Random Races, starting with Disney Gargoyles

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Prak
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Random Races, starting with Disney Gargoyles

Post by Prak »

I've been watching Gargoyles straight through recently, and I don't feel like sleeping yet, so I'm going to write up a race that lots of people want, and I don't think I've ever seen written up well.

Castlewatch Gargoyles
Castlewatch Gargoyles are an offshoot of Gargoyles which are flesh and blood, but become immobile stone by day. They are a highly mutable race, ranging from 4 to 8 feet, across the spectrum of colour, may have wings of any kind or style, and may have any number of horns, including none. Regardless, they are, over all, generally recognizable as a single species, and very much dedicated to that species.
Gargoyles live in clans, protecting their ancestral homes, originally cliffs and mountains, but as more of the world has been claimed by other humanoid races and their structures built, clans have, with growing frequency, allied with other groups of humanoids, offering nightly protection in exchange for protection during the day.
  • Medium Humanoid (Gargate)
  • 30 ft movement, 20 ft climb speed
  • +4 strength, -2 cha
  • +1/3 character level enhancement to natural armour, without taking up an item slot.
  • 2 Claws attacks at 1d6, one Tail Slap at 1d4
  • Lowlight Vision
  • Stone by Day: At day, as dawn's light strikes, or would were they not guarded from it, a gargoyle turns to solid stone, becoming immobile, even if sunlight cannot actually touch them. This is their form of sleep, and functions the same as a normal creature's sleep, save that it is much more recuperative. When they awaken they are completely healed of all hit points. If struck by a daylight spell, they must make a fortitude save (as normal for the caster's spells), if they fail, they fall asleep as the sleep spell, but are not turned to stone, and begin to regain hit points at twice the rate of normal rest (normal for other creatures, that is).
    Castlewatch Gargoyles need not sleep otherwise, but they may do so if desired.
  • Gliding: Gargoyles have wings, but do not fly, they merely glide on currents of air. While they do not actually fly, they may move as if flying with a speed of 40' and with average maneuverability, but lose 20' of altitude each turn, unless they specifically spend the turn gaining or maintaining altitude as a move action. Effects which improve flight do not affect this ability, but gargoyles may gain the ability to fly as any other creature can.
  • Unique Form: Every gargoyle is unique, or near to. In addition to cosmetic effects such as skin and hair colour, horn number and style, head shape, etc, they also have other qualities. A gargoyle has one of the following traits in addition to those standard for the race:
    • Powerful Build
    • Slight Build
    • Gore Attack
    • Bite Attack
    • +2 to a chosen ability score
Alright people, tell me what I did wrong. Should reasonably represent the disney Gargoyles, should be reasonably balanced (not too sure about the +2 to chosen ability option of Unique Form, but it more because it seems unlikely anyone would ever choose anything else)

edit: changed natural armour as suggested, took off DR
Last edited by Prak on Sun Oct 03, 2010 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by ubernoob »

Powerful Build, +4 str, and +4 NA makes this a really fucking good melee race at low levels. I'd replace the NA with something like "Has +1/3 enhancement to NA without taking up a magic item slot" or something. That puts it a lot closer to orc, except it still has better stats.

Edit: The DR is also overkill. Take that out. At level 3, DR 5/bludgeoning is code for "I ignore archers" basically.
Last edited by ubernoob on Sun Oct 03, 2010 8:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Prak »

Ok, fair enough. Was trying to cover their "we're tough but swords hurt" thing, but probably too well. The natural enhancement bonus to natural armour works nicely though.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by For Valor »

+4 Str, -2 Dump Stat?

Sounds a little strong compared to the rest of the races. I'd be comfortable with dropping unique form.
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Post by Prak »

Aasimar: +2 Cha, +2 Wis
Fey Touched: +2 dex, +2 cha, -2 con
Hobgoblin: +2 dex, +2 con
Orc: +4 str, -2 int, -2 wis, -2 cha
Tielfing: +2 dex, +2 int, -2 cha

shouldn't be out of line with any of those, I looked at tome races before I made it.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
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FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by erik »

They seem a bit strong for ECL 0, and not strong enough for ECL +1.

