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Yora
2014-05-22, 12:21 PM
I want to rewrite the abilities for ghosts and wraith, as I don't like how they are in the game I am using. But I havn't yet decided what exactly I want them to be like.
Wraith seem to have a lot a variants, but what would you personally consider the default traits and differences between ghosts and wraith?

Ghosts are the spirits of people who died a particularly disturbing deaths and can't rest. Wraith are the spirits of people who were killed by pure Evil.
Ghosts are white, wraiths are black. :smallamused:

hamlet
2014-05-22, 12:43 PM
I've always drawn the line that ghosts exist because of evil perpetrated upon them while wraiths (and specters actually) exist because of evil they themselves perpetrated.

Default traits? Well . . .

Probably the most defining traits for a ghost are, for me, that they inspire terror inherently and deludedly attempt to seek a return to a living state by displacing the souls/minds of the living (i.e., soul jar). They are trying to "find their way home" so to speak and are only really semi-sentient at this point. They're stuck in the moment of death.

Wraiths are similar, but malicious. They seek to continue their evil deeds, but are stuck in the moments of their last memories and are only semi-sentient. They seek to end lives by draining it from others.

At least, that's how I always differentiated between the two thematically in my campaigns. One's tragic, the other is freakin' terrifying.

Specters are like wraiths, but maintain more of their own minds and personality.

DM Nate
2014-05-22, 12:46 PM
Ghosts, wraiths, specters, wights...I could never tell any of them apart.

Airk
2014-05-22, 01:11 PM
Ghosts, wraiths, specters, wights...I could never tell any of them apart.

Now now. Wights are physical. They're more like extremely cranky zombies. :P

But you're right that all the various incorporeal undead are poorly defined and basically just a case of different words for the same thing.

Add to this the fact that myths, even within cultures, usually don't agree on what kinds of powers these things have, AND the fact that there really isn't any fiction that draws good distinctions (I mean, in Tolkien, there are clear differences between a "Wraith" and a "ghost", the former not really ever having DIED and the latter indeed being a spirit of a dead person, but Tolkien is about the least useful source ever for precisely determining what "powers" something should have.) and you're pretty much on your own here.

Yora
2014-05-22, 01:58 PM
Probably the most defining traits for a ghost are, for me, that they inspire terror inherently and deludedly attempt to seek a return to a living state by displacing the souls/minds of the living (i.e., soul jar). They are trying to "find their way home" so to speak and are only really semi-sentient at this point. They're stuck in the moment of death.

Wraiths are similar, but malicious. They seek to continue their evil deeds, but are stuck in the moments of their last memories and are only semi-sentient. They seek to end lives by draining it from others.

Yes, I very much agree with that. Ghosts often do harm unknowlingly or as a side effect of their confusion. Only in rare cases do they want do destroy all living people, and that's usually to compensate for being unable to do the thing they really want.

Wraiths are outright evil. They are fully aware of the suffering they bring and greatly enjoy it. That's why they do it.

One probably universal trait of ghosts is that they can move through wallls. Wraiths not necessarily, and I only have seen it outrightly stated in D&D 3rd edition.
Also, ghost are tied to a specific location, either that of their death or their remains. Rarely the home of their murderer. While I only know of wraiths moving around in Lord of the Rings, I've never seen any statement that they would be unablen to leave their lair if they should want to do so.

Rhynn
2014-05-22, 02:33 PM
Ghosts are "general," the default (un)dead spirit, whether created by interference or internal processes. They're frequently unaggressive, and may just be acting out events or seeking help.

Wraiths are hostile, inimical to life for no reason, and highly dangerous. They're probably mostly spontaneous (when someone extremely evil dies, or someone dies in the throes of incredibly powerful negative emotions, like hate), or the products of really specialized and bad magic.

That's basically "RuneQuest rules" but pretty much applies to D&D, too.

"Spectre" is just a general word for any ephemeral apparition, unless you actually need another specific type. (They exist in D&D because you need a different name for each +1 HD variation of a base creature, cf. OD&D humanoids from kobolds & goblins through to ogres, covering all the "major" HD levels.)


...I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming you were referring to that Magic: The Gathering game's color-coding system. :smallconfused:

However, in the interests of not seeing you run out of town on a rail, I would highly suggest that you avoid phrasings such as that in future. Without contest, it sounds... well, cartoonishly racist, plan and simple. :smalltongue:

Are you serious? Talk about sounding cartoonish - I thought people like you only existed in the fevered imaginations of people who use the words "politically correct" to describe anything they don't like.

