I'm surprised no one mentioned The Becoming God. Basically, after the war ended, a bunch of warforged were having an identity crisis about what to do now, and their logic was basically "Well, we're people, what do people do when they need direction?" "They usually ask their gods." "Oh. We don't have a god. I guess we'll have to build one." And then they set out to construct a literal god.
Magnus Anderson: Unlike most religions, they don't have doctrine (that's what gods are for), so they actually do spend most of their time amassing magical doo-dads for research, deconstruction, and/or incorporation into their god. A hypothetical artifact capable of powering/creating it's body would actually be a pretty perfect MacGuffin for a story around them.
@@jgr7487 no all God's are either created from the astral sea. Or are mortals that became gods or sometimes children of other God's. The fish people are the only ones who have "false" God's. As they are brought into being by the belief that this thing is a god. So those are God's too.
a diamond or crystal golem where not only they are tough, BUT...spells cast against them are reflected at a random angle..OR are prismed out (at random angles) as DIFFERENT spells..like white light comes out as a rainbow
CCs Welding yeah but Adamantite Golem reflect spells cast at them back at the Castor and if you're too close to them it negates your magic all together mithril also has some of the reflective capabilities
why reflect spells with a adamantite golem when the gem golems can be given to a wizard boss who uses that random spell prisming as his main method of mixing things up
Honestly, I really like the idea of playing a wizard who makes constructs. I think it would be cool to be the guy who makes a homunculus, animates a suit of armor or finds a manual of golem creation.
I've always wanted to play a character like that. I thought that artificer was the answer to my prayers but it turns out it's just a steampunk druid. D&D seems to actively discourage you from creating constructs and I don't understand why. it seems like the easy way to solve the problem of not enough people
i like the idea of spirits powering golems being like indentured servants: after the contract has expired, they get to keep the body and do their own thing
Sept I usually have my elementals as more animalistic intelligence (if that), but I do like the general principal, and have used it elsewhere. In one setting I have, the difference between a full dragon and a mere animalistic drake is that the dragon was at one point a familiar, so dragons will make deals of letting their children become familiars of certain mages they deem worthy, as the child gets full sentience and a significant power boost out of the deal, but has to go through a period of indentured servitude to a mage (who may put their life in danger) untill the mage dies. The concept of magical bindings being an exchange with both parties gaining something is fun to play with. Maybe summonings or animal companions later grow into the dire versions of their form due to the magic power they get from answering the call. There's a wealth of rp opportunities in this.
I've been toying with a Frankenstein character for a while, and was figuring out how its race (I call them Prometheans) would relate to (and be _distinct from_ ) the flesh golem. What I figure is that a Flesh Golem is a stepping stone on the way to create the truly sapient, PC-worthy being that is a Promethean. Unlike the Promethean, a flesh golem is somewhere between inert corpse matter and living flesh, and has no true soul of its own, just a lightning spirit that animates it. In essence, the flesh golem is a transition stage towards the ultimate goal of the Promethean. Indeed, you can't create a Promethean without understanding the principles of flesh golem creation. Flesh golems can be written of in a manual, but a Promethean can't be. Every Promethean is a singular creation, made from half technical mastery and half inspired artistry. The latter can't be taught, as the maker of the Promethean is in many ways figuring out those last secrets _as they are making the Promethean_ . To create true life from death requires something transcendent; a spark of genius that can't be put into words, but that the creator just _knows_ .
As a brand new DM that hasn't played any real serious campaigns this series is the greatest tool at my disposal. Thank you guys for all your experience and having nothing but Web DM on my youtube home page shows that you guys are pretty much all I watch now.
Fun encounter idea: PC's get sealed into a room with a Clay Golem and 2+ Gelatinous Cubes. If the cubes engulf the golem, they basically heal it. Kiting tactics 101. Destroy the golem to place the ruby in its chest in the door slot to escape.
_one of my favourite characters was “illur, the golemancer” who’s entire quest in life was to kill every god in the pantheon. He dealt with atropals a lot._
I just recently threw a golem at my party, I Had a Nilbog operating inside a Clay Golem suit of armor, that was covered with a slick Ochre Jelly Membrane. Nilbogs and the clay golem get healed by the acidic damage, keeping them nice and healthy, while attacks from the golem also carry delicious jelly damage. My party was steamrolling through every enemy I threw at it, but a wrist mounted tentacles of acidic jelly grabbing the wizard and punching the warrior did great damage and provided enough of a scare, the cackling laughters of the Nilbog added a nice touch to the giant F*** you!
Man these guys are awesome, their aproach to DnD is so cool! They're creative and have some great ideas. Many DMs are some boring rule enforcers that do not let you do anything not written in the book, but they, they are like "if it makes sense, why not"
The mention of a lair in a volcano with iron golems makes me think of an adventure where a red dragon hires a team to help construct an iron golem - or even more than one, because the dragon keeps getting pestered by adventurers and wants a front line so it can get some sleep.
