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edited.
now doing two things
firstly the next section
Appearance
Gargoyles share a common silhouette recognizable across cultures and continents, yet no two are ever truly alike. Their base anatomy reflects a blend of
living stone biology,
architectural design logic, and the
emotional or mystical purpose that brought them into being. Every gargoyle begins with the same fundamental “template”—a hunched, winged, stone-bodied creature—but the details are sculpted by heritage, environment, and the stones that birthed them.
Base Gargoyle Form
All gargoyles, regardless of origin, share the following traits:
Living Stone Physiology
A gargoyle’s body is composed of
stone strata arranged like muscles, with flexible seams that mimic tendons and joints. Their flesh-stone can be rough like volcanic basalt, polished like marble, or riddled with gravel inclusions. When they enter
Stone Sleep, their bodies become denser, heavier, and indistinguishable from an architectural statue—even to magical detection unless specifically tuned.
Predator’s Silhouette
Even benevolent gargoyles retain unmistakably predatory lines:
- Raptorial forelimbs capable of grasping or rending
- Digitigrade or taloned feet, depending on species
- Long tails for counterbalance while gliding or perched
- Wide, manta-like wings that fold flush along the back, appearing at rest like ornamental masonry
The Mask-Face
A gargoyle’s face is its most expressive and variable feature. It generally resembles a hybrid of humanoid, beast, and structural motif:
- Heavy brow ridges
- Horns, spines, or crenellations
- Leering or mournful expressions
- Cracks or seams that channel emotional humors as faint light
Some resemble animals; some echo cherubs; others imitate figures from the structure that birthed them. Expressions tend to “reset” to a neutral grotesque during Stone Sleep.
Coloration
Gargoyle color depends directly on the stone of their parent structure.
Common hues include:
- Granite greys and limestone creams
- Sandstone siennas
- Basalt blacks
- Stained-glass luminescence in cathedral-born
- Oxidized copper greens in medical-college grotesques due to alchemical patina
These pigments shift subtly as the gargoyle absorbs new experiences or environmental conditions.
Subspecies & Regional Variants
Gargoyles do not merely
come from a place—they
inherit its purpose. Their forms, abilities, and personalities reflect the architecture (and its emotions) that shaped their metamorphosis.
Cathedral-Born (“Wardens”)
Appearance:
- Tall, elegant, almost angelic silhouettes
- Veins of glowing stained glass or mica
- Wing membranes reminiscent of lead-framed church windows
- Faces shaped like saints, penitents, or mourning figures
Signature Details:
- Soft inner radiance
- Incense-like scent
- Halos formed from dust motes when emerging from Stone Sleep
Medical Grotesques (“Anatomists”)
Appearance:
- Semi-translucent stone showing anatomical motifs
- Carved ribs, visible “organs,” spiraling humors under the surface
- Surgical-tool claws (scalpel-sharp)
- Faces sculpted in exaggerated medical illustration expressions
Signature Details:
- Copper-green oxidized veins
- Breathing vents that hiss like old bellows
- Alchemical runes or anatomical labels etched across limbs
Fortress-Born (“Bulwarks”)
Appearance:
- Massive, overbuilt, blocky bodies resembling ramparts
- Angular, crenellated skulls
- Spiked, shield-like shoulders
- Wings resembling heavy buttresses or siege mantlet folds
Signature Details:
- Armored plating like layered stone blocks
- Eyes that burn like signal fires
- Their footsteps echo like distant artillery
Ruin-Born (“Ferals”)
Appearance:
- Fragmented, asymmetrical, patchwork stone bodies
- Moss, creeping vines, fungal growth in their cracks
- Claws resembling shattered masonry
- Jagged, hyena-like faces
Signature Details:
- Dust clouds when they emerge from stone
- Stone fragments flaking constantly
- Eyes like glowing coals in cavernous sockets
Scholar-Carved (“Mnemonics”)
Appearance:
- Surfaces engraved with scripture, arcane glyphs, or historical records
- Quill-shaped horns or stylus-like tails
- Facial features resembling monks, sages, or librarians
Signature Details:
- Ink-like humors that leak from joints
- Glowing runes when thinking, fighting, or reading memories
- Wings resembling book pages or architectural friezes
Amphitheater/Emotion-Born (“Masques”)
(Inspired by the Iymrith examples from Storm King’s Thunder)
Appearance:
- Faces sculpted into exaggerated emotional masks (joy, rage, sorrow)
- Flexible stone expressions
- Limbs decorated with theatrical grotesques
Signature Details:
- Voices that echo as if in a vast chamber
- Masks shift depending on mood
- Wing membranes etched with comedy/tragedy iconography
Statue-Embodying
These are the most dangerous.
Appearance:
- Perfectly still, mundane statues in Stone Sleep
- Smooth faces devoid of features or carved in sorrow
- Limbs proportioned subtly wrong—too long, too strong, joints too flexible
- Wings like shrouds
Signature Details:
- Movement only when unobserved
- Crackling whispers in photonic resonance
- Eyes entirely black or absent during Stone Sleep, but gleaming like obsidian razors when active
These are favored by liches, cursed temples, and places where grief curdles into something hungry.
