Simon Dilisnya's page

One of my players in an upcoming campaigns is playing a Duskblade. I've okayed the classe, because it's cool, and it fits with the character, but there are somet hings that I need to clear up, namely the way their 13th level ability operates. Here's what the ability says:

Arcane channeling(Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a duskblade can cast a touch spell and delivier it through a melee weapon. casting the spell ths way does not provoke AoOs. the spel must have a casitng time of 1 standard action or less. At 13th level, you may channel one spell during a full attack that affects each target hit by the weapon with the spell. Doing so discharges the spell at the end of the round, even if it would have lasted longer.

First of all, can they channeled their ranged touch spells through attacks as well? More importantly, can the same target be affected by the same spell more than once? If the duskblade, for example, channels a shockng grasp spell into their full attack and strikes a target 3 times, is that one target subjected to 3 shocking grasp spells?

In Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Babba Zeneeba worships a demon prince named Chernavog, whom she refers to as The Green God. It gives the stat for his aspect, but that's it. There's no description of what he looks like, or more importantly, what his demonic portfolio is. Does anyone know if he has been detailed in a source elsewhere? If not, any advice on what he should be like? I picture him as looking pretty much like Chernabog from Night on Bald Mountain, except smaller, and not stuck in a mountain. He has warlock powers, so I figured mabye I could portray him as a corrupting influence. Just to explain the "green" part of him, mabye he has something to do with a tainted forest? That would fit with Barovia well.

You guys are getting WAY to caught up in the history here. Wizards can't be expected to perfectly duplicate the samurai, and they aren't trying to. This is a game of high fantasy, and so you can expect Wizards to do their best to capture the romanticized fantasy samurai. The same goes for the other oriental classes, too. Yeah, samurai didn't usually fight with two weapons, and yeah, they rode horses and used bows. That isn't the samurai that's being presented, because this isn't a historical game. It's BASED on history and BASED on real figures, but that's it. I know that ancient Japanese culture is sweet, but if your expecting to find an accurate representation of it here, I'm afraid you're playing the wrong game.

What I do if a player wants an alternate progression (in Oriental Adventures, for example), is just give them alternate abilites to the two weapon fighting. I think the rest of the class works fine with their staredown abilities and kiai smite. For example, in Oriental Adventures, the Dragon Clan samurai remain as printed in CW, but the other clans get alternate abilites. Crane Clan gets bonuses to initiative to reflect their emphasis on speed and mobility. Scorpion likes to fight dirty, so they get a few sudden strike dice. Crab samurai get rage. Lion clan gets a shout that grants attack and damage bonuses to themselves and their allies. Phoenix Clan samurai focus on mental training, so I give them a small insight bonus to AC to represent their ability to read their oppoenent. Unicorns get a bonus to attack and damage while mounted.

Expanding on Saern's post, mabye you could play up this guys true neutral alignment. Make him devoted to balance, or give him the idea that good, evil, law, and chaos are nothing more than meaningless social constructs. He could be a disillusioned and jaded character, mabye some sort of catastrohpe in his past. The scythe is an unusual weapon outside the cult of Nerull (even if it is CRAZY good). That weapon could hold some sort of significance, and mabye he's even a former cultist? As for habbits and quirks, make him grim and fatalistic, but still a good guy (you said he tends towards good). He hates dreamers and moralists, and shirks religion, believing that people need to make their own destinies, and not leave it to the gods to make it for them. I keep coming back to Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil" here. It's a difficult read, but if you can find it, browse through it a bit, may give you some ideas.

Okay, my favorite one on one encounter was actually a nonlethal, but nonfriendly, player on player combat. This was in an epic level FR game, and my barbarian picked a fight with the party's fighter. Now, it is important to understand a few things about these characters. First of all, they were EPIC. Both of them had strength scores well over 30, and my barbarian actually passed 40 while raging. Second of all, they were rivals, and not in a good way. They got along when they first met, after all, they were both followers of Tempus. They were soon at odds, though. My barbarian was all about honor and glory. The fighter was about glory, and nothing else. My barbarian hated tyranny, and saw the fighter as little more than a bully. Tensions grew quickly.

Then, one day, my barbarian found out the fighter did something (can't remember what) that really pissed him off. He approached his door, knocked, and when the fighter answered, I punched him in the face. He punched back, and then we started grappling. At this point, the party was powerful enough that they had their own stronghold, complete with a dojo and training room. The party's sorcerer came along, and decided that it was fine that we were fighting, but we needed to do it in the dojo. He proceeded to cast telekinesis to force us to comply.

