This towering giant with twisted legs has human skulls woven into his beard and holds an immense warhammer.

Kostchtchie (pronounced kosh-TIK-ti-kai) appears as an immense, deformed frost giant with twisted legs, tiny white eyes, and a thick matted beard into which are woven dozens of skulls—trophies of mortal kings and priests of rival faiths he has slain. Legends speak that each of these skulls is haunted by the ghost of its previous owner, and that he can commune with these spirits to seek their wisdom—although if the legends are true, it is more likely that Kostchtchie has little interest in anything but mockery and torment for these lost souls.

Kostchtchie is never seen without his massive warhammer, an adamantine maul of such prodigious size that even the strongest frost giant would have trouble wielding it properly. Known also as the Deathless Frost, Kostchtchie dwells in an immense Abyssal fortress carved from the heart of a towering mountain in a frozen realm of jagged mountains and immense glaciers infested with manifold frozen horrors. Kostchtchie stands 30 feet tall.

Kostchtchie was born of human parents, and became a murderer when his father forced him to kill his mother and sisters. Kostchtchie went one better and murdered his father as well. Later in life, after he had become a ferocious warlord well known for the slaying of dozens of giant chieftains, he confronted the Witch Queen Baba Yaga and tried to force her to grant him immortality—she agreed, but twisted his form, turned him into a hideous giant, and hid away the last fragment of his mortal soul in a magical torc. Kostchtchie fled to the Abyss to nurture his hatred and hide his shame, eventually finding a new purpose as a patron of frost giants despite his hatred of their kind. Kostchtchie longs for the recovery of the torc that contains the fragment of his soul, in the hope that its return might reverse his deformity without removing his immortality.

In combat, Kostchtchie almost always uses Power Attack, taking a –8 penalty on all attack rolls but gaining a +16 bonus on damage rolls. The Deathless Frost is often accompanied by several frost giants, at least two of which are clerics. These clerics attend his every need, healing him in battle as best they can lest they forfeit their lives—or fall to some fate even more dire at the merciless hands of the Deathless Frost.

Kostchtchie's Cult

Kostchtchie is worshiped by giants—primarily frost giants, although many ettins, hill giants, and ogres worship him as well. Some white dragons worship the Deathless Frost, and even certain barbaric human tribes in the frozen reaches of the world have been known to venerate him. He does not tolerate women in his cults, and never grants female clerics spells. He is served by half-fiend yetis, ice linnorms, remorhazes, and other cold-dwelling monsters of great size.

Kostchtchie's unholy symbol is an ice-caked, rune-carved warhammer, and the warhammer is his favored weapon. He grants access to the domains of Chaos, Evil, Strength, and War, and access to the subdomains of Demon, Ferocity, Ice, and Tactics (although the Ice subdomain is normally not available without the Water domain, an exception is made in this case because of the demon lord's close association with cold).

Special Abilities

Clutch Foe (Ex) If Kostchtchie chooses to use his hand to make a grapple check when he successfully slams and grabs a Medium or smaller opponent, he takes a 20 penalty on the grapple check. On following rounds, he can attempt to maintain his grapple on the creature as a swift action. If successful, he can constrict the creature for 1d8+28 points of damage, throw the creature (treat this as a bull rush), or use the creature as an improvised weapon. An opponent used as a weapon takes half as much damage as it deals to the creature it hits.

Crushing Blow (Su) Once per round, Kostchtchie may designate any attack with his warhammer to be a crushing blow. He must designate this attack before making the attack roll. If he hits, the blow ignores the target's hardness and damage reduction, and allows him to make a free trip attempt against the target. This trip attempt does not provoke an attack of opportunity, can target a foe of any size, and has no chance of causing Kostchtchie to fall prone if he fails. A creature struck by a crushing blow must attempt a DC 44 Fortitude save; success means the creature is staggered for 1 round, and failure means it is stunned for 1 round and staggered for 1d6 rounds afterward. The save DC is Strength-based.

Favored Enemy (Su) Against female giants or female humans, Kostchtchie's favored enemy bonuses increase to +8. Once per day, he can declare any one creature as a favored enemy, but only if that creature has damaged, humiliated, or otherwise inconvenienced him at some point in the previous 24 hours. His favored enemy bonuses against that creature last 24 hours.

Powerful Slam (Ex) Kostchtchie's slam attack is considered a primary attack even when he uses a weapon in his other hand, and he always adds his full Strength bonus to damage dealt with his slam attack.

Vengeful Strike (Su) Once per round, Kostchtchie may make an attack of opportunity against any creature that strikes him in melee combat. This attack of opportunity has a critical threat range of 1820. Against female targets, the vengeful strike is also a crushing blow.