Statting up a ghost

[Persell]

In last week's session one of the PCs killed another by setting off a trap. Whether it was accidental or not is arguable, but the victim most certainly would think it was murder. So I'm looking to bring back his ghost as a vengeful spirit out to splatter the offender.


Problem is, I know very little about the abilities of ghosts, and the core rules seem to be waiting patiently for the Abyssals book to come out before they give much help.


So the question is: how should I stat up the ghost of a Solar? He was an Eclipse divided between social and physical combats for his charms (mostly physical), and had about 110xp under his belt.


I can scrounge up a copy of the 1e abyssals book if it's got some good undead info in there.


Also, how long does something need to be dead before a ghost can form? The Zenith made it to the corpse several hours later, and I want to make sure I'm not juicing the guy by having the ghost still come back.

 

[Persell]

I just double-checked, and the Zenith power only stops animate corpses and hungry ghosts, so a real ghost shouldn't be a problem.

 

[wordman]

I can scrounge up a copy of the 1e abyssals book if it's got some good undead info in there.

Since about a quarter of the 1E Abyssal lists various charms that ghosts can have, it would probably be useful. You might check out this ghost as an example of a semi-powerful one.

 

[Persell]

Thanks! Are there any kind of guidelines for how close a ghost stays to its original skills and powers?

 

[Charon]

I just double-checked' date=' and the Zenith power only stops animate corpses and hungry ghosts, so a real ghost shouldn't be a problem.[/quote']
That's a glib interpretation.  The text does say the soul is sent to Heaven.  


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Unless you engineer it so the fallen becomes an abyssal or makes some custom deal with the Neverborn, he won't be much of a challenge as a Ghost.  Their powers don't compare to even th eTerrestrial and their ability to reach Creation and interact with it is very limited.  


A standard Heroic Dead looks like this ;


6/4/3 for attributes


22 abilities


1 favored ability (With STs approval, most Ghost have none)


6 arcanoi


I think the best use for that idea is as a surprise foil for an Underworld adventure several session from now.  When the PC have forgotten about him, boom, they meet him in an underworld small town which he now rules.  Ideally, it is set up as a situation where they most negotiate some arrangement with the former eclipse.  If it's a brute force affair, the Ghosts will get steam rolled by the Solars.

 

[Persell]

Having had a chance to look over the arcanoi, I'll definitely be holding off until later to reintroduce the guy. I'd expected at least a little combat ability, but there's really none. He may come back as an Abyssal instead, since the character never demonstrated a dislike of them, and was in fact trying to learn charms from one they'd met.


Thanks for the info, and the idea. I don't know if they'll be going to the underworld any time soon, but if they do he'll be there waiting for them.

 

[Vanman]

Having had a chance to look over the arcanoi, I'll definitely be holding off until later to reintroduce the guy. I'd expected at least a little combat ability, but there's really none. He may come back as an Abyssal instead, since the character never demonstrated a dislike of them, and was in fact trying to learn charms from one they'd met.

The only problem with this is that Abyssals are alive when they're created. Ghosts don't become Abyssals. They can become nephracks, which are some pretty heavy hitters, but not Abyssals. So unless the guy almost died but didn't quite, like in any good comic book, an Abyssal's not really an option. At least in canon....

 

[Persell]

Not to forget that being an exalt already prevents the deathlord from exalting him again... two shards don't go into one body.

 

[wordman]

The deathlord can, however, corrupt the shard he already has (if the exalt is willing).

 

[Persell]

The deathlord can, however, corrupt the shard he already has (if the exalt is willing).

True, that doesn't help a dead exalt coming back though.

 

[Persell]

He definitely died, so that leaves out the Abyssal option. He was a focused bureaucrat and combatant though, so if those tendencies stayed in death he could still manage to be running a city, or perhaps a portion of the Boddhisattva's bureaucracy.


They've had some interactions with one of the Boddhisattva's Abyssals and it ended on friendly terms. The Eclipse was even planning on hunting down the Abyssal when he got the chance, so the two meeting up in the underworld needs hardly any stretching at all.


Being a ranked member of a larger group will even give him the strength he needs to be a credible threat if the meeting turns sour.

 

[Persell]

Although the Neverborn option is a distant possibility. They're in the Invisible Fortress, which has a history of Neverborn contact. I've also changed the history somewhat so that instead of being contacted by a Neverborn, Larquen Quen used a conjuring circle and spell of his own devising to contact one himself. Same general result, except it leaves behind a few more clues and a much bigger plot hook (which will probably be destroyed by the PCs as soon as they find out about it).


I'm not too sure that one of the Neverborn would be concerned about turning a Essence 4 Eclipse, assuming he even noticed the death.

