Spectres

Rules as written, the official D&D spectre is mostly just a copy-paste wraith with a couple more hit dice and an attack that drains 2 levels (the horror!). It will come as no surprise to readers of previous entries in this series that I want my Spectres to be more distinct. 

Rather than position Spectres as another undead, impersonal void, I've opted to make them larger than life characters. They are the souls that have somehow dodged the Reaper and by intensity of personality or drive have maintained ego cohesion without corporeal form. 

Maybe they were snagged by a witch-bottle in transit to Gehenna or the assigned Valkyrie got waylaid by demons before fetching the fallen warrior to Valhalla. Perhaps the magical-warding on a criminal mage's prison (I'm picturing Magneto in X2) kept the Anubian soul-couriers at bay. It is not a good thing when your friendly local psychopomp is putting up Missed Connections listings on Craigslist.

An Anecdotal Interlude

Over all my years as a player, I can only recall one memorable encounter with a Spectre. It was in the long running Arden Vul game that I've mentioned before. 

This spectre was a named ancient archon guarding an ostentatious tomb at the bottom of a deep descent and so when we woke him, it was difficult to escape the way we'd entered. We lost a few characters and he became a bogeyman for us for several months.  

He stands out because he was:

• Extremely dangerous
• Kept popping up at unexpected times & places
• Was a persistent obstacle along a route that we wanted to travel
• Had just enough of a personality that we could hate him specifically
• Had a cocktail of abilities that made it very difficult for us to deal with him at all at the level we were when we encountered him.

Eventually, we defeated him by leveling our cleric until we could come back with "Dispel Evil". The "fight" was almost an anti-climax. He appeared, got spell-nuked and it felt like a real arrival for our party. Spectral undead were no longer a threat. We found another incorporeal undead shortly thereafter, "Dispel Evil" was already on the list and he got zapped like a mosquito. Never learned his name or cared about him even a little.

All this to say, there's a rich niche here for a terrifying challenge with high-mobility that can hold a whole dungeon-region under threat. Personality, and near-invulnerability on first encounter cultivate player-hatred. Ultra Bastard doesn't have "Dispel Evil" on the standard list so we will need another victory vector. 

Spectre

AC: 17 - the flickering form is hard to hit

Damage Immunities: Only harmed by magic and blessed weapons. Immune to mundane fire and energy weapons. Blinding, deafening and mental compulsion etc. are likewise ineffective.

Vulnerabilities: Binding circles, banishment, exorcism. Immediately destroyed by a Raise Dead scroll (as described in my Wight post). Holy water and Turn Undead work as normal vs undead. Demons consume them like candy. 

Hit Dice: 6 (HP 27)

Attacks: 

• When a spectre is first seen, characters must save vs. fear or flee recklessly for d6 rounds. Affected creatures will run away in a random direction, shedding equipment, without regard to safety or visibility. 
• 1x touch (ignores non-magical armor), +6 to hit, save or comatose.

Morale: 7. Arrogant on the approach but check morale at half HP.

Number Appearing: 1

Movement: 

• In tight quarters, will shimmer forward at human speed 
• In wide open spaces can flicker-fly at high speed (speed as Fly spell)
• Can phase through solid barriers slowly. 1-2 rounds for a door, longer for a heavy wall.

Saves: 12+

Comatose: Characters who fail their save vs. touch attack have their souls wrenched from their bodies and lose consciousness. They cannot be wakened until the Spectre is destroyed or convinced to release the soul. 

Common Knowledge

Spectres are not common and neither is knowledge about them. You might hear some rumors:

1. You can't be blamed for fleeing. Once they get into your mind, you lose all control.
2. We bury blessing-bowls in the thresholds of our homes to keep out malign spirits. 
3. Their slightest touch means death and they'll pass right through your armor.
4. I hear that apparition is a real ranter if you get him going. Lot of old-fashioned ideas, we don't much like anymore.
5. They know things, no one else remembers.
6. If you can't flee, beg.

Tactics

Spectres are individuals and their angle of attack will differ based on their aims. They'll always be smart and driven. Dunces and loungers don't become spectres.

They are survivors and will carefully maintain their lines of retreat. They'll prioritize their own safety over defeating the latest batch of intruders. 

They'll avoid getting ganged-up on and may use hit-and-run tactics to pick off parties one-by-one. They'll attack on ladders and ropes. Vertical spaces advantage gravity-independence.  

They'll use comatose victims as bait, as bargaining chips and as hostages.

Some will want to drive off the cockroaches and will rely on Fear and the dramatic killing of the comatose to make their point. 

Others will have use for corporeal supplicants and will try to blackmail parties into their schemes.

Biology

Spectres are souls that never made it to their appointed afterlife. Normally such souls quickly erode away without a body to anchor them, dissolving into spiritual plankton. Only the strongest minds, the egoists, the monomaniacs can hold together. 

