Cariad Ysbryd

Called the 'ghost lover', a cariad ysbryd is the spirit of a deeply good elf woman, usually a sylvan elf, who stayed among the living after death to keep doing good. She looks as she did in life but lovelier, dressed in her finest, glowing faintly, and serene even in battle. Her wordless song never stops, so she is usually heard long before she is seen. Though technically undead, she cherishes all life and turns on no one except those who scorn it; the only things she truly hates are other undead.

She would rather end a fight than win it. Her song carries 50 feet, and every intelligent creature in range not already fighting must save vs. spell or be becalmed for 1-12 rounds, filled with peace and unable to begin hostilities. When the effect lapses, they save again each round they stay in range. Becalmed creatures cannot attack even if attacked, though they may defend themselves with actions, spells, or magic items.

Forced to fight, she touches for 1-4 hp damage against any living creature hostile to life, not only her attackers, or against undead of any kind. Once a day she can turn her song into a deadly melody: every evil creature within 30 feet saves vs. death magic or takes 3d6 hp damage from its terrible beauty. The shift frees anyone currently becalmed, but her ordinary song then resumes and they must save against it again.

She dislikes using it, because the same power also heals. Once a day she can instead fill her song with the combined effects of heal, neutralize poison, and remove fear for everyone within 30 feet. Both uses draw on one daily charge, so harming forfeits healing and vice versa, and she usually saves it to heal.

Her bitterest foe is the banshee, the spirit of an evil elf woman. When the two meet, the cariad ysbryd drops everything to destroy her rival, her song becoming a dreadful shriek while her face stays calm, and she unleashes the killing song at once, dealing double damage to a banshee that fails its save.

Only +1 or better weapons, or monsters of 4+1 Hit Dice or more, can hit her. She is immune to charm, sleep, hold, and cold- and electricity-based spells. Unholy water burns her for 1-4 hp, and dispel good destroys her. Evil priests can turn her as a spectre but not command her; good priests cannot affect her. Spells that target undead in particular, invisibility to undead for one, affect her fully.

She has no society and no grand mission, only the care of a region five miles across centered on the spot where she died. She senses every living creature there and knows the instant strangers arrive. Arrival alone does not draw her, but if newcomers harm any living thing, each other included, or come in already hurt or sick, she approaches singing to calm frightened tempers and mend the wounded.

She has no interest in treasure but will not refuse gifts, so bags of coins, statues, and other offerings lie scattered at random around her domain.

Because her song keeps out the anger and malice of thinking creatures, her domain looks like untouched wilderness even where people live. Nature's cycle continues, predators included, but darker emotions cannot intrude. Settlers can thrive there: a week or more restores the spirit, and under steady, willing exposure to her song, intelligent beings recover from fatigue, wounds, and illness at double speed. Singers, poets, and bards find her inspiring, and a bard who spends 1-6 months with her gains a permanent bonus, equal to one extra level, on voice-based abilities such as rallying allies or countering a harpy's song.