This ghostly apparition floats in the air on backward-facing feet. Its hands end in sharp talons, and its eyes glow with blue fire.
A bhuta is a ghostlike undead creature born of horrible death or murder in a natural setting. It is a manifestation of rage at the injustice of a death that interrupted important business or unsated desires. Doomed to haunt the wilderness within several miles of the site of its demise, a bhuta turns to the local fauna as tools for its vengeance. A bhuta can appear in a variety of animalistic forms by using its veil ability, but its natural appearance is that of a bestial humanoid phantom that floats a foot above the ground as it moves. While bhutas are incorporeal, the touch of their claws creates horrific, bleeding wounds. A bhuta's feet point backward. To disguise its nature, a bhuta can appear solid, manifesting in long robes that help disguise the fact that it floats and has strange feet. By means of its magic jar spell-like ability, a bhuta can also possess living animals to use as its minions; an animal possessed by a bhuta casts no shadow, and therefore prefers to lurk in heavily canopied or thicketed areas, waiting for the right time to strike out and attack intruders. Animals find themselves attracted to bhutas, which use their spell-like abilities to manipulate such victims toward evil and deceptive ends. Bhutas generally avoid inf luencing animal companions or domesticated animals, for changes in behavior among such creatures can easily arouse suspicion and reveal a bhuta's presence and inf luence. A bhuta might have tasks it wishes to complete from its previous existence as a living creature, or it might work against those who slew its living form. This link to its past life is vague and compulsive rather than clear, unlike that of a ghost. Bhutas who have no specific target for retribution still seek to trouble those living in or near their domains, coaxing passersby into accepting them as traveling companions and using their inf luence over animals as a testament to their benevolence. When invited to join a group, a bhuta can journey outside its normal territory. However, a bhuta's hunger for living blood usually drives it to attack its companions before it wanders far.
When a person is murdered, the spirit sometimes clings to the Material Plane, refusing to accept its mortal death. This spirit possesses its original body and seeks out those responsible for its murder. It will never rest until those responsible are sought out and slain. Since the transformation into unlife is almost instant (occurring within 1-2 hours after death), the bhuta appears as it did in life. Close inspection (DC 16 Perception check) reveals slight decay, and the body still shows signs of any trauma suffered prior to death (wounds, disease, burns, or the like), but outwardly, the bhuta for the most part appears as a normal creature of its race. In its undead state, the bhuta sustains itself on a diet of flesh, preferring that of humans and elves. A bhuta attacks with its claws in combat. If facing its killers, it uses its death grip attack on the one who actually killed it (the one who delivered the killing blow) and usually only releases its hold when either it or its target is dead. If combat goes against it, a bhuta does not hesitate to retreat, picking a more opportune time in the future to exact its revenge.