They appear pale and glowing. constantly dissolving and reforming. Like a static-y hologram or mist in a strobe-light. 

Often the circumstances of a spectre's origin, results in containment. The mage that died in his protective circle, the necromancer in his be-sigiled oubliette, the would-be usurper snared in a ghost-trap. When that hold is inevitably breached, decades or centuries later, they explode forth, propelled by the accumulated pressure of their frenzied rumination. 

X2

Once they've had time to orient, the spectre gets to work. They'll want something specific and once they are loose they won't sit on their hands. They'll learn quickly. They might be crazy but they won't be dumb. They'll learn to wield fear as a weapon and rip souls from their vehicles, like Grand Theft Auto. 

Sooner or later, they'll learn fear themselves. The concentrated, bright-burning soul of a spectre is platonically-perfect demon-food. They're like Miracle Grow for soul-eaters. Adventurers should be wary of feeding one problem to a bigger one. 

Sandman. Art by Teddy Kristiansen

Psychology 

Nearly every spectre will have spent a long time in a trap. No interlocutor, no journal, no outlet. An overactive goldfish in the tiniest bowl. An engine revving at max RPMs with the brake clamped down.

When it gets out, the released mind isn't in the same shape it started in. Trackless decades of desperate spiraling changes a person. Obsession, mania, rage. Nihilism, myopia, abstraction. They might be capable but their desires are likely to be strange. Leftover fragments of plots from past eons. Cravings that can't be satisfied in their incorporeal form. Aesthetic priorities that don't compute for beings with eyes.

Epiphenomena

When you are near a spectre, reality is less convincing. Things are too detailed or not detailed enough. Distances feel sloppy. The poly count of physical reality wavers. It is never something that you can describe precisely, but something is clearly not right. 

Encounters 

The spectre is the top-tier incorporeal monster in the Basic rules. It is a boss and should be deployed with appropriate pomp and ceremony. It should get substantial foreshadowing (or at least a very dramatic reveal). For best effect, it will drive off the adventurers a couple times before they can gather resources to defeat it. 

Most of the ways to beat a spectre require significant setup (banishment, binding, exorcism, Raise Dead scroll etc). Unless the party is specifically prepared to face a spectre they should probably run the fuck away. 

Its ability to fly and phase through walls can make it very hard to escape. You'll want to think about exit vectors when you set up encounters.

The spectre goes against my usual design ethos of making the first hit from a monster tankable. Every touch from a spectre is devastating. Forecast it fairly and let the hits hurt.

Depending how its positioned, this guy can easily pop out and knock a player character out of the game in a single hit. It will take careful placement and foreshadowing to prevent situations that feel arbitrarily lethal or sadistic. Not that arbitrary lethality and sadism never have a place, they're just spices that ought to remain rare. 

You want the players to hate the monster, not the dungeon master. That will depend on the tolerances of your particular player group and some careful arrangement. 

Treasure

You might suppose that an immaterial creature should be light on lootable possessions. It's right there in the adjective. Don't succumb to this logic. If your players beat a spectre, make it pay. 

The pay-off could range depending on how you've built-up the baddie. It might be campaign altering information, the contents of an arcane laboratory or access through a critical mega-dungeon short cut.

Perhaps the spectre is surrounded by the master-craft equipment of the elite adventurers that failed to vanquish them. Perhaps the party needs the soul-bottle or tesseract that contained them to bind some greater spirit. 

Maybe the spectre just died in a bank vault. The rune-wards holding in the thief rather than keeping it out. A dozen donkeys of bullion should delight the typically avaricious adventuring goldbugs.

Source Unknown

Variants

• The Puppeteer: Can possess and locomote a corpse to complete physical tasks. A haunting hermit crab. A fresh body might pass for living until the rot takes hold. If the corpse is destroyed, the spectre pours forth unharmed.

Self Portrait (1995) - Clive Barker

• The Spectre of Communism: Immune to divine magic. Magically converts any precious metal or gems within 30' into base materials. Targets aristocrats, clergy and wealthy characters first. 
• Phil: Attacks with a Wall of Sound and his wrecking crew of henchmen. Infamous for murdering a beloved, busty barbarian. 

Conclusion

This is the apex-predator of the incorporeal undead. Finding one immediately turns the whole area into "that bastard's territory." Getting rid of it (and maybe regaining the soul of a friend) immediately hops onto the quest log. 

Extermination will require forethought and specific mighty weapons or spiritual power. It won't stand by for you to grind it down. Not that a party can stand and grind either, when every hit downs a member. 

Make sure they know its name. They'll need something to whisper through gritted teeth, while nursing their bitterness and recalling their lost companions and the shame of their own fleeing.

That animosity will propel them to return ready.

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I've nearly finished my tour of the Basic/Expert undead. There's only one left and it sucks.