Bodak

In the 5e Tomb of Horrors remake, the famous face also spawns these fuckers.

The Bodak (named from the bodach of Gaelic folklore and Fiend Factory - but, only by name) is a cross between undead and demon. We got it in the 32-page insert from the 1982 adventure S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. They "are evil humans changed into monsters by exposure to the demonic forces and substances of the Abyss".

Appearance and Abilities

They're mutated shambling (MV 6") mummified corpses. Smokey-grey hairless skin, warped skull, milky white eyes. Hermaphroditic, for what that's worth.

They take damage in sunlight, and (like demons) against coldwrought iron. They are most feared for their death-stare: within 30', if you don't make your save v. death, guess what.

(All this implies that if you meet your end gazing at a Bodak while in its new Abyssal home, you're like to become one yourself. So stay away from the Abyss!)

Bodaks are sentient... sort of. They "speak" the language they had in their human form, but it is unlikely you'd care to hear what they have to say. They also speak the Abyssal languages.

On their home planes, Bodaks are summoned (back) by demonologists. If they're smarter than the demonologist (in INT; we can assume the demonologist a cretin in WIS) they can control him.

How to Make a Bodak

The Bodak entered the second Monster Manual and also Manual of the Planes, as made from evil visitors to the wrong Abyssal layers. But this didn't catch on, being restrictive.

Planescape figured out that, rather than outsiders as such, bodaks fill that niche in the Outer Planes that undead would in the Prime Material. It would stand to reason that the undead are souls who don't reach their afterlife. Inasmuch as the Outer Planes are the afterlife, logically these planes cannot have undead. (Although some foul gods might lock their damned into the form of undead.) Monte Cook wrote a particularly horrifying and poignant bodak for "Squaring the Circle" in Hellbound: The Blood War.

In Dungeons & Dragons 5E, it was revealed that Orcus could directly make Bodaks from his followers as well, as a sort of nightmarish promotion. Makes sense, considering he's the Demon Lord of Undeath and has had them in his employ before.

In Other Media

Stephen Koontz brought "bodachs" into the first Odd Thomas book in 2003. These hang around people who will cause deaths or, themselves, die; feeding off of ... something. As being tied with the afterworld and wholly evil, this instance may apply better here than to the older, fey sort of bodach. The (awful) 2013 movie made more explicit that the bodachs are tied to a gate to "Hell". No, we didn't see this shite either. But we did see a trailer for it, which is how we know it exists.

Gallery

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  The first bodak image in S4.
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  1e
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  2e
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  Sexy Bodak courtesy of The Rod of Seven Parts
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  3e, Looks like a grey alien with a weird vagina mouth.
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  4e
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  5e
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  Pathfinder bodaks have smoke constantly spewing from their eye sockets.
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