I can see a campaign idea where the party meets a golem that is slowly coming to full sentience. They have to deal with the implications of that while also dealing with a similar consequence to AI sentience.
one aspect of the golem is they can misunderstand a command taking it to a literal extent so in a campain the master of the golem may not know what trouble its causing. ie ordering golems to gather fresh remains from the graveyards but the golem slays living people to get the freshest material.
@Yannick Dellaert I'm pretty sure he is working on either his Stronghold Rules or another Top Secret Project he has hinted at. If you haven't already, you should watch the interview between him and Nerdarchy. He kind of hinted that because of him being busy on other projects he would be gone for at least 3-4 weeks. It is sad though. I can't wait for another video.
CyberRandy MadRazor might be another reason why they're taboo: those voices would eventually but inevitability drive them insane and berserk. They're super useful and easier to make than other golems, but that comes with a price.
Actually knowing a person who has DID, I can't say I'm really a fan of that berserk angle. A philosophical story that ponders the nature of identity, agency, and existence means might be cool though. It would still be pretty taboo for an entirely different set of reasons than the ones you've laid out that also go beyond just desecrating those people's memories.
MycenaeanGal I was presuming the desecration and trama of the golem creation influencing the voices of the dead into something worse than a violent case of schizophrenia, rather than a perfect anologue for DID or any other real disorder. When there's magical influence, sometimes making something that doesn't prefectly mirror any real life thing works. That said, applying real-life psychology to make something with more philosophical depth to explore isn't ever really a bad option if you want to take some time with something.
In my DND playthrough (Homebrew) I'm a level 9 necromancer and I wanted to make a golem that I can transfer my soul into and leave my necromancer body when I need it for strength checks or stuff like that. And now I'm on a quest to find out how to do it, and how to keep my soul from being destroyed.
This reminds me of one campaigned my group played where we focused on planar adventures. We had a dimension hopping airship and we all started out at pretty high level. One of the players made a character who focused on having a collection of golems. One of his golems was pretty big, so to keep it from taking up space on the ship, we would have it cling to the underside of the ship like, as was once said, "some kind of horrible barnacle".
now, after MToF was released, we can always give the Mad Wizard who built the 4 "elemental" Golems an assurance: after you destroy all of his/her Golems, their Elemental essence can just join another time to form an *Elemental Myrmidon* !
First question: can you share the link to that blog talking about the Warforged? Please? Second: Shield Guardian. If you have players that covet one, give an Illithid a Shield Guardian. Inside the amulet is an Illithid tadpole in suspended animation. When a non-Illithid wears the amulet, there's a chance the tadpole emerges and, well, we know how that ends.
I bet that would work better with slaads, imagine a death slaad with that. Convincing a blue or red slaad to slather it with their disease or inject an egg into it and then surpriiiiise :D
In my world, warforged are a type of golem. Instead of binding an unwilling elemental spirit to a husk of flesh, clay, stone, or iron, warforged are humanoid souls bound to a mechanized form.
In a campaign I'm running at present, one of my players has a flesh golem that actually holds the spirit of his dead little brother. It's pretty dark, but he plays it out very well!
I mean one of my favorite ideas for a town had neutral necromancy, where your honored dead were raised to do things too dangerous for people, and to fight for the town. Your family was rewarded for the service so it was seen as an honor to defend and provide for your family even after death. So having it be an honor to be put in a flesh golem is something I can see. Sacrificing your body to be a defender of your family even in death is something that could be seen as heroic with the right spin
A game where not all orcs are evil? Where not all goblins must be killed? WTF! its almost like your referencing some game where the gm wants their players to "think" instead of simply murder hobo! Well I NEVER!
For some reason I want to add that Necromancer at the edge of town who has a pet cemetery where all the locals take and bury their pets and a DC17 hidden path leading down to a special burial ground area to my campaign.
I really like the lore in Dragon Age, where they are created by transferring dwarf soul into a constructed body, and the moral question of is it right to force someone into it. Another good example of something golem like is the geth in the Mass Effect series, constructed as tireless servant but eventually created their own society.
I would love to see an episode on mysteries in campaigns. Wanted to do them, but struggle find away to not make it just a bunch of perception and insight checks.