Bestial Carvings
Though most gargoyles resemble warped humanoids or architectural grotesques, scholars know that
animal-shaped gargoyles are not merely decorative variants — they are a
distinct and ancient inheritance.
Across castles, temples, colleges, and forgotten ruins, masons carved beasts not only for symbolism but for
function: lions for courage, hounds for vigilance, owls for wisdom, boars for ferocity. When a structure becomes saturated with emotional or magical pressure,
these carvings awaken first. They embody the
purest, simplest instinct of the place.
These gargoyles are called
Bestial Carvings, “Stonebeasts,” or simply
the Animates.
Unlike their humanoid cousins:
- They rarely speak, though they understand perfectly.
- Their instincts are sharper and less conflicted.
- They act as sentinels, scouts, hunters, and companions for their clan.
- Their shapes may vary wildly — wolves with chiseled fangs, owls with stained-glass eyes, bulls with cathedral-ribbed horns, even fish-like guardians lurking by docks or fountains.
Every gargoyle clan claims at least one
Totem Beast, the oldest of their kind, often a lion or dragon-shaped elder carved into the structure before the first gargoyle ever “precipitated.” Totem Beasts serve as:
- Rookery guardians
- Judges of disputes
- Memory-keepers, holding impressions far older than humanoid gargoyles
- Martial exemplars, teaching younglings how to stalk, pounce, soar, or defend
- Spiritual symbols, embodying the building’s purpose (a lion for a king’s hall, a stag for a druidic college, a serpent for a place of forbidden lore)
Some clans even believe that the
first gargoyle of their lineage was an animal, and that humanoid gargoyles only develop later as the building’s emotional complexity grows.
The Animates also act as buffers between the physical and spiritual worlds. Their humours are more primal — thick, glowing, and filled with instinctive magic. They can sense:
- Bad omens
- Hidden corruption
- Distant intruders
- Shifts in the “pulse” of their parent structure
To adventurers, animal gargoyles are often the first warning that something deeper is watching. A pair of stone wolves tracking your footsteps, an impassive stone owl turning its head as you pass, or a fountain-lion quietly rumbling when you lie — these are all signs that
the clan has noticed you.
Yet these Bestial Carvings can also bond with outsiders. A gargoyle hound may grow loyal to a party that defends its home. A gargoyle owl may perch on a wizard’s shoulder if their research aligns with the building’s purpose. And a lion gargoyle will fight to the last shard for a cleric who repairs its temple.
They are, in essence,
stone instincts made flesh, the echoes of mythic animals reflected in the living rock.
Now the immature version for companion purposes.
Gargoyle Rookling
Small elemental (gargoyle), neutral
Armor Class: 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 10 (3d6)
Speed: 20 ft., climb 20 ft.; glide (see below)
STR 10 (+0)
DEX 12 (+1)
CON 12 (+1)
INT 6 (−2)
WIS 11 (+0)
CHA 7 (−2)
Saving Throws: Wis +2
Skills: Perception +2, Stealth +3
Damage Resistances: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities: poison
Condition Immunities: exhaustion, petrified, poisoned
Senses: darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages: understands Terran and the language of its clan, but cannot speak
Challenge: 1/4 (50 XP)
Proficiency Bonus: +2
Traits
Stone Sleep.
During a short or long rest, the rookling becomes inert stone. While in this state it gains resistance to all damage except thunder and force. If attacked, it awakens instantly.
False Appearance (Statue).
While the rookling remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an inanimate stone statue or architectural ornament. Creatures have
disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) or Intelligence (Investigation) checks to discern its true nature. A character with
Stonecunning automatically succeeds.
Glide.
The rookling cannot fly, but when it falls or jumps from a height of at least 10 feet, it can glide. For every 1 foot it descends, it can move up to 2 feet horizontally and takes no falling damage.
Rookery-Bound.
Rooklings imprint on the first creature or group that cares for them. A rookling will not willingly move more than 1 mile from its rookery unless bonded to a companion. If bonded to a PC (DM’s discretion), the rookling treats them as clan and follows simple commands.
Fragile Build.
Though made of stone, rooklings are still developing. They have vulnerability to
thunder damage, which can crack their forming frames.
Actions
Stone Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) slashing damage.
Shard Toss. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target.
Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1) piercing damage.
The rookling breaks off a small, regrowable chip of stone to throw; this causes it no harm.
Reactions
Crag-Scuttle.
When a creature misses the rookling with a melee attack, the rookling may move up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks by skittering along vertical surfaces.
Companion Rules (Optional)
A DM may allow a rookling to be a
companion creature, similar to a homunculus or pseudodragon:
- It acts on the PC’s initiative
- PC uses a bonus action to command it
- Gains +1 HP per level the PC gains
- At level 5, it develops Winglets, granting a 30-ft gliding descent and short vertical leaps
- At level 9, it can begin learning Subspecies Traits (one minor ability from a template)
Role in the Gargoyle Ecology
Rooklings represent:
- The adolescent form of gargoyles
- Curious, impulsive scouts
- Messengers between clans
- Helpers to priests, archivists, or wizards who maintain the gargoyle’s parent structure
- A way to show players that gargoyles are more than monsters
And they give a
gateway experience to PC gargoyles—players bond with the rookling, then later play a full gargoyle themselves.