Ghosts are depicted in shades of white, wraiths in shades of black.

Wraiths: 1 (http://www.rpgnow.com/images/4450/102714.jpg), 2 (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/libris_gallery/84752.jpg), 3 (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG258.jpg), 4 (http://paizo.com/image/content/PathfinderPawns/PZO1001-Wraith.jpg).

Ghosts... oh, just Google Image Search it if you've never seen a depiction of a ghost.

Or maybe I was just somehow magically able to see that Yora meant literally what they wrote...

Thrudd
2014-05-22, 02:44 PM
I want to rewrite the abilities for ghosts and wraith, as I don't like how they are in the game I am using. But I havn't yet decided what exactly I want them to be like.
Wraith seem to have a lot a variants, but what would you personally consider the default traits and differences between ghosts and wraith?

Ghosts are the spirits of people who died a particularly disturbing deaths and can't rest. Wraith are the spirits of people who were killed by pure Evil.
Ghosts are white, wraiths are black. :smallamused:

In 1e, both ghosts and wraiths are evil. Ghosts are the spirits of people who committed evil acts in life. They are almost entirely ethereal, but can be seen on the material. The mere sight of them can age a person 10 years and causes fear (saving throw allowed). They will try to possess people, and if that fails it can make itself partly material in order to touch them and cause more advanced aging. They are not described as having any connection to the negative energy plane and don't drain energy. Though they are described as undead and can be turned by clerics, they do not behave like any of the other undead, if you are killed by a ghost (due to old age) you don't become a ghost yourself.

Wraiths in 1e are not actually incorporeal, they are creatures of the negative energy plane with a material presence, formerly living. They are so strongly associated to the negative energy plane that they have no power in sunlight, which is why they rarely leave dark places. They deliver energy drain attacks as do most other undead. They are like a wight that is more strongly connected to the negative plane.

Negative energy undead can then be seen as formerly living beings which have somehow been attached or infected by the negative energy plane. All of these beings create more of their kind by killing living beings which then are infected with negative energy and become undead.

The weakest of these are ghouls, who don't drain energy but only paralyze with their touch, can be affected by normal weapons and aren't affected by the sun. Wights are the next step up, they don't like the sun but don't lose their powers in its light, and can only be damaged by silver or magic. Wraiths are a step up from them, losing all power in the sun but being harder to kill and harder to turn by clerics. Spectres are stronger yet, draining two energy levels with each touch. Vampires are the strongest of all, also draining two energy levels, and having a whole slew of powers in addition to their energy drain. Their strong connection to the negative energy plane is why they are outright killed by sunlight, rather than just losing their power.

Jay R
2014-05-22, 03:48 PM
Somebody becomes a wraith because of something that happens before his death (carrying a cursed ring, fighting wraiths, etc.)

Somebody becomes a ghost because of something that failed to happen before his death (needs to avenge something, complete a quest, etc.).

Fable Wright
2014-05-22, 04:29 PM
I see it like this:
Ghosts are the actual souls of people who died tied in a material body. They can grow and learn, and eventually overcome whatever shackles them to the material plane. They can be just as good or evil as a human, but sometime deaths screws with their head and they do things they don't intend.

Wraiths are people's spirits powered by a 'soul' of negative energy. They are the husks of what was left behind. They can be smart or cunning, they can memorize facts, and maybe even change tactics for powerful individuals, but the artificial soul that they have can't change in any meaningful sense. They can't grow as an individual, they can't adapt on their own, they can't choose their own motivation. They're all purely evil, souls with the need to siphon life energy and no morality to shackle them, driving around in the memories and mannerisms of the creatures whose spirit they stole.

Xuc Xac
2014-05-22, 11:27 PM
"Spectre" is just a general word for any ephemeral apparition, unless you actually need another specific type.

The same applies to "ghost" and "wraith".

Erik Vale
2014-05-23, 03:13 AM
True.

Also, at OP, I agree, it sounded stupid racist and I wanted to call you out on it, and I'm not exactly politically correct.

Ghosts are very situation dependent. They ranged from basically people repeating their last moments, souls wandering around confused, people who's spirits are trapped, to people with such great force of will that they don't move on and continue doing their thing. That's why ghosts have so much variance, I actually wouldn't suggest changing them... However you could do wraiths as just ghosts with a different sort of homebrewed abilities with that could be accessed, based on their fluff of evil spirit of malevolance etc etc.