Give everyone advantage on their insight / perception checks when they aren't alone (assuming help actions), on the agreement that everyone uses their passive score. That's a +5 to their passive. If someone is working against the group, they grant disadvantage - only you would know this (suggesting they are subplanting misinformation). If they argue about the lack of opportunity's for natural 20's and redundant checks, tell them you set the DC's - if they don't take the deal, you're going to set higher-than-normal DC's and they may fail 2-3 times, making it actually harder for them to meta at all. This isn't like finding a crossbow trap. This is about a higher level of investigation - this is some sherlock holmes shit.. Then, flood your players with information. Add red herrings, subplots, and consume them with events. Make a number of events occur for spice - power goes out (magic lights or darkness), screams, events that occur not based on a timeline, but when you feel the pace is slogging. Make a dozen NPC's - you need fodder for deaths, and you need people to be missing and it not seem out of place. Again - they can be subplots or red herrings. See "Clue". Really note the times where certain characters are missing in that movie and how the secret passages could be used to move about stealthily. Magic spinning fireplaces (see indiana jones and the last crusade)... then, most crucially.... Make sure each player gets 1 key piece of information about the plot. You will be shocked how long it takes for people to communicate information within a group. Do this by making a bunch of random innocuous cards - a bloody candlestick with "Rosebud" written on it. A crow's feather, inked, nearly empty (suggesting a missing note). Make 3-4 dozen and then make sure each player gets a few, and mark where they got it under what conditions. Make sure only 4-5 of them matter, the rest pertain to red herrings and subplots. Consider adding agenda's - give players conflicting agenda's, and watch the meta just go CRAZY. They may not be evil, but say, getting a Lich's notes might be very lucrative for a necromancer, and bait players into wanting to sneak away from the group... or openly separate. This will skew their sense of time. Really reward these nefarious behavior's - say, releasing a warlock for a set of lich's notes. These subplots add additional information, which slog down the puzzle nature. Make the actual murder easy - then obscure it in red herrings. If people flounder, have NPC's discover pertinent details. Then roll dice and kill one or two - if they are floundering, create new evidence. Don't let them bake their noodles and hide in the library if they aren't making forward progression. Derail them with events, to spice things up. Add battles after major revelations, make sure they feel an incremental gain. Found a crucial key to a locked magically sealed room? Excellent, the space in there is an encounter with a wight who lives in the gamehall, or have that room be locked holding in something like a banshee, or a horned devil - or a genie. Anyway, it's not as bad as it seems - you'd be surprised how often parties obfuscate information. You can hand them the plot gift wrapped, half the time they'll drop it somewhere along the line. You'd be surprised.
rubesqubes1997 Depends on what the mystery is I guess. I'm currently running a mystery like campaign, where something terrible has changed the natural world, and a world ending event has happend. after the extinction of some playable races, the parties job is to figure out what happend many years ago and reverse the world ending problem. it all depends on how detailed you get really. What really gets people enthralled with mystery are a few things. (make the mystery fun and challenging. make it a mind bending puzzle rather than a skill check event. ) Give them a sence of impulse to solve the puzzle for instance (if your game is a murder mystery and the party is trying to figure out who the killer is, maybe that killer will strike again and kill off one of their favorite NPC's) You don't have to reward your players with physical value such as money or loot. Your reward could be something like them finding a secret passage way that lures them in deeper into the story. I'd say for you my friend just take some time and test run your campaign before hand, then ask your self how would you play? how would your players play? are my puzzles too hard or too easy? would they care at all about the NPC's and the world I've created? what's in it for them when they start figuring out your puzzles. Also for a mystery campaign, I usually don't tell them that it's a mystery before hand, as they might be disengaged the secound they understand that they need to solve puzzles and riddles. Instead present the world to them, let them stumble upon an unsettling event and draw them in through your use of discription as well as their sence of wonder and discovery. hope that helps, if you need help or have any questions feel free to ask , I'm sure the fantastic gentlemen here at WEB DM will help as well.
This reminds me of a recent D&D session I had where the DM had an encounter with this like mad scientist and his flesh golem. The scientist had an electricity weapon that he could use to attack and heal the golem. It was supposed tobe a really challenging fight and the DM was exited for it... then the sorcerer cast levitate on the golem, making him unable to do anything exept float there for the rest of the fight, this essentialy ended the encounter
just made a Warforged pugilist called Justice who was made by a couple of powerful wizards and embodies all the different golems by having stone, clay and iron but with a humans brain which is how it gained its sentience.
Being a new player to D&D that is currently playing a faerie Necromancer that plans on making lots of constructs and golems this was very helpful! Thank you for the amazing videos!
I made a campaign that when the PC killed an orc camp a dark gem stitch all the Gore together and created a giant orc flesh golem with a gem in it's chest.
My story with golems seems very much like the sentient Frankenstein monster. One of my players decided to play a warforged in my warforged-free world in pathfinder. "OK!" I said. He was a very powerful fighter but his story was difficult to fit in my late medieval narrative. So we made him the first and only of his race, a mysterious golem who developed a soul of some sort, a failed experiment turning him in his Father's favourite "son". Discovering how he came to life ended up becoming part of his long term goals. He was so heart broken when he found out that the soul was actually implanted via reincarnation of a samsaran (go check the race for extra tears) thanks to the idea of a mad colleague of his "father". Mind that this was revealed only after they travelled through a terrifying hidden laboratory filled with their past failures and "older brothers". It was amazing! He was 13 level character by then, a cruel general of an entire army who never felt sorry for anything he had done, but now he was for himself and the misery of his birth. Never say no to player, use imagination even if you know their doing it for power play, make them feel different from they're original choices! :D
Flesh golems are my favorite, since horror is one of my favorite things in any entertainment. I love how you guys talked about the alternate version of someone being honored after death in making them a flesh golem with their spirit inhabiting it. I think a military general's spirit preserved into a sentient living corpse along with some early mechanical engineering makes for an awesome character, could go evil and be the big bad, lead armies or even just be a memorabl/ useful npc. Good video as always
I'd always figured if you used a water Elemental the golem would probably not stay humanoid shaped; it might be all bloby like a giant clay bludgeoning ooze.
