Goyle (4e Race)

Goyle

By Zero Mayhem

A race that descended from Gargoyles. They are smaller and more nimble than their ancestors.

Racial Traits

Average Height: 4' to 5'

Average Weight: 80 - 120lbs

Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom or Constitution

Size: Small

Speed: 5 squares

Vision: Darkvision

Languages: Common, Primordial

Skill Bonuses: +2 Acrobatics, +2 Stealth

Stone Form: You can use stone form as an encounter power.

Sentry Rest: Goyles do not require sleep, but instead enter a trance for at least four hours each day. This meditation grants the benefits that other races receive from an extended rest. While meditating, they are fully aware of their surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal.

Gargoyle Stance: When you make a stealth check to hide, roll twice and use either result.

Stony Anatomy: You have a minor racial bonus to Fortitude.

Stone Form	Goyle Racial Power
Your skin hardens to make powerful armor.
Daily
Minor Action	Personal
Effect: You gain a +2 power bonus to AC until the end of the encounter.
Level 11: + 3 power bonus

Goyles are descendants of humanoids who imbued themselves with the power of magical stone constructs known as gargoyles. Originally made to be a class of elite sentries, the danger of the ritual which gave the humanoids powers risked petrifying many of them permanently. Those who survived were soon cast out for their freakish appearance, which frightened those they were meant to protect. Most have retreated from the public eye. The desire to protect remains within them, and many are thus employed to be protectors in the shadows.

Play a Goyle if you want...

• to play an outcast
• to have an ancient heritage
• to become impervious
• To be a member of a race that favors the barbarian, warden, rogue, or paladin classes.

Physical Qualities

Goyles have a wiry build on a small frame. Their faces look like a human's with bat like ears and a snub nose. Their eyes give off a faint glow. Their eye color ranges the entire spectrum. Their skin is heavy, tough and folded like an elephant's hide. A goyle's skin color is usually cold as stone and colored like dark, cool earthy and stone-like colors from green, dark grey, brown, black, and others. The only hair they have is sparse and patchy. Even with the hair, it is nearly impossible to tell the genders apart.

Roleplaying a Goyle

Goyles are usually quiet and reserved, only speaking when necessary. They are usually pretty harsh and brusque on the exterior, but in truth are just looking for the other races to trust them. This is due to the animosity brought on by their heritage. They do not hold hatred to other races because their ancestors served mankind and the other races in the past.

Protector. Above all else, a goyle's main instinct is to be a protector. They therefore tend towards defender role classes, and are very selfless. It matters not if those they protect are good or evil. If a goyle finds a trusted ally, they will defend them at the cost of their life.

Terse. Goyles do not make the best conversationalists. They speak through their actions and see the world similarly. Talkative types are likely to seem facetious to them.

Impassive. Being born out of a ritual fusing stone and flesh, goyles have lost a portion of their emotional capacity to feel. They are a bit more direct in language, usually avoiding subjective terms when speaking and even sometimes ignoring emotional distress in front of them. They do so not out of spite, but often because they genuinely may not comprehend emotions or know how to properly react. They do feel intense emotions like hate, sorrow, and love though.

Goyle Characteristics: Quiet, observant, cautious, reserved, protective

Male Names: Kroh, Thoruk, Garo, Darg--Use a name with no more than two syllables and one hard consonant.

Female Names: Kara, Shor, Thas, Vana--Use a name with no more than two syllables and keep consonants soft.

Goyle Adventurers

Goyles have scattered since their initial creation years ago. It is unknown how far their numbers have propagated about the natural world. Some can be found working undercover as a kingdom's spies. Others sell their talents to bodyguard important figures or watch from the shadows. Some who seek purpose even sign up to be frontline soldiers to fulfill their desire to protect.

Barbarian. Drawing on the primal power of stone and earth, goyles can unlock a rage which devastates enemies while protecting allies. Goyle barbarians tend to go on offense only when they can be sure their allies are safe behind them.

Warden. Similar to goyle barbarians, warden goyles serve as sentries on the battlefield. They are less built for offensive maneuvers and usually wholly invested in defense.

Rogue. Due to the frightening appearance of goyles, most resort to being discreet, thus taking up a cloak of shadows. Rogue goyles are a bit less confident in their abilities to shine in the limelight of battle, and prefer to work backstage, protecting from within the cover of darkness.

Paladin. Goyles sometimes are drawn to the divine, given their ancestry, as gargoyles were commonly guardians of sacred places. Those who do not have power on their own ask for the divine to grant it to them in exchange for a renewed faith. These are often the most devout of goyles.

Below are three examples of goyle adventurers:

Shor is a goyle rogue on a mission after a knight who brutally murdered her love interest, Xed. She was spared solely due to the great hiding ability common on goyles. As she watched Xed's blood pool, she hated herself for having been so cowardly and not having been able to protect him. To this day, she hunts for the knight who took Xed away from her. She refuses to lose anything else she cherishes and hates to see this fate befall others as well. As a result, she contracted with a local principality to be their spy for petty crimes, using her stealth to catch thieves and those who riddle the night with wickedness.

Blorg is a goyle paladin who desires nothing more than protection for the weak and helpless. He has spent much of his life watching over goers to a cathedral from its eaves. But one day, his strength had proved insignificant as an attack on the city rendered the entire structure rubble. He despaired over his inability to guard the people, and was given a second chance when a traveling cleric of the same order saved him from taking his own life. Now he puts his faith as his greatest shield for his allies.

Jahr is a goyle warden who has never known civilization. She has resided mainly within forests and abandoned structures nature has reclaimed. Her senses for nature are thus highly elevated and she often works with the local wilden to defeat those who would spoil its beauty. She sometimes feels empty, that she has yet to find her true purpose. Perhaps what she truly aims to protect is not simple woodlandry, but others outside of it.

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