Dungeons & Delvers: Ghost Post

I have a bunch of ghost minis, both official Dungeons & Dragons, a handful of minis I picked up from the Reaper Bones line, and a couple of the Nolzur's Magnificent stuff. Here's most of the variations:

You got a wispy thing, a couple amorphous things, and varying degrees of humanoid (mostly without legs). This variety got me thinking on divvying them up into categories based on how "conscious" and/or powerful it is. The idea is that the more humanoid a ghost is, the more conscious and powerful it is.

WISPS
Level 2 Tiny Undead
XP 16 (+8)
Speed flying 20 feet (hover)

Ability Scores
STR -4 DEX +1 WIS +0
CON +0 INT -4 CHA -4

Skills
Perception +2, Stealth +2

Defense
AC 12 DR 0 (ectoplasmic body)
Fort +0 Ref +2 Will +0
Immune charm, disease, fear, poison, sleep
Resist necrotic 5
Vulnerable radiant 5
Wounds 6 Vitality 0 Total 6

Offense
Draining Touch +2 to hit; 1d4+2 necrotic damage (ignores armor)

Special
Incorporeal: The wisp takes half damage from non-magical attacks and effects. It can pass through objects and creatures at half speed.

Treasure
25% chance of ectoplasmic dust (1d4 x 10 sp)

These are the remnants of a ghost that was destroyed or passed on, or a single, strong emotion or memory fragment that managed to linger. The wisp might even be the spiritual baggage of a soul that had to be cast off so that the ghost could move on.

Retaining only the barest sense of self, wisps appear as ghostly flames (or perhaps a skull wreathed in ghostly flames if evil or aggressive). They possess very little intelligence, mostly acting on a kind of elemental impulse.

Wisps can be helpful (or at least harmless), guiding you towards something that was important to them (even though they have no idea why, not that they could convey that knowledge if they knew), or harmful, either luring you into danger or just aggressively ramming into you.

NIMBUS
Level 4 Medium Undead
XP 112 (+16)
Speed flying 30 feet (hover)

Ability Scores
STR -3 DEX +1 WIS +0
CON +0 INT -2 CHA -2

Skills
Perception +3, Stealth +3

Defense
AC 12 DR 0 (ectoplasmic body)
Fort +0 Ref +2 Will +1
Immune charm, disease, fear, poison, sleep
Resist necrotic 5
Vulnerable radiant 5
Wounds 20 Vitality 0 Total 20

Offense
Draining Touch +2 to hit; 1d6+2 necrotic damage (ignores armor)

Special
Incorporeal: The nimbus takes half damage from non-magical attacks and effects. It can pass through objects and creatures at half speed.

Treasure
50% chance of ectoplasmic dust (1d6 x 10 sp), 25% chance of 1 memory stone

Something between a wisp and shroud. They usually appear as human-sized ectoplasmic clouds. Like wisps a face or skull might be present (or might manifest when angry, attacking, or trying to scare you), but some can form a partial body.

Though smarter than wisps, nimbuses are still quite stupid. They usually just act on a more complex memory, or perhaps a few linked memories. I'm thinking at this stage they aren't actually souls, just leftovers or "soul-baggage".

SHROUDS
Level 7 Medium Undead
XP 196 (+28)
Speed flying 30 feet (hover)

Ability Scores
STR -3 DEX +1 WIS +0
CON +0 INT -1 CHA +1

Skills
Perception +5, Stealth +5

Defense
AC 12 DR 0 (ectoplasmic body)
Fort +0 Ref +3 Will +2
Immune charm, disease, fear, poison, sleep
Resist necrotic 5
Vulnerable radiant 5
Wounds 35 Vitality 0 Total 35

Offense
Corrupting Touch +3 to hit; 2d6+3 necrotic damage (ignores armor)

Special
Incorporeal: The shroud takes half damage from non-magical attacks and effects. It can pass through objects and creatures at half speed.