I kinda always wanted to make a mage that is obsessed with golems, even going so far as to ogle an enemy golem, making sure to always have one ready as a servant, even at lower levels they could have some weak little thing that does simple tasks and sucks at combat. Their personal goal would be working their way up to an adimantium golem.
So I was thinking about letting my adventures gather up "special parts" to argument the Flesh Golem who's Manuel I gave them. for example a troll heart to give health regeneration, basilisk eyes to give it the ability to turn things to stone. That to OP or no? They'll have to Quest for it of course.
God I Love Glyph of warding for powerful mages. "Toss them, smoke them, lock them down!" My wizard just activated three glyphs that first Scattered the enemy onto a predetermined platform, cast Cloud Kill on them, and then put a Bubble of Force around them. Then my group can kill the ones who saved/were left over and we cna focus on the ones that didn't choke to death.
Could y'all do a video about Potions/Oils? Perhaps delve a little bit into crafting in 5e. I know the DMG has some stuff on magical crafting (which is all kinda shitty imo). I'd love to hear how you all handle magical crafting, alchemy, blacksmithing, etc.
JPruInc I would love to hear what you have to say about crafting potions and such. The rules in the books are either so bad and not helpful at all or so excessive that is it pointless to even try to make a potion. You might as well just buy a healing potion then actually making one for yourself... Also if you wouldn't mind, I would like to see what you think are some other cool ideas for potions then the ones in the Dungeon masters Manuel.
In two of the campaigns I'm in our party has gotten hold of a Shield Guardian. The one we procured in Rise of Tiamat was carried around by our Wizard in a portable hole and would be unleashed whenever we got into combat. After a while its lack of magical attacks meant it wasn't doing quite as much damage as we'd like, but it was still handy to have another body and something that could smash through doors and walls. Unfortunately that one met its end at the breath of a Red Shadow Dragon we were fighting. We tried to find out how to fix it or make another one, but the resources involved were daunting and we figured we had better things to do. In the Curse of Strahd game I play we got our hands on one and turned it over to our halfling sorceress so it could mitigate some of the damage she takes as she's got the lowest AC in the group. She immediately named it Shieldy and has started decorating it. I'm eager to see how useful the thing will be in Castle Ravenloft. I also liked that ye mentioned the fire regeneration of the Iron Golem. In a homebrew sidequest of our Rise of Tiamat group we fought an Iron Golem and a handfull of flame skulls. First thing the skulls did was fly up out of reach and just start hitting the flame golem with fire balls and fire rays. Fucking thing took forever to kill! Hahaha.
I had a great time in CoS with my Shield Guardian. I was playing a life cleric, and just put Spirit Guardians in it every time. He would stand over me and rain death on anything stupid enough to attack in melee. It was glorious.
Dm'd an encounter with an pair of iron golems in a temple of the forge once, two of the temple clerics cast heat metal on them. The party had fun with that one.
I think the best thing about golems is their homebrew capabilities. my favorite and strongest homebrew golems are the crystal golem and the adamantine golem. the crystal golem came into play because they were trying to create Excalibur in order to fight tiamat. they used a divine intervention to find out where the last part they needed for Excalibur was (a beautiful bixbite crystal) and it turned out to be inside a mountain on the elemental plane of earth. when they got there and entered the mountain it turned out the mountain was a giant geode filled with every crystal imaginable but when they found the bixbite and tried to take it out of the ground the ground started rising and a gargantuan golem made of different crystals rose up. I essentially just took a tarrasque reduced it's hp by 150 and gave it the ability to heal from radiant damage.
I always wanted to have an enlightened Flesh Golem Mystic as a BBEG who learns about his own soulessness and tries to gain the favour of the warforged to overthrow the humanoids in charge.
I thought of an interesting idea. How about a warfordged enchanter who use ms charm spells to keep a person enslaved. On the surface, they appear like a normal wizard/construct relationship, but that's how the war forged keep a low profile.
GO lem, not Gollum. lol! Good show! That's a badass Idea about it being an honor to be used in the creation of a flesh golem! Love it, and gonna use it in my dark sun game! Thanks!
