Creating Samara from The Ring

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

**Spoilers**
If you haven't yet seen the movie The Ring (2003 American version), you may not want to read this thread, as it contains spoilers for the movie.
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Ok, I am interested in creating stats for the character Samara (the little girl) from The Ring, in hopes of one day running her as a BBEG, or as a character in an evil campaign. I own nearly every D&D book that WotC has printed, and several 3rd party things as well, so I'll accept suggestions from multiple book sources.

One of the first things I'd like to nail down is her race. Is she just a human with terrible powers? A human possessed by a demon? An actual demon or devil? A ghost?

Second, her class. I'm probably guessing an arcane class, most likely sorcerer. Probably nightmare would be her spell of choice, along with bestow curse. Both of those spells would probably be signature spells, as well as empowered/maximized.

Third, her means of transmission. In a modern campaign, I could just keep the videotape angle, but how about for a D&D campaign? A cursed tome seems most likely, perhaps with a mysterious note appearing instead of the phone call. For a Call of Cthulhu campaign, it could be either a book or something like a record, with either the phone call afterwards or the note again. Perhaps even a strange radio transmission.

Does anyone have any ideas? I would appreciate any help greatly.

 

[Gothmog]

I'd say she is probably a human fiendish ghost- the spirit of a child who was abused and died, but who also enjoyed inflicting harm upon others. I'd also tie her existance to a specific event or place, and unless that event/place is dealt with, she simply reforms if defeated. In this case, your idea of an arcane tome or scroll that the reader is magically compelled or cursed to copy (say Will save DC 25) is her focus, and unless all the copies of this scroll are destroyed, she will always come back. As for class and level- I dunno. The kid in the movie didn't seem to have any special training, but for D&D I am thinking sorcerer or psion, and probably not really high level to begin with (although with time you could advance her). Hope this helps.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

I'm giving this puppy a bump, along with what information I've gleaned from the other boards this is posted on.

Now, here's what I have so far (I've cross-posted this quesiton on other boards):

The idea of some kind of programmed image/magic mouth combo has appeal as the item of her transmission, as it would include the visions of the video tape. The visions and images, more that the story, was what made The Ring so scary. Perhaps it's some kind of magic item. Though instead of making a copy, it has to be given to someone unaware of its properties within seven days.

I've had couple people (I have this topic posted on some other boards) mention psionics. What psionic powers did you people have in mind? (I have the psionics handbook.)

Illusions would work for her terrible visions she shows people (silent image, minor image, major image, phantasmal killer (as her final death curse), and programmed image). Also nightmare and bestow curse. Also possibly unnerving gaze and death grimice from the Book of Vile Darkness. Chill touch with the burning brand effect would also work for the physical after-effects of the visions.

I don't think she would necessarily have a geas on the item of her transmission, as some people do die, while the particularly smart (or lucky) ones fulfill the conditions to avoid the final death curse.

I'm probably guessing she'd be a malevolent ghost now, but just for the sake of arguement, what was she when she was alive?

 

[Merlion]

I'm not a big fan of psionics, but from how it was presented it seems as though she had telepathic abilities of some kind in life. To me it was never clear if she was actualy evil in life or if she just unintentionaly disturbed people with her attempts at communicating through telepathic images.
I would say in life she was a human with physchic abilities, or if you actualy want to go the class route with it probably sorcerer.
I think the suggestions of illusion magic and a cursed/possesed item of some kind would fit best. as has been said the various "image" spells and phantasmal killer seem especialy apropriate. I suppose the easiest way to do it would be to make her a ghost with sorcerer levels who exists at once at the location of her death and in various cursed/possesed apropriate items.

 

[A'koss]

Samara was clearly only partially human (Anna was the mom, but who the father was...). It is alluded to in the Ring that she lived a conflicted existance - her good human half vs. her clearly evil half.

Doctor: You don't want to hurt anyone, do you?

Samara: But I do, and I'm sorry...

She never slept (inhuman), had an evil taint to her (frightened animals), projected horrible psychic images to those around her...

Samara's a half-fiend telepath, not a magic user. When she died she became a kind of psychic, fiendish, electromagnetic ghost. (I'd get out the biggest friggin' magnet I could find if I had to go up against her - erase her sorry butt! )

You could give the D&D Samara the power to create pictures that she could then make real (a la the fly our herione pulled from the TV image). Dimension Door (her stutter-jump), Curse, Death Gaze, Corrupting Touch, Mind Attacks (of a non-lethal variety, bloody noses and projected thoughts), Telekinesis, Neatness Freak (puts her victims carefully away in closets, in comfy chairs...), etc, etc.


Cheers,

A'koss.

 

[Piratecat]

Aaaah! Aaaah! Aaaah!

*runs away*

 

[Uzumaki]

If you really want to scare the snit out of your players, make her Sadako from the original Japanese version. Tell them to bring plenty of clean underwear.

 

[A'koss]

I've found, nearly across the board, that whichever version you see first will be your favorite.

I saw Ringu only after seeing the American version first and it wasn't a tenth as scary. I thought the "negative effect" death scenes in Ringu to be a bit cheezy and the pristine white dressed Sadako to be a lot less creepy that our uh, not-so-fresh Samara.

Sadako wins on the cooler name however...


A'koss.