Rhynn
2014-05-23, 03:16 AM
The same applies to "ghost" and "wraith".

The preconditions of this thread established by the OP are pretty obviously that ghosts and wraiths are somehow distinct.

Erik Vale
2014-05-23, 03:19 AM
The preconditions of this thread established by the OP are pretty obviously that ghosts and wraiths are somehow distinct.

And that S/he wants to change them. Make them all ghosts with various they can access based on what you want them to be specifically.

Yora
2014-05-23, 03:20 AM
I think it has also become established quite widely that wraiths kill by draining the life force of living beings. Ghosts who devour souls are rather uncommon though, and in those cases they usually get refered to by a special name.

Rhynn
2014-05-23, 03:47 AM
Ghosts are white (http://www.vanhiel.com/daniel/MC_images/ghost.jpg), wraiths are black (http://www.dotd.com/mm/wraith.gif). Literally. (Pictures from the AD&D 2E Monstrous Manual, which used color pictures, unlike the 1E MM and the 2E MCs.)

The life-drain bit is a good point, and Jay R's observation about how one becomes a wraith is a good one - and obviously refers to Ring-wraiths. This suggests that a wraith is a more corrupted or damaged thing, which seems to fit with how they're usually portrayed (not just in D&D). Their personalities are gone or damaged, replaced with a general inimitability towards life.

In Artesia: Adventures in the Known World, Shades are sort of halfway between a D&D shadow and wraith. While both Ghosts and Spirits of the Dead possess whatever Bindings (emotional ties to the world; things like Ambition, Despair, Ennui, Fear, Greed, Hate, Love...) they had in life, Ghosts specifically tend to have a strong Hate, Fury, Grief, Guilt, or Love Binding that kept them in the world (although you can also create the by binding a ghost to the world, usually by using a skull - most commonly the head of the dead person - as a locus). Both Ghosts and Spirits of the dead have the same Mental and Spiritual attributes the deceased did, and their skills and Gifts. The main difference is that a Spirit of the Dead completed its journey to the Underworld (and can only appear in the mortal world when summoned, usually on the Day of the Dead). Shades, though, are created when a soul is lost on the journey to the Underworld and trapped in Limbo; the emptiness of Limbo leeches out everything except hate. Shades are partly physical (unlike spirits), and only retain the deceased's Perception and Willpower, with all other attributes reduced to 0. Their only Binding is an extremely strong Hate for all living things. Probably not coincidentally, they're vulnerable to bright light. While spirits (including Ghosts and Spirits of the Dead) can make spiritual attacks, shades attack the body with their almost-incorporeal claws.

The fun bit is that A:AKW has mechanics for death which include rules for becoming a Ghost (something you have to actively attempt, unless someone Binds you) or a Shade (something that happens to you, possibly as a result of a Curse or e.g. being hanged or drowned).

Erik Vale
2014-05-23, 03:51 AM
Ghosts are white (http://www.vanhiel.com/daniel/MC_images/ghost.jpg), wraiths are black (http://www.dotd.com/mm/wraith.gif). Literally. (Pictures from the AD&D 2E Monstrous Manual, which used color pictures, unlike the 1E MM and the 2E MCs.)


Yes, ghosts are literally depicted as white while wraiths black, but as written it sounds like the sort of racist nonsense that belongs coming from the mouth of a really old guy stuck in his ways who everyone nods and laughs at because there's nothing they can do.

Rhynn
2014-05-23, 03:53 AM
Yes, ghosts are literally depicted as white while wraiths black, but as written it sounds like the sort of racist nonsense that belongs coming from the mouth of a really old guy stuck in his ways who everyone nods and laughs at because there's nothing they can do.

No, it doesn't. It sounded like an observation about the way TSR, WotC, and Paizo art depicts them.

You have to be cartoonishly oversensitive to get that subtext out of it.

Erik Vale
2014-05-23, 05:11 AM
No, I just have to not be thinking about actual colour in the first place [to point, ghost are also depicted as grey, full coloured and almost completely transparent, as well as invisible. None of which are white.. Ok, full colour but you get my point]. And given that I'm not the only one to go 'Dude, WTF?', I'm definitely not. I'm also didn't read that and automatically go 'Mod! Racist a**hole here!', I'm just saying there's better ways you could say it, like 'In depiction...', so there's no need to make Angel Bob and I strawmen.

