Adventuring and Ghost Levels

behir, or area-attack spells such as fireball. Ghosts with this sort of appearance scare children and usually cause a disturbance when they appear in public (and may be arrested by the City Watch because of it). NPCs interacting with a character in this category can never start with an attitude better than indifferent. Repulsive characters take a –6 penalty on Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Perform, and Charisma checks to influence NPC attitudes. They gain a +6 bonus on Intimidate checks.

Gruesome: As repulsive, but the creature’s wounds are the stuff of nightmares: people who have had their brains extracted by a mind flayer, who have been tortured to death by malevolent sadists, who died from aggressive diseases such as mummy rot, or who were the targets of an implosion spell. Such ghosts are often mistaken for incorporeal undead and usually travel in disguise to avoid being attacked on sight. NPCs interacting with a character in this category can never start with an attitude better than Unfriendly. Gruesome characters take a –10 penalty on Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Perform, and Charisma checks to influence NPC attitudes. They gain a +10 bonus on Intimidate checks.

ADVENTURING AND GHOST LEVELS

A creature that is a ghost can adventure and acquire experience points just like any living character. However, a ghost can only gain levels in the eidolon or eidoloncer class (described later in this chapter). This means that adventuring ghosts develop their supernatural abilities rather than their spellcasting, fighting, or any other class abilities from standard classes. A character who advances too far in the eidolon class risks succumbing to the Calling (see below).

For the purpose of character advancement in the

Ghostwalk campaign, characters should not gain levels during the course of an adventure until they have rested for at least 8 hours. This allows a ghost character to decide if she wants to rest as a ghost and gain a level in the eidolon class or receive a raise dead spell and then rest, applying her new level to a character class of her choice.

A ghost who is raised or resurrected experiences an event called a life epiphany. This sudden realization allows the ghost to convert some or all of his eidolon levels to levels in any other character class, similar to how a fallen paladin can convert her paladin levels to blackguard levels (the character does not have to convert any eidolon levels if she doesn’t want to). This allows, for example, a Sor4/Eidolon3 who is raised to instantly become a Sor5/Eidolon2, Sor6/Eidolon1, or a Sor7. When this occurs, all class abilities from the converted eidolon levels are lost, and the character gains that many levels in another class. These levels do not revert back to eidolon levels if the character becomes a ghost again; the character has sacrificed the eidolon levels to advance in another area of study. The life epiphany allows a character to balance her eidolon levels with her other class levels in order to stave off the Calling. Of course, if the character chooses to keep any ghost levels, some of her ghost abilities acquired from feats may be useless while she is alive.

Because of the potential for a life epiphany, a character who gains levels in the eidolon class should keep track of hit points, skill ranks, base attack bonuses, saving throw bonuses, and feats acquired on a level-bylevel basis. Doing this makes it easier to remove the eidolon levels (and the benefits of those levels) and reconfigure the character with levels in another character class.

For example, Valarn (a Sor4/Eidolon3) is raised from the dead and decides to convert two levels of eidolon to levels of sorcerer. When he acquired those two eidolon levels (2nd and 3rd class levels), he gained 2 ranks in Concentration and Intimidate, the

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VARIANT: FLEXIBLE GHOST ADVANCEMENT

Instead of requiring a ghost to take levels in eidolon, allow ghosts who gain a level to select a level in any class that is normally available. This creates a campaign in which some characters may remain ghosts for years, but continue to increase their abilities as clerics, fighters, and so on.

Using this variant means that players don’t have to plan as carefully when advancing their characters and aren’t forced to continue to pay for raise dead spells in order to suit a character concept of a ghost character who advances in a Player’s Handbook class. It also tends to make being a ghost a more advantageous choice, since for many characters, there is no reason to remain a living creature. VARIANT: NO CALLING

Instead of using the Calling, allow a character’s ghost levels to exceed his standard class levels without penalty. This creates a campaign where people can be mediocre in terms of the living but very powerful ghosts.

Dropping the Calling also introduces the problem of commoners, experts, and other “vanilla” NPCs that find life as a ghost much easier than that of a living person (they don’t need to eat and aren’t affected by cold winters, for example). Poor farmers might quickly populate the campaign with ghosts of their families, perhaps murdering them to keep them from starving, but continuing to enjoy their companionship. Normally, these murdered ghosts would eventually gain levels in eidolon (eventually becoming Com1/Eidolon2 characters), succumb to the Calling, and pass beyond the Veil of Souls, but without the Calling, they are melancholy reminders of the farmers’ crimes and change the mood of the setting.

