Blades In The Dark is a fun game, and has been on my mind recently. So when someone asked on the OSR discord server if there were any ghost-related GLOG classes, well, it got the gears in my brain turning.
The Whisper
Whether you were born with it, trained for it, or gained it suddenly, you have a connection with the dead. You hear their staticky voices in the night, feel the electric tingle of their presence. You are a medium, an occultist, a necromancer in the original sense of the word. You call upon the dead, and they respond.
As a quick aside, I use spirit to refer to incorporeal undead in general
Starting Equipment: Dark clothing, a light weapon, spirit mask, 2 ghost bottles, lantern, and roll twice for or choose one other piece of equipment from the list at the end
Starting Proficiencies: Light weapons, light armor, guns
Starting Skills (roll 1d3): 1. Occultism 2. Skulduggery 3. Electrical Engineering
- A: Spirit Sight, Tongue of the Dead
- B: Exorcist's Grit, Shadow Veil
- C: Command
- D: Ghost-Tamer, Overcharge
Spirit Sight: While wearing your spirit mask, you can see into the Spirit Realm, where the souls of dead things leave their echoes. You can see the spirits of the dead around you, as well as the remains of particularly important ruins that have since fallen. The world appears hazy and indistinct, and you have trouble differentiating between the real world and the ghost one while the mask is on.
Tongue of the Dead: You can speak to ghosts while wearing your mask. Most are either cryptic, confused, or aggressive, although you're bound to get at least a few scraps of information from them.
Exorcist's Grit: Spiritual toughness is just as important as the physical kind. You cannot be magically frightened or possessed.
Shadow Veil: You can project your soul from your body, up to 10 feet away. It appears as a faint distortion of light and space. and can pass through walls. If it comes into contact with electricity, you take 2d6 damage as your soul experiences a deadly power surge.
Command: You can call upon a spirit that you see and force it to obey a single order from you. You can use this ability [template] times per day for free; after that, you take 1d6 damage each time as outside ghostly energy begins to saturate your soul.
Ghost-Tamer: When speaking to ghosts, you can force their answers to be clear and concise, dimming them to an ember in the process. Each time you do this, you must leave a offering or tribute to the extinguished ghost, or else the Spirit Realm will begin to grow hostile to you.
Overcharge: With a look, you can connect your soul, the soul of another person, and the Spirit Realm all together. in a ghostly short circuit. Roll up to 4d6; both you and one visible creature of your choice take that much damage as you are fried by electro-spiritual energy.
Starting Items:
- Spirit Mask, usually made out of wood or metal. Allows anyone to see the faint signs of the dead, and grants you your Sight.
- 2 Spirit Bottles, compact metal canisters with a small latched door on one side. Open the door to suck in the nearest spirit and trap it, open again to release.
- A Swordcane. 1d6 damage, light, concealable, and classy.
- A Rifle. 2d8 damage, range of 60ft, takes half a minute to reload, breech-loading. Ammo sold seperately.
- Lancaster Pistol. 2d6 damage per shot, range of 30ft, holds 4 shots, takes a round to reload per cartridge. Breech-loading, ammo sold seperately.
- Lightning Hook. A long collapsible rod with a electrified loop of heavy wire at the end. Can grab onto spirits and drag them around.
- Occult Paraphernalia. Bones, candles, chalk, astrological charts, and various other items that one would commonly use in ritual magic, all conveniently packed into a single container.
- Leviathan Blood. A large canister of blood, with wires and metal clamps sticking out of both sides. Basically a giant battery, highly explosive.
- Spiritbane Charm. While worn in a visible place, spirits will refuse to interact with or get close to the wearer unless absolutely necessary.
- Shadow Cloak. Perfectly colored to blend into areas of dim light. Too light to work in absolute darkness.
- Electroplasm Bullets. A set of 6 bullets that are partially in phase with the Spirit Realm. Deals full damage to spirits, but only half to corporeal beings.
- Ghost Oil. Things with the oil poured onto it become ghostly, becoming solid to spirits and incorporeal to people. Works on living things (but make sure to cover the whole body!), lasts 10 minutes. 3 doses.
- Powdered Silence. When dusted around, dampens any sound around it into a whisper. Less effective in open spaces, 3 doses.
- Sludge. A ghost, "cooked down" into liquid and put into a bottle. The fumes get you incredibly high.
- Vantablack Paint. Anything covered with it becomes perfectly black. 5 doses.
- A Journal, one that once belonged to a now well-established witch.
- Biolumen Liquid. An injectable bacterial cocktail that causes swollen, glowing growths. Works well on sealife, iffy on birds, moderately toxic to mammals and reptiles.
- Inklantern. When a candle is lit inside, this lantern radiates darkness instead of light.
- Fine Whiskey, the real expensive stuff.
- Something weird, roll 1d6
- NINE SWORDS REVERSED, a cinquedea of pale. The presence of this dagger instills a strong sense of anxiety and dread to anyone not holding it.
- A Signet Ring of a prestigious noble family that still carries respect. No one needs to know that you got it via grave-robbing
- A Copper Bell with no clapper. Rings whenever something nearby dies.
- The True Name to a powerful demon, which would probably be pissed if you summon or command it.
- Scrimshaw of sailors going Leviathan hunting. Sleeping near it always causes dreams of ocean depths and night skies, which frightens you awaken if danger is close.
- A Calculation Engine, inside a carrying case. Computes numbers, time, distance, and anything else mathematical. The perfect combination of heavy and fragile.
