Publication:Dread Codex/Monsters/Rom

''A great humanoid shape takes form before you. Despite its misty form, the giant's muscles can be clearly seen and match its perpetual scowl.''

The rom are a race of ghostly stone giants. As living giants, they once ruled over the population of a great mountain chain. However, these giants' brutality eventually met with revolution spearheaded by a tribe of dwarves known as the Skull Splitters.

During their retreat, the giants' shaman took matter into his own hands and laid a curse on the region—every giant who died in the war would one day rise again as undead to take back what was once theirs. Unfortunately for the ancestors of that war's victors, for it is now a century later, the curse appears to be coming true. Several dozen rom (named for the shaman who laid the curse) have been spotted around the northern mountains and all attempts to parlay with them have met with the diplomats' own deaths.

Combat
Rom initiate combat without warning, hurling endless ghostly rocks at foes from a safe distance. In melee, a rom uses a ghostly greatclub that drains Constitution from its victims with every hit.

 (Su): Living creatures hit by a rom's incorporeal club must succeed a Fortitude save (DC 17) or suffer 1d6 points of permanent Constitution damage. Those hit by a rom's incorporeal throwing rocks must succeed a Fortitude save (DC 17) or suffer 1d4 points of permanent Constitution damage. Unlike many undead that drain ability points, rom cannot create spawn.

 (Su): Rom can catch Small, Medium, or Large incorporeal rocks or projectiles. Once per round, a rom that would normally by hit by an incorporeal rock can make a Reflex save to catch it as a free action; C 15 for Small objects, DC 20 for Medium objects, and DC 25 for Large objects. The rom must be ready for and aware of the attack. Because of the brutal nature of rom, this ability is more useful than it might be otherwise since violence frequently erupts between them.

 (Su): Rom are accomplished rock throwers and gain a +1 racial bonus to attack rolls using them as a weapon. The rocks thrown by a rom are incorporeal, and the rom can produce them out of thin air.

 (Ex): Rom are utterly powerless in natural sunlight (not merely a daylight spell) and flee from it. A rom caught in sunlight cannot attack and can take only partial actions.

 (Su): Both wild and domesticated animals can sense the unnatural presence of a rom at a distance of 30 feet. They do not willingly approach nearer than that and panic if forced to do so; they remain panicked as long as they are within that range.

Skills: A rom gains a +8 racial bonus to Hide checks in rocky terrain (as noted in the statistics above).

Treasure
None — After returning from the dead, the rom are without the desire for possessions. Being incorporeal is a set back to having personal treasure too. Any items or coins the rom do come across likely belong to one of their hated racial foes in the mountains (dwarves, humans, etc.) and, as such, are avoided and left as bait to lure in more victims.

In Your Campaign
Although they are established as major antagonists here, the rom might just as easily be used as minions for a more powerful undead lord. When using these monsters, remember that they command a perfect flying maneuverability. Not only are rom lairs located in the most remote mountain peaks, they should also have no conventional entrances (since they can pass through a thin stone layer without consequence).

But if you're not using the backstory as given here, just what can these evil incorporeal giants be up to in your game? Well, perhaps they were cursed to exist in this form before their natural deaths. Now the rom want out of these undead forms and to simply rest in peace. In this case they hire to the PCs to track down a reversal spell for the curse. The treasures of their former corporeal forms should be payment enough. But given their evil alignment, can the rom be trusted? While some genuinely want to rest, others may want to regain living corporeal bodies and plan to adjust the magics the PCs might return with to this end. All hell breaks loose amongst the rom if this is attempted and the PCs may find themselves caught in the middle.