The spirits and undead have always been considered the worst of opponents because, since they are already dead, they are rather difficult to kill. Herein, we will attempt to define a few of the spirits and undead and their kin and, hopefully, put to rest all of them.

Spirits- Beings of the spirit world present us with a problem- nobody really knows what lies beyond. This is, of course, all conjecture, so if you don’t like it, change it.

Spirits are the actual souls of creatures who died under extreme circumstances (during torture, for example). These spirits range in power from having no impact on the physical world to the ability to actually alter the reality around them. But despite all other opinions, these are all forms of the same energy, not different beings.

(1) The simplest spirit is the wandering wind sort of thing, the Drifter. With the exception of being able to cause drafts, it has no impact on the physical world. These drafts cannot knock anything over or even close a well-oiled door, though they might blow out a candle.

(2) The next level of spirit is the Wailer. These can create wails, or screams, from hauntingly tiny to painfully loud (the banshee of Irish legend is this). These wails, however, cannot do any harm of themselves.

(3) Next comes the Tapper. This spirit can actually manipulate the material plane, but only by tapping solid surfaces- walls, floors, etc. These sounds can imitate walking, running, or even dancing. The spirit can make just one tap or very many, causing an empty room to sound like a dance hall, for example.

(4) Many cultures have legends of floating lights leading the unsuspecting into or out of danger. These are the Luminous, spirits whose physical form is that of several small balls of dim light, sometimes stationary, sometimes dancing. The tales of the will o’ wisp stem from these spirits.

(5) One of the more frightening of the spirits is the Fogger. This spirit is able to condense the air it inhabits into a dense fog that can, but doesn’t always, resemble the form of the spirit’s mortal self. The Fogger can cause drafts and cold spots, but cannot obtain truly physical form and cannot touch or hold any physical objects.

(6) Similar to the Fogger is the Shaper. Again, the Shaper appears as a fog, but this time it will more closely resemble the creature’s mortal self and can be visually identified by close friends and family. Shapers will sometimes try to communicate verbally, but only incoherent sounds can be made. They can slowly move light objects (5 pounds and under).

(7) The Floater is the most commonly talked of spirit in mortal society. These are vaporous apparitions strongly resembling their mortal selves and often interacting with the physical plane if close to familiar objects- a sword, a cup, a book (especially a journal or diary), or something belonging to a loved one. This contact, though, is very brief and cannot result in an intentional attack.

(8) Most commonly called “poltergeist,” the Shifter moves objects ranging in size from coins to boulders. This movement, however, is by no means an attack. The Shifter can throw the objects, but not very accurately at all, hitting any intended target only one third of the time. Despite this ability to “touch” the physical objects, Shifters are unable to make complicated movements or manipulations and therefore cannot write or inscribe items. They have no physical form and cannot be seen.

(9) The Doppler is the second most powerful spirit. It can take on physical mass resembling its mortal self and can speak in its mortal self’s native tongue. Despite this, however, the Doppler cannot use physical weapons, but it does have use of the wail. It is often identified with stories of dead loved ones helping the living by pointing out the safe road or cautioning of danger.

(10) The most powerful of the spirits is the Necrom. Not only can he become physical mass, he can shape this mass into any form it chooses. It can read and write any language it knew while living and it can pick up and use physical weapons in addition to its scream. It also has the ability to cause winds powerful enough to close heavy doors and, if provoked, can cause dimensional rifts which can randomly cause interdimensional beings to enter the physical plane.