Homebrew Ghost Species Details

I woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when I didn't know who I was - I was far away from home, haunted and tired with travel, in a cheap hotel room I'd never seen, hearing the hiss of steam outside, and the creak of the old wood of the hotel, and footsteps upstairs, and all the sad sounds, and I looked at the cracked high ceiling and really didn't know who I was for about fifteen strange seconds. I wasn't scared; I was just somebody else, some stranger, and my whole life was a haunted life, the life of a ghost.

—Volo, wizard

Changelings can shift their forms with a thought. Many changelings use this gift as a form of artistic and emotional expression. It’s also an invaluable tool for grifters, spies, and others who wish to deceive. This leads many people to treat changelings with suspicion.

A Hidden People

Ghosts are flickering remnants of their past lives, appearing as they did before death, however they are now transparent and have a coloured tinge to them that drowns out all colour of their body. This tint varies in tone for multiple reasons, From pure white of those that died peacefully to red of those dying in a fire, blue if water was their ending or yellow if thunder.

Ghosts are very different from most of the undead: the difference to the lich is that they didn't ask for becoming undead, at least not directly. Mummies also have a mission to fulfill, but their corpse got conserved by some mean. Zombies lost their will and are forced 

to submit to other beings. Ghosts died and lost their body, but the will to fulfill their last pendant was so intense that death could not take their spirit: Ghosts are basically coming to terms with death and rejecting it, just to get a second chance.

Most ghost's appearance tends to reflect how it died. For example, a ghost that had drowned in a previous life may be dripping with glowing water droplets that disappear as soon as they hit the ground. A ghost that died in battle may still have the wounds it sustained in life- open and flowing with silver blood. A ghost that died while sleeping will keep its eyes closed, but will see perfectly.

Similarly, if the ghost instead is more transfixed by guilt or regret at its previous life it is instead wrapped in ethereal chains. This is because the image of a ghost is controlled by its own mental state and such transduction with death or regret manifests in its image on the Material Plane.

It is possible for ghosts to be completely free of regret or transfixed by its death, but it would mean that the only thing tying it to the Material Plane is the ghost's own willpower, which makes its bond to the Material Plane weaker than the other two types of ghosts. This ghosts tend to disappear soon after being formed.

History

Ghost have been present in the world since the earliest days of creation, especially around places where the influences of the Shadowfell are the strongest and there has been abundance of death. War zones, castles, sea tragedies, volcanic eruption sites... All these places have a good possibility of having at least 1 ghost.

Some societies even attempt to draw forth the ghosts of their ancestors for guidance in a sort of benign necromancy. However, in general ghosts have been feared more than revered as the reasons why a ghost lingers on the Material Plane may not always be considered good.

Society

Ghosts sometimes form societies in long-dead crypts or abandoned cities in an attempt to preserve what little feeling of life remains. When these societies are formed, they are usually full of many types of undead or shadowfell creatures. However, often those societies do not last long as either too many ghosts pass on from the Material Plane or the ghosts lose hope and wander away from the settlements.

In most haunted places, like forests, clears, and castles, tends to be at most one or two ghosts, usually related by either blood, ties or history. As they tend to be isolated places, most creatures living there adapt to the ghost or even cherish it, mainly hags and vampires. In some cases even, these creatures help ghosts to leave the material plane by chance, so most cark creatures coming into contact with ghosts try to learn the task the ghost has, then simulate to help them or tergiverse it enough to make the ghost a servant.

 

Ghost Traits

Your ghost character has the following traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Charisma score increases by 2. In addition, one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.

Age

A ghost can "live" for a very long time as they can remain on the Material Plane as long as their willpower allows them, though they usually pass on after they fulfill a goal they could not accomplish in life.

Alignment

Ghosts tend toward pragmatic neutrality, and few ghosts embrace evil, and others retain their living alignment.

Size

Your size is is dependant on your race previous to death.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Undead Nature

Your creature type is humanoid and undead. You do not require air, food, drink or sleep. You have resistance to poison damage, bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from non magical weapons, being poisoned and diseases. You can't use armor of any kind, with your AC being 10 + your charisma modifier + your constitution modifier.

Possession

One humanoid that you can see within 5 feet must succeed on a Charisma saving throw (The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus) or be possessed by you; you then disappear, and the target is incapacitated and loses control of its body. You now control the body but don’t deprive the target of awareness. Each time the target receives damage, it can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success. Otherwise, the effect can last up to an hour or until you are expelled from the body with a Turn Undead ability, or take a bonus action to end the effect. No matter the way you get out from the target, you reappear 5ft next to it. You can use this ability once per long rest, and the target is immune to this ability for 24 hours after succeeding on the saving throw or after the possession ends.

Spectral Traveler

Starting at 3rd level, you gain control over your ghostly body.

As an action, you may make your body incorporeal, and dash up to your movement. You can move through other creatures and Objects as if they were Difficult Terrain. You takes 5 (1d10) force damage if you end your turn inside of an object. However, if you end your movement in the space of a creature, you may use your Possession ability as a bonus action.

Instead of dashing, you may instead use your action to enter the Ethereal Plane, as if you were under the effects of the Blink spell.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.