Treasure
Ectoplasmic dust (2d4 x 10 sp), 50% chance of 1 memory stone

This is where we get to a classification of ghost that is actually someone's soul, albeit a weak one, or one that only possesses a handful of memories to work with. Shrouds usually appear as a sheet of cloth, with a roughly humanoid shape, though most appear to be empty or emanate a glowing light from within. Hands or arms are visible or can manifest when needed.

APPARITION
Level 10 Medium Undead
XP 280 (+40)
Speed flying 30 feet (hover)

Ability Scores
STR -2 DEX +1 WIS +1
CON +0 INT +0 CHA +3

Skills
Intimidate +4, Perception +6, Stealth +6

Defense
AC 14 DR 0 (ectoplasmic body)
Fort +0 Ref +4 Will +4
Immune charm, disease, fear, poison, sleep
Resist necrotic 5
Vulnerable radiant 5
Wounds 50 Vitality 0 Total 50

Offense
Draining Touch +6 to hit; 2d8+6 necrotic damage (ignores armor)

Special
Incorporeal: The apparition takes half damage from non-magical attacks and effects. It can pass through objects and creatures at half speed.

Treasure
Ectoplasmic dust (3d6 x 10 sp), 75% chance of 1d3 memory stones

Apparitions possess complete or mostly complete forms, sometimes just missing the legs or feet. Compared to other ghosts they remember much and are the most likely to communicate, which also makes them the most dangerous.

GHOST POWERS
Ghosts can have one or more of the following powers: as a rule of thumb the more powerful it is, the more likely it is to have access to them. Most modify the ghosts XP. This is the modifier noted in parenthesis next to the ghost's XP value. For example, giving a wisp a power usually increases its XP by 8, while an apparition's XP gets bumped up by 40 each time.

• Cold Spot: The ghost chills the area around it. This can range from simply making it incredibly cold, to actually inflicting damage. Not worth any XP unless it can actually inflict damage.
• Eternal Echo: Even if the ghost is destroyed, it will eventually return. Whatever prevented the ghost from moving on must be resolved first.
• Icy Caress: The ghost's attacks also inflict cold damage, and creatures that suffer WP damage from the ghost are slowed until the end of its next turn. I don't think this is really worth an XP bump, though if you had the ghost's attack drain Dexterity that would definitely be worth it.
• Invisibility: The ghost either turns invisible when not moving (or otherwise inert), or can become invisible for a short period of time (possibly with a recharge 5 or 6).
• Ghost in the Shell: The ghost can possess an inanimate object, causing it to move. This can be limited to simply moving parts of the object that could normally move (like doors or wheels), or the ghost can actually change the shape of an object (such as causing a sword's blade to bend about). The object cannot fly.
• Haunting: The ghost changes the area around it. Can be limited to a single room, a few rooms, or even an entire building (varies by how powerful the ghost is). This only increases its XP value if it can actually do something detrimental to the PCs. Otherwise it's just for show.
• Life Drain: When the ghost inflicts damage, your maximum WP or VP is reduced by that amount. If your maximum WP is reduced to 0 you die. Your maximum WP and VP replenishes at a rate of 1d8 per long rest.
• Memories Made Manifest: Drawing from important memories, the ghost can manifest objects (such as a sword for stabbing). They can be restricted to the ghost's person, or given to others. Also only worth XP if it gives the ghost some sort of advantage.
• Possession: The ghost forces the target to make a Will save or be possessed (DC 10 + Charisma). Can repeat the save each round, or if the ghost tries to make them do something suicidal.
• Poltergeist: The ghost can manipulate physical objects. For purposes of what it can lift, use its Charisma. I wouldn't increase XP for the wisp or nimbus, because their Charisma is so low it's not worth it.
• Terrifying: You have to make a Will save (DC 10 + the ghost's Charisma) or be frightened as long as you see the ghost. If the ghost suddenly emerges, you'd also suffer psychic damage (probably 1d6+Charisma, plus another d6 for every 5 levels the ghost has, half on a successful Will save).

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