Wraith

Finish all your business before you die. Bid your loved ones farewell. Write your will. Apologize to those you've wronged. Otherwise, you'll never truly leave this world.

— Paule Vikar, peasant healer, advice to a dying man

Sometimes adventurers must put to rest ghosts who haunt the living. Wraiths appear near cemeteries or in homes they inhabited during their lives. They usually have no memories and are guided strictly by hatred towards the living. May they rest in peace.

Clerics and scholars are forever debating whether spirits do in fact journey to another world after death, one where eternal joy or suffering awaits. Both groups agree, however, on what happens to evil spirits who, for one reason or another, remain in our world after their body breathes its last: they transform into wraiths. To hear their mournful howls, one can surmise this is not a fate to be envied.

Wraiths are usually encountered at night, near cemeteries, catacombs and other such burial places, or else near the places that were important to them in life: abandoned homes, crumbling castles or forgotten bridges.

Characteristics

Abilities

Wraiths became far weaker when under the exposure of full sunlight.

Wraiths suffer endless, indescribable pain. Filled with anger and a sense of having been wronged, they both envy the living and brim with overwhelming hatred for them. Like otherghosts, they are immaterial, meaning they are not harmed by fire, poison or weapons designed to provoke bleeding.

Wraiths can turn immaterial and are at times very difficult to wound. As with any such ghostly being, one should fight them using silver swords. Note as well that wraiths are particularly dangerous on moonless nights.

Wraiths may also create shade from the bodies of its victim, ghosts that will help it in its quest for blood.

Subraces

In addition to the classic wraith described above, other more specific type of wraith exists

Arch-wraith

The arch-wraith, also sometimes called deathless, grimreaper or koschei is a mythical creature, straight from ancient legends of heroes and epic deeds. When the hero enters the burning hells to rescue his beloved, or when he has to avenge his father's death, the arch-wraith is often his opponent. Why are poets so keen to cast this monster as the arch-enemy? Well, the creature is a wraith, so it fits any dark story featuring a curse or vengeance from the beyond. There's no telling how it actually looks like, so its terrifying visage can be described in many ways without risking accusation of confabulation. Furthermore, it is a powerful creature, a prince of the damned, so it makes an ideal villain.

Wraith of such power are exceedingly rare, the combination of emotional charge and brutality needed to create such entity occurs maybe once in a century. When entire armies are slaughtered in a day, when a town disappear in a cataclysm or a sudden disease wipes out a country, an arch-wraith can be born. Still it requires a leader with an exceptionally strong will to raise as such. There is always a constant in the creation myth of an arch-wraith, the leader played a major part in the destruction of its people, enslaving their soul in its passing. As they served it in life, so shall they in death.

The arch-wraith can be described in various ways, as has been said, but is always a lethal foe. Forget its huge strength, invulnerability to most weapons, fearlessness and supernatural abilities. One cannot just defeat such a creature using conventional means. As with every wraith, there is some tragic event connected to it, forcing the creature to remain among the living. The wraith is untouchable, unreachable for anyone who is not part of that story, hidden in a Domain of Dread that leaks through the material world. That is why the mythical hero has to get involved in various brawls and pass through many trials. By overcoming these obstacles, he enters the wraith's world and becomes worthy of facing the monstrosity. When confronting an arch-wraith, it will always be on its own terms.

As a leader, the creature never stood to do anything with its own hands. It has lackeys for that, always wraiths, revenants or other restless spirits. Having been a king, religious leader or a commander in life, the archwraith retains its charisma in death, and its deathly subordinates always blindly obey its orders. Thus one needs to exterminate all manner of servants on the way to its bone fortress, flesh palace or other foreboding abode. Only then can one face the arch-wraith itself.

Draug by Nemanja Stankovic

Many believes that the immense powers of an arch-wraith comes from its capacity to deny a soul passage into the afterlife, trapping it into a state of undeath and servitude. Some of the most powerful archwraith have trapped hundreds of souls, if not thousands, endlessly replaying over and over the tragic events that lead to the arch-wraith's emergence. When fighting an arch-wraith one should always remember what failures means: the enslavement of one's soul for eternity.

The Bargain

Tales of heroes braving countless dangers to rescue their true love from the clutch of an archwraith abode for a reason. The only known way to free the souls captured by the monster is to slay it, an impossible task for most mortals, or to bargain with it. These tails always end up tragically, the hero striking an impossible deal with the creature in hope to save their beloved. In theory though, it is possible, after overcoming many challenges, to bargain for a specific soul with the arch-wraith. The wraith will always put nearly impossible conditions to fulfill if it agrees (see Terms of the Bargain for examples). Once the bargain is made, the archwraith can use its magic to cast a true resurrection spell. If the bargain's terms are broken the resurrected creatures crumbles to dust and the arch-wraith is free to raise the soul into one of its most powerful servant, a remnant.

