Haunts and how to stop them


Rules Questions


Is there any way to know how to destroy a haunt?

Like if in the haunt block it says to "water a certain plant to destroy this haunt forever." is there any way to know that? Some sort of knowledge check or something?

Scarab Sages

Chess Pwn wrote:

Is there any way to know how to destroy a haunt?

Like if in the haunt block it says to "water a certain plant to destroy this haunt forever." is there any way to know that? Some sort of knowledge check or something?

Unfortunately, haunts are as much story element as they are mechanic and thus require the adventure to give you clues. It will depend on the adventure writer and the GM.

I've had GMs allow a knowledge religion check to gain clues, though.

Dark Archive

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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Not mechanically, no. Most haunts have a method based on what caused them to become haunts in the first place, so unless there is some sort of clue about how this happened, the characters likely have no way of working it out.

Grand Lodge

my friends and I were running though Harrowstone, and we wondering when/how to use Haunt Siphons.

When i ran School of Spirits, i ruled that the "Collapsed Classroom" haunt was 'still in effect' while the PC's were trapped- and that the PC's could use the Haunt Siphons to destroy the haunt.

That said, there are several Haunts in the Strange Aeons' AP.

I agree with Lorewalker, since Haunts are "undead manifestations" Knowledge Religion would help to know that they can be cleansed with positive/holy energy.


So to clarify, I'm not asking how do you know that you can hurt them with positive energy so they don't go off.

I'm asking for how to know how to permanently remove the haunt so it no longer resets.


Find that which has been defiled. Best to make clean and whole, but at the least purify it of its foulness. Beware that inattention can allow foulness to return.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

There are already mechanics dealing with Knowledge:Religion checks to understand how to use positive energy to harm a haunt. That is not what the OP was asking about. He was instead asking about permanently resolving/destroying the Haunt. There are no defined mechanics for working out the conditions to destroy a Haunt.

Having said that, I had forgotten all about Haunt Siphons, which are also an option to destroy a Haunt.


I figure you more or less need to use something like the Medium's Haunt Channeler Ability, the "Speak with Haunt" spell, or a Spirit Planchette to interrogate the spirits and get them to somehow let you know how to put them to rest. The answer you get is probably a clue to the solution than the actual solution itself.

Like if the key to destroying the haunt is "water the plant on the desk" you the spirit might answer, when asked how it died, something like "Dave murdered me with an axe because I forgot to water his plant while he was away." I think haunts are supposed to be puzzles that require investigation and thinking, and thus aren't necessarily well-suited to things like skill checks.


haha, so I used the haunt channeler ability. The haunt was one that just wanted to smash everyone for some reason, so the GM ruled that he basically was a hostile entity that was now possessing my body and wanting to kill the party, not really open to talking about why.
That has kinda really turned me off of trying to use it since it possessing me and fighting the party was WAY worse than us randomly trying to figure out how to turn it off.


Have you tried punching them?


Ventnor wrote:
Have you tried punching them?

That helps to kill them before they fire, but does nothing to let you know how to remove them permanently.


Talk to the little spirits and see what they know. Is there a history known in verse or printe pages? Perhaps it is better to arm yourself with knowledge before you attempt conversation with the haunt.

Alternatively, your clever DM pulled the monster from some random page and isn't at all interested in a story, just in a dangerous set of abilities. Pity were that so.

Other alternative, you don't actually care about a story either. Nuke it and get lost before it reforms. Burn the GM's Horror book to teach him a lesson.


Chess Pwn wrote:
Ventnor wrote:
Have you tried punching them?
That helps to kill them before they fire, but does nothing to let you know how to remove them permanently.

Right, right, of course.

Use Vital Strike, then punch it.

Grand Lodge

Chess Pwn wrote:

So to clarify, I'm not asking how do you know that you can hurt them with positive energy so they don't go off.

I'm asking for how to know how to permanently remove the haunt so it no longer resets.

most of the time, to destroy a haunt you must "destroy monster X" that's part of the scenario.

There are a few exception- like there's a haunt in Strange Aeons:
Strange Aeons:
There's a talking Eye on a door, that can't be completely destroyed until it's shown it's own reflection.


Chess Pwn wrote:

haha, so I used the haunt channeler ability. The haunt was one that just wanted to smash everyone for some reason, so the GM ruled that he basically was a hostile entity that was now possessing my body and wanting to kill the party, not really open to talking about why.

That has kinda really turned me off of trying to use it since it possessing me and fighting the party was WAY worse than us randomly trying to figure out how to turn it off.

I mean, that's not even remotely how that ability works, so I'm not sure what to tell you.

You can choose to take the haunt entirely within yourself, in which case it possesses you (and you get a saving throw every minute to kick it out) but the basic functionality of the ability is that you touch the haunt, it takes nd6 damage (n=INT(level/2)), and you get to ask it a question and the haunt has to answer (it can lie, but you should have a chance to see through lies whether you're listening to a Class 5 Full-Roaming Vapor or a guy at the docks).

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