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Control Visage feat (with his bonus ghost feat at 2nd level), 10 hit points (plus his Constitution modifier at each level, if any), a +2 adjustment to his base attack bonus, and a +1 adjustment to his Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saves. He crosses off these benefits from his character sheet. With his two new sorcerer levels, he gains 2d4 hit points (plus twice his Constitution modifier, if any), increases his spells known and spells per day, chooses skills with his sorcerer-based skill points, increases his base attack bonus and saving throws on the sorcerer table, adjusts the special abilities of his familiar, and so on.

Certain effects that occur as a part of gaining levels, but aren’t directly tied to the eidolon class itself, should not be recorded separately. For example, ability score increases and feats gained for increased character levels would have occurred whether the character gained levels in eidolon or in any other class, so they are not removed and applied according to the new class.

If one of the feats gained as a bonus feat from the eidolon class is a prerequisite for a feat acquired because of character level, and that eidolon feat is lost because of the life epiphany, the level-based feat cannot be used by the character until the prerequisite for it is met again. For example, if Valarn (the sorcerer/eidolon described above) has chosen Improved Control Visage as his 6th-level feat, when he sacrifices his eidolon levels (and loses the Control Visage feat) he would be unable to use the Improved Control Visage feat until he gained the prerequisite feat again. Of course, he can’t use Improved Control Visage while he is alive anyway, so this limitation would not really affect him until he became a ghost again.

The Calling

Existing without a physical body is an unnatural state for living creatures. A ghost has a natural inertia that draws it toward the Veil of Souls and into the True

Afterlife. Only a ghost’s ties to its living friends, skills, and habits allow it to resist this inertia, which is known as the Calling. Over time, it becomes harder and harder to resist the Calling, until the ghost either reenters its body or crosses the Veil.

The Calling is represented in the D&Dgame by comparing a ghost’s class levels in the eidolon class to the total of all the ghost’s other class levels. If the number of eidolon levels ever exceeds the total of all the other levels, the character’s ties to the living are overwhelmed by the pull of its afterlife inertia, and the ghost succumbs to the Calling. For example, if

Valarn (the Sor4/Eidolon3 from the previous examples) gains two more levels in eidolon (becoming a

Sor4/Eidolon5), the total levels in eidolon are greater than the total levels in all of Valarn’s other classes (in this case, four levels of sorcerer), and Valarn succumbs to the Calling.

Because a ghost can gain levels only in the eidolon class, this rule means that, over time, a ghost comes closer and closer to the Calling. Fortunately, a ghost doesn’t need to end his adventuring career as this deadline approaches, because the life epiphany allows a raised or resurrected ghost to stave off the Calling by exchanging levels in eidolon for levels in other classes.

When a ghost succumbs to the Calling, it only brings with it any ghost touch items it is carrying at the time; all other items are left at that spot, and the ghost automatically enters the Ethereal Plane and is whisked away by the Ethereal Current to the True Afterlife.

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ECTOPLASM

Rather than blood, meat, and bone, a ghost’s body is made of ectoplasm, a supernatural substance that, in its natural state, is a slippery or sticky pale-colored goo. When shaped into a ghost body, it has the consistency and texture of normal (albeit incorporeal) flesh. An ectoplasmic creature leaks liquid ectoplasm if it is cut, in the same manner as a living creature bleeds actual blood.

Ectoplasm is a type of ghost touch material. It can be picked up and moved by incorporeal creatures at any time. Essentially, ectoplasm counts as either corporeal or incorporeal at any given time, whichever is more beneficial to the wielder.

Ectoplasm is harmless in its natural state (often called raw ectoplasm) and can even be eaten safely by ghosts or living creatures. Ghost or other ectoplasmic beings that eat a 1-pound meal of raw ectoplasm once per day heal at double the normal rate, as if under the care of a person with the Heal skill (this effect does not stack with the effects of the Heal skill).

Ectoplasm that is not part of a creature’s body (including “blood” that has been separated from a wounded ectoplasmic

creature) decays into nothingness after 10 minutes. Certain spells (such as gentle repose), magic items, feats, and an alchemical substance called ectoplasmic stabilizer can preserve ectoplasm beyond this time limit. The ectoplasm from a creature has a recognizable smell to creatures that have acute senses (such as bloodhounds and other creatures with the scent ability). Of course, the 10minute time limit before ectoplasm decays makes tracking a creature by scent difficult. Certain feats and spells can create objects made of ectoplasm. Because ectoplasm has ghost touch properties, a weapon made of ectoplasm can be wielded by an incorporeal creature and works normally against an incorporeal creature (as with the ghost touch weapon property). Likewise, a suit of ectoplasmic armor can be worn by an incorporeal creature and counts toward the Armor Class of a creature being attacked by an incorporeal creature. Shaped ectoplasm has the consistency of whatever it is supposed to resemble (for example, ectoplasmic armor feels smooth and dry and is neither sticky nor slippery). pqqqqrs