Helping a friend: Spiritual dangers

[DMThac0]

A fellow DM, and really good friend of mine asked me for help, I willingly obliged and gave him a few ideas. I'd love to hear, and deliver, more ideas for him to work with. So, playgrounders, put on your thinking caps and tell me, how would you answer this request:


I need help figuring out dangers and "traps" or environmental effects for ghostbusting jobs in Waterdeep. The Undead monsters themselves are dangerous, but what sort of otherworldly spiritual dangers could I include to spice up the different jobs they take!

[Sparky McDibben]

Take inspiration from poltergeist and reskin traps to be chains animating and grappling/restraining PCs, strange messages that are difficult to understand, etc. Other pptions include letting the undead have a "bonewright" that makes traps put of undead flesh. Maybe they transmit disease in addition to damaging characters?

Not really a "trap", per se, but what if some good NPC (or party ally) got possessed and the undead steered them into a trap ridden hallway?

What if there are "ectoplasmic mists" floating around, and while they don't do any damage, they can inflict nasty effects? Disadvantage on Wisdom saves, echaustion, or slowly draining HD? Nothing that directly "attacks" the PCs, but makes it harder to recover. Plus, they shorten LoS and since they're not really mist, you have to burn a Turn Undead to part the mists, or cast protection from evil and good to move through them.

[DMThac0]

snip

I offered up the idea of animated objects flying about the room triggered by disturbing a location or item, glad to see it's on someone else's radar too.

The possessed guide idea sounds like fun, makes them wonder who's legit or not. I feel there should be a tell though, even if it's not RAW, something that they could learn to look for after a few mishaps and realize that this, or that, person is possessed.

I really like the idea of the ectoplasmic mists, it could really help sell the creepy atmosphere. Maybe a table of different effects and depending on how long, or whenever they enter a mist, they get hit with a random effect.

[Man_Over_Game]

If you can find a copy for your friend to read, the Curse of Strahd module not only has a lot of examples for creepy things that bump in the night, but it also gives a lot of great advice for DMing a horror-based game.

[DMThac0]

If you can find a copy for your friend to read, the Curse of Strahd module not only has a lot of examples for creepy things that bump in the night, but it also gives a lot of great advice for DMing a horror-based game.

He's currently a player in a CoS game, I'm sure that's where he's picked up the idea of putting more of the horror aspect into Dragon Heist.

[Vogie]

MonarchsFactory on Youtube has good drilldown into haunting and possession by a ghost in their last Halloween Episode (Link's blocked at work, search for Revamping Ghosts as Monsters for Halloween on Oct 17 2018). The Possession ideas specifically are great.

You could also

Refluff Mind flayer and Intellect Devourer mechanics into possessors. Perhaps it burns down charisma instead of Intelligence.
Spawns of Illusory attackers that can only be seen by certain characters, like a superpowered Phantasmal Force with a greater area of effect
Look up the Pathfinder Occult adventures, at the Medium and Spiritualist classes. Using their concepts for NPCs would be pretty awesome, and very different from some 5e monsters
Take a look at the Gith NPCs from the MM and MToF, and refluff them as the ghosts of spellcasters that can moving in and out of existence.
When the party disturbs things, they are stalked by Invisible Will O'Wisps, who then drop the invisibility to attack alongside the normal monsters, just feeling watched or followed up until that point.
Have them check out the Tactics of Ghosts (http://themonstersknow.com/undead-tactics-ghosts-mummies/) or the tactics of Specters, Wights and Wraiths (http://themonstersknow.com/undead-tactics-specters-wights-wraiths/) for even more information

[DMThac0]

Thanks for those links, I've never visited that site before, I think I found some new reading material for myself too :)