SPECTRE (or SPECTER) – 5e stats

Medium undead, chaotic evil

Armor Class 12
Armor Class (suggested) 16
Hit Points 22 (5d8)
Speed 0 ft., fly 50 ft. (hover)

Proficiency Bonus +2
Proficiency Bonus +3 (5th Edition Advanced Mode)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
1 (-5)	14 (+2)	11 (+0)	10 (+0)	10 (+0)	11 (+0)

Damage Resistance acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, unconscious
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages understands all languages it knew in life but can’t speak
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Incorporeal Movement. The specter can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.

Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the specter has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

ACTIONS

• Life Drain. Melee Spell Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (3d6) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the creature finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
• Life Drain (suggested). Melee Spell Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (3d6) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the creature finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0. If the target dies from this attack, it rises as a spectre under the original spectre’s control at the start of the next round.

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Description

 Spectres are powerful undead that haunt the most desolate and deserted of places. They hate all life and light. Spectres appear as semitransparent beings and are often mistaken for haunts or ghosts. They are the angry, unfettered spirits of humanoids that have been prevented from passing on to the afterlife. They retain their intelligence and memories, as well as the semblance and manner of dress of their former selves. They can speak and understand the languages they knew in life, but their voices are hollow and eerie.

Combat 

Spectres’ main weapon is their life drain, a melee spell attack that deals necrotic damage and reduces the target’s hit point maximum. The slain humanoid rises as a new spectre under the original spectre’s control at the start of the next round. A spectre can have up to seven spawn under its control at a time. Most spectres are solitary, but some enclaves exist where a particularly powerful or lucky spectre has managed to drain mortals of life. This lead spectre is known as the master spectre, while the others are known collectively as the followers.

In this arrangement, the master spectre almost never engages enemies personally, but instead sends his minions in for the kill. Mortals drained of life by follower spectres are subservient to the master spectre, not the followers. If the master spectre is slain, all followers become independent and can travel anywhere they wish in hopes of becoming master spectres themselves. Once a character becomes a spectre, recovery is nearly impossible, requiring a special quest.

Spectres hate light and all life, as both remind them of their undead existence. They are therefore encountered only in places of extreme darkness and desolation, like long-abandoned ruins, dungeons, and subterranean sewers. They also have a sensitivity to sunlight, which hampers their vision and attacks. Spectres remain highly intelligent and generally rational after the transformation to undeath. Life makes them lament their unlife, and they bear a strong hatred for all those lucky enough to live and truly die. Spectres have enough cunning to plan their attacks, and rival vampires in their skill at remaining hidden from the general populace.

Spectres are weightless and can fly through the air, as well as move through solid objects as if they were difficult terrain. However, they take damage if they end their turn inside an object. Spectres are resistant to most types of damage, except for force and radiant damage. They are immune to necrotic and poison damage, as well as to most conditions that affect living creatures.

Habitat / Society

 Spectres can be found in any place where a humanoid died a violent or unjust death, such as battlefields, dungeons, haunted houses, or graveyards. A spectre often haunts the location of its death, seeking revenge on those who wronged it or anyone who trespasses on its territory. A spectre may also wander the world, looking for new victims to feed on or to turn into spawn. A spectre usually acts alone or with its spawn, but it may occasionally ally with other undead or evil creatures that share its goals or interests. A spectre has no need for food, water, or sleep, but it craves the life energy of living beings.

Ecology 

Spectres are unnatural creatures that disrupt the natural order of life and death. They are a source of fear and dread for most living creatures, who avoid or destroy them if possible. A spectre may also pose a threat to other undead, especially those who seek to control or enslave it. A spectre has few natural predators, but it may be hunted by clerics, paladins, or other agents of good who seek to end its existence and free its soul. A spectre may also be vulnerable to certain magical effects that banish it to another plane or trap it in an object. A spectre does not reproduce naturally, but it can create spawn out of humanoids it kills with its life drain. A spawn is loyal to its creator until either one of them dies or is freed from its curse by a remove curse spell or similar magic.

No one knows who the first spectre was or how it came to be; the few facts detailed above are all that is known with any degree of certainty.