Ghost

Greatly inspired by Dael Kingsmill design. Art by me :)

Powerful spirit bound by an unfinished business. Raw horrible emotion incarned, relentless fury. Notorious short fuse. It dwells near a cursed memento of its endless pain.

Imagine a person frozen in their last moments, eternally reliving the horrible emotions of their demise. Their traits are twisted in grotesque ways.

An undead.


 
Hit Points: 13 (3 HD) Armor: 0
Hit it: easy Dodge it: normal
Move: slow Senses: darkvision
→ How to read monster stats

The ghost is undead. It doesn’t need to eat, breathe or sleep, neither can it be sick or poisoned. However, direct sunlight makes it lose all resistances and immunities.

The ghost is ethereal. It can pass through anything, and cannot be affected by nonmagical objects.

A ghost can only be killed when its unfinished business is resolved. If it is slain before that, it comes back after 1 hour.

Attacks (1/round)
The ghost attacks twice per turn near its cursed memento.

Abnormal Shivers. A room in the ghost’s domain becomes extremely cold for the next 10 minutes. Creatures who decide to stay become exhausted. Can affect one room at a time.

Deadly Phantasm. One creature must save or be victim of a terrible illusion of the ghost’s choice. The illusion can attack, inflicting 1D6 psychic damage. Other creatures see nothing.

Overwhelming Emotions. One creature must save or be frightened. If already frightened, it becomes exhausted. If already exhausted, it becomes enraged and must attack all visible creatures until it cannot see any.

Possession. One creature must save or be possessed by the ghost. The possession lasts up to 1 hour, or until the host drops to 0 HP. Until then, the target must obey a simple command without revealing they are possessed. While possessing, the ghost uses the alternative attacks below.

Spatial Distortion. For 1 turn, all doors in target room lead to one room of the ghost’s choice OR target path or corridor becomes infinitely long.



Cursed Memento

If a creature touches the ghost’s cursed memento for the first time, or is possessed and disobeys the ghost’s command, the ghost materialises. The triggering creature must then save against fear or lose all HP.

While material, the ghost cannot pass through things and is affected by nonmagical objects. If slain in this state, it comes back ethereal. While material, its attacks are replaced by the following:

Alternative Attacks (1/round)

Telekinetic Push. One creature must make a save or be shoved nearby, falling prone and taking damage (1D8).

Terrifying Abandon. The ghost makes one melee attack (1D8) with advantage. For the rest of the turn, every attack against the ghost has advantage.



Encounter

  • Encounter: 1
  • Biomes: Urban, Cursed
  • Omen: Sudden temperature drop
  • Disposition: Notorious short fuse

What it is doing when you meet it.

D6 Unfinished Businesses
  1. For their body to be found and buried with sacred rites.
  2. Revenge on their murderer and their descendants.
  3. Fo their life’s work to be properly credited to them.
  4. To live an event one last time through possession.
  5. For their lover to acknowledge and forgive them.
  6. Ruin on the person who ruined them.
Written on November 14, 2020