Ghost ship

Ghost Ship Ghost ships were incorporeal vessels that were sailed by crews made up of the undead. They could manifest or be seen at any time of day, though they often attacked during the night when their crew was at its strongest.

Description
Ghost ships typically resembled and behaved like a normal ship, but possessed a number of magical resistances, such as to damage from acid, fire, lightning, and thunder. In addition, some ghost ships were seen as being capable of attacking other creatures by means of animating such parts of themselves as beams, davits, and ropes.

Crews
The undead that made up the crew of ghost ships were typically individuals that had died in some grisly manner and had unfinished business that kept them tethered to the Prime Material plane. They sometimes served necromancers, but more often had no master.

Ghost ships that were largely good- or neutral-aligned had crews made up entirely of ghosts. When it came to more evil-aligned ships, it was often the case that crews largely consisted of skeletons, zombies, a small number of specters, and wraiths acting as officers. Other types of undead that were known to be found on ghost ships included ju-ju zombies, sea zombies, and even liches.

Ghost ships that occurred in the land of Zakhara were known to not only have skeletons and zombies as crewmen, but lacedons. And ghosts, specters, or vampires as officers.

History
In the four centuries that followed its sinking in the, pirates and sailors alike reported seeing the ghost of the purple-sailed Nadyra's Glory near the Impilturan coast. These sightings were always between the cities of Lyrabar and Tsurlagol.

Circa 1322 DR, Daavid Ali Fazeer claimed that he found his magical scimitar, the Nosfiraat's Blade, aboard a ghost ship that was sunk shortly after his excursion onto it.

In 1358 DR, a ghost ship of a high-prowed galley flying the symbols of Myrkul terrorized the Savage Frontier region, sometimes being seen to even travel across the land. Wherever it went the sky would darken and a storm blew ahead. Plants it passed would wither away and die. It was crewed by around thirty skeletons draped in seaweed, who were commanded by a pair of specters.

Around that same year, two wong gua warriors patrolling the waters around the Gua-Sar Caves were killed by some hai nu. Their spirits continued to patrol those waters within a ghostly canoe.

Some years after the Time of Troubles of 1358 DR, the hero Galadaunt found a spellbook known as Chambeeleon upon the deck of a ghost ship in the Emerald Isles.

In the mid–14 century DR, the legendary pirate captain Pohl Strongwind returned to life as a coffer corpse. Alongside a crew of ju-ju zombies he sailed on a ghostly version of his former ship across the Dragon Reach, terrorizing any vessel they came across, until eventually a group of adventurers put them both to rest.

Around this same time, there were repeated sinkings of ships off the coast of Ravens Bluff that were blamed by the city's nightwatch on ghost ships.

In 1395 DR, Captain Aulruick Thoster claimed that their privateer ship the Green Siren had a run-in with a ghost ship.

In the, rumors of dracoliches and ghost ships wandering the Moonsea were on the rise, attracting many to the region out of curiosity.

Regions
Much like other undead manifestations, a ghost ship was tied to a particular area. However, unlike other undead this area of manifestation was much wider and mobile for a ghost ship.

In Faerûn, this phenomenon was most likely to occur within the Sea of Fallen Stars. In the land of Kara-Tur, ghost ships were said to drift through the straits known as the Dragon's Teeth between Koryo and Kozakura. And they occasionally occurred in the seas around Zakhara.

Beyond Toril, the phenomenon of ghost ships occurred on the worlds of Krynn and Oerth. Beyond the planets themselves, even spelljammer's could become ghost ships.

In the Shadowfell, ghost ships occasionally materialized in the city of Evernight, atop the river of lava where once water flowed. These ships never had visible crew and would materialize docking at the city's empty piers for a period of a few hours or even days, all the while emitting sounds of activity on deck, until eventually moving upstream and disappearing.

Notable Ghost Ships

 * Nadyra's Glory, otherwise known as the Lost Princess
 * Ravager
 * Red Prow
 * Retaliator, a former caravel pirate ship from the Nelanther Isles.
 * Sky Ranger, a galleon spelljammer.

The undead-crewed ships of the Dead Fleet that followed The Black Basilisk of Luskan were termed "ghost ships".

Trivia

 * Prayer-tokens of Umberlee were magic items that could summon ghost ships from depths of the ocean, filled with sea zombies that were under the control of the goddess Umberlee.
 * The deity Valkur would sometimes appear before ships lost at seas as a ghost ship on the horizon, never drawing closer to them or falling further behind, leading them to the nearest port.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Desert of Desolation • Ronin Challenge • Dungeon #36, "The Sea of Sorrow" • Polyhedron #130, "Strongwind" • Ghosts of Saltmarsh
 * Novels
 * The Mercenaries
 * Vampire of the Mists
 * Video Games
 * Neverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword Coast
 * Licensed Adventures & Organized Play
 * Shadows over the Moonsea
 * Card Games
 * Spellfire: Master the Magic
 * Spellfire: Master the Magic