Can there is friendly ghosts in the Lost Omens Campaign Settings

[Coulibaly]

I'm going to GM Extinction Curse for my group in the coming months and I've had an idea for an NPC I'd try to work in. Long story short, he is a ghost hunter of sorts with a ghost/spirit companion. The spirit is his old partner/lover and they are still companions. I've got this whole backstory baked up, but I don't know if there are ghosts in the way I'm thinking that aren't evil. If there are spirits that aren't evil, but are not "Ghosts" strictly speaking that works as well. I just don't know enough about the lore to sort things out. I'm not opposed to just making something up, but I like learning about the lore and thought this could be a cool opportunity to learn some more lore.

[Yqatuba]

Yes, ghosts can be any alignment.

[Tender Tendrils]

There is literally a PF1 class built around the concept of having a ghost ally who you commune with and aids you, so ghosts definitely can be good/allies in the setting.

[Adjoint]

The ghost presented in Undead Unleashed, Ordellia Whilwren, is CG... most of the time.

However, acording to lore

Classic Horrors Revisited, p. 23 wrote:

(...) the most significant requisite in a ghost’s appearance seems to be extraordinary circumstances of trauma surrounding its death. Such a condition need not be a torturous murder or a violent betrayal—the knowledge of a great responsibility or the jeopardized life of a loved one can potentially prove sufficient cause to compel a soul to linger on past its physical capacity.

In the case of Ordellia it was the fact that despite her dedication to help Varisians of a growing city of Magnimar, she was killed by no other than a Varisian.

It's this trauma that causes the soul to attract enough Negative Energy to defy the pull of the River of Souls and remain among the living. However, this doesn't happen with no side effects. In the case of Ordellia, they manifest as occasional bouts of despair when the normally kind ghost turns into a dangerous horror.

It is also to be noted that ghosts need a unfulliflled reason to remain in the world of living:

Classic Horrors Revisited, p. 24 wrote:

Even those that do appear only do so temporarily, as many circumstances that might draw a soul away from its final rest lose their significance with the passing of time. Souls attempting to protect someone, avenge some wrong, or see a loved one once more typically linger only for a matter of hours or days before their desires are fulfilled and they willingly release their holds on life. The will or dementia that shackles a spirit to the world for ages proves far rarer and born of elaborate circumstances.

In the case of Ordellia, it's the wish to see the end of racism in Magnimar, marked by the election of a Varisian to the position of Lord Mayor.

So if you want you ghost companion to fit the lore, you should think of not only a traumatic experience that made them ghosts, but also some unfullied purpose that keeps them chained to the world.
For more details on the lore about the ghosts, check Classic Horrors Revisited.

[James Jacobs]

The ghost in Pathfinder was deliberately built to allow for the creation of pretty much ANY ghost from real-world legend or literature. That means most of them are scary, but not all of them are evil.

[Coulibaly]

Thanks a lot for the responses everyone. I feel good about rolling with the idea I had.