Blackstone Gigant

A blackstone gigant is an enormous construct created by a powerful cleric to be either a bodyguard or a guardian of a sacred site. Possessed of a limited intelligence, a blackstone gigant can serve as an assassin or retrieve an object or creature.

Most blackstone gigants look like fierce, eight-armed women. Evil creators sometimes carve blackstone gigants to look like mariliths or other demonic creatures.

Blackstone gigants have the power to petrify foes, and they often take grisly trophies from creatures defeated in such a manner and craft them into a belt of petrified arms or a necklace of petrified heads.

A blackstone gigant speaks the language of its creator.

Combat

A blackstone gigant enters melee fearlessly, wading in among smaller opponents with its trample ability and then flailing about it with its many arms, hoping to petrify as many foes as it can. It then animates any statues it created and orders them to attack. Should the animated statues be too weak to aid in the fight, the blackstone gigant often destroys any foes it petrifies, preventing them from being returned to flesh during the battle.

Petrification (Su): Whenever a blackstone gigant damages an opponent with a slam attack, that creature must make a Fortitude save (DC 26) or be turned into a statue as per the spell flesh to stone cast by a 20th-level caster.

Animate Statue (Su): A blackstone gigant can use one or more of its attacks to touch and animate any creatures it turned to stone with its petrification power. This ability works like an animate objects spell cast by a 20th-level caster, except that the petrified creature can be of any size. The animated stone statue has the statistics of an animated object of its size and composition, with a hardness of 8. Typical petrified creatures have the improved speed ability (bonus of 10 feet for two legs or 20 feet for more legs). All such animated objects are under the mental control of the blackstone gigant or its creator (giving orders to a statue is a free action). Such statues remain animated for 20 rounds. A blackstone gigant cannot animate a petrified creature more than once, and it often destroys statues after the duration of its animate statue ability expires.

Skills: Blackstone gigants have a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened.

Construction

A blackstone gigant’s body is carved from a single block of hard, black stone weighing at least 50,000 pounds. Assembling the body requires a successful Craft (sculpting) or Craft (stonemasonry) check (DC 25).

Prerequisites: Craft Construct, animate objects, flesh to stone, geas/quest, miracle.

Cost to Create: 100,000 gp (plus 5,000 gp for the body), 7,800 XP, 200 days (not counting the crafting time for the body).

Source: Fiend Folio, page 21. Changes applied as per the D&D^® v.3.5 Accessory Update. Trample damage altered to match the version 3.5 description of the trample special attack.