Ethereal Sight. The ghost can see 60 feet into the Ethereal Plane when it is on the Material Plane, and vice versa.
Incorporeal Movement. The ghost can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
Withering Touch. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (4d6 + 3) necrotic damage.
Etherealness. The ghost enters the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa. It is visible on the Material Plane while it is in the Border Ethereal, and vice versa, yet it can't affect or be affected by anything on the other plane.
Horrifying Visage. Each non-undead creature within 60 feet of the ghost that can see it must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. If the save fails by 5 or more, the target also ages 1d4 × 10 years. A frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the frightened condition on itself on a success. If a target's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the target is immune to this ghost's Horrifying Visage for the next 24 hours. The aging effect can be reversed with a greater restoration spell, but only within 24 hours of it occurring.
Possession (Recharge 6). One humanoid that the ghost can see within 5 feet of it must succeed on a DC 13 Charisma saving throw or be possessed by the ghost; the ghost then disappears, and the target is incapacitated and loses control of its body. The ghost now controls the body but doesn't deprive the target of awareness. The ghost can't be targeted by any attack, spell, or other effect, except ones that turn undead, and it retains its alignment, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and immunity to being charmed and frightened. It otherwise uses the possessed target's statistics, but doesn't gain access to the target's knowledge, class features, or proficiencies.
The possession lasts until the body drops to 0 hit points, the ghost ends it as a bonus action, or the ghost is turned or forced out by an effect like the dispel evil and good spell. When the possession ends, the ghost reappears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the body. The target is immune to this ghost's Possession for 24 hours after succeeding on the saving throw or after the possession ends.
Description
A ghost is the soul of a once-living creature, bound to haunt a location, creature, or object from its life.
The effects of aging are definitely more of a problem for some than others.
Human fighter: I've gained 40 years? I'm practically dead!
Elf wizard: I've gained 40 years? So, I still have another half century of young adulthood, then. NO worries....
The aging thing dates back to 1st edition AD&D. Probably Gygax's idea. Why? Just a different way to screw with players, probably.
I just saw a meme about the fact that a ghost can be beaten to "death" with a chair today. Definitely something that I'm changing (house rule). That's pretty silly that they only have damage resistance to physical things.
I was wondering the same, it seems the ghost can't really posess a target and use it to attack (unless you assume the ghost is proficient with weapons/armor) so it sort of makes possession more about having to drop the character to 0 to get the ghost out.
I thought a Ghost might be vulnerable to radiant damage.
Yes, but they have it better than some other incorporeal beings, as ghosts at least have the ability to go Ethereal
can a dead player become a ghost? I want to do that and haunt randos
Why does it seem like nobody else is confused by the wording of etherealness? It's visible on the material plane while in the border ethereal and vice versa. To me, that suggests that it's not visible on the plane it's on... Otherwise it would just say that it's always visible on both planes regardless of which plane it's on... But that seems odd... It's only there when you can't see it?...
As a person who often runs a darker setting, and usually has at least one or two of these sprinkled here and there, these things are incredibly powerful. I mean, just a few bad rolls and there goes your level 10 adventurer.
"Oh, you thought that you were powerful because you're a barbarian? Eat charisma save or have those strengths be pitted against the people you fight for."
"And you thought I'd just let you kill the ghost named Lady Death? Better hope you can chase her through the Ethereal Plane..."
"Oh, but she's not gone. She's right behind you, and now she's doing 4d6+3 necrotic damage!"
"Aww, the only good damage spell you have that's effective at this range is [insert any spell that does poison, necrotic, or cold damage]? You wanna guess what she's immune to?
"Oh, you didn't take healing classes because you thought you wouldn't need it? And you don't have any classes that don't suffer the frailty of old age? I sure do hope there isn't a monster that directly abuses that."
*Cut to the party trying to do literally any damage to this thing without magic*
What the heck why are ghosts able to be knocked unconscious
I am running Out of the Abyss. The party wizard animated a deep gnome skeleton whose ghost is still haunting the caverns. I plan to have the ghost repossess its own bones and cause havoc. Perhaps this fusion of undead will make something new....
i just started making a playable ghost race
hi mans
So, playing ghosts of saltmarsh and I am incorporating a ghost in the cavrens (instead of all the monsters in the house) for the players to battle. What other modifications should I consider so it is easy for lvl 2 players to defeat it and it still be challenging for them.
For withering touch, I plan on modifying the damage die to be (1d4+1), forgoing the etheral plane and possessions features as well as keeping horrifying visage. I figured a modified challenge 4 rating ghost could have 2 attacks instead of one for a combo of withering touch and horrifying visage tactics. The party's bard and cleric will be absent this upcoming session so i would like it to be challenging for the fighter, rogue and druid, but not too challenging that its an accidental TPK due to 2/3 of the remaining players being new to the DnD table.
Can a ghost pick up something, or if it tried, would its hands just move through the object it was trying to pick up because, yknow, ghoooooosts?
egg
half the time i play DND that's what happens. now im the dm and i do that to my players.
The ghost does not gain the knowledge, class features, or proficiencies of the target of it's possession, but otherwise retains its INT, WIS, CHA and immunity to fear/charm. This statblock is for a basic ghost without much special features, but in any campaign with a ghost of someone who did have features in life, there's nothing in the stat block to say it would lose its personal skills(although it also makes sense that a former knight may have to use a few turns to get used to new muscles before they would feel confident enough to utilize any physical skills they got)
It seems like RAI the creature ages on every failure by 5 or more:
https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/105728/can-you-be-aged-by-failing-the-repeat-saving-throw-for-frightening-visage
https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/688435938259681280