Ghost with the Most

TGIF everyone! Let’s add another row to our Wandering Monster table series with a spiritual pick that’s sure to raise the hair of any unsuspecting adventurer!

We’re swinging back to the Dungeon Delve table today and asking an uninvited spirit to hover into the adventurers’ plans. Let’s map out the arrival scenario, spooky stats, and potential encounter quirks.

This sulking specter comes courtesy of Brite Minis and their extremely affordable monthly Patreon. He prints like a champ without any supports and will come out wonderfully in either FDM or resin.

Let’s start by finding a good undead option. There are quite a few rough-and-tumble undead baddies out there, so it was fun to look at all the different options, including a Poltergeist or a Wraith. For a fourth-level party of six adventurers, we’re going with a single aberration. D&D Beyond’s ghost stats work well here. Yes, it looks like a trivial encounter CR-wise, but hear us out.

We love our floating bedsheet pick as a wandering dungeon monster here because of its Horrifying Visage and Possession abilities. Visage forces a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened. Fail that save by five-plus, and you age 1d4 x 10 years! Possession is a DC 13 Charisma saving throw or lose control of one’s body. And that effect doesn’t end until the possessed body is down to zero HP with only turn undead spells able to hit it! Yikes! These circumstances will create some sweaty palms and definitely be memorable!

As for the stats, DM Ben is nudging its AC of 11 to 14 and pumping those hit points up from 45 to 65 to ensure the ghost gets a chance to fire off a couple of those fright-night abilities. Its attack will go to a +7, but it will stick with the withering touch damage of 4d6+3. Since our work group has a larger party, DM Ben often has to increase the HP and attack a tad so that his bad guys can go a few rounds.

Now, let’s figure out why our ghost is here. Plenty of ways to go here, including:

• Scaring the stuffing out of the group and simply attacking!
• Warning about trespassing: move your rest elsewhere!
• Asking for help so it can truly pass on.
• Looking for something.
• Connecting it to a previous encounter.

Our work campaign’s Barbarian desecrated a tomb, so we might tie our aberration to that previous event (if he’s on watch). Acting out the ghost like he’s furious with the group for taking a rest on the very spot where he died is always fun, though!

For a side quest, the ghost could demand the group retrieve a personal object inside the dungeon so that it can peacefully pass to the next Plane. That object could be a wedding ring, its original sword, a locket, etc. The ghost will continue to haunt whoever is on watch by forcing one level of exhaustion each visit (because that character can’t get any uninterrupted sleep). Retrieving the necessary object sends the apparition packing for good.

Now, the only thing left to do is update our Dungeon Wandering Monster table!

Next week, we’re back to updating our Wilderness Trek table!