A half-ethereal Dvati

[gr8artist]

So, I had this idea for a character a long while back. No idea how I'd make it work, until now.
The character in the story is a young girl, who would have been born a twin. In the setting, necromancy is a dark magic that consumes life force to fuel its spells. Thus, most necromancers either die at a young age (or age more quickly) or they take to making ritual sacrifices, using other peoples' life forces for their spells.
A soul which is old has little power remaining in it, while a younger soul has more (typical bad guy trope - they always want virgins for sacrifices). One brilliant necromancer gets the idea of taking the life of an unborn child, granting him (practically) infinite power. He performs his ritual, killing the unborn infant, and leaves. He did not know that the mother was pregnant with twins. All of the necromantic power went to the surviving twin, instead of him, and he later becomes a recurring villain, blah blah blah.
What this leaves us with is a young girl with a nearly infinite supply of necromantic power, and her ghostly brother. Most of her spells involve giving her brother power, allowing him to manifest, etc.

My question: What (if any) would the adjustment be to play a Dvati (http://dndtools.eu/races/dragon-compendium--109/dvati--31/) which has one corporeal body and one ethereal body.
I'd basically have 1/2 hit dice, but full stats, and none of the benefits unless I'm using magic or whatever to allow my brother to manifest on the physical plane. The telepathy would be helpful, and I'd have an invisible scout, but I don't think creatures on the ethereal plane can see creatures on the material, so I could really only get cheesy when he's manifesting as merely incorporeal instead of ethereal.
Still just a +1?

[Doc_Maynot]

Well seeing as you are ignoring the fact that the remaining twin should be dying without their twin to keep them alive, you should have the ghost template on the sheet and all dvati benefits seeing as they are still in play, as a DM I would still enforce the +5 level adjustment for the ghost template and when your character died they would become one too. Just if the ghost twin is slain (unghosted, passed on, ect.) somehow, your character should start feeling the loss penalties of the twin. (Love the all of a sudden dvati interest on the boards btw!)

[gr8artist]

Hm, I hadn't thought about the ghost template. Is it really a +5 adjustment?
And I'd never looked at Dvati till I saw a recent thread about them, then this idea struck.

[Doc_Maynot]

Yeah, +5 for the ghost template. Thing about Dvatis is when one dies the other starts dying as well. Love them as a race, but they do have their drawbacks. And they mostly shine in melee classes (Weird, right?) and in my opinion they add +1 tiers to most melee classes they enter.

[Forrestfire]

The ghost is indeed 5 LA, but the Ghost Template Class (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a) doesn't require you to take all of them.

[Khatoblepas]

Yeah, +5 for the ghost template. Thing about Dvatis is when one dies the other starts dying as well. Love them as a race, but they do have their drawbacks. And they mostly shine in melee classes (Weird, right?) and in my opinion they add +1 tiers to most melee classes they enter.

No, they.... they really don't. They don't make Warblades Tier 2, no matter how many manuevers they can initiate in a turn. They make melee marginally more powerful (with actions) but less enduring.

Anyway, it would be impossible for a Dvati to have one twin have the Ghost Template, and the other not be, as they are one creature. Any template would apply to both bodies at once, as well as being Undead. The Ghost Template is also completely worthless in play, especially for +5 LA. I'd use the Savage Progression (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a) instead.

What level are you starting at? If it's 6th or higher, you could just take the Undead Leadership feat and stat out the brother as a Whatever 3/Ghost 1. You'd also have an inexhaustable supply of necromantic minions, perfect for a wellspring of necromantic energy.

[Doc_Maynot]

That has a class? O.O Must resist... urge to... always... take one level in the class...

And I said most, not all. You really can't bump up the maneuver using classes with dvati.

[Ramza00]

That has a class? O.O Must resist... urge to... always... take one level in the class...

And I said most, not all. You really can't bump up the maneuver using classes with dvati.

Don't forget to take human heritage so you lose many of the drawbacks of being an undead, that and the ghostly grasp feat

[Doc_Maynot]

Can one take human heritage to qualify for Able Learner/Chameleon PrC?

[Milo v3]

If you can, look in the Book of Templates. Add the Spirit template to the Dvati. Both bodies technically have the template now, but one of its abilities is to take a material corporeal form. Just have one body corporeal while the other isn't and it should fit.

Also, it's only 2 LA.

[OldTrees1]

Something that is not perfect but could work:
Have both children be ghosts but have the sister planshifted to the material plane. Thus one ghost is in a physical body and the other is in a ethereal(not manifested)/incorporeal(manifested).

1 Level of the Ghost template class would be sufficient.
Fluffwise: The undead nature of the brother has made the sister share many of the traits of the undead.

[The Oni]

Otherwise, screw that and ignore all Dvati fluff, the fact that you're not identical twins means you can't be straight Dvati anyway. Just assume you're very close siblings with some kind of bonding curse and it was only a lucky stroke of fortune that your brother's death didn't take you out too. If he is exorcized/unghosted you'll still take the Dvati twin-death effect. Then give the brother Ethereal and Manifestation traits (you can explain him not having Flight because his bond with the sister keeps him tethered to the earth, even when he's Ethereal.)

I'd say it gives you an LA of +2, which is dangerous in a low level game considering the half HP deal, but if you guys are starting at higher levels it may not be so bad.

[Segev]

Honestly, the easiest way to do this, I think, would be to play a dread necromancer on the girl and, at level 6, take a Cohort that is a ghost who is her brother. Undead Leadership might be even better than standard Leadership; IIRC, it lets her brother be only 1 ECL lower than her.

[OldTrees1]

Honestly, the easiest way to do this, I think, would be to play a dread necromancer on the girl and, at level 6, take a Cohort that is a ghost who is her brother. Undead Leadership might be even better than standard Leadership; IIRC, it lets her brother be only 1 ECL lower than her.

Undead Leadership grants you +2 leadership for undead, -4 for living and allows you to have skeletons/zombies as followers.

Improved Cohort is the feat you were thinking of.

[gr8artist]

Wow, thanks for all the feedback, guys. It appears that the advantages of having a spirit are better than I thought. I hate the idea of taking leadership, though. I'll look at some of the templates and such that you mentioned. Thanks.