Monstober Day Two: Wraith: Hunger That Never Ends

The difference between a ghost and a wraith is hunger. Ghosts linger because they can’t let go. Wraiths linger because they won’t. They’re the ones who drank too deep from battle, betrayal, or obsession, and found that even death couldn’t put out the fire.

The books will tell you they’re incorporeal warriors who swing shadow blades. True enough. But that’s not the part that stays with you. It’s the way a wraith makes your lantern flame gutter, or how even your breath feels reluctant to leave your chest when it passes near. It’s the whisper of malice carried in the air, older than your name and sharper than steel.

Game-wise, a wraith isn’t just another undead. It’s a reminder to your players that some enemies can’t be bargained with, and some fights aren’t about winning. They’re about surviving long enough to get away. Put one in a ruined battlefield or haunted fortress, and watch the tension climb.

WRAITH

Description: Shrouded forms of hate and hunger, wraiths are the remnants of warriors who cannot let go of slaughter. Their presence chills bone and dims all light.
Ferocity: 2 Size: Medium
Movement: 12 (floating) Armor: 2 (plus ethereal) HP: 10

Wraiths are undead and are affected by all spells and magic that do damage or banish them as such.
Ethereal: Like ghosts, Wraiths are only affected by cold wrought iron, magical weapons and spells.

MONSTER ATTACKS
D6 Attacks:
1: Shadow Blade: A strike of pure malice deals 2d6 slashing damage (ignores non-magical armor).
2: Chill Grasp: Touch for 1d8 damage; target must roll WIL or become Exhausted or choose another condition if already Exhausted.
3: Dark Howl: All within 20 meters must make a Fear roll
4: Drain Vitality: One target within 2 meters loses 1d6 HP and wraith heals the same amount. Target also becomes Sickly or choose another Condition if already Sickly.
5: Eclipsing Aura: The Wraith projects a bubble of Total Darkness that only it can see in a 6 meter radius around itself. All non-magical illumination is immediately completely extinguished. All magical illumination inside the bubble is dimmed to the immediate area around the source. All combat rolls inside the bubble are subject to a Bane on top of darkness rules.
6: Possession Attempt: The wraith glares at a player character within 10 meters and takes full control of the victim’s body.
The player character must make a WIL roll with a Bane (not an action). If it fails, the victim must immediately
make a movement and perform an action of the Wraith’s choice, except any action that requires spending WP.
The victim also loses their next turn.

Wraith Blade: If beaten, the wraith drops its blackened runic broadsword. The weapon is a broadsword that does the regular 2d6 + STR Bonus Slashing damage plus an additional 1d6 cold damage that bypasses any armor (only the 1d6.) However, any undead or demons within 50 meters can detect the sword. It also glows faintly when unsheathed. Also, the owner takes 1 point of magical cold damage once per every shift and hears ghostly whispers. Soon the wielder will know the Wraith’s entire morose story of how it lived and died along with curses and epithets at the worst possible times.

That’s not where it ends. The Wraith’s Blade is cursed. Unless buried in consecrated ground or returned to where the Wraith fell, the wielder will become a Wraith themselves upon dying. If “misplaced” or discarded, the sword returns to its chosen wielder’s side the next morning as if nothing had happened.