Bhut

The bhut is a foul undead creature that lurks in remote areas and masquerades as the living in a most unusual manner. A bhut spends much of its time possessing a humanoid corpse. When forced from its host, the ghostly bhut is a terrifying sight that consists of a humanoid head with red, feral eyes, a mouth full of daggerlike teeth, and a roiling, half-formed body of sickening black smoke and dank red mist.

A bhut comes into being when a humanoid dies a sudden, violent death in a remote region. Bhuts harbor a festering hatred of the living, and they wander the wilderness preying on travelers and pilgrims.

A bhut speaks all languages it knew in life.

Combat

A bhut avoids combat if it does not have a body, and when it has a body it prefers to slay its enemies through subterfuge and surprise. Nevertheless, a bhut is a terrible and accomplished menace in combat.

Augmented Critical (Ex): An bhut’s bite attack threatens a critical hit on a natural attack roll of 19–20. On a successful critical hit with a bite, the bhut deals triple damage.

Dreadful Appearance (Su): Anyone within 30 feet of a bhut must make a Fortitude save (DC 19) or take 1d6 points of Strength damage. This save is Charisma-based. A victim can be affected only once by a specific bhut’s dreadful appearance, but the effects of failing to save against multiple bhuts are cumulative.

Poison (Su): A bhut delivers its poison (Fort DC 14 negates) with each successful bite attack. (This save is Constitution-based.) the Initial and secondary damage are the same (2d6 Wis). Anyone reduced to 0 Wisdom by bhut poison lapses into a coma and dies in 1d4 hours unless the poison is neutralized. A humanoid creature slain in this manner rises as a bhut with the next sunset.

Corpsetheft (Su): As a full-round action, a bhut can possess a dead humanoid body of any size. The body animates immediately and is under the bhut’s full control; treat it as a zombie of the appropriate size with several exceptions: First of all, the animated body retains the bhut’s Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores, as well as the bhut’s alignment, base attack bonus, hit points, base saving throws, and level and class (if any). Additionally, the animated body is not limited to single actions. Also, the animated body’s bite attack can deliver the bhut’s poison, but the bite is not itself a natural attack (–⁠4 penalty on attack rolls). It deals only 1d3 points of damage, and it provokes an attack of opportunity.

As long as the bhut inhabits the body, it is not affected by its earth vulnerability, nor does it gain the benefits of its augmented critical or dreadful appearance abilities. Bhuts make excellent use of their Bluff and Disguise skills in this state to make the animated body appear to be alive. If the animated body is reduced to 0 hit points, the bhut must exit the body and return to its incorporeal form; any damage done to the animated body is not transferred to the bhut’s incorporeal form.

Earth Vulnerability (Su): A bhut cannot abide contact with earth or stone when in its incorporeal state, and it cannot pass through such matter without taking 3d6 points of damage per round. Stone and earth weapons deal an additional 1d6 points of damage when they strike an incorporeal bhut, and they do not have a miss chance.

Bhuts and Oriental Adventures

If you are using Oriental Adventures in your campaign, the bhut can fit well into a game with an Indian flavor. It has the Spirit subtype.

Source: Fiend Folio, page 20.