Two contestants locked in a deathgrip, floating through the air, striking each other without mercy. These were some of the scariest unarmed strikes I had ever seen. We were easily doing over a hundred points of subdual damage every round. We never actually made it do the dojo, because the fight was broken up, and our characters grudgingly made up, but it was an awsome battle.

Umberlee is actually pretty pissed about being forced into a mortal form. Oh, by the way, new update. Lathander and Tempus are dead. Someone (not sure who yet)killed them to take their portfolios.

Well said!

Sean is right. Plus, I recently saw the stats that Strahd had in the original module. He was only 10th level then, though "only" might be an understatement, since back then it was monumental for a vampire to have any class levels at all. Throught the second edition ravenloft, Strahd was level 16, and it was only in 3rd edition that he became a 16 necromancer/4 fighter. He's never had 9th level spells.

I'm currently running the minicampaign version of Castle Ravenloft, but once I'm finished with it, there's this nifty FR game I'm going to be running. You see, last year, I ran another FR campaign at epic level, with the characters beggining at level 17, and the game ending at roughly level 24. Here's what happened, more or less: An ancient aboleth (one of the first) discovered an artifact that was capable of opening a massive portal to the plane of water, flooding the material plane. His plan was to activate it and return the world to a state similar to the one it was in when aboleths ruled the world. This aboleth is a baddass, he was advanced to 32 HD, in addition to being a high level psion. I calculated his CR at over 35, and he had an artifact that could nullify the powers of any gods within a few miles (it was necessary in FR). When we ended the campaign, he had activated the portal, he had killed Elminster, kidnapped the Simbul, and the party had just fled the scene as he had begun an epic battle with Mystra. Back with popular demand from my players, I will be returning to this campaign, with different, lower level characters, set 10 years later. The actions of their previous epic characters have done much to shape the state of the current world.

Here's the low down. The sea level has risen drastically worldwide, so most coastal nations are halfway underwater. The free people of Faerun are working to construct a massive damn in a desperate attempt to stall the aboleth, and strange alliances have sprung up all over the place. The Harpers and the Zhentarim are working together with a VERY uneasy truce, one that not all members of the organizations recognize.
The Red Wizards are seeking to exploit this situation to further their own goals, and cults revearing the aboleth as a god have sprung up. Cormyr is where the campaign began, and so it is one of the major centers of the struggle.

Mystra is dead, and the weave has been damaged because of it. It is still accessable, but arcane spellcasters now need a feat to use their magic.

As for old PCs (now NPCs, but the players regain control of them in the finale in order to do battle with the aboleth), the drow archmage, Vivian, is trying to become the new goddess of magic, and her tower on "Vivian Island" is a major stronghold for the forces of good. Three of the characters, a noble barbarian of Cormyr, a half-dragon spellsword, and a raptoran samurai, have founded a school of combat, producing the first duskblades (PHB2). The class is changed slightly in this campaign, and they gain an ancestral daisho, but that is the only weapon they can channel their spells through. The barbarian from Cormyr is also a general in the war against the aboleth.

This is probably the biggest change. Using his "anti-god artifact" and a lengthy ritual, the aboleth has forced a second Time of Troubles. Gods walk the earth in mortal form once again. For a long time, clerics were unable to cast spells, until Azuth, Denier, and Oghma collaborated to created an artifact they call a "spell alter" that allows a deity's mortal avatar to continue to grant spells. Gond built the first spell alter, and since then, a handful of other gods have acquired one as well. Tyr, Torm, and Illmatyr share a spell alter, and their newly formed church has one of the widest followings in Faerun. Cyric is going on a mad quest to slay as many avatars as he can, certain that the Time of Trouble will soon be over, and he will be more powerful when it is. Helm, seeing the chaos that this is causing, is trying harder than anyone for the gods to re-ascend. The Red Wizards seek to use this opportunity to elevate their Zulkirs to godhood. The Zhentarim has split in two, with Fzoul Chembryl taking one half and following the church of Bane (who has a spell alter. He allows Mask to share it in exchange for servitude), and the other half following Manshoon in the uneasy Harper alliance, and the war against the aboleth that threatens Zhentarim rule.

That's the just of everything. Any thoughts or ideas?