Oh, as far as mechanics go, DnD also has that with the ghost class, saying someone could die when they're near/at level up or would be getting a level, they could take a level in the class.

Rhynn
2014-05-23, 06:56 AM
Okay, so you're saying it wasn't an observation (with possibly a side of humor, what with the ":smallamused:"), but it was a value statement of some sort. I mean, to actually be a racist statement, it can't be, for instance, an observation of a fact (that may be a trend caused by institutional racism, e.g. "Middle Eastern people are usually villains in media" or "most foreign people in 24 are evil and most evil people in 24 are foreign") - right?

So what sort of value statement did you read into Yora's comment? That ghosts are Caucasian and therefore good, and that wraiths are of African descent and therefore less worthy? Seriously, break down the comment and it's implications and subtext or something. The word "black" doesn't make a statement racist, even if it's used as shorthand for certain ethnic outward traits. (Which was obviously not the case here, given the context.)

Erik Vale
2014-05-23, 07:31 AM
Okay, so you're saying it wasn't an observation (with possibly a side of humor, what with the ":smallamused:"), but it was a value statement of some sort.

No, I'm saying that when I initially read it, it sounded like a value statement. I doubted it actually was though which is why I didn't go 'call mod'.



So what sort of value statement did you read into Yora's comment? That ghosts are Caucasian and therefore good, and that wraiths are of African descent and therefore less worthy? Seriously, break down the comment and it's implications and subtext or something. The word "black" doesn't make a statement racist, even if it's used as shorthand for certain ethnic outward traits. (Which was obviously not the case here, given the context.)
Here's the immidiate context I got which gave me a value statement as you suggested [what I perceived in brackets]:


Ghosts are the spirits of people who died a particularly disturbing deaths and can't rest. Wraith are the spirits of people who were killed by pure Evil.
Ghosts are white [race], wraiths are black [race]:smallamused:[yes, I just said that]
I acknowledge black doesn't necessarily make racist, particularly in DnD where the only black races I can think of off the top of my head are Drow [who are evil but anyhow] and Diopsid [chaotic I think], but immediate connotations made it sound racist. It wasn't intentionally being raciest, ok, it just could have been said a lot better, particularly given the emoticon.

Yora
2014-05-23, 08:05 AM
The life-drain bit is a good point, and Jay R's observation about how one becomes a wraith is a good one - and obviously refers to Ring-wraiths. This suggests that a wraith is a more corrupted or damaged thing, which seems to fit with how they're usually portrayed (not just in D&D). Their personalities are gone or damaged, replaced with a general inimitability towards life.
I think generally, a ghost is still the same person it was in life with most of their memories and personalties, though possibly twisted in some way.
Wraiths retain almost nothing of their former self. If they do remember the person they were before, it no longer matters.

erikun
2014-05-24, 01:50 AM
Perhaps I just like the ideas behind how World of Darkness handles things, but I like the idea of a Ghost being the spirit of a person who has recently died (probably still around for unfulfilled reasons) while a Wraith is more of just a raw emotion still lingering. Wraiths could be created by just a raw emotion being left behind after death, through some sort of curse, or through a ghost existing for so long that only their emotion and desire for something to be done exists.

How the border between Ghost-Wraith works is up to you. :smallsmile: For me, I think it might be neat to question at what point a ghost (which presumably can still be satisfied and pass on) still retains enough to be a ghost and when it is fully a wraith (which would not converse and has lost reason).

SiuiS
2014-05-24, 02:05 AM
Ghosts are not creatures. Try are environmental hazards. You do not kill a ghost; you solve the hazard. Beig afflicted by a ghost and being cursed can look pretty damn similar.

Wraiths are creatures. Wraiths feed. Wraiths are malignant.

An encounter with a ghost is like walking I to a trap. Maybe you're stuck being slightly hypnotized and playing out part of the final drama until someone figured out the mystery and changes the ending, satisfying the ghost. Maybe you just hold a proper burial after finding all the scattered bones. Maybe you just run the hell away. An encounter with a wraith is an actual encounter, with a target that you battle and probably a lot of supernatural resiliency; you still need rituals for a wraith but those rituals empower you to put it down rather than actively undo the manifestation.

