but he does not know the exact details. Fortunately, I do.
To create the phylactery, you need to enchant an item with a constant effect Death Pact spell (this is the spell effect you learn from Sorkvild). You also will need a skeleton champion corpse (which means you will need to raise your Corpse Preparation to 70) and a filled black soul gem.
Once you have these items, equip the phylactery. You know need to perform the Darkest of Rituals. The spell, however, has some requirements. Firstj of all, it requires a very high Destruction level to even cast. A fortify Destruction effect will take care of that. More problematic is the fact that the spell can kill you unless you have a ton of filled black soul gems on you. It isn't realistic to have enough of these, so you will need to just find a way to resist the negative effects of the ritual. Using a method of your choice, find a way to get 100% resistance to magicka, poison, and cold. I used a custom enchanted item that did this for a few seconds, which is enough. You only need resistance at the moment of casting the spell to resist the damage. Once you fortify your destruction and have your resistance, cast the Darkest of Rituals with your phylactery equipped. A message will probably pop up saying that you resisted some magic effects. Normally, there would also be a popup that tells you something about forming a bond with your phylactery, but you may not see this one. Don't worry; the ritual is still in progress.
The ritual takes a long time, so just use wait for a few in-game days until the dark ritual effect on your character ends, at which point you should get another popup.
Next, choose a container where you want to respawn as a lich. I would put this somewhere convenient, but private. Place the following items in the container: your phylactery, a filled black soul gem, and a skeleton champion corpse. Now, you just need to kill your old body. Do this nearby, because when you respawn as a lich all of your items will be on your old corpse, and you will need to retrieve them. I used a drain health spell on self, but you can technically die via any means.
You will now respawn as a lich, but may run into a couple of bugs. A hostile skeleton may also spawn along with you, but you should be able to take it with magic. Your magic menu will say that you have a zero percent chance to successfully cast all spells, but that is a visual bug. Just cast one spell, and it will fix itself. You also may appear as a deformed skeleton. To fix that, just leave the cell you are in.
You are now a lich, but as a result people will attack you. Before you complete this process, I recommend doing Telura Ulver's necromancer quest. Unfortunately, her quest reward is bugged too. Just use the following console command: player->addspell NC_ME_ConcealUndead. That should give you the conceal undead effect. You can then make a constant effect enchanted item with this effect. If you can't enchant items yourself, you will need to do this before becoming a lich.
There is one more thing you need to know. Each time you die and respawn, you will need to replace the filled black soul gem and skeleton champion corpse that were stored with your phylactery. If you don't take this step, when you die the game will become soft locked, and you will need to force quit.
thank you so much for that, the community appreciates that I'm sure!!!!! Is their a way to increase your corpse preparation using the console?? it's slow going. xd.
I'm not sure, but I think you can increase the experience gain in the mod configuration menu. Also, I observed that as you level up your corpse preparation, you need to make higher tier undead to gain experience. For example, at a certain point you won't get any experience from raising basic zombies. You can also often reuse your minions if they die.
Hello, thanks for the review and thanks a lot for the walkthrough (I skimmed it because I dislike spoilers but I noticed it’s well written and detailed).
1) I would put the bugs you’ve mentioned and met (including the hostile skeleton because that one seems really odd) in the Bugs section, together with the mod list you’ve been using.
2) I have a doubt about the mod I would like to know what’s your idea. I am afraid that once I’ve got the mod installed, I would be going around basically casting calm spell on all the necromancers and mages I meet not to miss content. How much of what I’ve said is real? What I’m afraid of is that the mod would force me to play in a certain way, just not to miss the content it has.
An example that comes to my mind is the
Spoiler:
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fighter guild quest where you’are asked to clean the necromancers in Vas. I think in that case I would surely be casting calm spells hoping to find “new” content.
3) By the way, how did you meet
Spoiler:
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Sorkvird?
