Roll Hit Dice
For a low-level (1-3) party, d4+2
For a mid-level (4-7) party, 2d4+3
For a higher-level (8+) party, 2d6+4
Ghosts are normally incorporeal and usually dealt with by exorcising them rather than reducing their hit points, but there are a few cases where you can combat them directly. HD may also be relevant to XP value or some ghostly powers.
Who were they in life?
Roll d12 plus randomly determine gender.
1– A child whose parents had long ago fallen out of love.
2– A prominent local businessperson.
3– The widow(er) of a great warrior or adventurer.
4– A wealthy socialite.
5– A disgraced government official.
6– A reclusive and mysterious person. Little was known for sure about them, but they were widely viewed as a weirdo.
7– A person with a singular obsession, such as music or alchemy.
8– A cultist or sorcerer who dabbled in dark things.
9– A political dissident or social outcast.
10– A precocious and adventurous child who inadvertently learned a dark secret.
11– An innocent who got mixed up in something they shouldn't have.
12– A really boring person, actually.
How did they die?
Roll a d10
1– Murdered by a rival.
2– Torn apart by an angry mob.
3– Killed by a close family member.
4– A mysterious fire.
5– Fell suddenly ill. May have been poisoned.
6– A tragic accident. At least it was probably an accident.
7– A ritual or science experiment gone wrong.
8– Suicide
9– Re-roll on this table with a d8, but their manner of death actually has nothing to do with why they became a ghost.
10– Re-roll on this table with two d8's. The first is how they appear to have died. The second is how they actually died.
What location is the ghost haunting?
Roll d20
1– A mansion in the city or suburbs. 50% chance they also haunt the grounds of the estate.
2– A country manor. 50% chance they also haunt the grounds of the estate.
3– A large apartment building. It's inhabited; getting at the ghost may require getting into people's apartments.
4– A graveyard.
5– An abandoned village.
6– A room or group of rooms in a dungeon, which the players have to travel through.
7– An entire hex on the regional map.
8– An entire neighborhood.
9– A library.
10– A temple or church. The priests are quite embarrassed about their inability to exorcise it.
11– A modest farmhouse.
12– A castle or fortress.
13– The palace or local seat of government.
14– A prison.
15– A creepy ruined tower.
16– An inn. Still in business, but won't be for long if the ghost isn't dealt with.
17– A laboratory, or house with a lab in it.
18– A museum, zoo, or other place where people go to look at things.
19– An opera, playhouse or other place of entertainment.
20– A random location with no immediately obvious connection to the ghost.
What powers does the ghost have?
Roll 2d12, plus an extra d12 for every five full HD. Don't re-roll if a single power is rolled twice, but do re-roll if it's rolled three times. A ghost can manifest its powers once per turn, or once per round if materialized or possessing someone.
1– Psychokinesis. Can fling small objects around the room. If rolled twice, can fling people, or create a small whirlwind of small objects.
2– Illusion. Can create totally convincing mental illusions that affect one person at a time. If rolled twice, can affect any number of people.
3– Mental domination. As charm person. If rolled twice, can be used as suggestion instead.
4– Possession. Save vs magic, or willpower save, to resist. Can possess for up to one turn, and it's super obvious the person is possessed. If rolled twice, can possess for up to an hour, and produces no obvious physical sign of possession.
5– Materialization. Takes a round to materialize, fights as if it has half as many HD as it has, and does one attack per round doing d8 damage. If rolled twice, fights with full HD and gets two attacks.
6– Controls undead. Can control up to four 1 HD zombies or skeletons at a time, has 2d10 total, and regenerates one per day if they're destroyed. If rolled twice, the zombies or skeletons have 2 HD each.
7– Terror and madness. Affects one target. Save vs magic, or wisdom save, to resist. On a failed save, lose d6 wisdom. If this reduces wisdom by more than half the character panics and runs away screaming. If it takes them to 0 wisdom, they're catatonic.
8– Cold. Can chill a room to the point where people are in danger of exposure if they don't take steps to warm up, but take no immediate damage. If rolled twice, can chill the whole haunted area this way, or rapidly freeze one room or room-sized area, doing d8 cold damage to everyone in it. This takes about ten seconds, giving people time to get out of the room if they react fast enough.
9– Wind. Can cause winds strong enough to knock people over if they're off balance. If rolled twice, can cause minor storms and gusts of wind strong enough to knock people ten feet even if their feet are planted solidly.
10– Electricity. Can charge metal objects with electricity, which discharges when someone touches them. Charged objects hum slightly. If rolled twice, can affect an entire room full of objects.
If a ghost takes damage while materialized or possessing, that damage is inflicted on the ghost, not just its physical body. However if reduced to zero hp by something that can't normally harm ghosts, it's just knocked into a coma and takes a few hours to heal, rather than being killed.
How to exorcise it
Roll two or three d12's, re-rolling duplicates. Each ghost has two or three ways you can get rid of it.
1– Avenge its death.
2– Give its body a proper burial.
3– Just destroy the entire place.
4– Have its body properly baptized.
5– Conduct an obscure ritual that requires several objects that were important to the person in life.
6– Find a powerful magic artifact, located nearby.
7– Make sure its family is taken care of, or complete whatever mission it was obsessed with in life.
8– Conduct an exorcism with the aid of the ghost's nearest blood relative or former lover.
9– Sacrifice something very important to appease the ghost.
10– Destroy or cleanse a cursed item linked to the ghost.
11– Recover something lost, or rebuild something destroyed, when the person died.
12– Figure out the ghost's motivation, then convince it that staying around is actually doing more harm than good.
How to learn all of this
Roll two to four d12's. You'll probably want to re-roll duplicates but in some cases you may not need to– there could be more than
1– A close relative.
2– A former employee or employer.
3– A neighbor.
4– The local library or hall of records.
5– The local storyteller, wise woman or gossip.
6– A priest who previously tried and failed to exorcise the ghost.
7– A book hidden in the haunted area.
8– The ghost itself drops hints by screaming at you, writing on mirrors, etc.
9– An old enemy or rival.
10– An illicit lover or little-known friend.
11– An officer of the law who investigated the death when it occurred.
12– A creepy witch, medium or fortune-teller.
In addition, there should be some vague hints lying around the haunted area, and tavern rumors should point players to where they can find answers, if not offer clear answers in and of themselves.
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