 

[Vanman]

You might want to look at the nephwracks. They're pretty tough - and kind of insane to boot. A nephwrack might make a formidable foe, and a nephwrack starts off as a ghost. They're just driven a bit loopy by the whispers of Oblivion. Nemissaries might be an option, as well......

 

[Persell]

Nephwrack stats look nice, but the insanity bit doesn't fit the image I've got. A Nemissary could definitely work though, probably a little advanced to make him tougher.


Maybe if he's plagued by repeated failure he drift into the Nephwrack mindset (with appropriate power boosts).

 

[Vanman]

Well, it could be that the ghost goes a little insane because he was killed (at least in his eyes) by a Circle mate. Intent on revenge, he sells his soul to the Neverborn......


Hell, it worked for the Deathlords, why not this bloke?


:-)


But if it doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. The nice thing about nemissaries is they can switch bodies, so if one body is destroyed, he can come back.

 

[Flyck]

To throw in my share here, Abyssal exaltation usually happens when an individual is on the brink of death.  For example, freezing to death in the north.  Or beaten to an inch of their life.  Regardless, the key is that they are riding the line of dying at the moment.  The deathlord then steps in, and offers them a second chance.  If they take the offer, they get a corrupted Abyssal Shard.  If they refuse, then the Deathlord usually lets them die, then forcibly takes their higher and lower soul for either slaves (no real option for lethe, as usually the death is not a one they can be satisfied with), or to make more soulsteel equipment out of.  


In any case, the expirience is usually long and drawn out, with the Deathlord showing the near-dead individual what his life *could* have looked like, what would happen if he chooses death, and the *better* alternative of what's going to happen if he becomes one of the Deathlord's champions.  Apparantly, time itself stops as the Deathlord interacts with the fallen individual.


Solars can be corrupted, but usually need to be alive for that, and physically thrown into a Monstance of Celestial Portion (which they all fear and loathe, regardless if they know what it is).  Even if a Solar defects to follow a Deathlord (i.e. one of the Lover's many Solar minions), then they'll still hate and fear a Monstance when they encounter one, hence even loyal Solars to a Deathlord usually need to be thrown in.  For best results, I find using several ghosts and about 5x as many Abyssals as there are Solars (to prevent precious casualties to your minions).  


As for the stats of making a ghost...  gimme a second, I'll get back with you.

 

[Persell]

Thanks everyone! The player has tried a couple of routes to have the PC not have died (basically looking for some sort of out via Halting the Scarlet Flow). When that didn't work (he we straight from conscious to unconscious, and moments later to dead). He then requested he be able to haunt his killer (another PC killed him inadvertently, but he doesn't know it was an accident and wouldn't believe it if he were told).


So ghost guy, here we come!


It'll take a while for him to reform and find them, so I've got a couple weeks to stat him up.


Question: does a ghost have any way of tracking his killer down? The odds are about 50/50 that by the time he makes it out of the underworld the party will be in possession of a flying vehicle and long gone from where he died with practically 0 chance of tracking.


Question 2: Where does a ghost appear in the underworld? Does he form at the location that mirrors his death in Creation? If so, can he bridge the gap or must he go to a Shadowland to cross over?


Thanks!

 

[Flyck]

Well, to answer the first question, that's honestly entirely up to you (as the ST).  


To the second, technically speaking the character's upper and lower soul stay together for 3 days.  During that time, the ghost is in creation.  After the 3rd day, the souls split and the upper soul goes to either Lethe or the Underworld.  At which point I would assume the upper ghost if it entered the underworld, it would appear where it was on the other side.  


Generally speaking, Shadowlands are the only locations where a ghost can bridge the gap into Creation.  However, they still re-enter the underworld when they cross it's border UNLESS it's day time and they spend a point of temporary Willpower.

 

[Persell]

You could always just say that the murderer is a fetter for the ghost and give the spectral assassin a bit more leeway based on that assumption.

 

[Persell]

How do fetters work?


It looks like I really need to check out the 1e abyssals book.

 

[tjcoonrod]

You really should!


Fetters are an object/place/something of importance to a ghost and what anchors it to its continued existence. (Example fetters could be, the person who murdered me, the murder weapon, my favorite wine glass, my box of silly putty, my secret box of papers that includes the current location of the Empress, etc etc). I think all ghosts get the automatic fetter for their tomb, but am unsure of that.


Its a crossover from the wraith:the oblivion game really, the whole idea of spectres, ghosts, and oblivion, and fetters, but beyond terminology and basic ideas I am unfamiliar with wraith.


I am not sure what happens to a ghost when he/she loses all his fetters - I was thinking that if that happens and they die, instead of reforming they go into either lethe or oblivion - but I am really unsure of the mechanics on that.


In abyssal 1ed, I believe it is near the front of the book describing the burial rites, grave goods, and panopolies of ghosts, but again you'd have to check the book.