Did you go there because you had a quest, or did you around looking in the CS? I remember I was tasked to go to him in my old playthroughs (old as 5 years old), but nowadays I am replaying the game and no one asked me to kill him (yet).
4) This one is a spoiler, but is it worth it
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becoming a lich? Do you feel like it’s missing something? You are too weak, too strong, etc?
Rather than telling me what I would be getting, what I would like to know is if it matched your expectation or not. I've been playing the Lichcraft mod and it didn't match my expectation (you can read my post here: https://forum.nexusmods.com/index.php?showtopic=1276786/#entry119718083) while Illuminated order satisfied me.
I'll try to fill you in as best I can without giving spoilers.
1)That's a good idea. I'll try to find time to do that.
2)I will be honest, you kind of do have to be careful not to kill the necromancers that give you quests, which I imagine some would find annoying. The necromancer in Vas is a good example, as I believe that one does have a quest for you. While some may find this distasteful, I used the construction set to find which necromancers offer quests, so I knew not to kill them. You can tell which necromancers offer quests by going to the character>dialogue>journal tab (I think that's how you get there). The quests added by the mod will all have the prefix NC. Note that even necromancers who don't offer quests can still sell you spells, but I think it's okay to kill them if you want.
3)I knew he had a quest from the beginning just from researching the mod. People before me have noted the bugs associated with his quest, so I knew to watch out for them. I also used his library to learn the Corpse Preparation skill, as he is guaranteed to have all three volumes in his little workshop.
4&5)The lichdom feature of the mod did indeed match my expectations. I have played both the Illuminated Order and Lichcraft mods in the past, and I agree with you in that I also prefer IO to Lichcraft. Personally, though, as much as I love Illuminated Order, I will probably stick with Necrocraft for all of my future necromancer/lich playthroughs.
In terms of how Necrocraft lichdom compares with lichdom in Illuminated Order and Lichcraft, the benefits are fairly similar (increased magicka/magicka regeneration, undead traits/resistances). There are less activities to do as a lich than in Lichcraft, but as you point out in your review, Lichcraft is very buggy. In comparison, the lich experience in Necrocraft has, so far, not been nearly as buggy (there are some bugs, but they are fairly easy to fix). You don't lose any levels, attributes, or skills after transforming, either. To your point about getting spells with no explanation, that is not a problem in Necrocraft. All spells that the mod adds are either learned from books or other necromancers with at least some context.
One of the major differences is also how your disguise spell works. It is much more flexible in Necrocraft than in IO and Lichcraft. The first thing I noticed was that being disguised in Necrocraft does not drain your health or magicka, as it does in IO and Lichcraft. Additionally, the spell effect for disguising undead is available for custom spells and enchantments, leaving you with plenty of options for getting around undetected. I personally think this is either going to be a positive or negative depending on your preferences and play style. If you want, you can create a constant effect enchanted item that disguises you, effectively giving you all of the benefits of lichdom with none of the drawbacks. I can see how that might turn some people off, so some restraint may be required if you want a more challenging experience.
All in all, Illuminated Order and Necrocraft are, in my opinion, both great mods. Personally, the necromancy system and the flexibility of disguising yourself as mortal once you attain lichdom put Necrocraft on top for me. It's up to you what you want to go with, though. One possibility -- although there may be some compatibility issues, so be careful -- is to install both mods so you can have the questline from Illuminated Order and the necromancy/lichdom of necrocraft. I must stress that I don't know what compatibility issues might arise from this, but it might work okay.
Necrocraft isn't flawless, of course. I do think that the lichdom process is just a little too esoteric (I wouldn't have known what to do if I didn't look in the construction set), and there are some bugs that need to be fixed. Having said that, the mod isn't even a year old at this point, so I'm excited to see what updates will come in the future.
hey thanks for that write-up. Do you happen to know the ID (or how I could find it in the construction set lol) for the darkest of rituals spell? I think my game is bugged and reading the book isn't giving it to me.
