Come venture into dark and spooky areas with us as we approach one of the best times of the year: Halloween! We will share with you several weresheep over the next few days so that you may introduce them, in turn, to your adventuring group, who might end up a bit…sheepish if they fail to stop these baa-aleful creatures.

This towering humanoid’s gray skin is ashen and gaunt, and his eyes are sunken into their sockets. He is bedecked in sheepskins and bleached bones, and the great black scythe in his hands slices the air with a moan.

Gromek Palebones (Giant Form) CR 15
XP 51,200
Stone giant natural weresheep shaman 7 (augmented humanoid [giant]) (Advanced Class Guide)
NE Large humanoid (giant, half-undead, shapechanger)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +21

DEFENSE
AC 28, touch 11, flat-footed 26 (+6 armor, +2 Dex, +11 natural, –1 size)
hp 180 (19d8+95)
Fort +15, Ref +8, Will +14
Defensive Abilities rock catching; Immune acid, death effects, disease, negative levels, poison; Resistance cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10

OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee life-drinker scythe +24/+19/+14 (2d6+14/19–20/x4 plus 2 negative levels) or 2 slams +22 (1d8+9)
Ranged rock +15/+10/+5 (1d8+13)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks rock throwing (180 ft.), touch of the grave (2/day)
Shaman Spells Prepared (CL 7th, concentration +12)
4th—thorn body[APG]
3rd—fly, sleet storm
2nd—barkskin, bull’s strength, spiritual weapon
1st—bless, inflict light wounds, obscuring mist
0th—bleed, detect magic, resistance, touch of fatigue (DC 15)

STATISTICS
Str 28, Dex 15, Con 20, Int 10, Wis 18 (20), Cha 8
Base Atk +14; CMB +24; CMD 36
Feats Blind Fight, Improved Critical (scythe), Improved Initiative, Lunge, Multiattack, Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Weapon Focus (scythe)
Skills Acrobatics +9, Climb +11, Fly +3, Perception +15, Stealth +14 (+22 in rocky terrain); Racial Modifiers +8 Stealth in rocky terrain
Languages Common, Giant; telepathy 100 ft.
SQ bone ward[ACG, deathly being[ACG], change shape (giant, hybrid, sheep; polymorph), deliver touch spells, lycanthropic empathy (sheep), spirit[ACG], spirit animal[ACG], spirit magic[ACG] (cause fear, false life, animate dead, fear), wandering hex[ACG], wandering spirit[ACG]
Combat Gear potion of blur; Other Gear life-drinker scythe, headband of inspired wisdom+2, masterwork breastplate, 300 gp worth of onyx (for animate dead)

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Daemon Touched (Su) Gromek is bound to the Horseman of Death, and gains the benefits of the daemon subtype although he remains a humanoid shapechanger.
Improved Rock Catching (Ex) Gromek gains a +4 racial bonus on his Reflex save when attempting to catch a thrown rock with rock catching. This ability otherwise works like the rock catching ability.

Shaggy wool covers this muscular creature’s form. He resembles a gaunt giant, but his face is a decidedly sheep-like snout and his eyes are sunken black pits.

Gromek Palebones (Hybrid Form)
XP 51,200
Stone giant natural weresheep shaman 7 (augmented humanoid [giant]) (Advanced Class Guide)
NE Large humanoid (giant, shapechanger)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +21

DEFENSE
AC 30, touch 11, flat-footed 28 (+6 armor, +2 Dex, +13 natural, –1 size)
hp 180 (19d8+95)
Fort +16, Ref +8, Will +14
DR 10/silver; Immune acid, death effects, disease, negative levels, poison; Resistance cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10

OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee life-drinker scythe +25/+20/+15 (2d6+16 plus 2 negative levels/19-20, x4) and bite +21 (1d8+10), or 2 slams +23 (1d8+10 plus curse of lycanthropy), bite +23 (1d8+10 plus curse of lycanthropy)
Ranged rock +15/+10/+5 (1d8+14)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks rock throwing (180 ft.), touch of the grave (2/day)
Shaman Spells Prepared (CL 7th, concentration +12)
4th—thorn body[APG]
3rd—fly, sleet storm
2nd—barkskin, bull’s strength, spiritual weapon
1st—bless, inflict light wounds, obscuring mist
0th—bleed, detect magic, resistance, touch of fatigue (DC 15)

TACTICS
Before Combat Gromek usually selects a spirit of Lore for his wandering spirit ability. If Gromek can get the drop on his victims through stealth (perhaps by taking sheep form and hiding within his flock), he uses the Lore spirit ability, monstrous insight[ACG], to gain bonuses against his chosen victim. He prefers to slay arcane or divine casters first, prioritizing clerics. If he has time, he casts barkskin, bull’s strength, fly, thorn body, and bless before entering combat, as well as using his bone ward hex on himself.
During Combat Gromek opens by using his wandering Lore spirit’s confusion curse[APG] on a martial character. He then uses his sleet storm to confuse and isolate his foes, shifts to hybrid form, and moves in for the kill. Either by flying, or by moving with his Acrobatics, Gromek tries to single out one foe at a time and kill it under cover of the sleet using his life-drinker scythe, aided by his Blind Fight feat. He harries ranged attackers with spiritual weapon until he can deal with them, and only resorts to throwing rocks if there’s no one he can kill in melee. If he can’t keep himself concealed with sleet storm or obscuring mist, he drinks his potion of blur.
Morale Gromek only fights to the death if cornered. If reduced to 30 hp or less, he attempts to withdraw and fly to safety.

