Hello,
does a Ghost that is killed by a Hellfire Ray return normally, just as if he'd been killed by Axe-to-Face?
Normally you need to research the reason for a Ghost's existence to properly put it to rest. - But if a ghost haunts a house, you can also de-ghostify the area by simply burning everything down. No haus to haunt, no ghost. Or if you use Trap the Soul on the ghost, you also get rid of it. So playing the unpaid errant-boy for the ghost is not the only way to get rid of them.
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Relevant passages:
Hellfire Ray:
Any creature killed by this spell must make a Will saving throw; failure means the creature’s soul is damned to Hell as a burst of brimstone appears around its corpse. A non-evil spellcaster attempting to bring the character back from the dead must make a caster level check (DC equal to 10 plus the slain creature’s level) to succeed; failure means the spellcaster cannot try again for 1 day. Evil spellcasters can raise the slain character normally, without a check.
Ghost Rejuvenation:
In most cases, it's difficult to destroy a ghost through simple combat: the “destroyed” spirit restores itself in 2d4 days. Even the most powerful spells are usually only temporary solutions. The only way to permanently destroy a ghost is to determine the reason for its existence and set right whatever prevents it from resting in peace. The exact means varies with each spirit and may require a good deal of research, and should be created specifically for each different ghost by the GM.
The Ghost Rejuvenation would still work.
"A non-evil spellcaster attempting to bring the character back from the dead must make a caster level check (DC equal to 10 plus the slain creature’s level) to succeed; failure means the spellcaster cannot try again for 1 day. Evil spellcasters can raise the slain character normally, without a check."
As seen in the passage above no one is trying to raise the character from the dead nor are they making a caster level check.
Since Ghost Rejuvenation isn't doing either of the things that Hellfire Ray attempts to block the ghost will restore itself in 2d4 days.
I am meaning the "the creature’s soul is damned to Hell" part. As when the ghost's soul is in hell, then it isnt around on Golarion any more to keep on ghosting.
I am meaning the "the creature’s soul is damned to Hell" part. As when the ghost's soul is in hell, then it isnt around on Golarion any more to keep on ghosting.
Yeah i know.
"A non-evil spellcaster attempting to bring the character back from the dead must make a caster level check (DC equal to 10 plus the slain creature’s level) to succeed; failure means the spellcaster cannot try again for 1 day. Evil spellcasters can raise the slain character normally, without a check."
This is what that does mechanically.
So in 2d4 Days the ghost is back.
There are multiple reasons this doesn't work. Ghosts are already dead, so bringing it back from the dead doesn't apply. A ghost reduced to O hp isn't killed, unlike other undead, it isn't even 'destroyed'.
Ghosts don't have a soul, they are a soul, and they are already damned.
As far as your other methods, burning down a house that a ghost is haunting in no way guarantees the ghost won't remain there. Trap the soul is questionable.
"Trap the soul forces a creature's life force (and its material body) into a gem."
Ghost;s certainly don't have a material body, and it is quite possible that they don't have a 'life force'. One might say this is only fluff, but the spell basically nothing but fluff, so it is probably a GM call. Even then, their is no reason to think that 'Even the most powerful spells are usually only temporary solutions' from Ghost rejuvenation doesn't apply to this spell as well.
As far as your other methods, burning down a house that a ghost is haunting in no way guarantees the ghost won't remain there. Trap the soul is questionable.
"Trap the soul forces a creature's life force (and its material body) into a gem."
Ghost;s certainly don't have a material body, and it is quite possible that they don't have a 'life force'. One might say this is only fluff, but the spell basically nothing but fluff, so it is probably a GM call. Even then, their is no reason to think that 'Even the most powerful spells are usually only temporary solutions' from Ghost rejuvenation doesn't apply to this spell as well.
Yup. Ghosts are as much plot devices as they are enemies to fight. As the Bestiary entry indicates, there is a lot more involved in the creation of a ghost than most other encounters. It shouldn't be a one-off, out-of-the-blue meeting. Just based on that alone pretty much the only way you should be able to permanently rid the living world of a ghost then is how you're told by the writer of the scenario (or your GM who created it).
So for instance, burning down the house might not mean they never come back; it might mean they transfer their haunt to you or somebody else in particular because the destruction of their house enraged them.
YMMV, but that's how I've always understood them to work.
Do Ghosts have souls?
Rejuvenation mentions that ghosts as spirits and not souls (which Pathfinder I believe does differentiate between but I could be wrong).
Also I would think the specific rule for the ghost that says the ONLY way to kill it overrules the general effect of the spell on creatures.
Do Ghosts have souls?
The ghost template describes them as a soul that couldn't rest and therefore comes back as a ghost.
Either they are a transformed soul and now count as something else, or they 'are' a soul, they don't 'have' one.