I like Ashenvale's ideas a lot. When I actually calculated Strahd's turn resistance, I realized that it should be much of a problem. Before we even began the game, my party and I agreed that this would be a Ravenloft campaign, complete with fear, horror, and madness saves, dark powers checks, and darklords. I don't have my "Secrets of the Dread Realms" on me, because I left it at home this year, but if I recall correctly, undead darklords all recieve an additional +4 turn resistance, in addition to the +1 turn resistance that all undead possess in Ravenloft, giving him an effective 19 hit dice. No 10th level cleric is going to turn that, especially since he's multiclassing as a paladin.

Okay, serious problem here. I am running the "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft" as a minicampaign, but there is a problem with the cleric. We have an unspoken rule here, first of all, that other than prestige classes, anything in the complete books is canon, and does not require permission. The party has a cleric with a feat that allows him to burn two turn attempt to outright destroy any undead he would turn. It made the zombie encounters significantly easier (but still challenging), but I forsee a problem with Strahd. I can't find anything that stops him from being turned or destroyed. I don't want to take the feat away, and I don't want to take the easy way out and just say "Oh, yeah. He can't be turned." Any ideas?

I'm not exactly a veteran player. I'm only 21, and have only been playing D&D for about five to seven years, and so I had the chance to experience the original Ravenloft module. I did manage to find the campaign setting, however. I found the Sword and Sorcery 3rd edition printing of the game, ran some games in it, and needless to say, was thrilled when I discovered that they where revising the module for 3.5. I hear that Wizards acquired the rights to Ravenloft, and this intrigues me. Finally, the point of this post: Do you think that Wizards intends to do more with Ravenloft, perhaps even printing it as their next campaign setting?

C'mon you guys! All these are core rulebook spells. Think outside the box. It's fun in D&D and it would be fun in real life. Sniloc's Snowball Swarm!

I recently submitted a querry to write an article about evil PCs and antiheroes. Haven't heard anything yet, and I'm waiting for the rejection letter, but I'm thinking about making my players read it anyways.

We have had some experience with antihero games before, but the characters leaned a bit more towards evil than neutrality, and in the end many of them ended up as villains (not that it wasn't fun. My character became a darklord, but he wasn't psycho-evil and he is, to date, my favorite character I've ever played). I don't think I'd have a problem with the same thing happening again, but I'd like it to happen much more slowly than it did last time.

Perhaps a second game is in order, and not just another D&D campaign, but another roleplaying game that uses an entirely different system with an entirely different feel. Have everyone roll a character for this game and when you get bored, pull them out and have a throw game.

Personaly, I love Shadowrun. It's a cyberpunk roleplaying that still uses a d6 system. Very gritty. Also, consider a relalitvely new and little known game called Cold Steel Reign, with a d100 system, set in an old west style world. Even more gritty.

Magic: The Gathering is a marvelous card game that can be played for hours, and most people who play D&D, at least the ones I know, have played a game or two at one time or another.

Also, consider a multiplayer videogame. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a D&D based game for the PS2, though it might not be the right game if you want a break from "kill the orc," as it generaly involves your character running around killing monsters to get experience and loot so they can kill them better.

One final suggestion, if it's the combat that you need a break from, have a session that's solid role-playing. No dice need ever be roled, except for maybe the occassional diplomacy or bluff check. These games can lead to some interesting character development.

Consider looking into the pre-made adventure "Red Hand of Doom." It's a five part adventure, but if you're willing to devote a bit more time than usual, and you are better at avoiding distractions than my group of ADD players, you might be able to get through in 2 or 3 nights. I thought it was a pretty good module.

Soon, I am going to be starting a campaign set in the world of Ravenloft, a lesser known campaign world with a theme of gothic horror to it. It is excellent for good aligned characters because of the insurmountable challenges placed before them, and great for evil characters because the world is in general more friendly towards evil alignments (in fact, it is not possible to detect good or evil with magic in Ravenloft). The flavor of the campaign in general encourages darker, more complex characters, and so my group has decided to play a party full of antiheroes.

I am requiring everyone to submit to me at least one page about their characters background and long term goals, and this campaign is going to focus on the characters, and allow them to accomplish these goals (overly lofty goals, such as world domination, will be vetoed, and new characters rolled up).

I am looking for general advice for this campaign. Because of the way it's set up, the overarcing plot is probably going to develop a bit later, once I've seen how I can weave the characters' individual storylines together, but I really need a way to get them all together in the first adventure.

Conventional means might not work, because with a party full of antiheroes, they're going to have different motivations that a typical character. I was thinking of pulling a trick that I tried in a previous campaign in which the characters begin the game in combat as a sudden threat has just arisen, and have to work together for mutual survival. Thoughts?

