Pocket Full of NPCs for 5E D&D — The Lingering Spirit

Salutations, nerds! The last pocket NPC for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons I presented was the Identify Intern and today I’m introducing something a little bit spoopier. Some of my favorite D&D sessions have been ghost stories and that’s exactly where we’re going right now so I present to 5E D&D Dungeon Masters the Lingering Spirit character.

A haunting hook of loss and love for 5E D&D

Here’s the game: I’m going to give you a name, list what 5E D&D stat block you should be using plus an extra ability or two to make things feel more mechanically unique. Then we’ll touch base on what this person wants, how to make them a nuisance to the party, how to make them an ally and finally a concept for a side quest they can offer.

“A ghost is the soul of a once-living creature, bound to haunt a specific location, creature, or object that held significance to it in its life.” — from the 5E D&D Basic Rules

Cassia Thatcher

A human woman who manifests as being in about her mid-20’s Cassia was quite lovely when she was alive and it still shows even in her ghostly form. Cassia manifests one of two ways.

Sometimes she appears resplendently with her hair in loose curls and a gown worthy of the midsummer dance that took place on the night she died. When she smiles it seems to warm the room rather than cool it as the appearance of a ghost often does. This manifestation ordinarily occurs during moments of calm and one might even mistake her for still living.

Other times however she appears soaked, her gown in tatters and her hair dripping around her shoulders. Her lips will be blue and her skin cold and clammy to look upon. In moments of stress she appears the way she did when she died and it is very evident she drowned.

She can manifest herself in one of three places — the town hall where the dance took place, the little cottage in the woods where she lived or the riverside around the area where she died.

Mechanically

Use the stat block for a ghost from the free 5E D&D Basic Rules. Her Horrifying Visage action only kicks in when she’s in her drowned manifestation. She will not use Possession simply because she does not realize she can do so.

Cassia is neutral good, and speaks both Common and Elvish.

She was a healer in life, and maintains the ability to cast cure wounds three times daily and lesser restoration once per day.

What Drives Her

Cassia’s last day alive was the day of a local ball where the entire village got together to celebrate midsummer. She was a highly sought after dance partner, but she had eyes for only an elven Wayfinder named Keruthil.

Much to the envy of many of the other women in town Keruthil seemed to return Cassia’s affections and by the end of the night they were courting. They excused themselves to have a walk along the riverside and from there the story of what happened becomes a little bit murkier. Her body washed up on shore the next day and many of the local men turned their attention to Keruthil, accusing him of having had a hand in her death. Others still assumed she had been killed by jealous village women. Tensions remained high over the matter for weeks.

The truth is the river was running high after several summer showers and after Keruthil left her company, drunk on both dancing and wine, Cassia slipped and fell into the water. Her death was an accident and unfortunately she often does not even remember she died.

Cassia is often very preoccupied with talking about when she will next see her lover and with getting the village ready for its next upcoming harvest festival. Cassia has been dead for 30 years and thus remembers things about the town as it was then rather than how it is now. She can be persuaded to pass on should the party locate her lost love Keruthil and bring him back to explain to her what happened, giving them both closure.

Cassia as an Enemy

Cassia takes unkindly to anyone who moves into her cabin in the woods right out of the gate. Unless they manage to get her to accept her death she assumes someone broke in and reacts the same way any young woman would at the invasion of her home — by throwing dishes.

A Cassia in full awareness she is dead likes an evil party less than a good one if they’ve done things in front of her to show they are good people. Those who cheat the locals, mistreat children and the elderly or seem to do everything for their own personal gain can quickly earn the enmity of Cassia Thatcher.

Cassia as an Ally

Cassia has some small healing abilities and is willing to answer questions for people she deems good of heart such as those who do kind things with no expectation of a reward or those who seem to care about the land.

She is very likely to take a shine to rangers and druids, for example, over other classes because they are likely to remind her of her lost love, Keruthil.

Because she died 30 years ago Cassia was around to see things as they were at that point, meaning an NPC in their 40’s now would have been around 10 the night she died and she might have information on their childhood nicknames or what dog they had at the time.

A Potential Side Quest

Cassia is fairly single minded about finding her love though he hasn’t spent a lot of time in town in the past three decades. If Keruthil is located for her then she can be persuaded to pass on, leaving behind her cottage and a trunk with 50 gold coins in a satin satchel and a silver necklace with a swan curled around a coin-sized opal that when attuned to allows the wearer to cast cure wounds three times a day or lesser restoration once.

Keruthil can be found guiding travelers on the roads through the forest. He’s a wood elf and hasn’t aged a day since Cassia died but he still wears the woven bracelet she made for him and can be persuaded to come if her name is mentioned.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the Lingering Spirit NPC for 5E D&D. Please let me know in the comments below if you decide to use her and how that goes for you, and of course, stay nerdy!

*Featured image — In Island in the Storm an imprisoned ghost pleads with the heroes to possess one of them in a bid to escape her island exile along with 54 other dynamic encounters ready to drop into your games with Out of the Box: Encounters for Fifth Edition. Check it out here. [Art by Kim Van Deun]

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