Fantasy Hack haunts

Haunts are a novel idea introduced by Paizo that combine elements of a trap and a ghost—haunts should be used liberally to create the classic "haunted house" vibe, or to create any eerie, horror-themed vignette in your FANTASY HACK game.  In adapting the idea of haunts to m20, I'm needless to say going to be forced to interpret the concept very differently and with considerably less complexity, but I do want to maintain the idea of a haunt being somewhat midway between a trap and a ghost.

Haunts are extremely difficult to notice without triggering them.  While a normal trap can presumably be seen (if you know what to look for) haunts cannot.  That said, as a haunt is being triggered, there is a brief moment when wary characters might be able to detect that something is happening (by making a MND + Survival check), and possibly mitigate its effects.  If the PCs do not detect that the haunt is about to start, they are caught unawares and off-guard under the full effect of the haunt.  If they do detect it, they have one round to attempt to do something to alleviate the effects of the haunt; flee the haunted area, cast some spell of their own, etc.  This doesn't mean, of course, that the action that they choose to take will be effective.  As GM, you will have to adjudicate what (if anything) their actions have on minimizing or defeating the effects of the haunt.

The effect of a haunt is usually replicated by using the mechanics for a spell.  You can describe the haunt very differently than the description of the spell, but the mechanics will be the same.  Haunts may have varying "caster levels" depending on how powerful you want the haunt to be, if the spell used is one in which its effects vary by caster level.

Haunts cannot be "fought" like a normal ghost; they must be destroyed by the PCs taking some specific action that causes the haunt to go away.  They probably will not know what this action is, although they may stumble across it, or otherwise figure it out.  (If you want, a MND + Knowledge check can give them a clue—often this needs to be done in a library or with a book or journal of a ghost-hunter, or someone else experienced in the works of the undead.)  Mostly, haunts don't need to be destroyed however; the PCs' suffer the effects of them and then avoid them from then on out.

Haunt trigger areas are usually relatively small; a room, a dell, a small stretch of hallway, etc.

To create a haunt, you need to do the following, then:

• Pick a DC for the PCs to notice the haunt, as well as an effect that they notice.
• Pick a spell that the haunt triggers, or create your own spell-like effect.
• Pick a caster level for the spell (if applicable)
• Pick the way in which the haunt can be destroyed.  In a pinch, the go-to method is to find the body or remains of whoever is doing the haunting, sprinkle them with salt and burn them.

Here are a few samples:

BLEEDING WALLS (Notice DC 20 to hear the sound of disembodied soft sobbing.)  The Bleeding Walls haunt causes thick rivulets and streams of blood to ooze from the walls, accompanied by the piercing sound of a woman's pained screams.  Effect: Blasphemous Piping of Azathoth (4th Level spell.)  If the PCs can leave the area after noticing the sobbing before it triggers, they can avoid the effect.  The haunt can be destroyed if the woman's body hidden in the walls (who's sobbing and screaming you hear) is given a proper Christian burial in the hallowed ground of a proper graveyard.

SLAMMING DOORS (Notice DC 10 to see the door start shutting.) The Slamming Doors haunt causes doors to slam shut and to be held shut.  These door can be broken open (depending on the strength of the door), but will otherwise remain shut.  The doors are supernaturally strengthened by the will of the malicious poltergeist that caused the door to slam.  Usually, this will trap the PCs within an area, such as within a haunted house, etc.  Effect: Door will slam shut and be resistant to opening.  To avoid the effect, PCs must dart through the shutting door before it closes.  The haunt can be destroyed if the door is broken and destroyed.

CHOKING HANDS (Notice DC 20 to see/feel a cold mist starting to coalesce around the neck of the victims.) Ghostly hands made of gray mist will choke the PCs.  Effect: Casts Moloch's Word (3rd level spell) at caster level 5.  This haunt will continue each round that victims are within the target area, although it only effects one victim at a time.  Victims being choked must make a DC 20 STR + Survival check to move, or else fall prone and be unable to move (another character can drag them out of the area, however.)  The haunt will usually target one victim at a time until dead before moving on to the next one.  The haunt can be destroyed if the body of the murderer who it is reflecting is exhumed and their remains burned and salted (as for a ghost.)

GHASTLY WHISPERS (Notice DC 20 to hear crescendoing blasphemous whispering before it is triggered.)  The ghostly sound of at least dozens of whispering, screaming, sobbing, crying and cursing voices fills the heads of its victims, driving them rapidly insane.  Effect: Casts The Seeping of Kadath on the Mind (4th Level Spell).  This can be avoided if PCs run like the dickens out of the area before it targets them.  This haunt can only be destroyed by a trained exorcist performing a night-long prayerful ritual using at least a gallon of holy water and uninterrupted prayer by an anointed priest—although the haunt will attempt to attack the exorcist repeatedly while the exorcism is underway.

HEADLESS HORSEMAN (DC 15 to hear the clip-clop of galloping hooves before it appears.) A ghostly, headless soldier on a ghostly, skeletal horse appears and attacks those attempting to cross its area of road or dell or bridge, etc.  Effect: This ghostly apparition cannot be fought like a normal ghost, as all attacks against it are ineffective, even with silver or magical weapons.  It, however, attacks with its own spectral sword, with a To Hit bonus of +8 (2d6 damage) and it will continue to attack until all targets manage to escape its area of influence (often crossing a bridge or some other road marker) or they are all killed.  The haunt can be destroyed by finding the remains of the ghostly, decapitated victim, and reunited it with the remains of its head.)

BLACK CARRIAGE (DC 15 to hear the creaking of the carriage and clopping of its hooves before it appears.)  A spectral black carriage, driven by a ghostly coachman appears and runs down all in the haunted area.  Effect: Equivalent to the Summoning of Ithaqua (4th level spell). A DC 30 DEX + Athletics check allows the victims to dive out of the way of the wildly careening coach, although if will probably appear again moments later until the PCs are out of the haunted area.  The haunt can be destroyed only by casting The Invocation of Kadashman (Ritual only spell) to summon a ghostly steed of your own which will lure the ghostly stallions deep into the ghostly realm, never to return.