Inquisitor

Created by evil wizards centuries ago, these shambling, decaying horrors feed on terror, and each is an ancient artist of torture and interrogation. Easily confused with a zombie, an inquisitor has lost nearly half its flesh, baring yellowed bone and tendon. Many wear black hoods; those that do not show reeking mucus oozing from eyes and mouth. It goes shirtless and gloveless in ragged trousers and shoes, its hands blackened from years of heated irons and its thick yellow nails jutting like claws. It nearly always carries a whip. It speaks Common and the local racial tongues.

Its hideous look and grim reputation demand a save vs. paralyzation from all who see it; failure means 1-6 rounds of panicked flight and a lasting -2 to hit it afterward. Each round it also fixes its gaze on one foe on top of its attacks: on a failed save vs. paralyzation, that foe is held rigid for 1-4 turns, while a success makes him permanently immune to that inquisitor's gaze.

It lashes with its whip for 1-4 and rakes with its nails for 1-6. Anyone its nails wound saves vs. poison or contracts a wasting sickness that saps 1 Strength and 1 Constitution daily, killing if either reaches zero; only cure disease ends it and restores the losses. Mind-affecting magic such as charm, geas and illusions has no effect on it.

Captives are chained to a table for its attentions, which inflict terrible pain and disfigurement. After each day, the prisoner saves vs. paralyzation or goes insane, still able to defend himself or try to escape but unable to tell friend from foe or relate to familiar places. Sanity returns once 1-4 weeks have passed without torture. Every victim also permanently loses 1 point of Charisma, recoverable only through magic such as a heal spell cast for that purpose.

Masterless inquisitors haunt shadowy places, keeping prisoners and asking them impossible questions to hone their art. Others are themselves captives of stronger masters, made to torture on command and dreaming of putting those masters on the rack. Each has a torture chamber as its lair, in a dungeon, a cave, the remote wilds or even a town square, outfitted with racks, iron maidens, thumbscrews, clamps or stranger devices like helmets full of hungry rats or insects. It quietly keeps bribes offered by screaming victims, hiding them near the chamber, though no bribe ever spares anyone. With a steady supply of victims, it may stay inside for years or centuries, leaving only to find more. It works alone but may use lesser creatures; orcs and kobolds sometimes earn a little by selling it live captives.

Cursed long ago to cause endless pain and pry loose secrets, inquisitors never age and cannot reproduce. Denied victims for a long time, one withers, permanently losing 1 hit point per year, and masters who employ them use that threat to keep them obedient.