"Haunted" as a type of "hazard"

[EricNoah]

We all know about ghosts, spectres, etc. But I was thinking about a less specific type of haunting where a malevolent presence exists, but it can't be attacked with a weapon or even killed per se. Instead of treating it like a monster, it would be treated like a hazard (like green slime).

With that kind of design, what would a haunted area be like? I was thinking there might be different types of hauntings. For example, in the wilderness perhaps a malevolent spirit causes the animals in an area to go insane and start attacking people with no provocation. Maybe this haunting inflicts a kind of "template" on the animals in the region.

What do you think?

 

[der_kluge]

There used to be stats for poltergeist. They would infect a specific area, and cause things to happen like moving objects, playing pranks, or throwing things.

So, for something to be "haunted", it would have to be inhabited by some sort of spirit, which could be turned, or fired via a daylight spell, or something to that effect.

Animated furniture can work well for this, too.

 

[EricNoah]

Turning has always sort of implied "temporarily out of the action." I could see turning being useful, but I wouldn't want it to be "the thing" that caused the haunting to end. Usually a haunting happens due to some kind of unfulfilled wish or desire on the part of whatever spirit is causing the trouble. Heroes would have to set something right. I wanted to get away from the idea of "a creature to kill" and make it more like "a situation to deal with." Something that maybe in itself doesn't even have stats.

 

[Nifft]

I'd suggest using the stats for a permanent guards & wards effect, but Turning can suppress the effect instead of casting dispel magic. Turning would of course have a "caster level check" just like dispel would.

-- N

 

[Gomez]

Getting rid of a haunting is more of a mystery solving exercise. Though you have to keep from getting hurt or killed by the ghosts in the meantime. You might want to set up the how’s and why's of the haunting and what is needed to let the restless spirits rest. I guess you could set up a several "traps" or effects of the haunting that the players have to overcome or experience during their investigations. You could even have some "good" spirit(s) trying to help while some "bad" spirit(s) that want to hinder or even kill the adventurers.

 

[der_kluge]

There's not really a mechanic for that, though I feel your pain. I often find myself skirting around the rules with regards to undead. Seems like they're a bit too well-defined sometimes!

Plus you're going to have the party cleric balking if they can't just wave it off with their holy symbol, or exposing it to daylight or something to that effect.

You could make it some sort of mind-affecting place. I read somewhere "there is no such thing as haunted places, just haunted people"

So you could have the entire thing be an illusion or a mind-infuencing affect.

That would certainly explain why a turn undead wouldn't work, but then you'd get people complaining about a lack of a will save. Or you could make it some sort of necromantic illusion.

I don't know... I'm stretching here.

 

[EricNoah]

Things a haunted area could do to heroes...

cause fear
inflict a curse
create illusions (or hallucinations)
try to communicate (dripping blood forms words)
impart knowledge
take them back in time/show a scene from the past
posess objects
posess animals
posess weak-willed people
posess dead bodies
posess paintings or other artwork
posess one or more PCs
cause PCs or others to speak in an ancient tongue
inflict a disease
damage/drain WIS or CON or CHA
paralyze (with fear)
create ectoplasmic goop (grease, entangle/web type effects)
change alignment of others
bestow temporary insanity or confusion
cause things to burst into flame
cause things to freeze

 

[Michael Morris]

But there's sentience behind all that Eric. All the other hazards have been unintelligent things. A haunting by it's nature is a thinking and often malevolent thing.

 

[EricNoah]

Maybe sentient, or maybe not all that sentient. Maybe more like a force of nature, or pure emotion without reason. What I'm envisioning is a lot more like a hazard or a trap than a creature with an AC and hit points.

 

[Michael Morris]

Maybe sentient, or maybe not all that sentient. Maybe more like a force of nature, or pure emotion without reason. What I'm envisioning is a lot more like a hazard or a trap than a creature with an AC and hit points.

They're not mutually exclusive. Think for a moment on gods. On a much grander scale than hauntings, gods also embody an emotion or sentiment. Their avatar is a sentient personification of this property, but as we all know destroying an avatar does nothing to destroy a god.

By same token (and on a smaller scale) a ghost that is "responsible" for a haunting is merely the avatar of that haunting per se. You might be able to destroy the ghost, but it does nothing to dispel the haunting. Achieving that should be much more difficult.

EDIT: This has a lot of possibilities that I'm only beginning to ponder.