Stone Cursed

Image © Wizards of the Coast.

[One of the few wholly original monsters that appears in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, the stone cursed is a neat take on the animated statue trope. I like how its petrifying powers basically involve coating enemies in concrete.]

Stone Cursed
CR 4 LE Construct
This statue springs to life, its hands twisted into claws. A thick gray sludge oozes from its fingers.

The stone cursed are constructs created using a petrified humanoid as a base. Creating a stone cursed is always an evil act, as it wrenches a part of the creature’s soul from the afterlife to use as a power source. Stone cursed are obedient and cleverer than many other constructs, but their slow, shuffling gates limit their use as active combatants. They are more often employed as guards to attack intruders from stealth, capturing foes by temporarily petrifying them.

The Obsidian Skull
In the process of creating a stone cursed, the skull of the former humanoid is transformed into a chunk of obsidian, which houses the stolen soul and fragments of memories. When the stone cursed is destroyed, it shatters, leaving the obsidian skull behind. A creature can spend 1 minute and a DC 25 Spellcraft or Use Magic Device check to attempt to extract a single memory from the skull. If it succeeds, it learns one bit of information that the creature knew when it was alive. Regardless of whether the check succeeds or fails, the skull cannot be used in this manner again. It can, however, be used as a focus for speak with dead orcall spirit, regardless of the age or intactness of the corpse. An obsidian skull is worth 500 gp as an art object.

Creating a Stone Cursed
A stone cursed’s body is a petrified humanoid, which has been anointed with a poultice made from basilisk blood and burned cockatrice feathers. This unguent is worth 1000 gp.
CL7th;Price8,500 gp
RequirementsCraft Construct, animate dead, calcifictouch, stone shape, creator must be caster level 7th; SkillCraft (alchemy) DC 15; Cost4,750 gp.

Stone Cursed      CR 4
XP 1,200
LE Medium construct
Init+1;Sensesdarkvision 60 ft., Perception +0
Defense
AC14, touch 7, flat-footed 14(-3 Dex, +7 natural)
hp36 (3d10+20)
Fort+1,Ref-1,Will+1
Immuneconstruct traits
Defensive Abilities hardness 8; Weaknessbrittle
Offense
Speed15 ft.
Melee2 claws +6 (1d6+3 plus calcify)
Special Attacks sneak attack +1d6
Statistics
Str16,Dex5,Con-,Int5,Wis10,Cha7
Base Atk +3;CMB+6;CMD13
FeatsAbility Focus (calcify),Combat Reflexes,Improved Initiative
SkillsStealth +8; Racial Modifiers +8 Stealth
LanguagesCommon (cannot speak)
SQfreeze (statue)
Ecology
Environmentany
Organizationsolitary, pair, gallery (3-6) or collection (7-12)
Treasurespecial (see above)
Special Abilities
Brittle (Ex) Bludgeoning weapons ignore a stone cursed’s hardness.
Calcify (Su) A creature struck by a stone cursed’s claw attack must succeed a DC 13 Fortitude save or take 1d4 points of Dexterity damage. A creature reduced to 0 Dexterity is petrified for 24 hours, whereupon it returns to flesh with 1 Dexterity point. The save DC is Constitution based.