Graelar the Whisper
CREATURE 18Male tomb giant assassin
Masters of mausoleums and keepers of crypts, the dread creatures called tomb giants are anathema to all living beings, but especially so to other types of giants. Long ago, so the legends say, tomb giants sold their souls in exchange for unfathomable necromantic powers. With whom they made this foul bargain remains a mystery-if the rumors hold any truth at all. Still, tomb giants' power over undeath remains undeniable, and nearly all of them embrace a fervent passion for necromancy.
Tomb giants construct massive gothic settlements in haunted valleys and on forsaken hillsides, far enough away from the societies of smaller people that they remain relatively undisturbed, but close enough that they can raid the graveyards of nearby villages with impunity.
Elder tomb giants-those who have animated countless hordes of humanoid zombies and skeletons and yearn for even greater challenges-enjoy the thrill of subduing, slaying, and reanimating their fellow giants. Taiga giants in particular are choice prey to an experienced tomb giant, as their larger cousins make formidable undead guardians and warriors.
A tomb giant views its mortal life as only one part of its existence. After death, most tomb giants are themselves reanimated as undead, who then continue to practice their necromantic arts.
Many kinds of giants lurk in the inhospitable corners of the world, making their homes in unlikely locales ranging from fetid sinkholes and ruined battlefields to mass graveyards and barren badlands.
Lifesense allows a monster to sense the vital essence of living and undead creatures within the listed range. The sense can distinguish between the vitality energy animating living creatures and the void energy animating undead creatures, much as sight distinguishes colors.
A creature with void healing draws health from void energy rather than vitality energy. It is damaged by vitality damage and is not healed by vitality healing effects. It does not take void damage, and it is healed by void effects that heal undead.
The tomb giant turns the spiritual tide on a creature that has just died, temporarily transforming it into a volatile vessel of void energy. The tomb giant touches a creature that died in the past 24 hours, infusing its flesh and bone with void energy. Once during the next hour, the tomb giant can spend a single action (from any distance) to release this void energy from the corpse in an explosion that deals 10d12 void damage in a 15-foot burst (DC 40 basic Fortitude); if not released before the end of the hour, the energy dissipates harmlessly. The tomb giant can't use Font of Death while a previous corpse remains infused.
Graelar's Strikes deal an extra 4d6 precision damage to Off-Guard creatures.
The monster picks up a rock within reach or retrieves a stowed rock and throws it, making a ranged Strike.