One thing about golem's - they're terrifying. I like to think they represent the subconscious - will, animated from materials from the earth to fulfill an objective, then return to dust. Very human. Simply a confrontation, no frills, against a golem can absolutely tailspin a hardy player. I remove the breath weapons and with just raw physicality, and add a grapple specialty - standard grapple check, except that you restrained if it grabs you. Tons of flavor, and that's a very foreboding RP without any additional junk - I do strength checks for him to toss somebody and equate the distance to fall damage (easy would be standard strength check = feet thrown calculated as additional fall damage)... much less dangerous than a breath weapon or a berzerk golem, and much more "golem" esque. Also a lot of it is in the flavor - when players get hit you want them to be damaged by their armor folding in on itself, a twisted arm releases a bone chip, a shot to the shoulder is almost enough to knock someone out from whiplash. These kinds of descriptions really reflect the implacable nature of this stone object - and the fragility of the human form. I also do the same thing when the golem takes damage. Thinks like shots to the eyes, stick a sword between the knee's, if they are using non-magical weapons I say they risk breaking them, but never really actually follow up on it - it's enough to get them "thinking". I try to lay off the gimmicks because like... if you have a golem, you designed it to be mobile and to protect something in an unusual place. If you had time to design a room that needed to be protected, you wouldn't assign a golem to it, instead make traps or just fill it with monsters, or simply lock it magically. Create things like hallowed ground effects and so on - a golem is a character, it's a tool that highlights another creatures will. Someone told it to "wait here" and then was killed by a cave-in. Now it blocks the hallway permanently, which can be a problem if his bulk stops, say, a cart you're pulling with crucial artifacts. Same scenario - someone's turned the golem into a makeshift chest, having locked something inside its breastplate via a dimension door spell. In an effort to protect itself, it kills anyone trying to get "inside" it by rupturing its chest. Just CLIMBING the thing will be disturbing. Try to think of the reverence you have when you see an exquisite marble statue - this is much the same thing. An implacable monument of willpower. Make it a showpiece rather than a simple a minion encounter. If you are going for straight "encounter". All I'm gonna say is, consider "The Terminator". Dull down the size of it, keep its grapple tendencies instead of breath weapons, make it a kind of one-off assassin. Someone sends one of these guys at someone and it's like a wrecking ball, no sense of self-preservation whatsoever - it's coming for that King and it will work its way through his guards like fodder. It's a great start to a story when someone see's someone walking down the street in a cloak and hood, uninterrupted destroying everything on its way to say, the mage's tower. No stealth, just raw physical power. It's movement belies the normal governmental response - I mean, how fast can a community REALLY react? Again, see "The Terminator". It'd be pretty hard to stop even in a world as magically inclined as D&D - just getting word across town would be hard when it's moving full-pace. Make it improvise weapons but instead of wielding them smartly, it's using raw force. Wielding a mace at someone with a shield, they'll block, but it might not matter. It might hit hard enough to break his arm through the shield - this is the kind of flavor you want to focus on. It validates the real "sense" of the creature itself. They make great setpieces to be focused on rather than just another encounter - they are a walking talking clue to someone else's intents.
Another question for golems. Following the idea of "what if you need a willing elemental". First, does have have to be willing, or can you just bind it to the plane until such a time when you force it into the construct? Second, what about the type of elemental? Because of this, my game world I've been working on (which is rather high magic) now has three different types of each golem. The first powered by a mephit, the second powered by an elemental, and the third powered by a genie. Using the flesh golem as an example, the smoke mephit would create a standard, monster manual, flesh golem. With an air elemental, the flesh golem gains the elemental's Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores, 30 ft fly speed (no hover), and a variant of the Whirlwind action. With a djinni, the flesh golem gains the elemental's Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores, 60 ft fly speed (with hover), saving throw proficiencies, innate spellcasting, and the Create Whirlwind action.
I homebrewed a Bronze Golem for my Dark Sun campaign, basically a weaker version of an Iron Golem. It''s a pretty neat mid-tier level mob.. the players barely damaged it and needed to run.
All these videos have helped find cool and interesting ways to use monsters that I may have looked over. You guys are doings great work. Class videos have also helped me with interesting new concepts.
currently playing an animated armour bard its gnome sized and has a trumpet for its helm my first game was supposed to be me playing a stupid character nooting at people but after meeting a wizard turned into an introspective journey onto how im technically not alive
Another excellent video guys! Might I request a video on Liches soon? I'm writing a campaign centered on one and who better to look for advice on playing them then by you guys.
ever thought of a video about some more obscure demons/devils/ fey? some of the ones in Volo's are rad. Like the devourer and the draegloth and darklings
Im my campaign for my friends Flesh Golems for me is just necromancy and has to be controlled directly by a necromancer or anyone that has some sort of way to enthrall undead. And scary thing is, if you kill the owner it goes into a berserk rampage attacking any and everything living thing in sight. Additionally the metal golems are only made by master craftsman in mine and are more like constructs than golems.
KingCarrot if I were running the game, I'd say yes. You could also argue that the ritual that binds the spirit to an object protects the spirit from banishment.
I would say that the binding spell protects the spirit from banishing (similar to dimensional anchor probably), but a wizard with intimate knowledge of golem construction could probably fix that somehow. Maybe a targeted dispel magic.
I'd rule that Banishment works as if the Golem is native to the current plane as long as the spirit's vessel is intact. If you destroy the vessel while it's banished however, the spirit has nowhere to go except back to its home plane. (this idea would mean that the spirit is banished, but not the "body" which is not how it works with other creatures, but I feel fits for Golems) That'd hopefully be enough of a reward for clever thinking, but not so much as to ruin an encounter with an Iron Golem with one 3rd level spell
Then someone gets the brilliant idea to cram demons into custom Golems resulting in profanity slinging slaves who can't wait for their cage to breakdown.