Some additional information that might be helpful for becoming a Lich/progressing with this mod.
Spoiler:
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Milyn Faram, who is involved in a Telvanni quest is also a necromancer. If you manage to calm him or be allied to him via being a Telvanni, he has you test a scroll on the female prisoner in his captivity. It will seemingly kill her and your journal will even update to say she is dead. This however is not the case, wait about 10-30 seconds, and she will rise up unharmed then speak to her. Your journal will update and you then have to report this to Faram. If you manage to do this, he will explain that he created a spell with the ability to feign death/suspend your animation and offer to teach it to you to inflict on others or yourself. I highly recommend teaching it to apply to yourself. This neat spell ends combat, makes your character "die", but makes it immune to pretty much most forms of damage until your Feint Death effect ends.
Now you can see where I am going with this. This handy spell effect can be made a constant spell effect, which of course makes your character unable to move but unable to be aggroe'd or take damage while you are "dead" since they are in suspended animation. This is EXTREMELY handy for the lich ritual or just overall cheesing to heal yourself/get out of combat. You cannot take damage from the Darkest of Rituals while in this suspended animation, and I believe the mod actually intended for you to use this or to make it a knock out tool. You are able to freely access your inventory and wait while in this state. So you can basically wait out the ritual without needing high tier resistance gear, and take it off towards the end of the ritual if you have enough power to heal yourself manually for the last few minutes of the ritual. Just something to keep in mind for people going down the lich route.
It is important that you don't use a damage health 20 points for 10 sec on yourself to kill yourself. I did it and as my new lich body assambled i got a game over. Only use as much damage as needed to kill yourself.
263 comments
Sorry I can't be certain, it was months ago. I'll update that when I get a clear answer (I have yet to find the Corpse prepartion book in this playthrough (I don't want to cheat and read those from Sorkvild ;) ).
By the way every thing but the lich transformation works just fine.... apart from not getting the Ritual Spell in the secret library but managed to get it by reading through the comments
I'm posting because I am having some trouble with the lich transformation. I figured out the entire process, and it seems to work, but when I respawn as a lich I am getting two bugs. First, the skeleton model seems to be messed up; the ribcage is in the wrong spot (up around the skull), for example, and it just looks kind of weird. Second, when I respawn, another hostile skeleton spawns and starts attacking me. I also find that I am unable to cast spells after completing the ritual.
Has anybody else successfully completed the lich transformation and run into any of these issues? Other than these and a few other bugs here and there (such as the issues with Sorkvild's quest, which I was able to fix myself in the construction set with the help of another user's [Venexificus] posts in this thread), the mod is great.
Also, not sure what the policy about spoilers is here, but if anyone needs any hints regarding the lich transformation, I can help. It's pretty esoteric, and I wouldn't have figured it out myself if I didn't look at the mod's additions in the construction set.
Edit: Some updates. I was wrong about not being able to cast spells. It turns out that I can cast spells just fine, so I can easily take care of the hostile skeleton that spawns. The skeleton model for my character, however, is still very deformed. Technically, this is just a visual thing, but does anybody have any ideas how I might fix that?
Edit2: Okay, leaving the cell I was in fixed the visual issue, so I guess I'm good. Everything seems to be working fine now. One last question: does anybody know if there is a way to cast conceal undead on myself?
Sure! Obviously, this will contain a lot of spoilers, so stop reading if you want to figure it out yourself.
After you get the information about the Nerevarine cult from her and take it to Caius, return to Sharn and she will have a quick necromancer quest for you. If you complete the quest correctly, you will learn the spell Soulful Conversation, which allows you to communicate with souls trapped in black soul gems. You will need a number of black soul gems to become a lich. You can buy a couple from Dedaenc in the St. Delyn Plaza in Vivec, but it is better to complete Tirer Belvayn's necromancer quest, which allows you to turn Grand Soulgems into Black Soul Gems.