The Stone by Day is pretty harsh for an adventurer. I'm not sure I'd ever want one of these in my party simply because of that feature. =-(
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Post by Prak »

yeah, I know. But people love the idea of them in D&D, and I was bored, so, STATS.

The best way to work them is in a group of almost solely things that are nocturnal.

Oh, I'm tempted to add something to "Stone by Day".
Weightless. Because they seriously seem to be weightless, or near so, when in stone (given that three stone gargoyles can be transported on what amounts to a wide base canoe, with a human) along with similar feats of weighing no where near as much as they probably should.
Last edited by Prak on Mon Oct 04, 2010 8:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by ...You Lost Me »

AHHHH TAGS
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Post by Prak »

Apiar
The Apiar are a race of bee-like fae. They pollinate large flowers hidden deep within forests and jungles where the realm of Faerie bleeds into the material realm, and from this pollen they create a honey which is highly valued by other races for its taste and ready inclination to ferment and create a popular and fairly intoxicating alcohol.
The race is believed to be entirely female, reproducing by magic, and to be monarchal. In truth, there are males, but they are even more bee like, hardly sentient, barely capable of doing anything other than pollinizing followers, fertilizing the queen and then dying.
Apiars are also not monarchal, they are in fact quite democratic, and the term "queen" was actually given to their brood mothers by other races who saw the ensconced female, larger than the others, in an ornately constructed chamber, as a ruling figure, rather than one of self-sacrifice.
Queen Apiars rise from the ranks of their sisters, called workers, in times of need. When the previous Queen Apiar dies, or it is time for a new hive to be created, the sisters convene and discuss who should become the new queen. Suggestions will be made by the convened apiars as to who might make the best queen, and, occasionally, some will make the case that they themselves would. The apiars will eventually decide, and one will be chosen. They are given a specially prepared version of Apiar Honey, Iobairt Glothach (lit. Sacrifice Jelly), traditionally created in the year that the Apiar was born, though in times of great need it may be created on the spot. The Iobairt Glothach causes the apiar to grow larger, and her mental abilities to dull, as her body is transformed and reprioritizes physical ability to birth and deposit large numbers of eggs over the ability to pollinate, create honey, or construct hives.
If the new queen was created to found a new hive, she will gather males to her with pheromones, and a sizable number of workers will accompany them, and they fly off to start a new hive. The workers create the queen chamber first, allowing the males to fertilize her and her to start building the population, while they begin tending to the more complex duties.

