Spectral Minion

These human and demihuman spirits, bound by an unfinished oath or quest, look as they did alive but nearly transparent, and are only half present on the Prime Material Plane. Each keeps its former Hit Dice, attacks, damage, alignment and language, but all have average Intelligence and patchy memories crowded out by the unfinished task. All move at 30. The six kinds (berserker, guardian, philosopher, reveler, searcher, warrior) look alike but behave very differently.

A minion can hurt anyone only if it died holding a weapon, usually a long sword, though daggers, bows and staves are common. The weapon becomes part of it, strikes like a real one and cannot be knocked away. Minions get -1 to initiative, ignore weapons below +1, have 20% magic resistance, cast no spells and cannot be turned. Destroying one, fulfilling its vow, or casting remove curse or a like spell on it makes it and its weapon vanish forever.

Doomed to relive their final events, minions are tethered outdoors to a 1,000-yard radius around their death site and indoors to the room or corridor where they fell; rarely, a wide-ranging quest lets one wander that whole area. They never age, and any eating or drinking they appear to do is meaningless.

Some lose all hope and snap into frenzy; others go murderous at once over an old obsession, such as an insult never taken back. Berserkers are chaotic evil and armed, gain +1 to attack and damage, and are the only minions with two attacks per round. They never parley and chase intruders as far as they can. Having rejected their quests, they are not freed by resolving them; only destruction or remove curse and similar magic ends them.

These died defending a room, passage or object. They go free after a century and a day of successful defense or on completing some other set task, and some let anyone with the right password or signal through. Armed and usually chaotic or neutral good, they fight only when attacked or when their post is in danger, and they yearn above all for release.

Philosophers of any alignment haunt libraries and museums, endlessly arguing questions left unsettled in life, often in groups. They fight only in self-defense or when called liars. A group floating 1d4+1 feet up in thought invites questions, sinking a foot per answer; if it lands, it angrily summons 1d8 warrior minions from nearby. A floating debate group works the same way, except each answer sparks a 1d6-round split argument and the whole group vanishes once any member touches down.

Chaotic evil revelers party forever. If they want guests (game master's choice), they surround a character. Joining them for three straight rounds forces a save vs. spell; on success they lose interest. On failure the character falls into a sleep that only a wish can break, while his spirit visibly leaves to join the fun, costing one experience level per turn. Killing every reveler wakes him, and lost levels return at one per four hours. Even revelers wanting no guests surround anyone who provokes them, with the same three-round risk.

Searchers died on a quest and now prowl their area seeking an object usually far beyond their reach; only bringing it to them sets them free. Armed and usually lawful evil, they destroy whatever stands in their way.

Spirits of soldiers slain in battle gather by the hundred on old battlefields, both sides and all alignments, fighting forever without lasting harm. Only mortals can tip the scales. The good side's leader usually recruits good characters for the next clash, promising aid such as information. Slaying 80% or more of the evil host wins it; the evil warriors vanish, the good cheer, and once their leader keeps his word, they too depart, released.