Gargoyle

Version 0.13: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This page is about the player species. For the monster, see Gargoyle (monster).

A cross between ordinary stone gargoyles and living beings, Gargoyles are hideous humanoids with an affinity to rock. They are immune to petrification, and their stony weight protects them from being trampled. Gargoyles' partially living form makes them less susceptible to effects of necromancy and cold than most beings. Their metabolisms are slow, and they blend into the dungeon pretty well. Their fangs and talons make them dangerous unarmed fighters, although they're incompetent with weapons other than maces. They can be exceptional earth-based conjurers, although they're bad with all other magic schools besides ice.

Innate Abilities

• Natural AC: Gargoyles receive a large innate boost to AC relative to your XL. (Gargoyles get +2 AC at XL 1; the bonus scales up to +20 AC at XL 27. Note that Statue Form's AC bonus is slightly (4 AC) lower for Gargoyles.)
• Increased GDR: Gargoyles get slightly less (only 5/6ths) of the GDR from their body armour, but this is more than compensated for by a large innate bonus (+24% GDR). This innate bonus is suppressed when they are transformed, except for Statue Form, in which Gargoyles have a total of 62% GDR.
• Petrification resistance: Gargoyles cannot be petrified.
• Rot resistance: Gargoyles are composed of stone rather than flesh, and thus cannot rot.
• Gargoyles are immune to poison.
  • Gargoyles cannot memorize Cure Poison.
• Electricity resistance: Gargoyles are well insulated and take little damage from electricity attacks. This innate protection is identical to that provided by rElec, but do note that rElec from multiple sources do not stack.
• Partial torment resistance: Gargoyles take 1/2 normal damage when affected by torment. This resistance does stack with other effects that reduce damage of torment.
• Fangs 1 and Talons 2: Gargoyles get two auxiliary Unarmed Combat attacks.
• Slow Metabolism 1: Gargoyles require less food than most species.
• Unbreathing: Gargoyles can survive without breathing.
• Life Protection 1: Gargoyles have one innate level of resistance against negative energy (rNeg+, aka rN+).
• Vulnerability to Shatter and LRD.
• Gargoyles' nonliving—but non-undead—nature means that they cannot worship Yredelemnul nor, by extension, can they choose the background Death Knight.

Preferred Backgrounds

Gargoyles are recommended for the following backgrounds:

• Warriors: Fighter, Gladiator, Monk, Hunter, Assassin
• Adventurers: Artificer
• Zealots: Healer, Berserker
• Warrior-mages: Skald, Warper, Arcane Marksman, Enchanter
• Mages: Wizard, Conjurer, Summoner, Fire Elementalist, Ice Elementalist, Earth Elementalist, Venom Mage

Due to their nonliving nature, gargoyles are prohibited from becoming Death Knights.

Level Bonuses

• +1 strength or intelligence (equal chance) every 4th level.
• 20% less HP than average.
• Average MP.
• +3 magic resistance per level.
• Gargoyles gain permanent at-will flight at level 14.

Starting Skills and Equipment

Gargoyles receive the skills and equipment listed for their background.

Difficulty of Play

Although it has low HP (-20%), the Gargoyle's innate AC bonus grows quickly as character level rises, providing much added protection. The extra AC generally compensates for their low HP, however one must still be very careful around the few attacks that ignore AC, most notably smiting, but also (later in the game) hellfire, Simulacra melee hits, and Ice fiend melee hits—along with a few other, even rarer attacks.

Beyond this, Gargoyles enjoy a number of innate bonuses and resistances that range from helpful to convenient, depending on context. Innate rPois ameliorates or negates some threats, such as early Kobolds with blowguns. Both rPois and eventual perma-flight, aside from convenience, together mean that Gargoyles have two desirable properties when it comes to doing the two early Lair branches, one of which always centers around water (Shoals or Swamp) and the other around poison (Spider or Snake).

For most of a regular game, their torment resistance will be of little benefit, but it is helpful in much "post-endgame" content that involves getting more than the standard 3 to 5 runes. Individually, Gargoyles' other characteristics do not have much of an impact, but taken together they do allow one to ignore some specific, dangerous (or just annoying) effects that form part of the "gimmick" of certain enemies (e.g., Basilisk's petrification).

Their aptitudes are fairly well balanced and lend themselves to a variety of backgrounds.

History

In 0.14 Gargoyles will lose their two auxiliary attacks and Slow Metabolism 1, and the current GDR formula will be modified. Their GDR will be calculated by treating their body armour as if the base AC value was 5 higher.

Gargoyles were added in 0.13.