Terms of the Bargain

Beyond the Mist

The land under an arch-wraith's influence contains a supernatural mist, hanging between the world men see and the one they cannot. By stepping into the mist, a shadow crossing really, one can break through the veil between worlds and enter the arch-wraith's Domain of Dread in the Shadowfell. The domain is entirely under the arch-wraith control, making it a god-like entity in its kingdom, a god trapped in its own tragic story. As for the rest of the Shadowfell, the domain is a twisted and warped-distorted reflections of the region haunted by the wraith. The domain is an infinite expanse, expanding far beyond the geographical limits of its Material Plane equivalent.

• Undead creatures can cross in and out the mist at will, but when doing so they are not driven by reason and logic, but by a thoughtless, irrational need, carrying the will of the arch-wraith.
• A living creature entering the mist must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or be trapped, incapable of leaving the domain of dread by simply walking out of the mist. This saving throw is made with advantage if the creature knows the mist's nature, and constructs succeed on the saving throw automatically. Creatures trapped in the mist don't age. A creature trapped within the domain can escape using magic that permits planar travel. Otherwise, the creature is confined to the domain until freed.
• The gloomy atmosphere and almost tangible despair that seeps through the domain affects all living creatures stepping through it.
Creature must resist the Shadowfell Despair (see p. 51 of the Dungeon Master's Guide) after only an hour passed in the domain of dread.
• The soul of a creature dying in the domain of dread becomes trapped here, joining the ranks of the enslaved wraith and specters serving the arch-wraith. Until the arch-wraith is destroyed permanently the creature cannot be resurrected or brought back to life by any mean, unless the arch-wraith is willing to bargain for it (see the Bargain).

Nightwraith

When the sun sets, the fields become the domain of midnight demons who draw their power from moonlight. Dark as the night itself and filled with grief, they roam the fields lit by silver light. Woe to those who are spotted by a nightwraith.

Some say you should fear a nightwraith as much as you should pity it. Nightwraiths exude an immense sadness, coupled with an helpless wrath. One can feel instantly the profond distress coming from the wraith, pouring out of it like a well of endless despair. The story of a nightwraith is always a tragic one, they were killed by loved ones, betrayed by a close friend or the victim of an hideous plot. Some legends say you can put a nightwraith to rest by avenging it, bringing its tormentor to justice or making their killer weep for them sincerely on their grave. The truth is, nothing is ever so easy.

Like noonwraiths, nightwraiths are mostly found in rural areas and only a handful of cases involving a nightwraith have been reported in cities. Travelers fall victim to them most often, but if legends are to be believed they also sneak into huts at times and murder peasants in their sleep. Do not believe the old wife tales and think yourself completely safe from nightwraiths during the day. They appear under the light of the sun as well, but are much weaker then than after dusk. Nightwraiths are, like most wraith, drown to the site of many deaths and their presence increase near battlefields or mass graves.

Noonwraith

Innocence Lost. Crops swaying in the fields on a windless day indicate that a noonwraith is nearby. These wraiths kill humans who venture into the fields at noontime, thus, farmers return home or seek shelter in the shade at this time of the day. The noonwraith is a sun-burned old woman. Clothed in a linen, she hovers just above the ground, her hair white from constant exposure to the sun. Streaks of light drift about her, and when necessary she uses these to blind her opponents. The noonwraith's frock and shoes suggest she once was a young girl, who venturing into the fields, joined in a spectral dance and thus entered the spirit world as a wraith.

The noonwraiths are the spirits of young women and girls who died violent deaths right before their weddings. Driven mad with pain or anger, they wander the fields searching for their unfaithful lovers or backstabbing rivals, though they will kill anyone who does not get out of their way in time. They are often held in this world by some object of intense emotional significance. That is why, if one ever finds a wedding ring or torn veil in the middle of a field, one should not pick it up, but instead back away as quickly as possible. Contrary to popular belief, noonwraiths can also be encountered at night, but are much weaker then than during the day.

Additional/Modified traits

Wraith Rejunevation

Often, simply destroying the physical form of a wraith isn't enough to get rid of it permanently. Most wraith haunt a specific location and sending them to their final death will require some extra work. If destroyed, a wraith will regain all its hit points in 24 hours, unless prevented to in the following ways:

Noonwraith

Reforms at the place of its haunting unless a remove curse spell is used on the anchor binding it to this world. The anchor could be a wedding ring, a bride's veil, wedding vows or even, in some cases, a person or its remains.

Nightwraith

Reforms at the place of its haunting unless a dispel evil and good or greater restoration spell is used on its remains and its bones are splashed with holy water and then burned.

General Information

Scientific name
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Languages
The languages it knew in life

Physiologie

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Size
Small or Medium
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Others