Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

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D&D is famous for making every synonym of a word into an entirely separate monster, and nowhere is this more obvious than with incorporeal undead. Previous editions had wraiths, specters, phantoms, haunts and ghosts be entirely different monsters, and getting them mixed up was likely the cause of death for quite a few PCs.

The decision to allow multiple stat blocks in the same monster entry has consolidated things a bit, but not entirely (wraiths and specters are still their own thing, for example). Ghosts appear only in the Monster Manual.

The Lore

As you would expect, ghosts are the spirits of sapient creatures that died with unfinished business that caused them to linger in the world. They look like, well, ghostly versions of their appearance in life, and if their deaths were violent they might still bear the wounds that killed them. That’s not always true, though: some ghosts look angelic or horrific regardless of their causes of death, and some can change appearance to suit their current mood.

Ghosts are almost always near where they died. They usually keep most of their memories and personalities, but the trauma of death or the long years of haunting might change them.

Getting rid of a ghost might be as simple as defeating it in combat, but some of them are so bound to the world that they reform after a day or so. In these cases, the only way to make the ghost go away is to finish whatever business is keeping it chained to the mortal plane. Fortunately, these are usually the ghosts most willing to talk things out, asking the PCs for help with their affairs or at least providing some hints of how to solve them during their mad ramblings.

The Numbers

The signature traits of ghosts are obvious: they’re immune to disease and poison, insubstantial, have phasing, and fly with hover capability. All ghosts statted up here have Speed 6, but if you’re turning a faster creature into a ghost I’d let it keep the higher value.

“Insubstantial” has a very specific meaning in the 4e ruleset: insubstantial creatures take half damage from all sources. This damage is halved after all other modifiers are applied, including any resistances and vulnerabilities. While this means everyone can do some damage to an insubstantial creature, it also means that no damage type is inherently more effective against it either! Individual might still have additional traits that make certain damage types ignore their insubstantiality or turn them temporarily substantial.

“Phasing” means the creature ignores difficult terrain and can move through solid surfaces, though it must always end its movement in an unoccupied space. It’s separate from insubstantiality because a monster can have one but not the other.

Ghosts have both, and together with the flight speed this means they have full 3D movement and can come at you from any direction at all. Their attacks also never target AC, to represent the fact that they phase through armor.

Phantom Warrior

Soldiers who died in battle, still fighting their wars or performing their patrols. They’re Level 4 Soldiers with 40 HP and all common ghost traits. They attack with a Phantom Sword (Melee 1 vs. Reflex) that does necrotic damage and marks for a turn. Their military training manifests as the Phantom Tactics ability, giving them combat advantage against target that has another phantom warrior adjacent to it.

A simple and workable soldier monster. All it needs is a damage fix for its sword, which does roughly half the damage it should do due to that “naturalistic design” thing.

Trap Haunt

The ghost of someone killed by a trap, who believes feeding others to the trap is the only way for it to move on. This Level 8 Lurker has 52 HP and all common ghost traits. It’s bound to the trap that killed it, and is always found close to it.

The haunt’s Grave Touch (Melee 1 vs. Fortitude) does a pitiful 2d6 necrotic damage and should probably be fixed. The real danger here is its Ghostly Possession (Melee 1 vs. Will), though. A hit dominates the target (save ends) and removes the haunt from the map while this effect lasts. The haunt will use this to walk the possessed target into the trap that killed it.

The Trap Haunt can’t voluntarily move more than 20 squares away from said trap. If pushed beyond this range, it becomes weakened until it goes back.

Wailing Ghost (Banshee)

This one used to be a separate monster, and specifically the ghost of an elf. It’s now under the Ghost entry, and can be of any species. Traditionally, banshees appear to people who are about to die, which in D&D means they’ll be looking to murder a specific party member. It’s a level 12 controller with 91 HP and all common ghost traits.

The banshee’s basic attack is a Spirit Touch (Melee 1 vs. Reflex) that does necrotic damage, like most other ghosts. The real standout here is the Terrifying Shriek (Close Burst 5 vs. Will; Recharge 5-6) which does psychic damage, pushes the targets 3 squares, and immobilizes them (save ends).

They can also display Death’s Visage to one unlucky soul (usually the one they’re trying to kill). This is a Ranged 5 attack vs. Will, which does psychic damage and inflicts a -2 penalty to all the target’s defenses (save ends).

Being a controller means the banshee can hold its own in melee combat, but it’s rarely going to bother. It will phase through walls and floors to keep away from the party, returning to shriek at them when the power recharges and to attack its chosen target with Death’s Visage once it’s immobile.

As a level 12 monster, the banshee is severely hampered by the twin flaws of the damage bug and naturalistic design. All of its attacks do pathetic damage, which should be fixed ASAP if you plan to use one in your game.

Tormenting Ghost

This is probably the monster most in line with the classic Ghost from previous editions, which was among the most terrifying undead. It’s a Level 21 Controller with 152 HP, and the only ghost with an actively Evil alignment (even the banshee is Unaligned). It also has all common ghost traits.

Its basic attack is a Spirit Touch (Melee 1 vs. Reflex) that really needs its damage fixed. It can use the same Ghostly Possession as the Trap Haunt, and release a Burst of Terror that’s pretty much an up-gunned version of the banshee’s wail: Close Burst 5 vs Will, targets take necrotic damage, are pushed 5 squares, dazed and immobilized (save ends both).

It can also create a zone of Ghostly Terrain by filling it up with spectral wisps and creepy whispers (Area Burst 1 within 10). Targets caught inside the zone are immobilized (save ends). Each zone lasts until the end of the encounter and the ghost can create them at will!

Finally, it can shift 3 squares as a reaction to being missed with a melee attack, which makes it hard to pin down.

If you fix the damage of its attacks, the Tormenting Ghost becomes a pretty good epic-level enemy. Having more than one of them ensures the entire combat area will be ghostly terrain before long, allowing the ghosts and their artillery buddies to shoot the immobilized PCs at their leisure. These are epic level PCs and you shouldn’t go easy on them!

Sample Encounters

We get three encounters here:

  • Level 4: 4 phantom warriors and a specter. And here was thinking the wraith was the only synonym monster that kept its entry.

  • Level 8: 2 trap haunts, 2 flameskulls, and a flame jet trap. I guess these flameskulls aren’t the friendly type.

  • Level 22: 2 tormenting ghosts, 1 larva mage, and 3 rot harbingers. “Larva Mage” is the generic name for the Spawn of Kyuss, which means this group is serious bad news.

Final Impressions

I like ghosts conceptually - they’re classics for a reason. Mechanically, though, these stat blocks leave a lot to be desired, as they seem to do much less damage than could be explained even by the standard damage bug.

Maybe it has something to do with them being insubstantial? After all, this makes them last twice as long in a fight as their HP would indicate. None of them have any additional traits that make them especially vulnerable to a specific type of damage, so their insubstantiality applies to everything. By the time the Monster Vault had been published, insubstantial monsters took full damage from force attacks, so you could say this applies to the MM ghosts as well.