On the off chance of any of my players reading this: bugger off!
I need help with a part of an adventure. I have this wizard and magic shop keeper who new too much and was killed by the big bad evil guy because of it.
But his death was both brutal and tragic, so I figure he didn't stay dead. It makes sense story-wise too, since I want to pass on some of his knowledge to the PCs.
I figure he became a ghost. As the bestiary entry says, a ghost benefits from a strong and detailed backstory. And I think I have one.
However, a lone ghost hardly makes an interesting encounter - or at the at least not several encounters. I need to populate the complex haunted by my ghost with more monsters.
So, what are my options?
It feels a tad bit too evil to go for necromancy. Sure, as a ghost the guy is now evil. But more in a tormented, sad way. I want to keep a bit of grey scale and necromancers tend to become all out over the top bad guys.
Then I thought he could create constructs. But creating constructs requires you to manipulate stuff. And a ghost is incorporeal. Are there ways around that? I'd hate to rely solely on GM fiat, a bit of believability is nice.
Perhaps a Wight would be more appropriate?
A wight can be formed when a person meets an especially violent end, and wights have the ability to create spawn. Additionally, as a corporeal undead, a wight would be able to create constructs and the like.
Also consider that since the NPC used to be a wizard, the shop/lair/tower/etc could contain various traps to round out encounters. For extra encounter variety, you could consider using some (or even all) of the wight variants for the NPC wight's spawn.
Any number of templates could be used or added to the NPC wight to give it a little extra flair, or you could even consider giving it class levels, as wights are intelligent.
If you wanted to stick with incorporeality, a wraith offers a similar create spawn ability that might be more helpful than the ghost?
Hope this helps!
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Constructs and animated objects would be my suggestion. The could have been made before the wizard died. If I was a wizard running a magic shop, I'd certainly have some of those.
Conjured creatures could also work. Elementals and other outsiders that were bound to the wizards shop (I'm a big fan of the Scrivinite as working for the wizard in exchange for some obscure knowledge).
Maybe a familiar that went crazy with it's master's death?
Also as others pointed out magic traps are an obvious choice, and maybe a back room with a few random cursed items (loadstones are one of my favorites).
All of this could be topped with a mystery. How did the wizard end up getting killed with so many defenses still intact?
Speaking of constructs and familiars.... Give him at least one homunculus in life, not necessarily as a familiar.
Homunculi are little more than tools designed to carry out assigned tasks. They are extensions of their creators, sharing the same alignment and basic nature. A homunculus never willingly travels more than a mile from its master, though it can be removed forcibly. If this occurs, the creature does everything in its power to return to this range, as it cannot communicate with its master beyond this distance. An attack that destroys a homunculus deals 2d10 points of damage to its master. If the creature's master is slain, the homunculus goes insane—it loses its Intelligence score, all feats, and all skill ranks, and generally claims the immediate surroundings as its domain, mindlessly attacking any who intrude upon its lair.
On rare occasions, a homunculus freed from its servitude rises above its master's original intent and becomes more than a half-insane construct guardian of a long-forgotten lair. In some cases, a homunculus might even come to see itself as the rightful heir to its master's legacy, or even the reincarnated spirit of the master himself.
Homunculi know what their masters know, so if that last case occurs the PCs could potentially get the crucial information from the half-insane homunculus. Probably give them Knowledge(arcana) checks to realize this.