The Nazgûl’s influence on fantasy gaming

Tolkien’s Nazgûl have influenced several fantasy monsters. That is undeniable.

• The wraith in the monster manual takes cues from the ring-wraiths. The web show Standard Action even parodies this by depicting wraiths as wearing rings of power.
• The death knight, and to some degree the lich mage, channels the same idea as the ring-wraiths. Just substitute ring of power for whatever their soul jar is.
• Orcus has servants known as “demonic knights,” of which there are rumored to be nine. Obviously a reference to Sauron’s Nazgûl.
• Pathfinder introduces a grim reaper monster at some point, in at least three different variants. There are rumored to be nine of them, another clear reference to the ring-wraiths.

the spectral dead

D&D has numerous varieties of ghosts. I am going to treat them as variations of the same thing. What all spectral dead have in common is that they fly, move through solid objects and are resistant to physical attacks. One idea I saw elsewhere was that there is a distinction between the spectral dead and the ghostly dead: the former is visible and consumes energy with its energy drain attacks, while the later is generally invisible and generates its own power. Pathfinder 2e introduces the generic shorthand term “shade” to refer to all spectral/incorporeal dead. Shades would include: Shadow, specter, poltergeist, will-o-wisp, banshee, ghost, wraith, allip, etc.

Banshees are fairy women of the hills

In folklore the banshee was a fairy woman who attached herself to a long-lived family and foretold whenever a member would die. In D&D, this was mangled: now she is the restless shade of a betrayed elf who goes around killing with her voice; they are also known as "groaning spirits."