Next up in our un-dead menagerie for the Barrowmaze set in my campaign, the Wraith …
The origins of the word wraith were in Scotland, where it
was just another word for a ghost. When
I think of wraiths, I think of Nazgul, Dementors, and floating spirits with
tattered cloaks that can rip out your soul with their boney claws … so, right
at home in DCC.
OD&D and D&D treat the wraith as a super-charged
wight, and no mention of their incorporeal nature (although they could fly and
had energy drain), so after perusing the iterations of the wraith from OD&D
to 3rd edition, I decided to go back to the DCC Core Rulebook, take
the Ghost entry, and make them a little faster, a little meaner, and give them
an attribute drain for Stamina, but when both attacks hit the same round, making it only slightly less awful. I included the ability to become material, so if they wanted to wield a sword or put on some armor and go full Witch-King of Angmar, they could present a different encounter if needed.
Most D&D sources and a few legends say that wraiths ‘are
powerless in sunlight’, so I translated that to -2d to do pretty much
everything. Gandalf and Harry, don't say I never did anything for you.
Lastly, I decided to make their genesis in my game as un-dead wizards who died while
casting a spell, or some poor sot who ended up on the wrong end of a spell
themselves, so their existence has purpose and reason in my campaign world.
Thoughts, questions, ideas?
Email me at archadethered@gmail.com.
Wraith
A wraith is the un-dead soul of a wizard or
priest who died while casting a spell, or a hapless person who perished from
some magical spell or curse. They are hateful
and crave vengeance against the living.
They appear as skeletal or smokelike creatures clad in spectral tattered black
rags or robes, with clawed hands and a dark void where their faces might be under
their cowls.
This foul spirit can only find solace in the consuming
of mortal souls, and any who die at their hands are cursed to rise as a wraith
themselves. Wraiths are powerless in daylight,
only venturing forth at night if they can.
Wraith: Init +3, Atk spectral claw
+4 melee (1d6); AC 17; HD 4d10 (22 hp); MV fly 60’; Act 2d20; SP consume soul, ethereal,
resistant to non-magical or silver weapons, un-dead traits; SV Fort +2, Ref +5,
Will +4; AL C.
If a wraith can strike a foe with both
claw attacks, they drain 1d6 points of Stamina as they feed on the soul of
their victim. Any person reduced to 0
Stamina dies, and rises that night as a wraith.
Wraiths are incorporeal and can pass
through walls and other solid matter, but they can choose to manifest and take
solid form, enabling them to wield weapons or wearing armor (use the armor AC bonus +12 or the wraith AC, whichever is higher). Regardless, they only take half damage by
physical weapons unless the weapon is silver or magically enchanted. They are
un-dead, and thus can be turned by clerics. Wraiths are immune to critical
hits, disease, and poison. As un-dead, they are immune to sleep, charm, and
hold spells, as well as other mental effects and cold damage.
In broad daylight or sunlight, wraiths
suffer -2d to all checks and cannot consume souls.
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