You guys should do a mini episode. Maybe discuss the evolution of the mini's from the beginning to now? Show off some of the cooler ones you guys like to use and talk about the pros and cons of mini use in dnd?
I have been thinking of making a stone golem as a player character. I have a backstory ready for this sentient golem (think Dorfl from Discworld) but the power balance is difficult to still keep the feel of this powerfull being. It would be a barbarian by class but a pacifist by nature.
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web DM: calls iron golems stupid
iron golem with a headband of intellect: );
I'm surprised no one mentioned The Becoming God. Basically, after the war ended, a bunch of warforged were having an identity crisis about what to do now, and their logic was basically
"Well, we're people, what do people do when they need direction?"
"They usually ask their gods."
"Oh. We don't have a god. I guess we'll have to build one."
And then they set out to construct a literal god.
This is awesome!
Stealing this if I ever use warforged. The god's head is complete but he needs a magic item to make his body.
Holy Shit! That's awesome!
Magnus Anderson: Unlike most religions, they don't have doctrine (that's what gods are for), so they actually do spend most of their time amassing magical doo-dads for research, deconstruction, and/or incorporation into their god.
A hypothetical artifact capable of powering/creating it's body would actually be a pretty perfect MacGuffin for a story around them.
drtoonie aren't all Human gods made-up gods, apart Asmodeus?
@@jgr7487 no all God's are either created from the astral sea. Or are mortals that became gods or sometimes children of other God's. The fish people are the only ones who have "false" God's. As they are brought into being by the belief that this thing is a god. So those are God's too.
I remember using a Porcelaine Golem once, it was obviously fragile and weak, so it was usead as a luxury servant, acting like a butler or maid
I like that.
I think that I may use that... Kinda like dolls, or...?
It was human-sized shaped in a very elegant way. Looked kinda like a human-china dish
That's exactly how I imagined them.
That's posh AF.
a diamond or crystal golem where not only they are tough, BUT...spells cast against them are reflected at a random angle..OR are prismed out (at random angles) as DIFFERENT spells..like white light comes out as a rainbow
That's a nifty idea.
That's a hilarious idea for an Igor type side minion for a wizard boss named Floyd who wears pink robes.
CCs Welding yeah but Adamantite Golem reflect spells cast at them back at the Castor and if you're too close to them it negates your magic all together mithril also has some of the reflective capabilities
why reflect spells with a adamantite golem when the gem golems can be given to a wizard boss who uses that random spell prisming as his main method of mixing things up
A diamond golem would be immune to radiant damage, but *_EXTREMELY_* weak to bludgeoning damage.
Honestly, I really like the idea of playing a wizard who makes constructs. I think it would be cool to be the guy who makes a homunculus, animates a suit of armor or finds a manual of golem creation.
I would just make a ton of golems and have a cavalry battle, or make a group of golems that combine to form a mega golem.
What subclass should he be?
I've always wanted to play a character like that. I thought that artificer was the answer to my prayers but it turns out it's just a steampunk druid.
D&D seems to actively discourage you from creating constructs and I don't understand why. it seems like the easy way to solve the problem of not enough people
And I agree. Now make a construct pulled wagon with a dimensional space inside of the wagon. Because that kind of wizard should have a mobile workshop
Welcome to the artificer
i like the idea of spirits powering golems being like indentured servants: after the contract has expired, they get to keep the body and do their own thing
Sept I usually have my elementals as more animalistic intelligence (if that), but I do like the general principal, and have used it elsewhere.
In one setting I have, the difference between a full dragon and a mere animalistic drake is that the dragon was at one point a familiar, so dragons will make deals of letting their children become familiars of certain mages they deem worthy, as the child gets full sentience and a significant power boost out of the deal, but has to go through a period of indentured servitude to a mage (who may put their life in danger) untill the mage dies.
The concept of magical bindings being an exchange with both parties gaining something is fun to play with. Maybe summonings or animal companions later grow into the dire versions of their form due to the magic power they get from answering the call.
There's a wealth of rp opportunities in this.
makes me wonder if you could cast unseen servant and then instruct it to empower the golem
"Don't feel bad, rip it apart." Yeah, try saying that to the poor spellcaster who spent a king's ransom building the thing in the first place.
I've been toying with a Frankenstein character for a while, and was figuring out how its race (I call them Prometheans) would relate to (and be _distinct from_ ) the flesh golem.
What I figure is that a Flesh Golem is a stepping stone on the way to create the truly sapient, PC-worthy being that is a Promethean. Unlike the Promethean, a flesh golem is somewhere between inert corpse matter and living flesh, and has no true soul of its own, just a lightning spirit that animates it. In essence, the flesh golem is a transition stage towards the ultimate goal of the Promethean.