Personality: Apiars are a cordial, polite people, primarily concerned with the pollination of Fae-wild flowers, the maintenance of their hive, and the care of next generation. For leisure, they pursue artistic endeavours, such as flower arranging, topiary, bonsai, cooking and brewing.
They prefer peace, but will fiercely defend their hive-communities when threatened, using spear, sword, and, if needed, stinger. Their potential for flight, and four arms also makes them quite capable and devastating archers.
Physical Description: There are three forms of apiar, which other races refer to as castes, and the apiar have taken on this terminology in dealing with other races for simplicity of communication. The three castes are worker, queen, and drone.
Most other races think that the entire apiar race looks the same, and is all female. This is because they usually only ever see the worker caste. All worker caste apiar are female, and resemble short (average height 5'4"), humanoid women, with some insectile qualities. They possess four slender arms, a "wasp" waist, and a thin chitin. Four wings sprout from their backs, two just behind the shoulders, and two just under the rib-chitin. Their faces are an eerily attractive combination of humanoid woman and bee, with large, black, almond shaped, compound eyes. Instead of a nose, they have a pair of antenna, situated on the forehead between the eyes, and sweeping back over the head. Their thin chitin rises just above the forehead, creating a crown-like crest which their hair line starts behind, and ends smoothly at the joints, around the mouth and eyes, and the more sensitive parts of their bodies, giving way to soft, petal-like skin. They range from vibrant yellow to black, with small insect-like abdomens which extend from the small of their backs, which are typically a more vibrant shade of body colour, with black bands. The abdomen ends in a sharp stinger, which they try to avoid using, as it can cause grievous damage to their bodies when the barbs anchor to an enemy's body and pull the stinger, and a not inconsiderable amount of their (non-functional) reproductive system, from their own. Worker apiar are almost always infertile, and unable to lay eggs. In times of exceptional need, such as after a great many losses to the hive’s population, a worker may become fertile. This worker fertility, however, cannot birth other workers, only eggs that will hatch into 1d10 males each.
Queen Apiars are more intelligent than males, but still dim and animalistic compared to their worker sisters. They are typically 8 to 12 feet long, with most of the length being made up of their abdomen, which elongates in the transformation to queen. It is difficult for queen apiar to move, save by flying, but even that can be difficult for them. Unlike their Worker sisters, Queen apiars are fully capable of reproducing.
Male Apiars, known as Drones, are essentially large bees, about the size of a halfling, and only marginally more intelligent than an animal.
While not complete nectarivores like their mundane cousins, apiar are primarily herbivorous. They typically only consume pollen and fruit, though vegetables, nuts, seeds, fungi and tubers pose no real problem for them. They can also consume other non-meat foods, such as bread, or even candy, though they are relatively unfamiliar with cooked foods, as fires pose a grave threat to their hives. They have difficultly digesting animal proteins, though more delicate, or less bloody fleshes, such as fish or arthropod are only mildly unpleasant for them to digest, similar to a lactose intolerance in humans.
Relations: Apiar typically have good relations with their neighbours, trading honey, mead, and wood craft, for weapons, ornamentation, produce, and any of a number of other things. They highly prize silks and fine linens, all the more so because they will actually not trade, or even associate with, the races which make the best silks, namely drow and spider-like races such as aranea and ettercaps.
Apiar produce a waxy substance, similar to beeswax, which is also quite prized, for use in cosmetics, candles, and even food. Other races tend to studiously ignore the fact that, unlike apiar honey, which is made through a process more alchemical than natural, apiar wax is a secretion from their bodies, exactly like normal bees.
Apiar are wary of reptilian races, such as lizard folk, as in the past such races would, when given an opportunity, raid apiar hives for honey and worker apiar to eat. However, lizardfolk, and a number of other reptilian races, have proven themselves able to deal civilly with the bee-women, and so relations are merely strained.
Arachnid races, on the other hand, are greatly despised by the apiar. A hive will frequently attack such creatures on sight, attempting to drive them away, especially if they wander too close to the nest. Aranea are acknowledged by the apiar to be generally good creatures, and for their own part, aranea have tried to make up for past indiscretions, but old grudges die hard.
Apiar have the strange quirk of tending to assume other sentient creatures are female. They truly have trouble distinguishing the sexes of non-insectile races, and so assume that anyone talking to them and able to hold a conversation is female. It's not, exactly, sexist, it's simply to what they're accustomed.
An encounter with the mantid-like Thri Kreen is always a nerve wracking one for apiar. They've had to defend against hungry thri kreen looking for a meal almost as often as they've been helped by them, and thus the apiar race literally has no idea which to expect from a given encounter, especially as encounters have, in the past, gone from one circumstance to the other with little foreseeable reason.
Alignment: Apiar are very socially minded, but tend to use discussion and democracy to govern, valuing individual freedoms and input. They may be polite, and inoffensive, but are really only slightly more likely to go out of their way to help a stranger than ignore them. They tend towards chaos and neutrality.
Apiar Lands: Apiars build large hives, either free standing, or, more usually, in grand dead trees or natural cave structures, deep in forests and jungles. Large fields are important to them, as are Faerie bleeds. If a swarm cannot find a suitable spot with a faerie bleed, they will often settle for a field with flowers and then create a bleed.
Apiar hives are governed completely democratically. Every worker has a say in the conduct and maintenance of the hive, so long as she does her job. Males, being little more than animals, have no say, nor would they typically notice if they were given one. Queens abstain from giving input, though they would be listened to if they gave it. Apiar are also somewhat communistic, in that the hive as a whole provides the minimum needs for their people, including food, clothing and shelter, so long as the individual is performing their job and contributing to the hive.
Apiar would probably welcome members of other races if they wanted to join a hive and were willing to work, but it has never been known to happen, as the apiar trappings of living are so alien to other races, more accustomed to living in homes of wood and stone than wax secreted by a friend.
Religion:
Language:
Names:
Adventures: Adventurers are somewhat common amongst the Apiar. Some will leave the hive simply to seek more. Their basic needs are met by the hive, and many find a balance between performing their duty for their basic needs, and partaking of a hobby or passion that can get them a bit more, such as painting, performing, or crafting. Others, however, want more from life than just quiet security, and so seek out great deeds. The second main reason for apiar to go adventuring is to find suitable sites for future hives. When a site is found, the apiar will claim it for their hive with pheromones which will linger for around a decade. Site theft is not unheard-of among the apiar, though seekers will usually respect prior claiming.

