If you had to be a ghost which class would you want to be and why?
Need some challenging undying npcs to get some powerful players using their noggins again before end game where they will have no chance unless they get in some practice thinking again instead of just stomping.
Bones Oracle is kind of made for this.
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Maps Subscriber
Obviously Oracles and Sorcerers are going to be good fits, because they use Charisma as their casting stat and determining HP like living creatures use CON.
For more "use your noggin" type fights, maybe even a Ghost Druid would work. Use spells that will divide and conquer, Wall of Thorns to slow down or trap squishies, summon things while in the ground to deal with the front liners, and then pelt the back line with powerful druid spells.
Occult Oracle, by my ghostly power!
Charisma-powered classes make excellent undead, especially incorporeal undead, since they use their charisma modifier as their HP modifier and as a deflection bonus to AC. Furthermore, a ghost’s corrupting touch does impressive damage and ignores most armor, so consider a melee-focused character with high dexterity, since incorporeal means using dex to hit instead of strength.
A high-charisma antipaladin ghost would have great saves, and the antipaladin aura of cowardance would have synergy with a ghost’s frightful moan. A high-charisma ninja ghost would have plenty of ki and could stack sneak attack on corrupting touch for amazing damage. Oracle mysteries open up all kinds of options, like an ancestor oracle who can summon a ghost touch weapon, or an occult oracle who can summon ghost touch armor. The ghost is probably better off just buying ghost touch equipment and taking the war mystery, however.
Any way you go, consider giving the ghost plenty of bluff for use when possessing someone.
Anitpaladin. The auras mesh really well with a ghost's abilities, They have CHA to Saves and HP, Can heal themselves with Neg. lay on hands and a Smite Good combined with the ghost touch attack is terrifying.
A Ghostly Paladin would be Insane. Ghost Touch weapons and armor, using its touch attack when appropriate.
Ultimately the challenge you hope to present is not one of combat skill but of lateral thinking no?
Those are harder to write into a story without repeatedly bludgeoning your players with a cluebat for it to stick.
A ghost half elf summoner synthesist would have the advantages of being intangible and being able to surround himself in a set of armor to affect the real world.
And then you've got the bonus of his summons, get the basic feat boosts summon up a couple dozen allies and drop into combat as a fully buffed arcane titan.
The big thing though is that killing him does nothing. Unlike a lich Ghosts don't die unless you can remove their reason to stay on the plane. Well that or powerful magic to trap them in a box somewhere. So you should make an effort to avoid that happening.
You could also go with the good old standby of hostage taking. Take a valuable NPC, a PC's family or friends and control them.
Amusingly enough Magic jar is on the summoners borked spell list so even without ghostly possession powers he could manage that trick.
Then he could take on his tank form with a captured NPC and use the captured bodies health to keep the eidolon on the plane.
Better yet he could just take over said friend and cause emotional or monetary chaos with the PC's stuck with the bruden of proving said friend or ally isn't who they say they are.
There are a couple feats that work in concert quite well with magic jar, they are intended for shadow demons but if as a GM you choose to override the 'demon' requirements they are rather dangerous.
They all come from the Demons revisited soft cover book though so D20pfsrd doesn't have them. Fortunately Nethys has a great library.
This one
This one
This one
This one
Remember that the ghost will have no material components... so if you want a spellcaster, make sure you give it eschew materials. Even then, that only covers the mundane stuff.... no spells with expensive components.
I think Paladin, Bard, or Swashbuckler would all be excellent choices.
Come to think of it an Oradin build on a ghost would be pretty insane.
Being intangible got ya down? I would introduce you to this little wonder.
Amulet of grasping souls
While I agree that a sorcerer would be better for the CHA synergy, but I published an expanded encounter/mini-adventure site called Haiku of Horror: Autumn Moon Bath House for the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG) that features a ghost witch (that borrows some aspects from White Hair Witch) with a unique non-corporeal attack, in addtion to normal and other new ghost attacks.
The ghost comes in multiple CR values. Something that might be worth looking at for comparison, anyway...
Imbicatus wrote: Anitpaladin. The auras mesh really well with a ghost's abilities, They have CHA to Saves and HP, Can heal themselves with Neg. lay on hands and a Smite Good combined with the ghost touch attack is terrifying. It's worth noting that the antipaladin's Cha to saves was recently changed to not stack with the ghost's replacing Con with Cha for Fort.
That said, antipaladin is still solid, and other saves will still be good. Incorporeal does not have a ton of Fort saves to worry about.
Reminds me to get back to a little project of mine...
Another awesome option would be a Scarred Witch Doctor witch. Since SWD normally changes everything to CON for spells and hexes, they are CHA for everything after going ghostal.
Plan is a challenge of lateral thinking but a ghost does that innately by needing research,creativity and networking to destroy.
So just need it to be a big enough threat/pain that the party gets on board instead of just ignoring it. Fan of ninja as assassinate attempts with corrupting touch and sneak attack will be motivational but need a way to trace teleport and teleport, track or have the knowledge skills to predict where they might go otherwise they will just bug out every time with no legit reason why ghost finds them.
Either that or I tie the ghost to the most powerful characters favorite item... getting rid of the ghost without destroying the item should be thought provoking and will force some politeness and networking.
Imbicatus wrote: Another awesome option would be a Scarred Witch Doctor witch. Since SWD normally changes everything to CON for spells and hexes, they are CHA for everything after going ghostal. That wouldn't be viable. For ghosts, Con is no longer a (valid) statistic, and is simply replaced with Charisma. i.e. Your #1 stat no longer becomes your #1 stat, it is infact eliminated entirely for a statistic that is otherwise dumped for that class. Unless there is a Charisma-focused Witch archetype, the Witch class isn't exactly a good fit.
That being said, it would be amazing to fight a transforming ghost that would take smaller, lesser forms. Since it would only increase its damaging and protective capabilities, and suffer hardly any of the penalties associated, spells like Undead Anatomy IV would be crazy-good to use. Throw in a couple ghostly Bards amplifying his abilities through performances and other unique buffs, as well as an Oracle, and you got yourself a very difficult encounter. Tack on an Incorporeal Lich, and you got yourself a TPK.
Id go for mostly spellcasting/support classes like sorc, oracle and bard..or an antipaladin focussed on scaring stuff. A ghost bard would be quite fun as a PC if any GM could be convinced to allow one. Singing and poetry so that (s)he doesnt need an instrument and you're useful without draining the partys item pool for quite a while
Hmmmm a dirge bard who demoralizes the party and has the things the PCs kill return from death tho fight again mid combat .... i like
Dance of the Dead (Su): At 10th level, a dirge bard can use his bardic performance to cause dead bones or bodies to rise up and move or fight at his command. This ability functions like animate dead, but the created skeletons or zombies remain fully animate only as long as the dirge bard continues the performance. Once it stops, any created undead collapse into carrion. Bodies or bones cannot be animated more than once using this ability. Unlike animate dead, dance of the dead requires no components and does not have the evil descriptor.
Thinking a hot chick or child (resident evil style)- usually friendly but with issues. Linked to the party somehow and haunting them till they can work it out.
Perhaps one of the PCs sisters/children/nieces (they didn't even know was born because they were away so long/had one hooker to many).
Was horribly murdered due to the actions (and resultant ramifications) of the PCs.
Will stick with them till they provide closure by admitting blame and thinking bigger.
|
