Wraith

A wraith appears as a black, roughly human cloud of darkness. It has no real body, but out of old habit it holds a shape with a head, torso and two arms, and two red eyes glow in its face.

Its touch harms twice over. The cold of it deals 1-6 damage, even to creatures normally immune to cold, and each hit also drains one experience level, with the hit points and abilities that come with it, such as spellcasting and fighting skill. The chill heals normally, but lost levels must be earned again or restored by magic.

Ordinary weapons pass through it harmlessly and silver deals only half damage. Magical weapons do full damage, sending black vapor hissing from the wound. Left undisturbed for at least a week, a wraith slowly heals completely, at one point every eight hours. Sleep, charm, hold, death and cold spells, poison and paralysis do not affect it. Holy water burns it like acid for 2-8 per vial, and raise dead destroys it outright if it fails a save vs. spell.

Wraiths prefer humans and demihumans as prey. Animals sense one within 30 feet and refuse to go nearer, panicking if driven. Packs are clever, seeking surprise, waiting for the best moment, and ganging up on stragglers and the weak. A human slain by a wraith rises as a wraith of half its former strength under its killer's control; a 10th-level fighter becomes a 5 Hit Die wraith, for example.

Sunlight cannot destroy a wraith, but it robs the creature of all power to attack, and it flees direct sun. It avoids bright light such as continual light too, though a strong urge may drive it to strike anyway.

Each wraith was once a powerful, evil human, so they haunt tombs and places where such people died. The wealthy are often entombed together and families share crypts, and every victim adds to the pack, so wraiths usually come in groups. Their treasure is what they were buried with or what their victims carried. They exist only to spread evil by devouring as many lives as they can, and a character turned into one can be recovered only through a special quest.

Only speak with dead lets anyone talk with a wraith, and they barely interact even among themselves beyond master-to-thrall battle orders. They sneer at anyone who addresses them unless the speaker is very powerful, in which case they want only to escape. Mighty evil beings, especially other undead, priests and wizards, can dominate wraiths and force them into service.

A wraith fills no niche, yields nothing useful, and needs no food, killing purely out of hatred for the living. Creatures attuned to nature avoid it. It belongs more to the Negative Material Plane than to the Prime Material and is a stranger to this world.