Shenzuzhou

This hulking headless corpse clutches a massive axe in each fist. A grotesquely skinned face stretches across the creature's chest.

Shenzuzhou (CR 12)

Large Undead
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Initiative: +3
Senses: Darkvision 60 feet, Lifesense; Perception +13
Aura: fear (30-feet radius, DC 22)

Speed: 30 feet
Space: 10 feet

Defense

Armor Class: 27, touch 12, flat-footed 24 (+3 Dex, +15 natural, -1 size)
Hit Points: 127 (17d8+51)
Saving Throws: Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +12
Channel Resistance +4
Damage Reduction: 5/magic
Immunity: undead traits
Spell Resistance: 23

Offense

Melee: +1 battleaxe +18/+13/+8 (2d6+10/x3), +1 battleaxe +18/+13 (2d6+10/x3)
Reach: 10 feet

Special Attacks: festering heads

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; Concentration +11):

• At Will- Darkness
  
  
• 1/day- Cloudkill (DC 18)

Statistics

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
28 (+9)	17 (+3)	-	6 (-2)	15 (+2)	17 (+3)

Base Attack Bonus: +12
CMB +22
CMD 35

Feats: Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Lightning Reflexes, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (Battleaxe)

Skills: Climb +20, Intimidate +18, Perception +13, Stealth +8

Languages: Giant (can't speak)

Special Abilities

Festering Heads (Su)

Once the heads in a shenzuzhou's collection rot out naturally, it can hurl them as a thrown splash weapon (range increment 30 ft.) as a standard action. A thrown head ruptures on impact, releasing noxious gas that produces an effect identical to a stinking cloud spell (DC 22). The save is Charisma-based. A typical shenzuzhou carries 1d4 festering heads. The heads do not rupture if thrown by another creature.

Ecology

Environment: Any
Organization: solitary
Treasure: standard (2 Large +1 battleaxes)


Malevolent spirits looking to bolster their armies often look no farther than the burial grounds of giant tribes, where hardy corpses are typically left unguarded and forgotten. After a giant is animated, it is beheaded in a gruesome ritual, the stump of its neck is cauterized into a blackened lump of scar tissue, and a twisted face manifests across its torso. What was once a fearsome giant is now a shenzushou. It loses the ability to speak and eat and can do nothing but obey the commands of whoever possesses its head—often the necromancer or oni that created it.

Thrall shenzushous are nowhere near as terrible as those shenzushous whose heads have been destroyed or transported to another plane. These latter creatures run aimlessly through the land, ever searching for new heads and the control they believe attaining them will bring over the monsters' damned existences. Seeking to steal their victims' heads for themselves, shenzushous decapitate their kills, keeping grisly collections of heads from the victims they have slain.

Even without their heads, shenzushous stand over 8 feet tall. Cords of thick muscle twist beneath the creatures' hairless gray corpse-flesh. Their skin is cold to the touch and their wounds do not bleed. A shenzuzhou carries little else except for its weapons and the heads of its victims, strung together by their hair and hung from its belt.