Gladiator Talisman Servant

Only a cruel mage of 18th level or higher builds one, from stone, leather and iron or bronze. It looks like a hulking humanoid in a barbarian's or arena brawler's gear, with a head like a grotesque helm whose eyes burn with fury when active, and jaws big enough to engulf a victim's head. Spiked bracers sheathe its forearms, and its hands end in razor claws. The talisman is typically a dagger, medallion, bracer or spiked glove marked with the sign of a violent god of tyranny, war, pain or the hunt.

Built to slaughter for its owner's amusement, it has Strength 20 and a seasoned brawler's reflexes. A natural 19 or 20 against a man-sized or smaller foe traps the victim in a bear hug; it can no longer use its arms, but bites at +3. Foes too strong to face directly are worn down by hurling anything, or anyone, it can grab. Mind-affecting magic fails against it, only +2 or better weapons wound it, and its bracers count as shields +3.

Each round brings a 10% chance of berserk rage: it attacks twice as often until nothing lives within 20' or its master regains control by rolling 6d10 under his combined Intelligence and Wisdom. A master holding the talisman is never attacked, even by a raging servant, but keeping it calm demands full focus, so he cannot cast spells and loses 2 Dexterity for the rest of the melee. If the talisman is stolen during a rage, roll 1d6: on 1-3 the servant freezes 1-3 rounds while linking to its new holder; on 4-6 it shatters from the shock, showering everyone within five feet with debris for 2-8 damage.

Unless berserk, it pauses before the killing blow, arena-style, to await its master's signal of mercy or death. Spared victims are released; condemned ones die to a triumphant roar.

Neglected, it has a 75% chance per day to activate itself, especially somewhere recently steeped in violence such as a battlefield, then rampages until destroyed or brought to heel. Bards tell many tales of gladiators wiping out villages and whole battalions.

In the old magical empire they appeared everywhere, but chiefly on the bloody sands of arenas or at the heart of a wizard's shock troops, always under close watch. Today a working one might lurk beneath a fortress or city lost for centuries.

It needs no food, drink, rest or air, yet seems to revel in the destruction it causes. A destroyed gladiator's bracers turn mundane but can be refitted for a human-sized fighter.