Most games have multiple spirit monsters because they stem from D&D and that game was bad at having multiple strengths for monsters, instead making each synonym slightly stronger and or different. Hell, the thematics between some wraith stories and some wight stories match completely. Same with ghosts, wraiths, shadows and spectres.

Milo v3
2014-05-24, 02:40 AM
Diopsid [chaotic I think].

Just saying, Diopsid's are bugs. Not black.

DM Nate
2014-05-24, 02:52 AM
Most games have multiple spirit monsters because they stem from D&D and that game was bad at having multiple strengths for monsters, instead making each synonym slightly stronger and or different. Hell, the thematics between some wraith stories and some wight stories match completely. Same with ghosts, wraiths, shadows and spectres.

That's exactly why I always got confused. "Some kind of incorporeal dead creature appears! What do you do???"

Erik Vale
2014-05-24, 03:05 AM
Just saying, Diopsid's are bugs. Not black.

They're black beetles with red eyes [the sort of thing that screams evil normally] :smallconfused: Same as Thri-Kreen being Yellow mantises [Apparently that's the plural of mantis].

Milo v3
2014-05-24, 03:13 AM
They're black beetles with red eyes [the sort of thing that screams evil normally] :smallconfused: Same as Thri-Kreen being Yellow mantises [Apparently that's the plural of mantis].

I'd say they're green rather than black, but meh.... They're bugs.... I don't think skin colour was on their minds when they made them. Especially when black isn't mentioned anywhere in the description at all aside from darkvision.

Erik Vale
2014-05-24, 04:23 AM
I'd say they're green rather than black, but meh.... They're bugs.... I don't think skin colour was on their minds when they made them. Especially when black isn't mentioned anywhere in the description at all aside from darkvision.

*Looks at picture*
Hmm. Could call it a dark green where shadows are making it look black I suppose. And no I don't think so. Partially because they don't have 'skin' over looking like a particular sort of beetle but anyhow.

Yora
2014-05-24, 05:10 AM
Oh, shut it.

The topic is ghosts and wraiths, not racist rainbows.

DM Nate
2014-05-24, 07:17 AM
Oh, shut it.

The topic is ghosts and wraiths, not racist rainbows.

Why's it gotta be rainbows? You got something against gay people now?

:-P

Thrudd
2014-05-24, 04:30 PM
That's exactly why I always got confused. "Some kind of incorporeal dead creature appears! What do you do???"

Cleric tries to turn it! (rolls a 16)
DM: It is not affected!
Players: Oh sh**, this is a bad one. Lets get out of here!

What else do you need to know? :smallwink:

JusticeZero
2014-05-26, 10:44 PM
I try to describe them differently, but part of the issue is that the MM is an extremely inclusive and exhaustive work. If you use a fifth of the creatures in it, and half the player races for that matter, your world will be over crowded and a Chaotic mess.

veti
2014-05-27, 12:18 AM
You didn't specify what system you're using, but since you want a new rule anyway, here's my take:

Ghosts take incorporeality seriously. They can be seen, heard and felt, but they can't be photographed, recorded or touched. They can't physically interact with anything for themselves. Their presence, or their touch, may in some cases feel like extreme cold, but even then that's only a feeling - it won't actually register on a thermometer, if you have one. They may, or may not, be wholly imaginary.

Wraiths are actual physical beings. They may (or may not) be able to do some ghost-like things, such as passing through solid barriers, but they can also interact with the physical world. They can lift things, use weapons, hit people, be photographed and recorded.

Edit: Also, a ghost is usually associated with a specific place (or area). It can't leave the place it haunts. A wraith has no such tie - it can move purposefully, wherever it wants or needs to go.


Ghosts are not creatures. Try are environmental hazards. You do not kill a ghost; you solve the hazard. Beig afflicted by a ghost and being cursed can look pretty damn similar.

Wraiths are creatures. Wraiths feed. Wraiths are malignant.

Yeah. This too. But a ghost isn't necessarily a curse, it may be neutral (concerned solely with its own business), or even helpful (providing information you couldn't otherwise know). Think of it like a recording of a dead person, played back directly into the mind of the observer. How it interacts with the observer - depends largely on the observer themself.

The wraith is probably "malignant" with regard to life in general, but it also (unlike the ghost) has a degree of free will - which means it may choose to help you (for reasons of its own, which it may or may not choose to share).

