Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ChronosCrow 06-20-05, 02:26 PM	I'm asking this same question to Keith Baker, but it's kinda wordy and large. I'm afraid that I can't get all the detail and rules info from him so I wanted to ask the fans in general b/c they can know/look up rules that I need that Keith Baker doesn't need to worry about. On with the questions I need help with: The Setup I know that the use of Dolurrh(washing point for death) is a DM tool. But I'm trying to make up a story line about ghosts and I'm a purist and I wanted to make my storyline jive with how Dolurrh works in your mind. So let me pass by my idea: A man, secret agent, with a checked past will die. He has no concern for his own well being, it's purely for the wellbeing of his family. His soul can't rest, however, b/c of something. He encounters a man that tells him before death that his family is in danger and he needs to do something. He dies afterwards before being able to do anything about it. His soul wants to stay in Sharn until his soul knows his family is ok. The Questions (#1)In what kind of form can the man reappear and by the rules of Eberron in concern to Dolurrh how would this happen? I suspect he'd be a ghost with the 'ghost' template. (#2) At what kind of frequency does this kind of thing happen? I also need to make it so that he can selectivly show up to people as to be only viewable by the players and maybe a few others while many other people around can't see him. (#3) How could he do the selective apperance and speaking? #4 Can a ghost use Psionics. If not, is there something like psioincs or sending messages through non traditional transit (aka: talking, reading, writing, using touch, sound or hearing sense percption.) What I'm getting at is for a ghost to be able to communicate telepathically in the mind or atleast be percived in that way. Thanks for whatever kind of help you can provide.
Brastan 06-20-05, 03:10 PM	Read the ghost entry in the MM and you'll see Telekinesis or something like that it can use to what you wan't. As for coming back from Dolurrh he might not need to. Again Dolurrh is like just like the any of the Outer-planes for afterlife. Instead of having many you have just one(well two if you count the Silver Flame). Ghost are created the same way as usual. The entry on Dolurrh in the ECS has what you need. Conterminous, manifest zone, botched Raise spell take your pick.
ChronosCrow 06-20-05, 05:07 PM	Read the ghost entry in the MM and you'll see Telekinesis or something like that it can use to what you wan't. As for coming back from Dolurrh he might not need to. Again Dolurrh is like just like the any of the Outer-planes for afterlife. Instead of having many you have just one(well two if you count the Silver Flame). Ghost are created the same way as usual. The entry on Dolurrh in the ECS has what you need. Conterminous, manifest zone, botched Raise spell take your pick. Admitedly I didn't do 100% leg work. I hadn't looked up the ghost entry really. Thanks for pointing that out to me Brastan. I had read the Dolurrh entry. I just wanted to see how people bounced around such ideas as Conterminous, manifest zone, and botched Raise spell. I think the best case scenario is these ideas would be Raise spell. At this point in time, my mind is thinking of only one ghost so Conterminous could be quite messy and different from that scope. And I also find a hard time understanding Manifest Zones. Sharn is a Manifest Zone to Azure and that's a very large area. Are there Manifest Zones that only shortly open in very small selective spaces such as 500 Sq. Ft.? So that leads down to a botched Raise spell. And I'm not soo perfectly hot on that b/c I've kept the idea of being raised from the dead out of my game so far to keep the fear of death in my players and not some hop scotch journey to revive a fallen comrade. Actually that small rant about Raise kinda makes me rethink that option completely. In such case I guess I'd lean towards the idea of a small Manifest Zone appearing in or near the home due to an irrationally large concern of his spirit in Dolurrh.
ChronosCrow 06-22-05, 04:07 PM	bump, more people please
okaynowa 06-23-05, 08:40 AM	My advice is to bend/invent rules to fit the story, not the other way around. You obviously know what you want to accomplish with this NPC; you just need a way to implement it. My suggestion: 1) Write up the stats for this NPC as he was while he was mortal. Racial qualities, class level and skills, all that fun stuff. 2) Turn him into the Undead type. This means converting all his Hit Dice to d12's, removing his Constitution score, giving him undead immunities and darkvision, and so forth. 3) To make him more ghostly, give him the Incorporeal subtype. This means taking away his Strength score, giving him a deflection bonus to AC equal to +1 or his Charisma bonus (whichever is higher), using his Dexterity modifier for melee as well as ranged combat, etc. Incorporeal creatures are still audible to corporeal creatures if they wish it, so he can speak normally. 4) Give him his fun powers. Allow him to be visible or invisible at will, grant him telepathy with a 100 ft. range (this is common for mind flayers, demons, etc), perhaps give him a touch attack like chill touch or scare. He can't really manipulate non-ethereal objects, but you could grant him mage hand at will so he can move small objects (rather like a weak poltergeist). If you want him to pack a nasty punch, consider giving him vampiric touch or some higher order illusions. Depending on how nasty an attack you grant him, I'd peg this spirit's CR at +3 or +4 more than it was in life (that is, if he's meant to be a challenge the PCs overcome). As for how such a spirit interacts with Dolurrh... I think it's plausible that technically, he doesn't. That is, if there are metaphysical laws governing how Dolurrh affects the mortal soul, this man who died before his time exists in defiance of them. He's a spiritual aberration, an oddity. Like the fabled unaerodynamic honeybee, he shouldn't be able to continue, but continues nonetheless.