MEDIUM
You have somehow learned to tap into the Spirit Realm, allowing you to communicate with spirits that linger at the edge of the veil between their world and the Material Realm. The contact is never earth-shattering, but you use it often in small ways, including to make a living. Whether you gather others at a table to contact their dead, or seek out haunted locales to placate angry spirits, people tend to look to you for help with the occult.
Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, Performance
Tools: Disguise kit, one type of musical instrument
Equipment: A holy symbol or spellcasting focus (arcane, druidic, or psychic), strange robes, a large tome on demonology and the Spirit Realm, a flask of holy water, a bundle of twelve candles, a tinderbox, a vial of exotic perfume, a small bell, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
Feature: Séance
You can receive messages from nearby spirits through your holy symbol or spellcasting focus. Sometimes this puts you into a trance in which you can only speak simple phrases or answer yes-or-no questions on behalf of the spirit. More often the contact is subtle and difficult to sense. You might hear a simple message to a loved one, gain knowledge of details from the ghost’s life, or elicit a small demonstration of its presence (such as flickering lights or knocking sounds).
You can’t be sure of the accuracy of the communications, or if the spirit you’re speaking to is even who it purports to be. There are many devious ghosts who entertain themselves by tricking sensitive mortals. When you seek to contact a spirit, specifiy whom, if anyone, you’d like to speak with. Your DM then rolls secretly on the following table to determine the result.
d12 Séance Result
None
A violent ghost that attacks anyone present
The spirit of an arbitrary dead plant or animal
The spirit of an arbitrary plant or animal that died in your current location
An arbitrary unborn spirit
An arbitrary spirit from ancient history
An arbitrary spirit that recently died
An arbitrary spirit that died in your current location
A well known spirit from ancient history
A well known spirit that recently died
A spirit whose identity you specified
You enter a trance and become stunned for 1 minute. While in the trance, the specified spirit controls your body. The trance ends if anyone touches you.
SUGGESTED CHARACTERISTICS
Gifts such as yours don’t leave a person unchanged. You might manage to appear well adjusted, but as with your interactions with the spirits, nothing is as it seems. You might have the air of always being distracted, or perhaps you stare deep into others eyes as if you see into their souls. Maybe you seem weary, or are suspicious of everyone. Whatever effect the spirits leave on you, they have taught you not to take anything for granted.
d6 Personality Trait
I act haughtily with those who don’t believe in spiritualism.
I give a lot of well-meaning advice.
My etiquette is impeccable.
Everyone is a friend, or potential friend.
Despite my gift, I’ve always been a serious skeptic.
I rarely speak. At any moment the spirits might tell me a critically important message
d6 Ideal
Kindness. There are souls in anguish, living or dead, and I can help them. (Good)
Love. I lost someone close to me and I’m determined to stay close to their spirit. (Neutral)
Knowledge. This gift will one day teach me something truly profound if I perfect it. (Neutral)
Fame. This is my ticket to celebrity. (Neutral)
Duty. I have a responsibility to bring important messages across the veil to many people. (Lawful)
Dominion. I decide what their dead loved ones say. I have complete control over them. (Evil)
d6 Bond
No matter what I do, I can’t speak with the spirit that’s most important to me.
Someone powerful got an answer they didn’t like from a spirit, blamed me, and destroyed my life.
There’s one mysterious spirit that torments me, and I know there’s a reason.
I learned a secret about myself or the afterlife that no one else knows, and it’s tearing me apart.
A spirit told me the location of its hidden treasure.
I have a wealthy patron who gets me into the highest circles.
d6 Flaw
I bluntly speak the truth without regard for people’s feelings.
When it comes down to it, I trust the dead more than the living.
Showmanship is more important than honesty.
The dead terrify me.
I believe that no one can or will understand my burdens.
I’m convinced that nothing really matters in the grand scheme of things. Death is the great equalizer.