Indeed, you can't create a Promethean without understanding the principles of flesh golem creation. Flesh golems can be written of in a manual, but a Promethean can't be. Every Promethean is a singular creation, made from half technical mastery and half inspired artistry. The latter can't be taught, as the maker of the Promethean is in many ways figuring out those last secrets _as they are making the Promethean_ . To create true life from death requires something transcendent; a spark of genius that can't be put into words, but that the creator just _knows_ .
Bluecho4
If you want to play World of Darkness, just play World of Darkness.
Reminds me of the aliens in Ben 10
Great video once again guys! Thinking of adding a Golem to my campaign soon now hmmm
MrRhexx dude. You've managed to drag Skyrim through like what 6 years of content why aren't you making dnd content
He has he just stopped
The Penman Program more profitable to drag Skyrim through the mud. Well hey if it works for Bethesda
Mrrhexx I'd love to see some more dnd from you bro
You can try making a town full of golems
fire elemental somehow INSIDE an iron golem...now it self-heals
That's pretty wicked.
That sounds like a good idea for my Volcano Dwarves to use.
As a brand new DM that hasn't played any real serious campaigns this series is the greatest tool at my disposal. Thank you guys for all your experience and having nothing but Web DM on my youtube home page shows that you guys are pretty much all I watch now.
Fun encounter idea:
PC's get sealed into a room with a Clay Golem and 2+ Gelatinous Cubes. If the cubes engulf the golem, they basically heal it. Kiting tactics 101. Destroy the golem to place the ruby in its chest in the door slot to escape.
_one of my favourite characters was “illur, the golemancer” who’s entire quest in life was to kill every god in the pantheon. He dealt with atropals a lot._
I just recently threw a golem at my party, I Had a Nilbog operating inside a Clay Golem suit of armor, that was covered with a slick Ochre Jelly Membrane. Nilbogs and the clay golem get healed by the acidic damage, keeping them nice and healthy, while attacks from the golem also carry delicious jelly damage. My party was steamrolling through every enemy I threw at it, but a wrist mounted tentacles of acidic jelly grabbing the wizard and punching the warrior did great damage and provided enough of a scare, the cackling laughters of the Nilbog added a nice touch to the giant F*** you!
TDFC-MKVII nice
Awesome idea! I might borrow this...
You guys always "construct" the best videos.
BOOOOO!!...lol..i was gunna make that joke
Great minds think alike! ;D
Cerberus so what's our excuse? Lol
Very well punned.
JPruInc can u guys do a video on some "unique" player species like monster player species and warforged and stuff
Man these guys are awesome, their aproach to DnD is so cool! They're creative and have some great ideas. Many DMs are some boring rule enforcers that do not let you do anything not written in the book, but they, they are like "if it makes sense, why not"
It's a game. Have fun with it. We always make sure the entire table is in agreement, though.
The mention of a lair in a volcano with iron golems makes me think of an adventure where a red dragon hires a team to help construct an iron golem - or even more than one, because the dragon keeps getting pestered by adventurers and wants a front line so it can get some sleep.
Meanwhile, how does War-Forged stand up against Dragon Age golems? DA golems have dwarves inside them.
I can see a campaign idea where the party meets a golem that is slowly coming to full sentience. They have to deal with the implications of that while also dealing with a similar consequence to AI sentience.
That would be fun story. The first warforged...
XD yeah pretty much what happened people shit a brick when the warforged asked why are we made?
Groz'zar Kazoku you pass the butter
James carter oh my god
one aspect of the golem is they can misunderstand a command taking it to a literal extent so in a campain the master of the golem may not know what trouble its causing. ie ordering golems to gather fresh remains from the graveyards but the golem slays living people to get the freshest material.
Haha. Killing people that are in the graveyard. Call that golem Mentos cause he's the freshmaker.
Nice pun
My addiction has been fed again. With Matt gone for over a month now, you are my only new dnd content I have. Keep up the good work.
You having withdrawals too? lol!
I am the same. I want more right fucking now!!!
O when will my Colville return to me?
TheGameGuy When o when will my dnd daddy return. He has slumbered for 1 month by now, what has happened with him?
@Yannick Dellaert
I'm pretty sure he is working on either his Stronghold Rules or another Top Secret Project he has hinted at. If you haven't already, you should watch the interview between him and Nerdarchy. He kind of hinted that because of him being busy on other projects he would be gone for at least 3-4 weeks.
It is sad though. I can't wait for another video.
fun thought, a flesh golem with the voices of the people used to create it in it's head
CyberRandy MadRazor might be another reason why they're taboo: those voices would eventually but inevitability drive them insane and berserk.
They're super useful and easier to make than other golems, but that comes with a price.
Actually knowing a person who has DID, I can't say I'm really a fan of that berserk angle. A philosophical story that ponders the nature of identity, agency, and existence means might be cool though. It would still be pretty taboo for an entirely different set of reasons than the ones you've laid out that also go beyond just desecrating those people's memories.
MycenaeanGal I was presuming the desecration and trama of the golem creation influencing the voices of the dead into something worse than a violent case of schizophrenia, rather than a perfect anologue for DID or any other real disorder.
