Gargoyle

 _**Editor's Note:**_ _We normally keep to one hook for each of us on any given creature, but I didn't have the heart to cut one of TJ's hooks. As you can tell by the length of today's intro, he **really** loves gargoyles._

In fantasy, we are given all sorts of interesting creatures inspired by real-life counterparts. When looking for one inspired by architecture and religion, look no further than the gargoyle. Originally an ornate alternative to unsightly drainpipes on buildings, at the table the gargoyle fits the niche of an urban ambush predator. Given the jumpiness and suspicion of most players, you'll likely only get the satisfaction of having a humanoid statue come to life as an adversary a single time. After that, every statue is an enemy in the player's mind. This is where the gargoyle separates itself from other statue-like earthen creatures.

Whereas most golems, constructs, and other creatures with inanimate objects as their conceptual impetus are mindless guardians set to a task, the same is not true of thinking, breathing gargoyles. You might use this in some interesting ways. Is that just a statue, or is it a gargoyle informant? Use their chameleonic tendency to mimic stone (usually architecture) around them in other places. A bunch of unusually wide stalactites? Gargoyles roosting from the ceiling, wrapped in their wings. The Bestiary defaults them to chaotic evil and makes them seem relatively unintelligent, but if 90s cartoons taught me anything, that definitely isn't a standard you have to stick to.

As far as abilities are concerned, the gargoyle statblock doesn't stand out when attacking. Its offensive abilities aren't that significantly different than most of the bird-like creatures that fill the Bestiary. What you really came here for was what makes a gargoyle a Gargoyle; hiding in plain sight. With its Statue ability, the gargoyle is an excellent creature to check your understanding of the concentrate trait and the nature of checks vs. DCs when it comes to being perceived or deceiving someone else. If the PCs are seeking, they use the Gargoyle's DC. If the Gargoyle is actively hiding against someone else's Perception DC, use the check. The result is the same either way (32) but this helps you get into the habit of when to use what.

Give the gargoyle a try! Increase its intelligence! Give it a water spout ranged attack as an homage to its origins! Put gargoyles in every environment! Make gargoyle societies! Homebrew gargoyles as a playable ancestry! ~~Devote your entire life to chasing the nostalgia of the 90s!~~ Or run it Rules-As-Written; it's your game.

Hook 1 (TJ) - Textbook Larceny

The first years at the University of An'Zar are under investigation for a string of thefts of some of the more ancient tomes from the An'Zar Athenaeum. Bleary eyed students studying late might think that the movement they saw from the periphery of their vision was simply an artefact of staring too long, or a magelight flickering from a colleague nodding off at a neighboring reading desk. Even for a mage's college, the truth of a scholarly gargoyle swooping from the rafters of the Athenaeum to gather tomes for daytime reading would be a bit far-fetched. That is, until one of the missing tomes comes plummeting down from the upper pillars in the middle of finals week.

Hook 2 (Nemanja) - Edifice of Death

For the past three months, a gargoyle has appeared at the roof of St Argus' cathedral every Monday at the sixth toll of the day bell.

The gargoyle, nicknamed the Signifier, has a body resembling a heavily scarred angel. He remains recognizable, though his face changes each time he appears, taking on the likeness of a member of the republic's senate. Without fault, said senator had been found dead the following day, killed in a different and often needlessly elaborate manner.

While the gargoyle isn't mute - and indeed, striking conversations with him reveals an incredibly deep and nuanced understanding of anarchistic philosophy - he outright refuses to acknowledge the murders in addition to his own mutable disposition. Most of the city's population seems apathetic at best; with how corrupt the senate is, that comes as no surprise. That indifference, however, is abruptly turned on its head when two other gargoyles appear, each sporting the face of artists and craftsmen of the city...

Hook 3 (TJ) - Civic Surveyors

The nation of Ordrea is a nation of conquerors. Slowly engulfing each and every poleis around them and subsequently integrating them into their culture has made the architecture of the Ordrean capital, Ordreanapolis, very eclectic. Analyze what you will about the subtle nuances and changes in cultural identities of those that now live within its walls. The more glaring change, however, is in the appearance and culture of the gargoyles that dwell there.

As new tenements rise up from the dirt, wings of local gargoyles claim the new territory. The varied architecture styles have made the gargoyles that choose to roost equally so, to the point where the separation in districts in Ordreanapolis are more recognizable by the appearance of the gargoyles in the eaves than the cultures of the ground-dwellers below.

Ingratiating yourself with a wing is the best way to have your safety assured while travelling in that district, but it has an equal and opposite reaction in other sections of the cities, as the wings of gargoyles fight back and forth, squabbling over unknowable things.