Ghost
Inspired by Dael Kingsmill design. Art by me :)
Powerful spirit bound by an unfinished business. Raw horrible emotion incarnate, relentless fury. 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.
- Encounter: 1
- Biomes: Urban, Forest, Cursed
- Omen: Sudden temperature drop
- Disposition: Notorious short fuse
→ How to read monster stats
- Hit Points: 13 (3 HD)
- Armor: none
- Hit it: normal
- Dodge it: normal
- Magic: normal
- Move: slow
- Senses: darkvision
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.
D6 Unfinished Businesses
- For their body to be properly buried.
- Revenge on their murderer’s family.
- For their life’s work to be acknowledged.
- To live one last time through possession.
- For their lover’s forgiveness.
- Ruin on the person who ruined them.
Attacks (1/round)
The ghost attacks twice per turn near its cursed memento.
Abnormal Shivers. One room in the ghost’s domain becomes extremely cold for 10 minutes. Creatures who decide to stay become exhausted. Affects 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 can’t 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 its 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.