It just occured to me, in fact, that you could use the elven paladin's substitution levels to create a completely new order of divine archers.

In Races of the Wild, there is an option for substitution levels for elven paladins. Among other things, they loose their normal smite ability and gain the ability to use smite evil on ranged attacks, and ranged attacks only. This minor change encourages a completely different type of paladin, focusing on archery and perhaps lighter armor.

Alternatively, you could just go with the old strategy of throwing on a ton of self buffs and wading into combat.

It's going to be very hard to find these days, but if you're really interested in dragon PCs, you should try to find a 2nd edition supplement called "Council of Wyrms." It's a campaign setting setting in which all the characters are dragons (I can't believe it hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet).

Even though it's 2nd edition, with some work you might be able to adapt it to 3rd. It incorporates things like age categories instead of class levels, challenges for dragon PCs, etc...

I have a different question about summon monsters, and it's a bit silly, but it's come up in one or two of my games before, and could be very useful (though abusable, and it kills the mood of serious campaign).

The spell states that you must summon a monster in an enviroment that can support it, i.e. one that won't immediately kill the creature. No orcas on dry land, you know. My question is this: is it okay to summon, say, a rhinoceros a couple feet above an opponents head?

Fleeing the city of Port aLucieune (the city party began in), the party makes their way towards the border of Dementlieu (the domain we began in). The party stops in a nearby town. This is wear the campaign really starts to pickup. Stories are told of children dissapearing, and Finch sees a strange looking man with a soul-chilling green playing with a group of youngsters near the sewer. The rest of the party sees the children, but no man, only a wierd mist.

Simon gets word of a Dilisnya woman who resides in this city. He asks around town and finds where she lives, breaking off fromt he rest of the party. He goes to the door, and the moment the woman answers, his mother's ghost commands Simon to kill her. After taking a moment to assess the woman, he determines that she possesses physical traits that match a typical Dilisnya, and he does as his mother's shade bids. During the brief struggle, the woman mentioned her husband, and so Simon waits for the man to come home, and kills him as well, failing his first Dark Powers check. He is granted a stronger will, but his eyes glow purple in the dark (purple is the color of death in his homeland of borca).

Wolfenheim and Brock have been looking for Simon, and are drawn by the sounds of this minor struggle. The find Simon standing dead over two bodies, and demand to know what is going on. Unable to quickly think of an excuse, he reveals to them his true identity, as well as his plan to kill his family. Brock remains impartial, while Wolfenheim is at first enraged at learning the Simon belongs to the Dilisnya line. However, they realize they are both enemies of that family, and they form an uneasy alliance.

That night, Finch is attacked by the strange man he saw earlier, with Hugh nearby. A struggle ensues, and Finch is nearly pulled up a tree by this mystery assailent. Hugh ties a rope to Finch's leg, affixing the other end to a horse. The horse, spooked by Hugh's skeletonliness, bolts. The beast of burden proves stronger than Finch's attacker, but only by a small margin, and Finch is drug along the ground by the horse. Hugh manages to cut the rope, and the two of them return to the party.

The next day, after the story is recounted, Simon's bardic knowledge tells him that this mystery creature resembles a fairy tale monster known as Crocodile Lenny. He lures naughty children into the sewers and devours them. He also knows that a rare few of these "fairy tale fey" become real when enough people believe in them, and only those people who are insane can see them.

That night, the party is attacked by Lenny while they sleep. He makes himself fully manifest, and the party finds their weapons ineffective. Wolfenheims magic is the only thing that saves the party from destruction. After being injured, Lenny flees, leaving the party badly wounded, and the party's sorcerer suffers from nightmares of the traumatic experience.

Simon at this point recalls that according to legend, Lenny can only be harmed by weapons of cold iron, and the only way to truly destroy him is to press a fresh flower to his nose. The party seeks treatment for their wounds at a local temple, and spends the night there, with several of them concealing fresh flowers by their beds. Lenny attacks again, and various party members attempt to grapple him so they may press a flower to his nose. He puts up a fight, but flees when he realizes half of his opponents are brandishing the lethal blossoms.

The next night, the party is given a respite, as Lenny stays beneath the sewers to nurse his wounds. The next night, however, he strikes one final time, and after a climactic battle, one of the party members (I think it was Finch), manages to administer the fatal flower.

