How Best to Bring Back a Non-hateful Ghost

[Bill Nye 924]

So in a past campaign, one of my characters died. His whole reason for adventuring was to send money back to his wife and daughter, mainly for his daughter who had a "uncurable" disease (which the party cured after returning the character's (named Gandil) body to his home. The point of this though is that Gandil cared deeply for his daughter, eventually sacrificing his life in his pursuits to be able to pay for her medicine.

As the party returned Gandil's body to his family, a local crime boss (small time) sent some city guards on his payroll to confiscate Gandil's ancestral family sword and armor, which he wanted passed down to his daughter, as the goods were worth a good amount. The party fought against said bribed guards, and slew them, before leaving the city. Now, this had consequences that the party didn't intend, mainly since they left the bodies of the guards in the home, eventually someone went looking for them, and Gandil's wife was thought to of murdered upstanding guards of the city, and was executed. The local crime boss tried to send people after the daughter since she was the only other witness (although she was young at the time, around 9), and her mother told her to run, and the daughter, named Derrah, has been surviving on her own since.

At least that's how it seems at first to the party as they meet Derrah in the Kingmaker campaign (Stolen Lands specifically. They encounter her while exploring and help her back to Oleg's after finding her wounded by bandits, many of which she slew, but some look as if they died of old age). This isn't the same party that knew Gandil, though two of the players in this campaign also played that one, and Derrah is about 19 now. When questioned by the party about where she learned to fight, she said she learned from her father, though at another point, she mentioned how both her parents died when she was young.

The party has also encountered other signs of a ghost in the area.
So, the party hasn't put it all together, but basically Gandil has come back as a ghost shortly after the time of his wife's death, to try to guide and aid his daughter. He was a good, honorable man in life and has been that way most of his time as a ghost, but he's been slowly getting more and more defensive of his daughter, and hateful to those who would harm her, having killed a merchant that simply drew a sword to show her, intending to sell it to her.

My main problem is, according to the site, most ghosts come back to life due to some injustice or from hate. Gandil didn't really come back for those reasons the way I see it. He didn't seek vengeance on those who murdered his wife, he only wanted to protect his daughter (though that line is growing more and more blurry for him). The other thing is, can a ghost manifest a certain amount of time after the body dies, or does it always have to be immediate? Because Gandil wasn't a ghost for the weeklong journey to bring his body home.

Also, what would be a good way to explain when people ask "How did you come back as a ghost?"

TLDR; Can a ghost come back out of love and protectiveness, and can a ghost manifest after a certain amount of time of the body dying, or is it always immediate?

[Steelfiredragon]

haunt

could use this instead

[Lady Funnyhat]

You could give his daughter levels in Spiritualist, and he would be her Phantom. Dedication is an especially appropriate focus for him.

[Meraki]

Not all ghosts come back out of hate or anger, either. There's an example of a good-aligned ghost in Undead Unleashed, who is trying to protect her district of her town. So you could definitely have a ghost that comes back to protect something. It's probably rare, but it happens.

I don't think there are any set rules for how long it takes a ghost to manifest; that seems to be GM-fiat territory. Personally, I'd think it would usually be fairly quickly, unless the conditions that cause the ghost to manifest arise later (for example, their family line is threatened or something).

[Lady-J]

step one apply ghost template to old dead character, step two ignore the premade fluff

[Bob Bob Bob]

Ghosts come about for the same reason they do in every story. Unfinished business. Pathfinder ghosts are, I believe, the only undead who are not explicitly evil. Their alignment doesn't change by becoming a ghost, it changes over time (like everyone else). The fluff is:

Ghost wrote:

Although ghosts can be any alignment, the majority cling to the living world out of a powerful sense of rage and hatred, and as a result are chaotic evil—even the ghost of a good or lawful creature can become hateful and cruel in its afterlife.

Which looks like exactly what you've already got going on. He became a ghost to protect his family. Over time he's lost compassion and empathy and now acts "for the good of his daughter", rest of the world be damned.

As for how long it takes to manifest, if ghosts popped up immediately after killing someone it'd make fights a lot more interesting. TPKs should turn into all-ghost parties, still ready to fight. Since a ghost manifests in response to some specific trigger, it might make sense for his ghost to not manifest until they took his ancestral gear or killed his wife. The latter works best from a story perspective (especially given his motivations). The rules are incredibly vague on this, probably on purpose.

TLDR: Yes, definitely not immediate, length of time indeterminate.

[Bill Nye 924]

Thanks everyone for your great suggestions! I have a pretty good idea on what to do now. :^)