Preparing for my game this weekend I was perusing the list of random encounters per terrain type (v.3 pg.71) in order to get a better feel for the kinds of creatures found in the various places the game is set to take place, jotting them down so I could have a little mini list of what makes sense for a particular area. Then in "lowlands" I came across "roll 62-63 = 1d4 gargoyles".
Gargoyles?
I guess I'd just never imagined groups of gargoyles just roaming around free like that. I'd always imagined them as magical guardians created to guard important places--but then they're not constructs. So yeah. It left me wondering. I mean they're magical beasts--but they don't eat, except to inflict pain on those they're eating. So what are they? I mean in truth they are a gimmick, one of those "ha! you thought it was a statue, didn't you!" tricks that mean DMs play on their characters.
But beyond that, what are they? I really think they could be something fun, but I'm hard pressed to know what exactly to do with them...
There's the Disney version.
Your party comes across a bunch of moving statues that sound like Lt. Worf and Deanna Troi facing off against this aristocrat that sounds like Commander Riker, hee hee.
Bleep Bleep *Picard to the Bridge* Bleep Bleep
I agree about Gargoyles just being a dirty trick for DM's to use. In the MM, they feel cold and as delicious as styrafoam. They can also use a little salt and pepper. Before using them myself, I'd want to think of an ecology and background for them, re-invent their origin a little.
I always confuse them with pelgranes.
Well, gargoyles got a pretty good treatment in the Savage Tide AP, in the adventure "Here There Be Monsters." Although they have a small role, the gargoyles felt like a natural part of the ecology of the Isle of Dread.
I don't find it that hard to imagine that gargoyles exist in the foggy lowlands (for some reason, I always think of fog when I think lowlands). They had behind rotting trees, and when travelers least expect it they swoop in and snatch them from their groups.
I guess the name "gargoyle" throws people off, as the first thing people think of is the statues on gothic architecture. Beyond the name, gargoyles could be pretty cool/nasty critters in the wilderness.
I don't know a thing about this writeup. All I know about gargoyles is that they're these big stony demon looking things that can remain perfectly still for months and don't require food, they just eat creatures in order to hurt them. They love to hurt things--to a degree that's hard for other creatures to understand. It's their favorite thing. They'll hobble an intelligent intruder and then just torture him or her slowly to death. Second edition posed that they were originally created by a magic user and then got out into the wild and began to breed like crazy (but then that's their backstory for a LOT of monsters).
I guess my big ecological question is when you're a big statue-looking thing how do you do what you do in a grassy meadow? Beyond that, what drives the ecology of a big creature that likes to hurt stuff as an end in itself--and wouldn't that make the thing more of a construct or aberration rather than a magical beast.
Mostly I'm really just eager to see what the Pathfinder spin on them will be. I think it's fertile ground for the guys to work over. But yeah, I'd also be interested to see how they were handled during Savage Tide--if for no other reason than it might give some insight into what they'll be like in Golarion.
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How about this idea; the gargoyles were created / summoned / commanded by arcanists or priests of a long dead culture to guard an important site that once existed in the lowlands. In the intervening centuries, the abandoned and ruined structure has been reduced to little more than a few weathered piles of stone, but the structure’s immortal (or extremely long lived) guardians – the gargoyles – survive, and are still bound by their ancient directive. Although the focus of their guardianship is long gone, the ‘goyles continue to aggressively guard the site, either through lingering magical compulsion or simply long borne habit.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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When I was trying to design a gameworld (which I've put on indefinite hold), I was trying to figure out how to put gargoyles into an undeveloped land with heavy natural mysticism tone. Then I got it.
Gargoyles are the product of a twisted druidic ceremony, where an evil druid transforms his body into a stone creature. Originally intended to change willing participants into a guardian of nature, druids use it on captured civilized people (and themselves) to use as powerful weapons on cities and encroachers.
Or something like that.
I imagine them as the creepy inhabitants of some crumbling demesne, statues given life through magic, and not like a construct - more like a real boy Pinocchio kinda thing going on. Beyond an isolated mansion to perch on, cemeteries are a good place for gargoyles to hang out. How about a cliff face, rock quarry, or abandoned mine where the gargoyles have carved dozens of similar statues to hide amongst? Perhaps they delight in patrolling their territory for victims to kidnap, who they then release into their maze of gargoyles for a painfully drawn-out game of hide and seek? >: )
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I see them as silicon-based creatures, like Discworld Trolls; they do eat, but they eat rocks and other minerals, not squashies. But, they are extremely territorial to the point of psychopathy. Ultimate ambush hunters, they hide perfectly still among rock formations waiting to swoop down on passers-by. They love the old thassilonian ruins, as they give the Gargoyles a foothold in the lowlands.
I think that they need to be drawn from the great history that they are creating in this world. I'd make them somehow related to ancient wizards of 10000 years ago. Throw some runes on them, not necessarily the sihedron (sp) Rune but I am making liberal use of these runes in the campaign as precursors to the eventual end of this AP. I'd make them as said above guarding or patrolling some ancient ruins. Maybe throw in a mini dungeon ruins in there if the party needs some extra exp or goodies. I like gargoyles I'd just make them look like the statues depicted on the rocky plateau. Perhaps thats even an other idea that they were in fact creations of the Rune Giants and not the wizards. Just thoughts really but I know I am aiming always to link any creature into this great game world which me and my players will be exploring in January.
I'd very much like it if everything in all of Varisia were not to end up as the result of the Runelords. They were cool and powerful and all of that, but it was 10,000 years ago and it'd be a shame if there weren't some other pretty important influences over the years. Lumping gargoyles in with all that is tempting, but I'm resisting the urge. I'd like to see gargoyles be as "natural" a part of the world as I can--something I could use in any part of Golarion, rather than the result of some experiment, old mad druid, or group of crazed runelords.
That said, it's rough to see anything "natural" about gargoyles. If they were celestials or elementals I'd have an easier time with their complete lack of metabolism--but as magical beasts its a little tougher. While I try to keep sci-fi stuff like "silicon based lifeforms" out of my fantasy (too much like mynocks) I do like the other ideas about what their culture is like. I love the flavor bits about them arranging a little maze of rubble and then scooping up lone travellers and depositing them there for a bit of fun. I still don't know. Are there any other magical beasts that don't eat? It seems a little cheesy and trite that they "feed" off of suffering and pain. I'll keep rolling it around. Something will come out of it.
I just love the idea of wild gargoyles roaming around, but I don't want to change them unless I have to or come up with some excuse for them that makes them too exclusively Varisian...
They are scouts for their stone giant masters
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They are scouts for their stone giant masters
I like that idea. They are earthen creatures, not creatures of flesh and blood but creatures of stone. They would make good pets for stone giants.
Personally I would ignore the SRD line about them not eating and do as suggested and change their diet. Perhaps as suggested they have a silicon based diet, not a diet of carbon based sugars and starches.
One also needs to ask how they procreate. Perhaps like salmon they must return to a certain place to lay stone eggs. Maybe they are in the plains for such a reason. Once every five years clouds of gargoyles fly from the mountains and lay their eggs in the plains where their newly hatched offspring will have few natural enemies.