Severly injured during the battle, Wolfenheim seeks healing at a temple, telling them that he is a member of the Von Zarovich line and he was just attacked by Crocodile Lenny. He is quickly committed to an asylum. Simon and Hugh see the crazy cart taking him away, and manage to climb atop it when it stops. Wolfenheim begins threatining to raise an undead army to free from the cart and eat the souls of the jailors. Simon and Hugh colaborate for a bit, and decide to pose as Wolfenheims undead minions. Simon uses a "disguise self" spell to make himself appear as a skeleton, and Hugh claims that he posseses similar magic (he in fact does, as "disguise self" was the power given to Hugh by the Dark Powers). Hugh makes some bogus gestures and removes his mask, claiming the skeletal form beneath is the result of his minor spell (by the way, the party, throughout the campaign, never once discovers that Hugh is a skeleton, and not from lack of the players trying).

Simon and Hugh reveal themselves to the jailors, with Wolfenheim making threats the whole time, and demand they stop and release their "master." The guards flee in terror, and Hugh easily picks the lock on the cart, freeing Wolfenheim and gaining a new vehicle for the party.

Simon, Hugh, and Wolfenheim head back to the town and collect everyone else, and they are forced to hop town again, now being labled as escaped convicts.

The party's first adventure isn't terribly impressive. A fence (the kind that buys stolen loot, not the kind around a yard) named Toothless Perry has the party clear some dire rats out of his basement. The party accomplishes this task with minimal effort, as the rats aren't even capable of penetrating Hugh's damage reduction. As a reward, the party is given a club, which is detected as magic by Wolfenheim, and both him and Simon mistakenly identify it as a cursed item. The party never comes to realize the weapon is not cursed, nor do they ever discovere what exactly the magic of the club does, but it is undeniabely effective in combat, and for some time the only magic weapon. All in all the adventure served little purpose but to bring the party together.

The second adventure proves far more interesting. The party happens upon a lecture by a man named "De Pennible." He claims that nobles must strip themselves of their trapping of wealth and suffer along with the peasants and the homeless to gain salvation. The party hears of women who go missing, often after being seen with De Pennible. Simon follows De Pennible after the lecture, hoping he might know something of any Dilisnyas in the area (he does know a lot about the local nobles), and Hugh follows Pennible home with the intent of robbing him. The rest of the party follows later in an attempt to save a young girl that left the lecture with him.

The house of De Pennible is in the slums of town, with nothing remarkable to it. Simon and Hugh, both unaware of each other, decide to stake out the house. The rest of the party arrives, with a new addition named Brock, as well as a cleric (again, whose name I cannot recall. He didn't last long). Brock is a fighter, and a calliban. Callibans are twisted creatures, humans exposed to foul magic while still in the womb. He is brutal and savage, and not well liked by the rest of the party. The cleric perishes during the following adventure, and doesn't do much of anything.

The party lets themself in when no one answers their knock, and find a doorway to the basement. Simon and Hugh follow and meet up with the rest of the party. The basement has chains hanging from the ceiling, and Pennible is in the back with the young woman who was recently seen with him. She is gazing at a strange hoop, chained to the groung with several hooks piercing her skin. Pennible becomes enraged and attacks the party, animating the chains to attack them. The sorcerer flees in terror (he failed a fear save), and the rest of the party takes a beating, but comes out on top. Hugh becomes the first character in the party to fail a powers check when, in an attempt to rescue the girl, tears her free. The hooks rip through her flesh, and, already weakened from her previous hook-inflicted injuries, the girl dies.

Fich looks into the strange hoop and sees an image of hell, then fails a madness check. His resulting paranoia becomes a major theme of his character. It was revealed out of character that Pennible had been possessed by a Kyton, a chain devil, and was attempting to allow a fellow devil to possess the young girl. The party, having technicly murdered De Pennible, skips town, with the famous elven detective Alanik Ray hot on their heels.

Now for the basis of the campaign, the PCs. There were six of us in the very beggining, and we gained and lost some as the campaign progressed. The first six characters were as follows:

Simon Dilisnya, my PC, and my favorite one to date. He is a chaotic evil bard, driven by revenge. He is part of the wealthy and widespread Dilisnya family, who in addition to being almost proffessional nobles, are also nearly all assassins, with a special touch for poison. He comes from the domain of Borca, where most Dilisnyas hail from. He is haunted by the ghost of his mother, who was killed by the rest of the family when she wanted to get out of the assassin bussiness, along with the rest of her immediate family. Simon was the only survivor of this masacre, at the tender age of 11, and his mother's ghost is spuring him on to vengeance. Now in his mid 20s, he has taken on an assumed name and set himself up as a noble, with the intent of tracking down and killing every last Dilisnya, whether they were involved in his family's murder or not. He is a schemer and a master of words and lies. He quickly rises in status in the party and becomes one of the driving characters and the primary diplomat, as well as a backup stealth character.

