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View Full Version : I Ain't 'Fraid Of Myself: Campagin as Freindly Ghosts



Leliel
2008-02-09, 12:31 PM
Now, in today's edition of "Leiliel's Maverick Campagin Ideas", I thought I'd post the idea that lead to the "Non-Evil Undead" idea: A D&D campagin as non-evil *holds flashlight under face* GHHHHOSSSTSSSS...Did I overdo that? Anyway, I had transitioned to plain Undead when I thought that the Ghost's Rejuvination ability would remove any sense of challenge...Until I realized that it is possible to saddle the PCs with a nice negative level every time they had to use that ability. So...

So, is this a good idea? How would you run such a campagin? What would be some good antagonist ideas? What would you throw in the backstory to explain why these spooks are working together? How hard should you slap the joker who decides to name his character "Casper"?

Few notes:

1) Yes, I know about Wraith: The Oblivion. You don't have to tell me.

2) I've already thought up an artifact that turns positive energy spells imto negative versions. So yes, the Cleric will have a place.

3) Ditch the Charisma requirement.

*Hums theme to "Ghostbusters*

Starsinger
2008-02-09, 12:36 PM
I wanna say there's a book called Ghostwalk that actually deals with that.. but I don't really remember much about the book, having only read it once while waiting in line at Borders..

Storm Bringer
2008-02-09, 12:52 PM
So, is this a good idea?
It can work, and if it does, it'll be awesome.

How would you run such a campagin?
god knows, I don't have any DM'ing XP.

What would be some good antagonist ideas?
Overzelous Clerics wishing to kill all undead.
Evil cultists seeking to control the undead.
Other ghosts, who are after something the players have or want.
Outsiders of some sort, seeking to prevent the players Getting Into The Afterlife for whatever reason.
Caporeal undead, who don't like competion for scariest Being in campgain world
An assassin who killed one or more of the players, and forced them/him/her to come back as a ghost as punishment for some misdeed (or 'cos they pissed off thier employer), and is now seeking to prevent them Getting Into the Afterlife

What would you throw in the backstory to explain why these spooks are working together?
A few ideas:
A) A Macguffin they all need to Get Into The Afterlife
B) A person they need to kill to Get Into The Afterlife
C) A Task they must preform to Get Into The Afterlife
D) A common desire to Get Into the Afterlife:smallbiggrin:
E) they knew each other before the all died for whatever reason, and when they all came back as ghosts in the same spot, they stuck together.
F) they didn't know each other before they died, but were killed at the same time and/or in the same manner, making them all appear as ghosts in the same spot.
How hard should you slap the joker who decides to name his character "Casper"?
hard enough to change his DNA, so that years form now, His decendants will clutch thier heads and shout "what the hell was that?":smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin:

Fax Celestis
2008-02-09, 12:56 PM
I wanna say there's a book called Ghostwalk that actually deals with that.. but I don't really remember much about the book, having only read it once while waiting in line at Borders..

Ghostwalk is a great book but was largely forgotten due to it being a 3.0 book released nearly in time with 3.5e. The Wizards site does have a 3.5 update web enhancement for Ghostwalk that pretty much nobody seems to know about. I'd heavily recommend it, if you're planning on running a ghost campaign.

Also, you know about Oblivion: do you know about Orpheus?

Leliel
2008-02-09, 01:08 PM
Also, you know about Oblivion: do you know about Orpheus?

Yep. I actually like it better than Wraith.

Fax Celestis
2008-02-09, 01:15 PM
Yep. I actually like it better than Wraith.

Good, good. A lot of people don't realize that it's a direct sequel. Oblivion ended with "Ends of Empire" (in the same fashion that Vampire ended with "Gehenna") five whole years before the metaplot culminated in the apocalypse/gehenna/ascension, and Orpheus came out directly after.

TheThan
2008-02-09, 02:19 PM
I’ve toyed with the idea myself.

My idea was that since they’re the restless undead, they have to discover why they can’t go to their afterlives, and then they have to remedy it. But since they’re heroes it’s not an easy task.

But since I don’t have a copy of ghostwalk in my library of dnd books, it never got past the initial idea stage.

Collin152
2008-02-09, 02:22 PM
Ghostwalk is a great book but was largely forgotten due to it being a 3.0 book released nearly in time with 3.5e. The Wizards site does have a 3.5 update web enhancement for Ghostwalk that pretty much nobody seems to know about. I'd heavily recommend it, if you're planning on running a ghost campaign.

Also, you know about Oblivion: do you know about Orpheus?

They have a 3.5 update for it?
This I needed to know.
Even so, Ghostwalk Ghosts are a little differant from typical ghosts, but they play more balanced.

Fax Celestis
2008-02-09, 02:23 PM
They have a 3.5 update for it?
This I needed to know.
Even so, Ghostwalk Ghosts are a little differant from typical ghosts, but they play more balanced.

Yup. Right here. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20031225a)

(And yes, Sherem-Lar and Sherezem-Lar Sorcery didn't change a bit.)

Jack_Simth
2008-02-09, 03:31 PM
Now, in today's edition of "Leiliel's Maverick Campagin Ideas", I thought I'd post the idea that lead to the "Non-Evil Undead" idea: A D&D campagin as non-evil *holds flashlight under face* GHHHHOSSSTSSSS...Did I overdo that? Anyway, I had transitioned to plain Undead when I thought that the Ghost's Rejuvination ability would remove any sense of challenge...Until I realized that it is possible to saddle the PCs with a nice negative level every time they had to use that ability. So...