Apiar Racial Traits (Worker)
  • -2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Cha
  • Fae: As fae, apiar eat, sleep and breath, but are immune to spells such as Hold Person or Charm Person.
  • Medium: Worker apiar range from 4' to 5' 8". As medium creatures, apiar have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  • Apiar base speed is 30'.
  • Low Light Vision.
  • Natural Armour +1.
  • Ultraviolet Vision: Apiar can see into the ultraviolet spectrum. This changes, slightly, the way they see the world. More importantly, however, magical effects in place radiate ultraviolet light, and thus apiar can see magical auras. Apiar can use Detect Magic at will. Each school of magic gives off a different “colour” of UV light, meaning that they make Spellcraft checks to determine the school of an effect at +4.
  • Flutter: Apiar wings are generally too weak for true flight, though they may flutter their wings to slow their falls. This works like the monk ability to slow falls, save that they do not need a surface within arm's reach, and they can only subtract 10' from their fall. At 3rd level, their wings grow and strengthen, and they gain a 30' (poor) fly speed, and can shorten fall distance by 20', if necessary. At 6th level, their wings strengthen more, anf their flight improves to 60' (average), and they can reduce fall distance by 30'. At 9th level, their wings almost reach the floor, and have powerful muscle attachments. Their flight improves to 90' (good), and they can reduce fall distance by 40'.
  • Sting: Apiar have a natural sting attack which deals 1d4 damage, and inflicts poison (see below). Using her sting attack has a chance to injure the apiar herself. She must make a DC 15 Fort save, or her stinger breaks off, taking internal tissue with it, and dealing 1d4/3 Character Levels to her.
  • Poison: Apiar venom is a mild neurotoxin and contains an enzyme which, essentially, slowly dissolves the target's cells. DC 10+1/2 HD+Con Mod. Initial Damage- Pain (-1/3 HD of Apiar to all attacks, skills and damage rolls). Secondary- 1d6 Con.
  • Automatic Language: Apiar, Common, Apiar Dance Language. Bonus Languages: Auran, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Orc, Sylvan. Apiar are well received by most races. They also frequently learn the languages of air creatures and other fae. Their own languages, Apiar and Apiar Dance, are rarely found in use by other races, the former because it is difficult to speak correctly, consisting primarily of buzzes and clicks, the latter because most races consider it deeply sill to convey locations via dance.
Apiar Racial Traits (Drone)
  • +6 Dex, +2 Con -6 Int
  • Fae: As fae, apiar eat, sleep and breath, but are immune to spells such as Hold Person or Charm Person.
  • Small: Drone Apiar are usually around 3' in length. As a Small creature, a drone apiar gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
  • Drone Apiar base speed is 10'. They have a fly speed of 40' (Good)
  • Low Light Vision.
  • Natural Armour +2.
  • Ultraviolet Vision: Apiar can see into the ultraviolet spectrum. This changes, slightly, the way they see the world. More importantly, however, magical effects in place radiate ultraviolet light, and thus apiar can see magical auras. Apiar can use Detect Magic at will. Each school of magic gives off a different “colour” of UV light, meaning that they make Spellcraft checks to determine the school of an effect at +4.
  • Automatic Language: Apiar, Common, Apiar Dance Language. Bonus Languages: Auran, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Orc, Sylvan. Apiar are well received by most races. They also frequently learn the languages of air creatures and other fae. Their own languages, Apiar and Apiar Dance, are rarely found in use by other races, the former because it is difficult to speak correctly, consisting primarily of buzzes and clicks, the latter because most races consider it deeply sill to convey locations via dance.
Work in Progress is Work in Progress
Last edited by Prak on Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:40 am, edited 3 times in total.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
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Post by Koumei »

