Playing a Ghost PC

[Kristian Serrano]

Or use the ghost template class levels from WotC's Savage Progressions article.

 

[kenmarable]

personally, I disagree. Depending on level the value of incorporeality will not be huge compared to the resources already available to the party, and the drawbacks could be an interesting challenge. If I was the player, I would be willing to play a ghost who was significantly different than my living form, but would find a "corporeal" ghost silly and would prefer to be raised. I would ask the player and (separately so they don't feel pressured) ask the other players if they would be jealous of the possible benefits.

Fair enough. Thinking back, this was a lower level campaign (everyone was level 3 or 4 when I had the ghost), and any incorporeality was pretty overpowering. If it's in the 9-12 range, it would probably be ok, and if it's in the 15+ range, then definitely, incorporeality is more a nuisance than benefit (ghost-touch weapon, ghost-touch armor, ghost-touch this, ghost-touch that...).

 

[Tetsubo]

You could also look at the OGL Steampunk book. It has a ghost PC class...

 

[Castellan]

I couldn't agree more with the calls for Ghostwalk. It includes details for leveling, new feats, and even some new spells. It's generic enough that it'll fit in any campaign. In fact, I'm thinking of using it with my upcoming Midnight game.

It's definitely worth the price to pick it up. Keep in mind that it was one of the last releases under 3.0 (if I recall, it was almost concurrent with the 3.5 release) so you may need to tweak a few rules.

 

[Kristian Serrano]

I couldn't agree more with the calls for Ghostwalk. It includes details for leveling, new feats, and even some new spells. It's generic enough that it'll fit in any campaign. In fact, I'm thinking of using it with my upcoming Midnight game.

It's definitely worth the price to pick it up. Keep in mind that it was one of the last releases under 3.0 (if I recall, it was almost concurrent with the 3.5 release) so you may need to tweak a few rules.

WotC has a 3.5 conversion document as a Web Enhancement for Ghostwalk, so the work is already done.

Ghostwalk seems cool, but I disagree that it's universally applicable to any setting. Additionally, the ghost levels are limiting.

 

[tennyson]

I've taken a look at Ghostwalk, but it seems that bringing a PC back from ghost form only requires 500gp (with no level loss). Any ideas of what incentive a DM would have to let a player play a ghost PC, so that they might come back with no penalties?

Why would a player spend gold and lose a level with resurrection, when they can simply become a ghost and come back as good as new? This might work in Manifest, as the supplement suggests, but what if your campaign doesn't contain that city?

 

[ephemeron]

I've taken a look at Ghostwalk, but it seems that bringing a PC back from ghost form only requires 500gp (with no level loss). Any ideas of what incentive a DM would have to let a player play a ghost PC, so that they might come back with no penalties?

Why would a player spend gold and lose a level with resurrection, when they can simply become a ghost and come back as good as new? This might work in Manifest, as the supplement suggests, but what if your campaign doesn't contain that city?

I've only read Ghostwalk and never seen how its rules work out in play, but I got the impression that the designers thought ghost feats would be pretty appealing. (At least, I think that's why they wanted to keep PC's from accumulating more levels as ghosts than they had while living.)

 

[Herobizkit]

As a player and long-time DM, I actually vote AGAINST using Ghostwalk. Ghostwalk changes the whole ghost template into an actual class. In order to gain new ghostly powers, you would have to advance in your new ghost class, just like a regular multi-classed character. Granted, they do have one type of ghost class that continues a character's spell progression, but in essence, you're giving up your class abilities and replacing them with ghost ones.

I don't like this treatment, and would prefer to "gestalt" Ghost with the player's intended classes for his character.

On a side note, I DM'd a short series of adventures in d20 Modern where one of the PCs was a ghost. This opens up a whole realm of puzzle-like problems - how does the ghost ride in a car with his friends, or how can a ghost best infiltrate a building (since they can't manipulate objects, they'll need psionics or a meaty body to open doors for his friends -- but WHICH body will work?), and so on.

 

[kenmarable]

As a player and long-time DM, I actually vote AGAINST using Ghostwalk. Ghostwalk changes the whole ghost template into an actual class. In order to gain new ghostly powers, you would have to advance in your new ghost class, just like a regular multi-classed character. Granted, they do have one type of ghost class that continues a character's spell progression, but in essence, you're giving up your class abilities and replacing them with ghost ones.

But with the ghost template level adjustment, you still lose out on class abilities, but also do not gain any advancement in BAB, saves, and skills. But given the differences between them, there's plenty of reasons to select one or the other without getting into how much they impact your current class.

Besides, I forget what Ghostwalk is written exactly as, but I've always played it that you can advance as one of the ghost classes, not that you have to. It was long enough back that it might have been a house rule, I forget. You can then just select the feats to increase your ghost abilities while still advancing in your class.

I don't like this treatment, and would prefer to "gestalt" Ghost with the player's intended classes for his character.

As long as you can pul this off in a way that's balanced with the rest of the party, I agree that this is a great idea. Especially since it sounds like it is probably only temporary.

 

[Quartz]

As an alternative to the ghost idea, how about using the Risen Martyr from the Book of Exalted Deeds?