STATISTICS
Str 31, Dex 15, Con 22, Int 10, Wis 18 (20), Cha 8
Base Atk +13; CMB +23; CMD 35
Feats Blind Fight, Improved Critical (scythe), Improved Initiative, Lunge, Multiattack, Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Weapon Focus (scythe)
Skills Acrobatics +9, Climb +11, Fly +3, Perception +21, Stealth +14 (+22 in rocky terrain); Racial Modifiers +8 Stealth in rocky terrain
Languages Common, Giant; telepathy 100 ft.
SQ bone ward[ACG, deathly being[ACG], change shape (giant, hybrid, sheep; polymorph), deliver touch spells, lycanthropic empathy (sheep), spirit[ACG], spirit animal[ACG], spirit magic[ACG] (cause fear, false life, animate dead), wandering hex[ACG], wandering spirit[ACG]
Combat Gear potion of blur; Other Gear life-drinker scythe, headband of inspired wisdom+2, masterwork breastplate, 300 gp worth of onyx (for animate dead)

Gromek was born into a stone giant tribe in the highland mountains of his homeland. The tribe was peaceful and kept to themselves, with only the occasional skirmish or raid. Though Gromek never knew his father, his mother taught him the ways of her people, and he assumed responsibility for his family’s flock of sheep. He asked about his father often, but Gromek’s mother would never speak of him. She only said they were better off as they were. Sadly, his mother knew only of the absent giant’s cruelty, and not the truth of his nature.

The dreams began just after Gromek reached maturity; dreams of running under the silvery moon with a strange, exhilarating cry in his ears. He dismissed the strange dreams, but grew more withdrawn as the month passed. Finally, the first night of the full moon arrived, and Gromek learned the truth of his nature. The change came upon him like a lover only barely heard before, and Gromek delighted. He took to his hybrid weresheep form as if only being born in that moment. He ran out over the darkened slopes, and his calls drew the flock to him. He returned home shortly before dawn, with none of his tribe the wiser.
Feigning illness, Gromek begged off his responsibilities to sleep the day away, eagerly anticipating the coming of night and the full moon. More and more, Gromek took to running at night and exploring his newfound power. Over the course of months he began to master his capabilities, and he began to grow restless. Why should he be content as a mere shepherd, when he was so much more than the rest of his tribe? Gromek’s mother grew increasingly worried about her son, but that only drove him further into isolation. Several years passed, and the stories about the strange young giant spread. It was while confronting a rumormonger one night that Gromek made his fatal discovery.

The altercation came to blows, and Gromek lost himself to his fury. He took hybrid form and savagely bit his rival, afflicting the young giant with lycanthropy. With this discovery, Gromek sealed his own fate. He gleefully spread the curse to several more young giants, and he was unable to conceal his joy in the chaos they sowed upon the full moon. The tribal elders quickly discerned the truth, and warriors seized Gromek for judgment. Grimly, with the despairing wails of his mother accompanying him, they dragged Gromek to a circle of sacred menhirs. There his tribe chained him to the largest rock, and shouted curses while beating him with stones for his crimes.

The tribe broke his body with great boulders, the ultimate mark of his shame and ostracism, and left him to feed the crows as a warning to others. By some hideous miracle, Gromek clung to a shred of life. Seething with rage, he looked through dimming eyes at the mountains of his home, his soul shrieking out for vengeance. Then he heard it—the faint clop of hooves on the stony ground. A pale horse, and a skeletal rider in a tattered black cloak. The menace and power surrounding the rider overwhelmed the dying giant, and with the Horseman of Death’s voice in his mind, Gromek struck a bargain. Spared this humiliating end, Gromek agreed to bind himself to the Horseman, and become his instrument in the mortal world.

With a spirit of bones in the shape of a shadowy raven whispering the secrets of death in his ear, Gromek carves out a living with a small flock of sheep on the other side of the mountain from his former home. Wielding a great black scythe gifted to him by his master, the weresheep slays any who cross his path. Gromek consigns their souls to the Horseman of Death, and decorates his gaunt body with their bleached bones. Soon he plans to single-handedly slaughter his old tribe, and then move on to larger prey to deliver unto Death itself.