The Gargoyle's Two Prices
The Gargoyle in Shadowdark sits at Armor Class 16, flies, and swings two claws at +3 for 1d6 each. On paper that is a mid-grade bruiser. The line that matters is its Impervious talent: non-magical weapons and attacks simply do not affect it. No workaround, no lucky crit. If your steel is mundane, you are hitting granite.
This turns the Gargoyle into a resource question rather than a combat one. A party with a spell, a magic weapon, or an exit can end the fight. A party without those has three real options: spend what magic they have, leave, or die slowly under a stone that does not tire. Because it flies, running is a legitimate answer, not a failure.
The interesting version puts the Gargoyle where retreat costs something. Guarding a door someone is trapped behind. Perched over an NPC who cannot outrun it. Now the scarce magic buys one outcome, not both. Save the person and risk the party, or secure the party and accept what the Gargoyle does in the meantime.
At the table: Place the Gargoyle atop a caged prisoner, then tell the players their one Magic Missile scroll can either kill the statue or blast the lock, not both this round.
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