Hugh is a skeletal rogue that poses as a human, wearing several layers of cloths and a skeleton mask. His undeath began when he was set out into the city of Necropolis to steal a great treasure rumored to lie within. What he was not told was that all who cross the threshold of the city are immediately slain and re-animated as intelligent undead. He now searches half-heartedly for a way to become human again, but he is very apathetic and cares more about the acquisition of wealth. All in all, he is a thug and petty thief. Probably the most statisticly effective character in the party, he ends up becoming the primary stealth character, and, suprisingly, the tank. With a d12 hit die, damage reduction, and fast healing, he typicaly flanks with Simon in battle to get sneak attack damage.

Wolfenhiem Von Zarovich is the party's wizard, and like Simon, of noble birth. He is part of the illustrious Von Zarovich line, the first family to establish itself in Ravenloft. Like many members of the family, he is a necromancer, and very, very arrogant. He refuses to even speak with those not of noble status, and his ultimate goal is to become the right hand man of the family's reclusive patriarch, Count Strahd Von Zarovich. Later, when Simon's true identity is revealed, there is some tension between him and Wolfenheim, as there is a long standing rivalry between their families. Wolfenheim becomes one of the driving characters of the party, and his boasting of his noble birth alternately gets the party what they need, or into a lot of trouble.

Finch is a druid (I can't remember from where) of a small tribal society that worships birds. He was once a spiritual leader of his community, but left for reasons unspoken. He is the first character in the party to fail a madness save (a new type of saving throw introduced in Ravenloft), and becomes paranoid of birds, believing that his tribe is stalking him and plotting his downfall. He eventually ceases to reveare his winged totem animal and adopts the worship of cats in their stead. His command of nature proves helpful to the party on several occassions when they become stranded in the wilderness, and his madness allows him to see certain spirits the other party members cannot. He eventually comes to believe that he is at the center of a conspiracy and the rest of the party is in on it.

A short lived character was a sorcerer whose name eludes me. He is a pyromaniac and has little motivation but to burn things. Early in the campaign he suffers from nightmares for weeks and becomes unable to prepare spells, rendering him largely inneffective.

A character that didn't last the first adventure was a barbarian who never even got a chance to introduce himself. He picks a fight with the rest of the party and ends up storming off. His player will often pick such fights, leading to many new characters for him and many failed Dark Powers checks for the rest of the party.

This was a campaign set in the world of Ravenloft, which is undoubtedly my favorite campaign world ever. For those of you unfamiliar with the world (with I believe many will be), it is themed around gothic horror. Characters are rewarded by faceless gods known as the Dark Powers (out of character, most of the worlds inhabitants are blissfully ignorant of their existence) for evil deeds, and at the same time given a curse to punish them.

The world is split into various kingdoms ruled by, either openly or in secret, Darklords, individuals who have caught the attention of the Dark Powers on a recurring basis. Again, most inhabitants are unaware of this. Clusters of these kingdoms, called Domains in game terms, are grouped together and surrounded by a misty border with strange powers and traits.

The campaign was driven players at first, and the whims of the DM later on, who, when he thought of a domain he thought would be cool, transported us there via the mists.

One thing that I don't think has been addressed yet is the fact that you said this ghost is a higher level, ghostly version of one of your characters. This can work just fine, but you have to be careful about it.
It is important that you don't fall into the trap of shining the campaign spotlight on this ghost, which is a mistake I often see made when basing a campaign off a former character. I've run into this problem before, both as a player and as a DM, and it's an easy trap to fall into. It's your character, and you love him. You want him to shine. Remember though, the campaign is about the players, and not the NPCs.
Make sure your PCs aren't busting their butts just so they can sit on the sideline and watch the story unfold around this ghost. Keep them involved, and let the ghost take the backseat every now and again.
You also said something about the ghost aiding the PCs. If this happens, make CERTAIN that it's indirect. I've never seen an adventure that didn't go bad when the party gets help from a high level NPC. If you balance the monsters to challenge the PCs, this ghost will eat them alive, but if you balance them to challenge this NPC, the PCs aren't likely to survive.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't run this campaign. By all means, go ahead, just be wary of falling too much in love with the central NPC.