Gargoyle

Description:

Gargoyles are winged, monkey-sized creatures with sharp teeth and claws, and thick, stony scales that give them a statue-like appearance. Fake Gargoyles are often carved into castle masonry to ward off enemies, and real Gargoyles will often perch on masonry to take advantage of the natural camouflage it provides them. Similar to crows, Gargoyles are territorial, and will remember both friends and enemies. Because of this, Gargoyles can be - and often are - trained to defend castles, forts, churches, or other similar structures. Training Gargoyles is a fairly straightforward matter of reinforcing desired behavior patterns by feeding them preferred foods - like rabbits, rats, other birds or the like. A 21 Challenge using Animal Handling and a few days of effort is enough to get a single Gargoyle to be generally protective of the trainer, the area, and anyone it observes the trainer being friendly toward. If there is enough space, many Gargoyles can be so trained, and a large castle could keep as many as a couple of dozen Gargoyles with a skilled and dedicated handler to keep them in line.

Special:

Gargoyles have a very convincing stone-like natural camouflage that makes them very difficult to spot in rocky environments. Spotting a Gargoyle among rocks or stonework requires a 21 Challenge using Alertness (-4). On a structure where faux masonry gargoyles may be mounted, distinguishing a real Gargoyle from a statue is all but impossible unless it has previously been seen moving. The only way to know for sure would be to fire arrows at them or otherwise force them to reveal themselves.