The stinging mechanism is kind of fiddly. The poison itself is fine, especially seeing as it's a rider to a weak natural attack, but the whole "If you sting a mage or monk then save vs dealing them more ongoing damage and taking a chunk of damage yourself" thing, while fitting for the bees we are most familiar with, is a big chunk of text.
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Post by Prak »

Yeah. The whole thing is rapidly becoming a wall of text, and I definitely need to simplify that.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by Whipstitch »

Agreed; if you just want the flavor I'd make breaking off the stinger into a voluntary bullshit power that nobody really cares about--for example, if you hit, you can break the stinger off and both you and your target become sickened, no save. Useless one on one but gets across a bit of "For the hive!" mob fighting flavor.
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Post by Prak »

Another thought is to make it a daily or something.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by Prak »

Updated. Has a few more things, Sting is now this:
  • Sting: Apiar have a natural sting attack which deals 1d4 damage, and inflicts poison (see below). Using her sting attack has a chance to injure the apiar herself. She must make a DC 15 Fort save, or her stinger breaks off, taking internal tissue with it, and dealing 1d4/3 Character Levels to her.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

It seems awkward that an Apiar takes more damage from stinging a housecat at level 6 than stinging a housecat at level 1, save or no save.

I might suggest that on a failed save the Apiar takes 1d4 damage per 3 levels or 3 CR of the target stung, as a more powerful opponent is presumably harder to stab, thus causing more internal breakage and damage to the Apiar, and that also keeps the whole "stinger breaks off" flavor.
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Post by Prak »

Ok, that's a good reasoning for something that seemed odd to me at first.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by hyzmarca »

The Daylight spell shouldn't turn Gargoyles to stone. The Stone sleep is based on their natural biological clock, it's just timed to coincide with sunrise and sunset but isn't caused by them. This is why Gargoyles what are indoors still turn to stone. It's Gargoyles who rapidly travel across timezones suffer from jet lag and will sleep on their old cycle, allowing them to stay awake during the day until their body adjusts.

Likewise, Gargoyles who live in the Arctic Circle, where daylight and night can last for months at a time, eventually adjust to 12-hour sleep cycles even during the six months of daylight.

Likewise, Stone Sleep is the only type of sleep that Gargoyles have. When they become sleepy their bodies secrete chemicals that harden their tissues into a stone-like substance, whether they want it to or not. They don't have the biological capacity for normal sleep, and shouldn't be subject to it.

Sleep Spells should turn them to stone for their duration, as well. The spell that the Magus cast to turn them into stone until Castle Wyvern rose above the clouds was just a sleep spell. If they were humans they would have soon died of dyhydration in their sleep. Because Gargoyles turn to stone and stop aging when they sleep, they survived for a thousand years instead.
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Post by Prak »

Huh. Is that word of god from the Gargoyle's creators or something?
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
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You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by hyzmarca »

Prak_Anima wrote:Huh. Is that word of god from the Gargoyle's creators or something?
The jet lag thing is actually in the comics. Macbeth flies Hudson, Lexington, and Broadway to London in order to protect the Stone of Scone, which the Illuminati is planning to steal.
Image
Image
Information about their biology can be found in the Gargoyles series bible, which was posted here.

http://www.angelfire.com/rings/katsaris/garbible.htm

Relevant passages include
Probably the first thing to remember about true gargoyles is what they are not. They are NOT magical beings. They are not sculpted statues magically brought to life. They are a kind of animal, as dinosaurs were, elephants are and human beings pretend not to be.

