Ghosts, telekinesis and manifestation

[Grand Poobah]

Hi,

I'm about to DM a module and one of the encounters is with a ghost/sorc. The tactics given in the module state that the ghost uses its telekinesis to throw objects around the room to scare away the PCs. If they don't flee the ghost manifests and uses its Frightful Moan and then its spells.

However, the MM states that a ghost can't affect anything in the material world until it manifests which makes me think it can't use telekinesis until it manifests.

So, my question is, does a ghost's telekinesis work on the material plane without the need to manifest?

Thanks

 

[Malachei]

You're right.

The WOTC archive There, Not There (Part Five) has more details on etherealness.

 

[radmod]

Interesting quandary.
This seems to fall in the "because it says it in the book" category.

If you still want to do it and someone calls you on it AND you don't want to use the age-old DM excuse of "because I said so" you could always try coming up with a clever reason.
Such as:
It's not the actual ghost doing it. The lingering malevolent after-effect of the ghost exists as a telekinetic force that can only move minor objects around.
OR
It's a special exception to the rules: this ghost is so attuned to it's location that it can affect things on the Material Plane though normally a ghost can't. (Still that's "because I said so." It's just worded differently)

 

[Grand Poobah]

Thanks for the replies. I am leaning towards the MM definition and having the ghost manifest before it uses telekinesis. I'll just have to have the ghost's face and hand sticking out of a wall/floor/ceiling somewhere the PCs can't easily spot it.

 

[Malachei]

You're welcome. And the ghost will be really difficult to spot, then -- and if they manage, that's fine, because they should have some chance to affect the ghost, and, unless they can freely go ethereal themselves, they will have a hard time when it just stops manifesting and waits for a better opportunity. Mostly, it should get the surprise round. And, being a ghost, even if they defeat it, unless the root cause is somehow cured, it will be back... ghosts make inconvenient enemies.

 

[Tamlyn]

Ghosts make for awesome (from the DM's POV) recurring villains. The malevolence ability is actually a lot of fun. My players thought they had defeated one and I didn't bring him up for weeks and weeks. Until a random dwarf attacked them during dinner. It wasn't till halfway through the fight they realized what was going on.