A
          / \      _             Play Now                         Nemesis on 
          | |     | |  _______   _        _   _______    _______   _    _______
          | |\    | | |   ____| |  \    /  | |   ____|  /   ____| | |  /   ____|
 /-------/-------------------------------------------------------------------,
O= Home <=XX|  About  News  Pics  Adventurers  Wizards  Download  Connect     >
 \-------\-------------------------------------------------------------------'
          | |   \   | |  |____  | |      | | |  |____   ___ \  \  | |  ___ \  \
          | |     \_| |_______| |_|      |_| |_______| |_______/  |_| |_______/
          \ /
           V  

Documentation Area

Document Path: /doc/monsters/phantom

Name:
	Phantom  (Magical Creature)

Stats:
	No. Appearing  : 1
	Climate/Terrain: Any/Land
	Frequency      : Very rare
	Organization   : Solitary
	Activity Cycle : Any
	Diet           : Nil

Description:
	Phantoms are images left behind by particularly strong death traumas.
	A phantom is like a three-dimensional movie image filmed at the time of
	death, in place where it died.

	The standard phantom may appear as almost anything. If often appears as
	the character who experienced the trauma - a transparent image re-en-
	acting the death scene. Alternatively, it could represent whatever was
	foremost in the victim's mind at the time of death; an attacker, or
	some goal left unachieved. Phantoms are experienced in faded colours,
	by all senses.

Combat:
	It is difficult to fight phantoms, since they are merely images and
	have no power to directly cause harm. They cannot themselves be harmed.
	Swinging weapons or casting spells into the area of the image does not
	interfere with the projection, and they cannot be reasoned with. A
	phantom is not intelligent and does not exist for any real reason;
	tracking down its killer or completing its quest will not get rid of a
	phantom.

	Phantoms are often mistaken for ghosts, haunts, or groaning spirits,
	but they can not be turned as undead. Only a priest spell remove curse,
	cast at 12th level, can dispel a phantom.

	Although a phantom cannot directly do any actual harm, it is the very
	essence of magic and calls up a superstitous awe in anyone who sees
	one. The enchantment is such that the phantom affects both the mind and
	the sense of the observer. Creatures without minds (such as undead) are
	immune to the effects of phantoms, as are those rare beings who are
	somehow unable to experience them (since the phantom is present to all
	senses, blindness is not normally protecting against one).

Habitat/Society:
	Of course, a phantom may provide characters with important information,
	either forewarning careful characters of an upcoming danger, or finding
	a lost and treasured object.

	There is a slight chance that a character's death may engender a phan-
	tom. This chance should be minuscle to nonexistent for 0-level or very
	low level character, or for those who were expecting to die - those dy-
	ing of natural causes or in war. However, characters of 4th level or
	above, dying suddenly or by surprise might have a 1-2% chance of beco-
	ming phantoms. If those characters were on an important mission or
	quest, this chance mught rise to 5-6 percont. The percentage chance for
	generating a phantom should never be higher than the level of the cha-
	racter at the time of death. (Characters killed by energy-draining un-
	dead rarely produce phantoms). A character who is murdered and gene-
	rates a phantom may also return as a revenant.

	There are nonstandard types of phantoms that affect only one of the
	senses. often these are purely visual images, but they can also mani-
	fest themselves as sounds (explosions, moaning, or quiet whispering) or
	smells. A gloomy whispering of danger might produce despair effects. A
	foul stench might induce the retching effects of a ghast.

	Of greater concern, however, is that there are some phantoms that are
	actually evil. These phantoms can seriously misinform or endanger any
	character it meets. They can be detected with a detect evil spell; dis-
	pel evil can neutralize the phantom for a number of turns equal to the
	caster's level.