Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Is Ghostwalk any good?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="carpedavid" data-source="post: 949410" data-attributes="member: 6971"><p><strong>To get back on topic...</strong></p><p></p><p>I picked up Ghostwalk a couple of days ago, and just finished my first read through last night. My primary complaint is the odd organization of the material. You get lots of rules for certain activities, like posession, before you ever see mention of it as a power, or even see the mechanics for it. Additionally, I never got a complete sense of what a "ghost" character's properties were until I looked at the ghost template in the monster section.</p><p></p><p>Once you get past that, it's pretty neat.</p><p></p><p>It does, indeed, provide all the rules you need for playing ghostly PCs. As they explain, though, ghosts in Ghostwalk aren't the typical monster manual version of a ghost - they aren't malevolent entities powered by negative energy. In other words, they aren't undead.</p><p></p><p>Instead, they're defined to be the actual soul of a character that hasn't quite yet made it to the afterlife - they're spirits that belong on another plane, but are existing on the material plane. In other words, outsiders.</p><p></p><p>Here's where the book can come into conflict with existing campaigns. Most of the justification for having ghostly PCs of this type comes from the included cosmology and the associated method by which spirits enter the afterlife. If your campaign already has a cosmology (as mine does) and explanations for how the soul enters the afterlife (as mine does), you'll have to come up with your own justification for how ghostly PCs of this type can exist.</p><p></p><p>If you can create an explanation for your campaign setting, the rules for ghostly PCs are pretty compelling. Once you become a ghost, you advance in the eidolon (or optional eidolancer) class - which is where you develop your ghostly powers. The eidolon gives the fighter's BAB progression plus a Ghost feat every other level. There are lots of feats to choose from, and six (if I remember correctly) groupings of feats that focus on particular ghostly abilites, which allows for a decent level of customization.</p><p></p><p>Also included are rules for what happens when your ghost PC gets <em>raised</em> or <em>resurrected</em> (you get to convert those eidolon levels into normal class levels), what complusions your PC suffers as the result of being a ghost, the effect of your ghostly appearance on others, and so on.</p><p></p><p>The ghost rules take up a sizeable chunk of the book, while the rest is filled with campaign setting material, specifically the city of Manifest, and its role in ghostly activities. Remember the particular cosmology I mentioned before? This is where it really comes into play. Manifest is actually built over the portal to the afterlife. The actual portal. For the whole world.</p><p></p><p>Still with me? Being so close to the actual portal to the afterlife gives Manifest some unique properties. Ghosts are usually incorporeal (unless they're using magic or one of the included feats), but in Manifest, they're forced to become corporeal, or manifest - hence the name of the city. I haven't read through this section extensively, because I'm not planning on using it in my campaign.</p><p></p><p>What I have seen indicates to me that it's well developed enough for a DM to run, but leaves enough uncharted that a DM can make the city his own. Also included are a number of short adventures that take place in and around the city.</p><p></p><p>All-in-all, I'm glad I bought it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="carpedavid, post: 949410, member: 6971"] [b]To get back on topic...[/b] I picked up Ghostwalk a couple of days ago, and just finished my first read through last night. My primary complaint is the odd organization of the material. You get lots of rules for certain activities, like posession, before you ever see mention of it as a power, or even see the mechanics for it. Additionally, I never got a complete sense of what a "ghost" character's properties were until I looked at the ghost template in the monster section. Once you get past that, it's pretty neat. It does, indeed, provide all the rules you need for playing ghostly PCs. As they explain, though, ghosts in Ghostwalk aren't the typical monster manual version of a ghost - they aren't malevolent entities powered by negative energy. In other words, they aren't undead. Instead, they're defined to be the actual soul of a character that hasn't quite yet made it to the afterlife - they're spirits that belong on another plane, but are existing on the material plane. In other words, outsiders. Here's where the book can come into conflict with existing campaigns. Most of the justification for having ghostly PCs of this type comes from the included cosmology and the associated method by which spirits enter the afterlife. If your campaign already has a cosmology (as mine does) and explanations for how the soul enters the afterlife (as mine does), you'll have to come up with your own justification for how ghostly PCs of this type can exist. If you can create an explanation for your campaign setting, the rules for ghostly PCs are pretty compelling. Once you become a ghost, you advance in the eidolon (or optional eidolancer) class - which is where you develop your ghostly powers. The eidolon gives the fighter's BAB progression plus a Ghost feat every other level. There are lots of feats to choose from, and six (if I remember correctly) groupings of feats that focus on particular ghostly abilites, which allows for a decent level of customization. Also included are rules for what happens when your ghost PC gets [i]raised[/i] or [i]resurrected[/i] (you get to convert those eidolon levels into normal class levels), what complusions your PC suffers as the result of being a ghost, the effect of your ghostly appearance on others, and so on. The ghost rules take up a sizeable chunk of the book, while the rest is filled with campaign setting material, specifically the city of Manifest, and its role in ghostly activities. Remember the particular cosmology I mentioned before? This is where it really comes into play. Manifest is actually built over the portal to the afterlife. The actual portal. For the whole world. Still with me? Being so close to the actual portal to the afterlife gives Manifest some unique properties. Ghosts are usually incorporeal (unless they're using magic or one of the included feats), but in Manifest, they're forced to become corporeal, or manifest - hence the name of the city. I haven't read through this section extensively, because I'm not planning on using it in my campaign. What I have seen indicates to me that it's well developed enough for a DM to run, but leaves enough uncharted that a DM can make the city his own. Also included are a number of short adventures that take place in and around the city. All-in-all, I'm glad I bought it. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Is Ghostwalk any good?
Top