Homebrew Ghost Species Details
Methods of becoming a specter vary, and few find their way willingly. Contact with the forces of death is the most common—a would-be hero is corrupted by the force they wanted to fight. Sinister rituals can also infuse a body with the powers of unmaking. Alongside beings and magic of death stand entities that exist in a reality untethered from the material world as mortals understand it. These others and their minions, manifestations of otherworldly chaos, can infuse a person with that chaos, making the victim’s ultimate home a dream of cosmic horror.
Specter Features
A specter, no matter their origin, has the following features:
Prerequisites
Ability Scores: Dexterity 13 or higher, you died.
Roleplay: You must have contact with the world of the dead, either through an encounter with a monstrous and incorporeal undead creature or through contact with the afterlife. Some magical rituals can infuse mortals with this energy. Alternatively, you have had contact with an entity or force that has caused your material form to start to slip out of existence.
Transformation Save DC: Some of your transformation abilities require a target to attempt a saving throw. For those abilities, the saving throw DC is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier.
A living person becomes a specter either by touching the realm of the dead or by means of magic that breaks the body’s ties to material reality and time. The transformation tears at the substance of body and mind, until what is left is a spiritual shadow. Specters have a tenuous grasp on reality, and some fade into oblivion while others become monsters that sow the same. Few cursed with this transformation have the fortitude to remain whole.Spectral Presence
If your transformation is due to contact with the afterlife, you become Undead in addition to any other creature types you are. If your transformation is due to an abnormality with reality, you become an Aberration in addition to any other creature types you are. Spells that affect humanoids still affect you. However, you’re immune to effects that only affect a creature of your new type of a specific CR.
Also, you cease aging and cannot be aged magically.
Spectral Movement
You can move through other creatures and solid objects as if they were difficult terrain and you can move through difficult terrain as if it were normal. If you end your turn inside a creature or object, you’re shunted back to where you entered and take 1d10 force damage per 10 feet (rounded up) you travel in this way. Objects that have been in your possession less than 1 minute cannot move through creatures and objects with you.
As a final benefit of this boon, due to your incorporeal nature, during your turn you have resistance to all nonmagical bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage from sources you can see.
Transformation Flaw : Close to Death
Your body and soul have a tenuous grasp on existence. You have disadvantage on death saving throws as the pull of a peaceful death calls out to you. If you would be killed, the GM chooses whether you die permanently (unable to be restored by magic) or you transform into an incorporeal undead or aberration under the GM’s control. If you are on the Ethereal Plane, this flaw has no effect.
Transformation Flaw : Hideous Appearance
Your true form is ghostly and haunting, whether due to your connection to death or your tenuous ties to material reality. Although your appearance isn’t necessarily scary, your spectral form seems unnatural to normal creatures who might believe you to be a ghost or other sort of spirit. You can manifest as the humanoid you once were, but doing so requires concentration on your part. Moments of stress, such as the following, reveal your hideous appearance.
- Using concentration, as if on or on a spell
- Becoming unconscious
- Entering hallowed ground
- Choosing to reveal your hideous appearance
- In events of extreme emotional or physical stress, the GM can call for a Constitution saving throw with a DC of their choosing to see if you reveal your hideous appearance.
When you reveal your hideous appearance, how viewers react is up to the GM. They might treat you as a ghost or another monster in disguise. Hostility and fear are likely reactions in these cases.
Transformation Flaw : Untethered Mind
Your mind starts to follow your body in its dissolution. Less significant memories of your existence before your specter transformation start to fade like they’re dreams you’ve awakened from. The GM can claim you can’t recall something from your living past when it’s dramatic or might disadvantage you. Also, you have disadvantage whenever you attempt an Intelligence check to recall information.
This lack of connection to your previous self can cause personality changes. You might forget old grudges or traumas, which can change your personality traits or alignment for the better. It’s more likely that you cling to any vestige of your old self, amplifying their importance, nursing resentments and gloomy thoughts. You might come to hate those who have a normal existence, taking a turn toward evil.