Non-living

Non-living is term that refers to all creatures that are not considered to be alive. All non-living creatures have similar traits, that typically somehow consern "life force". For example, all non-living creatures are immune to vampire lords' life drain.

The term non-living was officially introduced in Shadow of Death manual, where in the description of Elixir of Life artifact stated, that the artifact "does not work on Undead or non-living creatures". Although that description suggest that Undead would not be considered as non-living creatures, it is commonly acknowledged fact that Undead are also non-living beings. Additionally, golems and elemental are considered to be non-living creatures in Heroes of Might and Magic III.

While stone and obisidian gargoyles have similar features with golems, they are not commonly referred as ones because their lack of anthropomorphism. The same reason applies to crystal dragons. This fact makes them only creatures, that are considered as non-living creatures, but not as golems or as elementals.