SiuiS
2014-05-27, 02:10 AM
I meant more in the sense that one is a creature and the other is an event. But you've nailed it.

Yora
2014-05-27, 05:14 AM
Is a ghost actually capable of directly harming creatures with it's attacks? In AD&D, all they could do was to rapidly age anyone who saw them or touched them, which might be a bit extreme, as it isn't anything that can be healed.

hamishspence
2014-05-27, 06:11 AM
In 3.5 they could - if they got the Corrupting Touch trait when created:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/ghost.htm

hamlet
2014-05-27, 08:13 AM
Is a ghost actually capable of directly harming creatures with it's attacks? In AD&D, all they could do was to rapidly age anyone who saw them or touched them, which might be a bit extreme, as it isn't anything that can be healed.

They could also soul jar you, which essentially sent your spirit out . . . somewhere . . . while the ghost occupied it.

Also also, you could pick up the Van Richten Guide to Ghosts and it gave them lots of other nifty things to do including varying power levels for various levels of ghost from 1-5. A level 1 ghost is nothing more than an oddity or, at worst, a nuisance. A level 5 ghost was an absolute terror. Baseline from the MM was level 3.

Yora
2014-05-27, 08:46 AM
Giving a ghost more cool powers is always easy. I am looking more for the very basics of what is widely considered to be the genric standard for ghosts.
Talking primarily about what ghosts and wraiths are, instead of going specifically after abilities, seems to have worked out really well so far. Designing the concept first and thinking about representing it in game rules probably got us a lot further than throwing together ideas for cool possible abilities.

I feel like I have a much better idea now, what I want ghosts and wraiths to be.
Wraiths are ephemral, but still mostly physical. Their bodies are semi-solid black mist and they can wield weapons and attack with claws (which can also look like weapons, but actual magic weapons may be better). Being hit by the claws drains a living creatures life force. They are the remains of highly corrupted people who have lost almost all of their humanity and are barely anything but pure evil and hatred. The one thing I am still uncertain about is the matter of legs and flight. I tend strongly towards legless creatures that appear to be wrapped in black robes and fly around as they please, but the ringwraiths and the wraith soldiers from Witcher 2 are also very cool. However, if I recall it correctly, the humanoid shape of the ringwraiths was not their true form and just a way to interact with living creatures, and the wraith soldiers from Witcher don't seem to be actually wraiths at all.
Ghosts are the spirits of the dead, retaining most of their former self, though often confused and somewhat twisted. They are also truly incorporeal and only occasionally become visible. However, their visible form is just an image and can not be directly interacted with. I do quite like the idea of a ghosts form not being automatically identifyable as a ghost. Seeing and even talking to a stranger, who turns out to not having possibly been there seems like something really cool, that I don't remember having seen in any RPG monsters. A ghost can not be destroyed with weapons or most magic, only be laid to rest or exorcised. I think I go without possessing the living, that seems to be something rather rare, and most commonly is associated with demons, who already do this commonly in my setting.

But I think sometimes, I'd also like to have fights with a ghost sorcerer, just because it's cool. Not quite sure how to do that, if it would be impossible to harm it. Maybe go the D&D 3rd edition route and make it possible to harm it with magic, but it only disables the ghost for a few days before it returns.

Jay R
2014-05-27, 09:39 AM
Giving a ghost more cool powers is always easy. I am looking more for the very basics of what is widely considered to be the genric standard for ghosts.

A ghost should fly, be immaterial, be able to turn invisible, and have a fear attack that the ghost himself can't really turn off.

This is going to sound silly, but an excellent source of what ghosts are generically expected to be is Casper.

Yora
2014-05-27, 09:51 AM
I kind of have to agree. :smallamused:

Not sure about the fear aura, though. While fear is common when encountering a ghost, it's because it's an undead who could be an actual serious threat. There are good reasons to be afraid, it's not just because of a magical compulsion.

Rhynn
2014-05-27, 11:33 AM
Not sure about the fear aura, though. While fear is common when encountering a ghost, it's because it's an undead who could be an actual serious threat. There are good reasons to be afraid, it's not just because of a magical compulsion.

I always thought D&D undead should cause fear, but then I figured out that they do, but much better than some mechanic: they cause fear in the players, because aging and energy drain are freaking terrifying. If the cleric doesn't turn 'em first go, and you're not positive they're skeletons, ghouls, or zombies, you run!