Careful with that - by default, the Ghost's Rejuvination ability requires a HD check - DC 16 - it's not a sure thing before ECL 20 (character level 15). Level loss (or redefining level drain to permanent negative levels, bough off by XP) would be fine, then.


So, is this a good idea? How would you run such a campagin? What would be some good antagonist ideas? What would you throw in the backstory to explain why these spooks are working together? How hard should you slap the joker who decides to name his character "Casper"?

1) It's a good idea if everyone involved will have fun with it. Depends on the players and the DM. But it's fairly fresh, so it'll likely go over well if you can pull it off.
2) Get a rough idea of the layout, come up with some reason that they're all unable to rest, a few orginizations that won't like them, and go from there.
3) There's any number of reasons - the same thing binds them to this world, perhaps.
4) "Dude, seriously, why a cartoon ghost when there's so many less well known ones to choose from?"


Few notes:

1) Yes, I know about Wraith: The Oblivion. You don't have to tell me.

2) I've already thought up an artifact that turns positive energy spells imto negative versions. So yes, the Cleric will have a place.

Don't need the artifact for Clerics, just Druids and Bards - Good clerics can still prepare Inflict spells, they just can't spontaneously cast them. Simplest method is to let undead of any type take Inflict spells if they would normally take Cure spells.

You'll need to think about how to deal with a Ghost Cleric deciding to try to Turn Undead, though...


3) Ditch the Charisma requirement.

Dude, seriously - it requires a charisma of *6* - if you're rolling dice, just upgrade to that before slapping on the template. It's not going to come up at all in a point-buy with Core races, and the maximum of 3 points of difference on the charisma score between what was rolled and what was updated isn't going to be game breaking - you know such a character isn't going to be charisma-based anyway.


*Hums theme to "Ghostbusters*

The Ghost template is a pretty strong template (which is why it's LA +5 - but like most LA, it's not really worth what you'd lose from a character level), but it comes with a serious inconvenience: Wealth - they can't readily get new equipment. You can't simply pick up some gold, take it to a Wizard, and hire him to Craft you a Cloak of Charisma + 1, then pick it up from him - you can't handle the gold, you can't wear the cloak. How do you want to handle wealth? You might want to try removing the exalted feats from the Vow of Poverty and giving them all an equivalent set of bonuses, while not really enforcing RP requirements from it - they can already fly and walk through walls, and they can grab special abilities that will let them do stuff at range. Make it so they <i>can't</i> use any magical items or alchemical items, and you're good to go. Alternately, you need to arrange some method by which they can gain items - perhaps by interring it with their physical remains.

Fax Celestis
2008-02-09, 03:36 PM
3) Ditch the Charisma requirement.

Check the Ghost Brute template in Libris Mortis too.

Leliel
2008-02-10, 04:35 PM
Careful with that - by default, the Ghost's Rejuvination ability requires a HD check - DC 16 - it's not a sure thing before ECL 20 (character level 15). Level loss (or redefining level drain to permanent negative levels, bough off by XP) would be fine, then.

That's what I meant.

1) It's a good idea if everyone involved will have fun with it. Depends on the players and the DM. But it's fairly fresh, so it'll likely go over well if you can pull it off.
2) Get a rough idea of the layout, come up with some reason that they're all unable to rest, a few orginizations that won't like them, and go from there.
3) There's any number of reasons - the same thing binds them to this world, perhaps.
4) "Dude, seriously, why a cartoon ghost when there's so many less well known ones to choose from?"

Good points.

Don't need the artifact for Clerics, just Druids and Bards - Good clerics can still prepare Inflict spells, they just can't spontaneously cast them. Simplest method is to let undead of any type take Inflict spells if they would normally take Cure spells.

Yeah, I'll keep that.

You'll need to think about how to deal with a Ghost Cleric deciding to try to Turn Undead, though...

Simple. I'll make it so it only effects hostile undead.

Dude, seriously - it requires a charisma of *6* - if you're rolling dice, just upgrade to that before slapping on the template. It's not going to come up at all in a point-buy with Core races, and the maximum of 3 points of difference on the charisma score between what was rolled and what was updated isn't going to be game breaking - you know such a character isn't going to be charisma-based anyway.

Sorry. That came out of a misunderstanding of Charisma.

The Ghost template is a pretty strong template (which is why it's LA +5 - but like most LA, it's not really worth what you'd lose from a character level), but it comes with a serious inconvenience: Wealth - they can't readily get new equipment. You can't simply pick up some gold, take it to a Wizard, and hire him to Craft you a Cloak of Charisma + 1, then pick it up from him - you can't handle the gold, you can't wear the cloak. How do you want to handle wealth? You might want to try removing the exalted feats from the Vow of Poverty and giving them all an equivalent set of bonuses, while not really enforcing RP requirements from it - they can already fly and walk through walls, and they can grab special abilities that will let them do stuff at range. Make it so they <i>can't</i> use any magical items or alchemical items, and you're good to go. Alternately, you need to arrange some method by which they can gain items - perhaps by interring it with their physical remains.

Hmmm...I didn't think of that. I'll work on it.



I can't think of anything else to say so I'll just say this line in order to get around the board's "10 character minimum".

Fax Celestis
2008-02-10, 04:38 PM
You'll need to think about how to deal with a Ghost Cleric deciding to try to Turn Undead, though...

Actually, according to Libris Mortis, undead clerics automatically rebuke rather than command, regardless of alignment.