Hallow sites and Ghosts

[Beale Knight]

According to the Hallow spell, “any dead body interred in a hallowed site cannot be turned into an undead creature.”

According to the Ghost (SRD) entry, “Ghosts are the spectral remnants of intelligent beings who, for one reason or another, cannot rest easily in their graves.”

I set part of an adventure in the tomb of a goodly warrior from a past age. His tomb proper (the last part of the “dungeon”) is the site of a Hallow spell. His sarcophagus is difficult to break into, but not impossible.
I decided that if his sarcophagus is broken into and anything from within taken, it would constitute a condition wherein the dead warrior could not rest easily in his grave. So if/when the characters broke into the sarcophagus and took some of the choice items within, the warrior’s ghost would rise to “convince” them to put them back.

I’m interested in opinions on reconciling the Hallow spell effect with the condition that cause a Ghost to rise. On the one hand it seems the Hallow spell would trump the Ghost condition, on the other it seems reasonable that a powerful entity would rise to defend what is his. Because it’s a goodly hero I’m inclined to allow him to rise as a ghost under his own control, but disallow any chance of someone Raising him as a skeleton, zombie, etc.

 

[Telperion]

According to the Hallow spell, “any dead body interred in a hallowed site cannot be turned into an undead creature.”

According to the Ghost (SRD) entry, “Ghosts are the spectral remnants of intelligent beings who, for one reason or another, cannot rest easily in their graves.”

I set part of an adventure in the tomb of a goodly warrior from a past age. His tomb proper (the last part of the “dungeon”) is the site of a Hallow spell. His sarcophagus is difficult to break into, but not impossible.
I decided that if his sarcophagus is broken into and anything from within taken, it would constitute a condition wherein the dead warrior could not rest easily in his grave. So if/when the characters broke into the sarcophagus and took some of the choice items within, the warrior’s ghost would rise to “convince” them to put them back.

I’m interested in opinions on reconciling the Hallow spell effect with the condition that cause a Ghost to rise. On the one hand it seems the Hallow spell would trump the Ghost condition, on the other it seems reasonable that a powerful entity would rise to defend what is his. Because it’s a goodly hero I’m inclined to allow him to rise as a ghost under his own control, but disallow any chance of someone Raising him as a skeleton, zombie, etc.

I think I would just leave the hero alone, and inscribe a Glyph of Warding on the sarcophagus. If you want a more powerful protection then Glyph of Warding, Greater is always an option. If you don't simply want to blast the offending intruder to bits (always an option) then you could bind a Summon Monster spell into the Glyph, or even a Planar Ally spell. Both are viable options in my opinion, and they don't mess with the Hallow spell cast upon the gravesite. Of course Glyph of Warding is a one time only effect, once it is triggered, so someone needs to come an re-cast it. Maybe a priest of a suitable deity, who takes care of said burial ground? He could come wipe the dust of the floor once a week and check that the Glyph is still there.

Or, you can just forget about all these rules and go with something with flavor. An undead guardian of the tomb is always a nice "suprise", especially if that undead is benefiting from the effects of the Hallow spell instead the other way around. Not all undead need to be evil and filled with negative energy, you know...

 

[Nifft]

It's not a ghost, it's a Blinking, moaning man-sized Iron Golem.

-- N

 

[Beale Knight]

I think I would just leave the hero alone, and inscribe a Glyph of Warding on the sarcophagus. If you want a more powerful protection then Glyph of Warding, Greater is always an option. If you don't simply want to blast the offending intruder to bits (always an option) then you could bind a Summon Monster spell into the Glyph, or even a Planar Ally spell. Both are viable options in my opinion, and they don't mess with the Hallow spell cast upon the gravesite. Of course Glyph of Warding is a one time only effect, once it is triggered, so someone needs to come an re-cast it. Maybe a priest of a suitable deity, who takes care of said burial ground? He could come wipe the dust of the floor once a week and check that the Glyph is still there.

Well there are other guardians in places (I did make use of Summon Monster as part of a trap on the box itself), and, for long involved reasons, having someone come by to maintain the tomb is right out.

Or, you can just forget about all these rules and go with something with flavor. An undead guardian of the tomb is always a nice "suprise", especially if that undead is benefiting from the effects of the Hallow spell instead the other way around. Not all undead need to be evil and filled with negative energy, you know...

That's what I was thinking. When entombed, there were plenty of guard and wards etc put in place by the folks that did the entombing. It just seemed to me that the dead hero would be so personally offended when stuff was grabbed from his sarcophagus (as odd as that sounds out of context) he'd want to rise and set things right. Not that there's even much in the way of super-nifty stuff there with him, it's just something that felt right.

I think that flavor will trump stingy rule interpretation in this case.

 

[Beale Knight]

It's not a ghost, it's a Blinking, moaning man-sized Iron Golem.

-- N

nah, the entombers couldn't afford a golem. And it'd kind of wreck the pretty low level I had in mind.