Despite the occasional and sparing use of magic, this is a fairly Darwinistic series. In pre-historic times gargoyles evolved, perhaps out of dinosaurs, into a nocturnal species that would hibernate during the day by turning to stone (or at least into an organic substance that absolutely resembles stone). Now this may sound scientifically improbable, but consider the chameleon or the electric eel; both can accomplish miracles of nature, objectively as remarkable as turning into stone.
Gargoyles possess an intense biological clock, tied to the rising and setting of the sun and even to seasonal changes in that process. When the sun rises, they go into hibernation. Keeping them locked in a dark place might allow them to temporarily fool their internal clocks, but not for long. Keyed to the impending sunrise, a gargoyle will begin to feel fatigued. Generally, he or she will find a high, out of the way place and strike a frightening pose just as the sun rises over the horizon. The transformation to stone is nearly instantaneous.

[...]

During the daytime hibernation, gargoyles are in a deep coma-like sleep. They cannot be awakened prematurely. They are unaware of what is taking place around them.

Gargoyles do not age while in hibernation mode. Thus a typical gargoyle life-span would be about twice that of a typical human. However, gargoyles mature half as fast. So a thirty-eight year old gargoyle would possess the equivalent mental, emotional and physical maturity of a nineteen year old human. Only the quantity of his experiences would betray his true age.

Being stone, they are protected from casual damage. But they are not invulnerable. Take a sledgehammer to a hibernating gargoyle and a person could maim or kill that gargoyle, could reduce it to dust. (And again, a gargoyle that is destroyed while in hibernation will not turn back to flesh and blood at night but will remain as stone
fragments.)

Keyed to the sunset, a gargoyle's internal clock will begin the awakening process. The gargoyle will turn back to flesh and blood from the inside out, until all that remains is a thin layer of exoderm, which then cracks and is shed by the gargoyle as a snake sheds its skin. Generally, a waking gargoyle flexes, stretches and/or explodes out of the thin exoderm of stone, leaving fragments of grit and gravel. once awake, the gargoyle is alert, refreshed, rejuvenated, energized and healed of any injury that might have occurred the previous night.
Also, there is a lot of Word of God floating around from Greg Weisman. He was very active with fan communities on the internet and at conventions.

http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/


Rebel writes...

Hi Greg, I have some questions for you about the functions of gargoyle stone sleep. I checked the archives and saw lots of questions about stone sleep, but as far as I could tell, no one asked these questions specifically.

We know that stone sleep serves the following functions:
-rest and rejuvenation
-healing of injuries
-storing of energy (as hypothesized by Sevarius)

However, based on what we've seen in the series and comics, it seems like it probably serves other functions as well. So I have some questions for you about other possible functions of stone sleep.

1. Does it cleanse the gargoyle? We've never heard any mentions of gargoyles bathing and there probably wasn't a shower in the clock tower. So does dirt, grime, and body emollients turn to stone with the gargoyle, or does it sit on top of their stone skin and get sloughed off when the gargoyle awakens?

2. Does it cleanse the gargoyle's clothes? If stone sleep cleanses a gargoyle, it seems logical to me that it would clean the gargoyles' clothes as well. After all, the Humility Spell would turn a gargoyle's clothes to stone because he considers those clothes to belong to him. But, presumably, he would not consider any dirt that is on those clothes to be his, so it seems like any dirt on his clothes might get shed when he wakes up. This could explain why the gargoyles in the show are always wearing the same clothes and we've heard no mentions of doing laundry.

3. Does stone sleep serve as a way to expel wastes? When gargoyles wake up, they end up shedding a bunch of skin. Where does all that mass come from? That's probably at least a pound or two of stone skin being shed per gargoyle, and they do it everyday. If gargoyles are shedding all that stone skin AND pooping, it seems like they would constantly be losing mass or having to eat more to put on mass. Yet if the mass from their food goes towards the outer-most layer of stone skin everyday, that makes sense to me from a conservation of mass perspective. That's why I'm wondering if the stone skin that gets shed every night is mostly gargoyle solid waste.

