I'm a DnD noob to the very bone, but I've always been interested about tabletop gaming. (I guess you could say i'm "die-curious" lol) So I figured I'd make a post to fill in with any questions I may have about DnD and TT Gaming.

Current Question:
How does tracking dice rolls work through an online medium, like in the tabletop section of this site? Does the DM make all rolls and tell players what they got? Or is there some kind of dice roll program that players use, so that everyone else can see what their roll was?

Top Answer: N/A

My answer is that the world of dungeons and dragons is a fictional world, and situations like the one you mentioned is a perfect example of something that should be left to the GM's discretion. Do they or don't they want pretty necromancers in their world? Does the magic unnaturally rot a lich's flesh away or is it just accelerating the rate at which they decompose, at which point a Houri would indeed not rot? Some people may like the idea of an ageless lich, while others will think it's a "twilight" take on a lich, trying to make something that is suppose to be hideous and scary pretty and alluring.

@BrokenPromise The potentially magical nature of a Lich's decomposition is certainly an interesting point that I hadn't considered.

As with all things D&D it's up to you and your GM.

In my opinion I'd overrule the concept that this Houri race does not decompose. That is horribly unnatural for a creature that is supposed to be representative of nature.

Seriously, in my games, those that have had their souls destroyed or have been infected by outerplanar magics or other horrid unnatural things don't decompose. Basically nature abhors the corpse and won't decompose it as is normal.

@Assallya If I had to come up with a justification for that it would probably be that the whole point of a Houri is that they are unnatural. Unnaturally beautiful. Unnaturally long lived. Even their parentage is unnatural as it's apparently extraordinarily rare for a Nymph and an Elf to produce a child.

On the meta side of things, from what I was saw while reading up on Houri, they seem to be somewhat of a Mary Sue race, though I could be wrong there. I think the whole point is that they're supposed to be these eternally perfect and pure things.

Just my opinion really but I would agree. They do feel like a Mary Sue race. I'd be using that race constantly for my sorceress' due to that ridiculous charisma adjustment.

However the race to me feels unclean. Unnatural implies unicorns would kill them and druids hunt them. Natural things die. Natural things decompose, giving birth to news life. To me this race sounds anti-nature. Selfishly refusing to give back to the world that created them, forever refusing to return to the soil that created them.

Current Question:
Will A Houri Necromancer who becomes a Lich experience the decomposition disadvantage that Lich or other races experience?

In the way that abilities are traditionally applied in Dungeons and Dragons, they are determined by a loose hierarchy. For example, you start with ability scores, then add any racial adjustments and templates, then any class adjustments. Certain root changes, such as the creature's type going from "Humanoid (Houri)" into "Undead", are going to usually have assigned consequences mechanically. Lore wise this is not always reflected. Yes, a lich could be "pristine" rather than dry, skeletal and decomposing in appearance, but that is not so much how Dungeons and Dragons understands the lich or how the mechanical qualities apply.

My source comes from the 3.5e SRD, which is the "core" rules document that was put out a time ago by Wizards of the Coast. It has this to say about the lich template.

"A lich is a gaunt and skeletal humanoid with withered flesh stretched tight across horribly visible bones. Its eyes have long ago been lost to decay, but bright pinpoints of crimson light burn on in the empty sockets."

No less, it has a source of Natural Armor and Damage Reduction (specifically magic and bludgeoning, adding to the magical skeletal concept), further suggesting the story component they attempted to reflect.

If you are trying to avoid the more overt touch of the grave, you are better off with the Necropolitan template or Tomb-Tainted Soul feat, as below.

"A necropolitan's skin is dry, withered, and powdery. Its eyes are as pale as driven snow, and as lifeless. It continues to dress in the fashion it preferred while living. Necropolitans are considered citizens of the little-known city of Nocturnus, but if their nature is revealed elsewhere, they are feared and hunted like common monsters."

"Your soul is tainted by the foul touch of undeath."

It's also worth noting that if a DM desires liches to not look like that in his or her RP, then he or she is free to make it so. Books are not something you may never deviate from.

That race mentioned above, however, is ridiculously overpowered.

New question in the OP

Current Question:
How does tracking dice rolls work through an online medium, like in the tabletop section of this site? Does the DM make all rolls and tell players what they got? Or is there some kind of dice roll program that players use, so that everyone else can see what their roll was?

The Roleplayer Guild has links to all die rolls that players would need to post in order to validate their rolls in the Dice section called Campaigns; players then link their rolls. Other places use Discord chatbots who automatically post the result on the Discord. Some use third party programs like Roll 20 which automatically track it as well. Here on the Guild, the first is used almost exclusively and has great advantages of being a permanently linked url.