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Poltergeist

Poltergeist

AX.GH.13.08.06

A Spirit that has been agitated, trapped or fed by concentrated negative emotional energy until it has grown beyond its original identity, still anchored to the location or event that created it, but now expressing as raw, violent telekinetic force rather than recognizable personality.

Type: Undead (Incorporeal, Ascended Spirit)

Threat Power Package: Elite

Size: Large (environmental presence, treat as occupying the full space it haunts)

Attributes

  • Body: 0D (incorporeal)
  • Speed: 4D
  • Wit: 3D

Talents

  • Supernatural Power (Manifestation): 4D
  • Notice: 3D
  • Resolve: 3D

Combat Statistics

  • Health: 38 (20 + Body 0 + Elite modifier 15 + Spirit Resilience +3)
  • Defense: 3 (incorporeal; effective Defense 3 against qualifying weapons)
  • Armor: Incorporeal

Saves

  • Body Save: 0D (Spirit Resolve: 6D)
  • Speed Save: 4D (Speed 4D)
  • Wit Save: 6D (Wit 3D + Resolve 3D)

Attacks

  • Kinetic Burst: Wit 3D + Supernatural Power 4D = 7D vs Defense (Near range, affects all targets in Close range of the burst center), 4–6 damage typical; each target must make Speed Save vs Threshold 3 or be knocked Prone
  • Directed Strike: Speed 4D + Supernatural Power 4D = 8D vs Defense, 5–7 damage typical (single target, hurled heavy object, car, furniture, structural element)

Undead Traits

  • Incorporeal: As Vengeful Spirit
  • Environmental Dominance: In its anchored location, the Poltergeist has total control of the physical environment. It can activate any mechanical or electrical system in the space as a Free Action. It can seal doors (Speed Save vs Threshold 4 to open from inside). It can collapse portions of the structure (structural damage per GM discretion).

Special Abilities

  • Kinetic Storm: Once per scene, the Poltergeist triggers a full environmental assault. Every character in the haunted space must make Speed Saves vs Threshold 3 each Turn for 1D3 Turns or take 3 damage from hurled debris. The Storm prevents ranged attacks and imposes −2D on all actions requiring concentration.
  • Anchor: The Poltergeist cannot be drawn more than Far range from its anchored location or object. Within its anchored space it regenerates 2 HP per Turn. Outside that space (if somehow forced there) it deals half damage on all attacks and cannot use Kinetic Storm.
  • Identity Fragments: Beneath the violence, the Poltergeist retains fragments of its original identity. A Mediumship practitioner who can reach these fragments (Wit + Mediumship vs Threshold 4, requires the practitioner to survive being in the space) can identify what originally created the Spirit and what resolution would look like.

Tactics

Poltergeists do not distinguish between targets. Everything in their space is subject to the same violent attention. They use Kinetic Storm first when multiple targets enter their space, then Directed Strike against whatever target is moving most aggressively toward their anchor point. Characters who are not moving or acting are sometimes ignored. The Poltergeist's attention is drawn by action, which means a skilled team can divide roles: one person draws attention while another works the resolution.

Lore & Ecology

Poltergeists develop over time. A Vengeful Spirit in a location saturated with fear, grief or violence can eventually lose its individual identity in the accumulated negative emotional energy. Old buildings with multiple trauma histories, prisons, hospitals where terrible things happened, locations of significant atrocities: these are Poltergeist incubators. The original Spirit that anchored the accumulation is still there, buried under layers of accreted energy, which is why resolution is possible but requires finding it.

Destruction

The anchor must be found and addressed, not just the building, but the specific original anchor (remains, object, the specific location of the original trauma). Once identified, the resolution process is the same as a Vengeful Spirit, but the Threshold is higher (Quiet the Unquiet at Threshold 5) because the accumulated energy resists dispersal. Some Poltergeists cannot be resolved without structural intervention. If the anchor is the building itself, resolution may require the building's demolition combined with ritual clearing of the site.

Scene Materials

  • Structural damage evidence (documents the event for BUA/Aldersham)
  • Historical records of the location (the investigation work that identifies the anchor)
  • EMF documentation (significant research value: $500–1,000 to Aldersham)