Homebrew Gargoyle Species Details

Often confused for fiends (and not to be confused with Constructs of the same name), Gargoyles one day appeared in the world as a result of an unholy experiment by a band of wizards involving tieflings, gorgons and bats. The result was the race known as gargoyles. And much like their Tiefling relatives, sometimes find themselves at the end of the same swirling malignancies of fear and discrimination.

Caught somewhere between mortal and monster, with hints of their fiendish roots visible, Gargoyles are generally a solitary people and rarely venture into hubs of civilization. They have aquired a mild distrust for magic users of the arcane arts, and are known to attack evil spellcasters upon discovery.

Gargoyles are a frightening race, with muscular frames and tough skin, as well as clawed hands and feet, with foldable, semi-prehensile wings upon their back or draped around their shoulders that are able to carry them for some distance but are of better use for gliding. They often have long, prehensile tails that can be fitted with weapons or spikes, but some Gargoyles are born without them. Their skin can be a variety of somewhat dulled, metallic sheens, from blue to gray to red, green, yellow, or even the rare black or purple. Their eyes often have a soft glow to them, ranging anywhere from white to red to blue, yellow, orange or green. Hair colors can generally run the human gamut, with occasional colors more prone to Tieflings, such as white or other exotic hues creeping in. Generally, their claws and nails tend to be darker hues or matched to their hair color.

There is a sharp sexual dimorphism between the sexes of Gargoyles; males tend to be more monstrous and hulking, standing anywhere between seven to nine feet tall on average. They tend to have prominent fanged teeth in their mouths, as well as dangerously sharp claws that can shred through stone. They often develop a mane of hair that covers the sides and rear of their neck, tapering down to the middle of the back and the top of the shoulders. Although, in some cultures, gargoyle males will style or even shave it. Males can also grow facial hair.

Females have larger wings and lither forms, and tend to be more "human"-like, with considerably smaller frames and fairer features than males, lacking the more bestial nature of the males. They tend to be far more softer and subdued, with less bestial features to their bodies, and a more "human-like" structure to their feet and hands. They also tends to frighten others less as a result of their beauty, although there is the occasional frightened commoner that confuses a female gargoyle for a succubus.

Both sexes can possess horns or bony ridges upon their brows and forehead or temples, although horns/antlers and/or bony ridges are far more prevalent, elaborate and pronounced in males than females. Although, there are female exceptions to this as well.

While most Gargoyle clans do not prohibit the practice of arcane arts, they tend to embrace more naturalistic views on life, and as a result they tend to take up more disciplines instilled in the natural world; as a result, Clerics and Druids tend to make up the magical and leadership arms of their people.

A wizard or sorcerer is not unheard of within most Gargoyle cultures, however; the art of arcane magic is merely a subject of discomfort, not something outright forbidden. A Gargoyle warlock may potentially be looked at with distrust, however, and an evil magic practitioner or a necromancer of any kind may be greeted with fierce hostility by Gargoyles; having once been the victims of the folly of abusing magic, they will not suffer such an individual within their midst. They also outright distrust fiends for similar reasons, wishing to be nobody's pawn. Unfortunately, for some Gargoyles, this attitude can carry over to beings such as Celestials and certain types of Fey as well.

Gargoyles are generally forgiving, but are also known to bear grudges for serious grievances against their kind; when their trust is broken, many gargoyles will be very reluctant to give the chance to earn it back.

Much like some of their Tiefling kin, some subgroups of Gargoyles exist that have embraced the darker natures of their fiendish ancestors. These groups of gargoyles are known to be aggressive and devious.

Gargoyle Traits

As a result of the horrific experiment that created their race, Gargoyles possess a variety of traits.

Gargoyle Dimorphism

Dependent upon what sex you are, your stat bonuses and attributes will change. Males tend to be less charismatic due to their bestial appearance, but as a result tend to be stronger and far larger than females. Females tend to be weaker and fairly smaller compared to their male counterparts, but as a result of lacking their bestial features they don't suffer the disadvantages to Charisma and are faster at moving.

Male Gargoyles Stat Bonuses and Penalties: +2 to Strength, advantage on Strength checks, natural weapons, add strength to Intimidation modifier
Female Gargoyle Stat Bonuses and Penalties: +2 to Dexterity and +1 to Charisma, faster movement and flight speeds

All gargoyles have +1 bonuses to their Constitution.

Darkvision

An advantage given by their nightborn and semi-infernal heritage, Gargoyles are able to see well into the darkness. You have darkvision out to 60 feet.

Age

Gargoyles are fairly long lived; they typically keep their youth and vigor for decades, only typically reaching middle age at 300 to 350. From there, the decline is much quicker, with death coming to meet most Gargoyles at the age of around 400 to 450.

Some have lived far longer than this, however, and even kept their vigor and youth. The eldest gargoyle that still is in their prime is a female by the name Coriander Allebrand, who as of this writing has lived for 500 years and shows no visible sign of elder age or decline.

This partial genetic instability may partly be blamed on the interaction of their human blood with that of the gorgon.

Size

Despite the considerable height and weight differences between sexes, all Gargoyles are considered Medium creatures. Males tend to be anywhere between 6'8" to 9 feet in height tending larger, and females anywhere between 4'8" and 7 feet in height, tending to be smaller.

Skin like Tempered Steel

Because of the blood of gorgons coursing through their veins, all Gargoyles are exceptionally tough to harm. As a result, all bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage afflicted onto a gargoyle by nonmagical weaponry is reduced by half, and your armor class is increased by your Constitution modifier. Furthermore, your distant fiendish and Tiefling ancestors have blessed you with resistance to great heat. As a result, much like Tieflings and many fiends, all Gargoyles are resistant to Fire.

Speed

Strong of arm and tough of limb, Gargoyles are expert climbers. As a result, they can walk just as easily as they can climb. They can also take to the skies, but not terribly fast.

Female gargoyles are slightly faster than their male counterparts due to their innate sexual dimorphic characteristics.

Alignment

Due to being even more outcast then their tiefling relatives, Gargoyles tend to be Neutral in alignment. Occasionally, however, they will take on a more stern outlook of a Lawful view, or even tend towards service to good.

Language

Gargoyles, despite seeming monstrous and frightening, are actually quite intelligent but have no language of their own.  As a result, they speak Common and one language of their choice.