You will also need to complete Sorkvild the Raven's necromancer quest. Unfortunately, this quest is bugged. You can fix this in the construction set, but it might be easier to just give yourself the spell with the following console command player->addspell NC_ME_DeathPact.
Finally, you need the book The Darkest of Rituals, which is hidden in the Secret Library in Vivec in a locked chest. One of the necromancers (Delvam Andarys) gives you a quest to retrieve this book, but you might not need the quest to learn the spell from it. Reading the book should teach you the spell Darkest of Rituals.
There is a special skeleton in the Urshilaku Burial Caverns called the Worm Lord. You will next need to soul trap this skeleton in a black soul gem, and cast soulful conversation. The Worm Lord will give you some vague hints, but he does not know the exact details. Fortunately, I do.
To create the phylactery, you need to enchant an item with a constant effect Death Pact spell (this is the spell effect you learn from Sorkvild). You also will need a skeleton champion corpse (which means you will need to raise your Corpse Preparation to 70) and a filled black soul gem.
Once you have these items, equip the phylactery. You know need to perform the Darkest of Rituals. The spell, however, has some requirements. Firstj of all, it requires a very high Destruction level to even cast. A fortify Destruction effect will take care of that. More problematic is the fact that the spell can kill you unless you have a ton of filled black soul gems on you. It isn't realistic to have enough of these, so you will need to just find a way to resist the negative effects of the ritual. Using a method of your choice, find a way to get 100% resistance to magicka, poison, and cold. I used a custom enchanted item that did this for a few seconds, which is enough. You only need resistance at the moment of casting the spell to resist the damage. Once you fortify your destruction and have your resistance, cast the Darkest of Rituals with your phylactery equipped. A message will probably pop up saying that you resisted some magic effects. Normally, there would also be a popup that tells you something about forming a bond with your phylactery, but you may not see this one. Don't worry; the ritual is still in progress.
The ritual takes a long time, so just use wait for a few in-game days until the dark ritual effect on your character ends, at which point you should get another popup.
Next, choose a container where you want to respawn as a lich. I would put this somewhere convenient, but private. Place the following items in the container: your phylactery, a filled black soul gem, and a skeleton champion corpse. Now, you just need to kill your old body. Do this nearby, because when you respawn as a lich all of your items will be on your old corpse, and you will need to retrieve them. I used a drain health spell on self, but you can technically die via any means.
You will now respawn as a lich, but may run into a couple of bugs. A hostile skeleton may also spawn along with you, but you should be able to take it with magic. Your magic menu will say that you have a zero percent chance to successfully cast all spells, but that is a visual bug. Just cast one spell, and it will fix itself. You also may appear as a deformed skeleton. To fix that, just leave the cell you are in.
You are now a lich, but as a result people will attack you. Before you complete this process, I recommend doing Telura Ulver's necromancer quest. Unfortunately, her quest reward is bugged too. Just use the following console command: player->addspell NC_ME_ConcealUndead. That should give you the conceal undead effect. You can then make a constant effect enchanted item with this effect. If you can't enchant items yourself, you will need to do this before becoming a lich.
There is one more thing you need to know. Each time you die and respawn, you will need to replace the filled black soul gem and skeleton champion corpse that were stored with your phylactery. If you don't take this step, when you die the game will become soft locked, and you will need to force quit.
I think that covers pretty much everything.
1) I would put the bugs you’ve mentioned and met (including the hostile skeleton because that one seems really odd) in the Bugs section, together with the mod list you’ve been using.
2) I have a doubt about the mod I would like to know what’s your idea. I am afraid that once I’ve got the mod installed, I would be going around basically casting calm spell on all the necromancers and mages I meet not to miss content.
How much of what I’ve said is real? What I’m afraid of is that the mod would force me to play in a certain way, just not to miss the content it has.
An example that comes to my mind is the
3) By the way, how did you meet
4) This one is a spoiler, but is it worth it
5) Have you played the Illuminated Order
Cheers
1)That's a good idea. I'll try to find time to do that.