Not a question about stone sleep functions, but a question about it in general

4. Did Lexington and Hudson get to watch the sun rise (or at least part of it) when they were in London? It seems logical that if their awakening got delayed due to jet lag, maybe their falling asleep got delayed too.
Greg responds...


1. On some level at least, yes. Cleanses them of toxins, certainly. And the rest, which isn't to say they might not enjoy a shower now and then.

2. Makes sense to me.

3. Yes, I think so.

4. Yes.

----

Woods writes...

In the Rock Hudson and Lexington wake up at 7:45 this is accounted to jet lag but in New York it would only be 2:45pm, so wouldn't have made more sense for Hudson and Lex to wake at elevenish in London

Greg responds...

Even after less than one night, they are already starting to adjust to the new timezone. That's how attuned to the biorhythms of the planet the ancient race of gargoyles are.

---

Audra writes...

Hey Greg. Earlier tonight, when I was in the car with my mom and sister, and my sister was saying how one of her friends moved to Alaska. She said how weird that would be, because in Alaska, half the year it would be dark, and the other half, there would light. If gargoyles lived in Alaska, would they sleep for 6 months, then be awake for the other 6 months? That seems kind of weird to me. Like for the 6 months they would be awake, wouldn't they be tired? I mean because of being awake for so long with no sleep. Would they sleep every once in a while like humans do? I know this is kind of a silly question, but that kind of interests me! What do you think Greg?

Greg responds...

Gargoyle sleep patterns are a biological response -- to the presumed fact, if you believe Sevarius, that in stone form they absorb solar energy -- so it may be that Gargoyles simply can't exist that far north or south. Or perhaps they'd simply adapt. I doubt they'd exist on a six month schedule, but I'm not going to make a definitive decision now.

-----
Jacob writes...

What happens to a gargoyle if he is at the north pole during the long night in the winter? does he sleep like humans?
Give a smart-ass answer if you want to, but I woud be pleased if you don't.
Greg responds...

Over time, he or she would adapt.

---


matt writes...

i just watched "Awakening 1 and 2" and wow, i love these eps, particularly "Awakening 1" its beautiful!
anyway, i was wondering some things about the sleep spell:

1. would the sleep spell work on a human? could a human be put to sleep for a thousand years?


2. what is the spell's peculiar attachment with the castle? the spell says "until the castle rises above the clouds", but what if the Magus tried this spell on some rogue gargoyles? would they still sleep til Castle Wyvern rose above the clouds? what if the gargs live in another sort of structure, like the Mayan Pyramid? would the spell still work? i just don't quite understand the spells need for a link to the castle. could Magus have changed the spell to say "sleep until the sky burns or whatever"?

3. was the sleep spell in the Grimorum when Magus first acquiered it? was that spell in the Grimorum there when the Archmage first acquiered it?

i guess the Grimorum being transported through time by the Phoinex gate over 900 years really helped it to be presearved, eh?
Greg responds...

1. The spell would work on humans. But we age while we sleep. So we'd die long before the castle rose above the clouds.


2. Open ended spells require more power, more energy. Setting a limit (no matter how unreasonable the limit may seem) makes casting the spell easier. Certain spells were written or adapted to certain limits. The Magus may also have adapted the spell to his needs. But basically, it was the equivalent of "til Kingdom come".

3. I imagine so.

Didn't hurt.


Okay, I might be wrong about the 12 hour sleep cycles since Greg didn't specifically say that.

And GargWiki has incorporated most of the Greg's answers into their articles

http://gargwiki.net/Stone_Sleep


Incidentally, while the Stone Sleep isn't magical, the clothes turning to stone is. Gargoyles didn't have much of a nudity taboo because their clothes would be damaged by the stone sleep, so they usually just went around nude. Caesar Augustus got tired of seeing gargoyle wangs everywhere he went and had his Magus cast the spell so that Gargoyles would be able to wear clothes during the day without shredding them.

http://gargwiki.net/Spell_of_Humility

Which is as good an explanation as any for why we don't see Gargoyle penises in a Disney cartoon.

I did a great deal of research on the subject for a game which unfortunately ended before I was able to produce an army of Gargoyle clones.
Last edited by hyzmarca on Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:16 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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