I never understood how a sword in Dungeons & Dragons could hurt a ghost. Wouldn't it go right through the ghost?

Question

Update:

From the webpage of the link provided by an answerer here, it seems that generally there is some substance to ghosts in Dungeons & Dragons. Perhaps though magic with the sword adds much more ability to inflict damage when fighting a ghost than when fighting against most other monsters.

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

Well here are about a dozen different guesses:

https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/azn3qm/w...

Answer 2

it can hurt a ghost because the Dungeon Master says it can.

Answer 3

Sad, so sad.   

Answer 4

I knew about the argument that a magical sword could damage a ghost because of the magic, but that's as far as I had gotten.  From the webpage of the link provided by an answerer here, it seems that generally there is some substance to ghosts in Dungeons & Dragons.  Perhaps though magic with the sword adds much more ability to inflict damage when fighting a ghost than when fighting against most other monsters.

Answer 5

It hurts the ghosts pride 

Answer 6

it could be a sword with magical or holy powers.