Haunt

A haunt is the restless spirit of a person who died leaving some vital task unfinished. Its sole purpose is to take over a living body and use it to complete the task, thus gaining a final release from this world. A haunt must remain within a short distance of where it died, unless it takes control of a victim's body. This small area is called the haunt's domain.

The haunt uses the host's body to complete its unfulfilled task. The task need not be dangerous, although it often is. Once the task is completed, the haunt passes on to its final rest and the victim regains control of his body. The numbness remains, with normal feeling returning over a matter of hours. If a haunt's possessed body is slain, the place where that body was killed will become its new domain.

The exact task to be accomplished varies, but the motives are always powerful -- revenge, greed, love, hate. Often great distances need to be traveled before a task can be completed, and haunts will drive their hosts mercilessly toward the goal, ignoring the need for food or sleep. A few haunts retain some knowledge of their former lives and can be communicated with. Often these haunts feel remorse at having to prey upon the living, but the force of the uncompleted task is too powerful for the haunt to resist.

A haunt attacks mindlessly, and always targets the first person that enters its domain. It will continue to attack until possession is achieved or the intended victim leaves the haunt's domain.

Haunts may assume either of two forms, at will: a hovering luminescent ball of light (identical in appearance to a will o'wisp) or a nebulous, translucent image of the haunt's former body. In the latter state, haunts look like groaning spirits, spectres, or ghosts, and are often mistaken for them.

The touch of a haunt drains energy from its victim, which causes an increasing numbness to creep over their body, hampering their movement. If enough draining takes place, the haunt slips into the body and possesses it. Once the body is possessed, movement returns to normal.

Attacks on a possessed character will cause damage to the character's body. If attacked, the haunt will use whatever weapons and armor the victim carries, but it cannot use any items that would require special knowledge. The haunt may be ejected from the body by means of a hold person spell, or destroyed by dispel evil (or dispel good, depending on the haunt's tendencies). If a haunt takes enough physical damage, it loses control of its form and fades away. The haunt reforms in one week to haunt the same location again until its task is completed.

Note: Haunts originally appeared in this form in the 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual for the AD&D game from TSR. Their use here is for the purposes of providing context for the campaign only.