Early Access
Towering statues carved from stone or cast in metal are sometimes more than just artwork of humans rendered in moments of triumph, celebration, or suffering. Sometimes a statue moves, usually in service to some ancient geas or command that animated it in the first place.
Most animate statues are vessels imprisoning the mind of a sentient creature. Though usually this conscious mind rests in a dormant state of reliving strong memories, sometimes this entrapment tumbles the spirit into the abyss of insanity. Disturbing a quiescent animate statue can cause its mind to awaken, usually with disastrous results.
Motive: Release from imprisonment, guard an area
Environment: In out-of-the-way places, especially ancient ruins
Health: 33
Damage Inflicted: Major wound
Armor: 4
Movement: Short
Modifications: Gymnastics as level 2; Might defense as level 8; dodge as level 5 due to size
Combat: An animate statue towers over most foes, and it can make a melee attack—usually a smashing fist or a stomping foot—against any foe within short range. The statue’s massive size and the material of its body means it can walk through nearly any obstacle, smashing through walls of solid rock, buildings, and trees at close to its normal speed. When walking, an animate statue pays no attention to what it steps on. Anyone in its path is likely stepped on as an incidental attack as part of its movement; this inflicts a major wound and knocks down the character if they fail to dodge out of the way. An animate statue is strong and hard to hurt, but often top-heavy. If one falls or is knocked over, it takes a few rounds to rise and resume whatever it was doing.
Interaction: Statues spend years immobilized and insensate, their minds lost in half-remembered experiences and hallucinations. Rousing one has unpredictable results. Some might rampage. Others laugh, cry, or scream streams of nonsense. If a statue has been commanded to guard an area or entrance, it lashes out violently while it has an emotional reaction.
Use: An animate statue holds a treasure trove of knowledge. If the characters can keep it focused or knocked down long enough, they might coax from it the information they seek.
GM Intrusion: The animate statue strikes the character so hard that they fly a long distance and land in a heap, possibly dropping one or more important items (such as a held weapon or a backpack) along the way.