Ghost

A state of being where a creature's soul is bound to the world in an incorporeal form, unable to pass on into the afterlife. Traumatic deaths, magic curses, and encounters with otherworldly monsters are all causes for this condition, one that's become unfortunately more common after the Sunken God's Reign of Terror.

Causes

Ghosts are commonly formed when a soul with unfinished business is killed in a violent manner. These ghosts will haunt a person, place, or object until its business is complete, taking anywhere from several months to several centuries. 
There's no established formula for the creation of ghosts, but there does appear to be a correlation between traumatic deaths and the creation of ghosts. The abrupt and violent nature of these deaths appears to interrupt many of the rituals the soul goes through in preparation for the afterlife, forcing it to seek closure through alternate means.

Symptoms

Upon turning into a ghost, a creature gains several unique traits and characteristics:

• You don't require food, water, or sleep, although you require rest to reduce exhaustion and still benefit from finishing short and long rests.
• Out of Touch: You cannot interact with physical objects, but are still bound by barriers such as walls, ceilings, and floors. You can phase through unlocked doors and hatches large enough for you to fit through as an action. The equipment you start with is part of you, and is made of the same insubstantial essence and so is immune to all damage, but is destroyed if you are also.

Treatment

The exorcising of a ghost requires the skills of a talented cleric or adventurer to put the soul to rest. Sometimes a ghost will prove friendly if the cleric agrees to help complete its unfinished business, other times when a ghost has been corrupted into a Shadow or Wraith it must be dealt with through more combative means. With no one-size-fits-all solution for dealing with hauntings, intensive research must be done to understand each soul and the reason for its spectral existence. 
Currently there exists no effective treatment for the tens of thousands of ghosts haunting the elven city of Kassædeia.

Cultural Reception

Ghosts were for centuries seen as a shameful creature by followers of the Ageless One, evidence of a soul that has failed to successfully pass on into the afterlife or reincarnate into a new form. A ghost was seen as a failure of the individual and not the process itself, that is until the Sunken God's Reign of Terror left thousands dead and incarnated as ghosts.
The Ageless One's followers were forced to deal with a spiritual crisis unseen since the church's foundation: what to do with the surplus of souls unable to pass on? The church's resources couldn't deal with an entire city of ghosts like Kassædeia, let alone the remains of the Elflands Empire and its hundreds of haunted villages and hamlets.
A new ritual was approved by the Ageless One, designed to appease rather than exorcise the thousands of spirits. The church's leaders may not be able to deal with all of these restless spirits, but they could at least prevent them from being corrupted into more dangerous specters.

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Rare