Undead, part 2

The creation of incorporeal undead (ghosts, wraiths, shadows, etc.) is poorly understood. As a group, they are commonly grouped together and referred to as Spirits, although there are several distinct varieties of monster within this group, each possessing different abilities.

Current theory holds that Spirits are the psychic remnants of strong-willed creatures who died before they were ready. As such, they can’t depart the world, but they also have limited ability to influence the world, and thus finish whatever business keeps them on Terra. In particular, those disposed toward Sorcery or Psionics tend to become Spirits more often than those who are not.

This, of course, only adds to the mystique of such individuals and has given rise to any number of ridiculous superstitions. One group of peasants was found to ritualistically kill all Sorcerers they could find by excoriation, for example, because they believed those killed in such a way couldn’t return to plague them in death. Any failure on the part of these rituals is usually blamed on the incompetence of the agents performing them and the anger of the Gods. This is ironic, due to the fact that individuals killed in this way are far more likely to become angry spirits in undeath than if they were dispatched in a more humane way or, pray forbid, allowed to go about their business and expire due to natural causes.
Spirits are very rare and widely feared, as it is very difficult to destroy an incorporeal spirit. Some can be dispatched with magic, but others practically indestructible. Clerics can banish spirits, but clerics of sufficient skill and power to do this are very rare.

Although the vast majority of spirits are evil and psychotically insane, some aren’t. These non-evil spirits are usually a being too concerned with a quest to rest, even in death, before its completion, a protector who elects to remain on Terra in the defense of a sacred or personally significant area, or one of the so-called “Ghost Sages”—a deathless and eternal advisor in service to a noble house or powerful church.

The longer a spirit remains on Terra, the more detached from the living it becomes. For this reason even some initially good spirits end up going crazy. Most good or neutral spirits sense this detachment before it becomes debilitating and leave before they become a liability to their charge. Evil spirits, on the other hand, are usually too obsessed with whatever is keeping them on Terra to notice their sanity slowly slipping away. In fact, the process of degradation seems to be accelerated in evil creatures, so that within a few years the spirit has forgotten all details of its former life, lost any remaining visage of its former appearance, and even the ability to speak more than a handful of words.

In game terms, the unusual status of undead on Terra means that clerics can’t turn non-incorporeal undead. Instead, they choose an ability from those listed in Dragon 353 pp 88-89, and retain the ability to turn Spirits, a subtype that happens to include all incorporeal undead. Clerics retain the ability to channel spells into cure or inflict spella.

Next Update: Something useful for creating replacement characters!