Wish-List Wraithling
Armor Class 12 (ethereal remnants)
Hit Points 9 (2d6+2)
Speed fly 30 ft.
Skills Stealth +4, Perception +3
Damage Resistances acid; fire; lightning; thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities cold, necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Common, telepathy 30 ft.
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2
Actions
Reactions
📷 Export as Image
Share your monster as a beautiful PNG image styled like classic D&D sourcebooks.
Includes: Full stat block, monster image (if selected), CR badge, and QuickMonster branding.
Resolution: High-quality PNG at 2x scale for crisp display on any device.
"You wrote it down. You crossed over. Now you owe the road." — ink on a splinter of the Old Lantern Bridge
Lore & Description
Appearance
This small, translucent ghost resembles a child-sized traveler wrapped in strips of gray fog and rotten bridge rope. Its face is a blank oval of wet parchment, covered with moving ink that forms names, dates, and half-finished wishes. A splinter of the demolished bridge floats beneath its feet like a narrow plank, while hundreds of spectral scraps flutter from its back. When it speaks, its voice sounds like footsteps crossing wood that no longer exists.
Behavior & Origins
The Wish-List Wraithling was born when the Old Lantern Bridge was demolished before the travelers who had tied wishes to its rails could return. Every promise, plea, and secret hope soaked into the bridge's timbers, and the ghost began keeping an exact list of those who had crossed it. The party has somehow appeared on that list, perhaps because one character once made a wish at the bridge, carried an object from it, or unknowingly fulfilled a traveler's abandoned wish. The wraithling wants the party to complete every wish on the list, beginning with the final request of Mara Venn, a ferryman who wished that no traveler would ever be left behind. It may become an uneasy guide if the characters promise to recover Mara's lost bridge bell from the demolition pit at Blackwater Crossing.
Running Wish-List Wraithling
Tactics
The wraithling opens by using Recite the List to frighten clustered targets, then slips through terrain to harry the most isolated character with Paper-Cut Touch. It uses Not Yet to stop a fleeing creature or prevent someone from crossing a threshold, and uses Cross Out a Name against a heavily armored character or anyone trying to reach an ally. It fights until reduced to 2 hit points, then retreats through the nearest wall while whispering the party's names; it returns later unless the relevant wish or bridge remnant is dealt with.
DM Tips
- Telegraph the encounter with damp scraps of paper bearing the characters' names, bridge-rope knots tied around nearby branches, and footsteps crossing empty air.
- Give the wraithling a plaintive, bureaucratic voice; it should sound less murderous than deeply offended that the party has failed to honor paperwork.
- For a weaker party, remove the frightened effect from Recite the List; for a stronger party, let Cross Out a Name affect two targets or increase its save DC to 12.
- The wraithling is more memorable if combat can end through negotiation: returning the bridge bell, fulfilling Mara Venn's wish, or persuading it to amend the list.
Loot
- The Last Bridge Splinter — A damp piece of blackened timber covered in silver ink. Once per day, its bearer can learn the direction to the nearest safe crossing within 1 mile.
- Mara Venn's Bell Clapper — A tarnished iron clapper from the Old Lantern Bridge's bell. It vibrates faintly whenever someone nearby makes a sincere promise.
- Spectral Wish Slip — A scrap naming one party member's forgotten wish. Destroying it ends the wraithling's ability to track that character, but may also erase a chance to fulfill the wish.