2)I will be honest, you kind of do have to be careful not to kill the necromancers that give you quests, which I imagine some would find annoying. The necromancer in Vas is a good example, as I believe that one does have a quest for you. While some may find this distasteful, I used the construction set to find which necromancers offer quests, so I knew not to kill them. You can tell which necromancers offer quests by going to the character>dialogue>journal tab (I think that's how you get there). The quests added by the mod will all have the prefix NC. Note that even necromancers who don't offer quests can still sell you spells, but I think it's okay to kill them if you want.
3)I knew he had a quest from the beginning just from researching the mod. People before me have noted the bugs associated with his quest, so I knew to watch out for them. I also used his library to learn the Corpse Preparation skill, as he is guaranteed to have all three volumes in his little workshop.
4&5)The lichdom feature of the mod did indeed match my expectations. I have played both the Illuminated Order and Lichcraft mods in the past, and I agree with you in that I also prefer IO to Lichcraft. Personally, though, as much as I love Illuminated Order, I will probably stick with Necrocraft for all of my future necromancer/lich playthroughs.
In terms of how Necrocraft lichdom compares with lichdom in Illuminated Order and Lichcraft, the benefits are fairly similar (increased magicka/magicka regeneration, undead traits/resistances). There are less activities to do as a lich than in Lichcraft, but as you point out in your review, Lichcraft is very buggy. In comparison, the lich experience in Necrocraft has, so far, not been nearly as buggy (there are some bugs, but they are fairly easy to fix). You don't lose any levels, attributes, or skills after transforming, either. To your point about getting spells with no explanation, that is not a problem in Necrocraft. All spells that the mod adds are either learned from books or other necromancers with at least some context.
One of the major differences is also how your disguise spell works. It is much more flexible in Necrocraft than in IO and Lichcraft. The first thing I noticed was that being disguised in Necrocraft does not drain your health or magicka, as it does in IO and Lichcraft. Additionally, the spell effect for disguising undead is available for custom spells and enchantments, leaving you with plenty of options for getting around undetected. I personally think this is either going to be a positive or negative depending on your preferences and play style. If you want, you can create a constant effect enchanted item that disguises you, effectively giving you all of the benefits of lichdom with none of the drawbacks. I can see how that might turn some people off, so some restraint may be required if you want a more challenging experience.
All in all, Illuminated Order and Necrocraft are, in my opinion, both great mods. Personally, the necromancy system and the flexibility of disguising yourself as mortal once you attain lichdom put Necrocraft on top for me. It's up to you what you want to go with, though. One possibility -- although there may be some compatibility issues, so be careful -- is to install both mods so you can have the questline from Illuminated Order and the necromancy/lichdom of necrocraft. I must stress that I don't know what compatibility issues might arise from this, but it might work okay.
Necrocraft isn't flawless, of course. I do think that the lichdom process is just a little too esoteric (I wouldn't have known what to do if I didn't look in the construction set), and there are some bugs that need to be fixed. Having said that, the mod isn't even a year old at this point, so I'm excited to see what updates will come in the future.
Quick question; when you 'die' as a lich, do you reform at your phylactary or do you still have to reload a save?
Now you can see where I am going with this. This handy spell effect can be made a constant spell effect, which of course makes your character unable to move but unable to be aggroe'd or take damage while you are "dead" since they are in suspended animation. This is EXTREMELY handy for the lich ritual or just overall cheesing to heal yourself/get out of combat. You cannot take damage from the Darkest of Rituals while in this suspended animation, and I believe the mod actually intended for you to use this or to make it a knock out tool. You are able to freely access your inventory and wait while in this state. So you can basically wait out the ritual without needing high tier resistance gear, and take it off towards the end of the ritual if you have enough power to heal yourself manually for the last few minutes of the ritual. Just something to keep in mind for people going down the lich route.