Shardcaster

Shardcasters were crystalline construct guardians created by the star elves of Sildëyuir.

Description
Made entirely from magically animated glass or crystal, shardcasters were typically around tall and  wide, and could weigh as much as. The interior of a shardcaster glowed faintly blue, visible through its translucent body.

Abilities
Shardcasters could merge their bodies with any surface made from glass or crystal, which made for easy storage&hellip; and allowed them to hide from anyone not under the effect of a spell of true seeing. They could manipulate glass and crystal objects into sprouting powerful crystal tentacles, and they could hurl shards of jagged crystal from their bodies&mdash;hence the name "shardcaster". These crystalline constructs were especially vulnerable to sonic energy.

Behavior
Utterly mindless automatons, shardcasters could do little more than act in accordance with their creator's commands.

Combat
The standard modus operandi of a shardcaster was to spring from its hiding place within a glass surface to catch intruders by surprise. It would then attempt to use its crystal tentacles to disable foes at a distance while violently slamming those within range of its fists.

Creation
The secrets of shardcaster construction were jealously guarded by the star elves. It was a highly complex affair that could only be undertaken by veteran casters that had mastered the spells animate object, geas/quest, meld into stone, and Mordenkainen's sword. The body itself was created from a single block of magical crystal or glass, weighing at least, usually worth around 5,000 gp. The carving of the body required the services of an expert glassmaker or gemcutter. All in all, creating a single shardcaster cost around 50,000 gp.

History
Shardcasters were created by the star elves of Sildëyuir for the specific purpose of guarding their glass citadels.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * The Twilight Tomb