Ghosts Get it Done
In the last video we were talking about how much a DM can do with a dead adventurer in a dungeon, and that got me thinking about ghosts. Does your party have a tendency of killing the messenger? Make sure that information comes through with ghosts. Especially if the message is you shouldn't have killed me.
Ghosts in 5E are nasty. A ton of immunities and resistances to give them survivability, and if you do manage to hurt them they can just float through a wall or slide out of the Material Plane entirely. Their withering touch does solid damage, especially at lower levels, but possession and horrifying visage are the real stars of the show. Plus they have ok intelligence and great charisma, with any language you like: “Hey, you guys want to kill me? Well I'm inside the barbarian now, come get me.” Or how about if anyone within sixty feet fails this save by more than 5 they're going to age decades in an instant. Everyone make it? Cool, cool cool cool, cool, I'm off to the Ethereal Plane, see you tomorrow to try again.”
So you want that big bad who dropped too quickly to become a threat again, or you want to show the party they should stop murder-hoboing all the NPCs, grab a ghost.
But ghosts are also excellent vehicles to deliver other information. Maybe the bandits have set up their hideout inside an abandoned temple, and the ghost of a cleric to this long forgotten god appears to help the party by letting them know about the secret passage to get around the guard post, all while making your world seem more complex and ancient.
Or remember the remains of the adventurer you found that map on a few rooms ago? Well here's their ghost asking you to return their signet ring to their daughter, or letting you know this magic item counterfeiting ring that killed them is actually just a front for the cult of Orcus.
And rules as written, a ghost can be haunting a location, or can be attached to an object, or even a specific person. Tons of opportunities there. “Hey remember that +1 sword you looted? This guy seems to want it back.”
You can even get personal and have the edgy orphan rogue's parents pop up with unfinished business late one night while they're alone on watch. “Avenge me son!” Now we're playing Hamlet. And remember in Hamlet there's a big question: is this actually the ghost of his father or is it an illusion orchestrated by some evil force.
Whether its an enemy, an ally, or a neutral party simply placed in the PCs path to deliver a key nugget of data, ghosts present a chance for the DM to really shift the tone for a beat. Maybe we've been in an action adventure montage or a Monty Python sketch, but change the music and suddenly we're in a horror movie or a real tear-jerker. Just by existing vanilla Monster Manual ghosts can deliver “sensations of profound sadness, loneliness, and unfulfilled yearning... strange sounds, cold spots, inanimate objects moving around, even other undead rising.” And if the players go Scooby Doo or make a ghost fart joke or something at least you got a message across.
Ghosts can be a great addition to the game, as a combat encounter, a social encounter, or something in between. Player's choice right?
