Planar Adventures for Dummies: Ecology of gargoyles

Gargoyles are a standard D&D monster. Their key oddity, however, is that the lore across editions has been unable to agree on their actual nature. Sometimes they are stone statues animated by evil spirits, other times they are living creatures capable of reproduction.

In real life, gargoyles are actually one of several different types of decorative statues. A gargoyle is a statue that serves specifically as part of a building’s drainage system, whereas a grotesque does not. (Indeed, the word gargoyle derives from an old word meaning “throat.” It is cognate to the word gargle.) A guardian is a statue that sits at the entrance of an important place (a tradition that stretches all the way back to the sphinxes of the ancient Near East). A chimera is carved to resemble a combination of animals, potentially including human.

In gaming terms, gargoyles may be assigned one of multiple different types, such as [construct], [elemental], [monstrosity], [plant] or [undead]. The choice of type determines their basic nature. The [construct] gargoyles are created or summoned as guardians. They may be animated by a spirit of the [celestial], [elemental] or [fiend] type, which determines their behavior.

Gargoyles like those in The Goliath Chronicles or WarCraft are different. They come in [humanoid] and [beast] types. They turn to stone during the daytime in order to rejuvenate themselves, though some varieties are not limited by the solar cycle. Deep sleepers enter stony sleep during the daytime and cannot be roused. Light sleepers may sleep and wake at any time, but they require more sleep overall than deep sleepers.

Here are some examples of various traits that you could ascribe to gargoyles in your campaign:

The [elemental] gargoyles are earth spirits or statues animated by earth spirits.
The [monstrosity] gargoyles are fleshy mortal creatures which reproduce by laying eggs.
The [construct] and [elemental] gargoyles are earthbound spirits which inhabit stone and lay eggs or chisel statues for elemental spirits to inhabit.
Gargoyles are immune to spells like flesh to stone and stone to flesh because their flesh is living stone.
Gargoyles mimic statues by holding still. It requires a careful eye to reveal the ruse.
Gargoyles may turn into literal statues, during which they are insensate and immobile, then awake refreshed and rejuvenated.
Gargoyles are created by evil wizards to guard their holdings.
Gargoyles are created by churches to ward off evil.
Gargoyles are instinctively driven to reside within and guard stone structures, such as castles and churches.
There are many varieties of gargoyle, such as arctic, forest, four-armed, fungus, gemstone, green guardian, kapoacinth, margoyle, obsidian, sandstone, and waterspout.