When there's magical influence, sometimes making something that doesn't prefectly mirror any real life thing works. That said, applying real-life psychology to make something with more philosophical depth to explore isn't ever really a bad option if you want to take some time with something.
I didn't think you did. just like the comparisons that can be drawn make me uncomfortable
@@mycenaeangal9312 I have DID and from my perspectives the berserk angle is reasonable albiet offensive.
On the topic of self-aware, free-willed golems, Terry Pratchett's "Feet of Clay" and "Going Postal" might provide inspiration.
Danielle Clarke there's also a character in Hellboy that's basically a golem. Forgot his name though.
Stranded Starfish I'm talking about a character from the comics. Roger the Homunculus
In my DND playthrough (Homebrew) I'm a level 9 necromancer and I wanted to make a golem that I can transfer my soul into and leave my necromancer body when I need it for strength checks or stuff like that. And now I'm on a quest to find out how to do it, and how to keep my soul from being destroyed.
There was a spell in 3.5e called Heart of Stone - look into that as an option... yeah, I know it's been 3 years. Haha
"Three years lay-tare..."
iron golems and fire giants make good combinations for parties to deal with
Yes!
This reminds me of one campaigned my group played where we focused on planar adventures. We had a dimension hopping airship and we all started out at pretty high level. One of the players made a character who focused on having a collection of golems. One of his golems was pretty big, so to keep it from taking up space on the ship, we would have it cling to the underside of the ship like, as was once said, "some kind of horrible barnacle".
That's great!
now, after MToF was released, we can always give the Mad Wizard who built the 4 "elemental" Golems an assurance:
after you destroy all of his/her Golems, their Elemental essence can just join another time to form an *Elemental Myrmidon* !
Me when my players try to activate a golem.
"Pzzt*... query: Is there someone you need killed master?"
First question: can you share the link to that blog talking about the Warforged? Please?
Second: Shield Guardian. If you have players that covet one, give an Illithid a Shield Guardian. Inside the amulet is an Illithid tadpole in suspended animation. When a non-Illithid wears the amulet, there's a chance the tadpole emerges and, well, we know how that ends.
Mike Gould the link for Baker's Warforged is here. keith-baker.com/extra-life-hacking-the-warforged/
Thanks!!
So evil. You never disappoint!
I bet that would work better with slaads, imagine a death slaad with that. Convincing a blue or red slaad to slather it with their disease or inject an egg into it and then surpriiiiise :D
In my world, warforged are a type of golem. Instead of binding an unwilling elemental spirit to a husk of flesh, clay, stone, or iron, warforged are humanoid souls bound to a mechanized form.
What about Adamantine golems? They are even scarier than Iron golems.
FyreMagyk67 true
Silvermane
Mithril golems????
Is that a thing?!
I remember when I started watching these and cringed at the intro jokes. No idea when I started ti enjoy them.
In a campaign I'm running at present, one of my players has a flesh golem that actually holds the spirit of his dead little brother. It's pretty dark, but he plays it out very well!
I mean one of my favorite ideas for a town had neutral necromancy, where your honored dead were raised to do things too dangerous for people, and to fight for the town. Your family was rewarded for the service so it was seen as an honor to defend and provide for your family even after death. So having it be an honor to be put in a flesh golem is something I can see. Sacrificing your body to be a defender of your family even in death is something that could be seen as heroic with the right spin
A game where not all orcs are evil? Where not all goblins must be killed? WTF! its almost like your referencing some game where the gm wants their players to "think" instead of simply murder hobo! Well I NEVER!
What heresy is this? We must burn the greenskins! Exterminat....oh wait wrong game. Goblins should all be slain though, just ask Goblinslayer!
Did someone say goblins?
You guys constructed a proper intro this time.
For some reason I want to add that Necromancer at the edge of town who has a pet cemetery where all the locals take and bury their pets and a DC17 hidden path leading down to a special burial ground area to my campaign.
Oh man, I am so using that weeping angel idea. Can't believe I didn't think of that.
I've wanted to use it for a while. I would proly make their teleport just be distance, maybe like a mile. Can't get all time-travelly.
I really like the lore in Dragon Age, where they are created by transferring dwarf soul into a constructed body, and the moral question of is it right to force someone into it.
Another good example of something golem like is the geth in the Mass Effect series, constructed as tireless servant but eventually created their own society.
Goh-lem
Gah-lem wants the precious, yes, yes, my precious.
Pruitt's giggle gives me life
Oh my god! Thank you so much for this episode! I was planning on featuring constructs in my next (and first!) campaign and this will help me so much.
Glad we could help! Come back and let us know how it turns out.
I would love to see an episode on mysteries in campaigns. Wanted to do them, but struggle find away to not make it just a bunch of perception and insight checks.
Give everyone advantage on their insight / perception checks when they aren't alone (assuming help actions), on the agreement that everyone uses their passive score. That's a +5 to their passive. If someone is working against the group, they grant disadvantage - only you would know this (suggesting they are subplanting misinformation).
If they argue about the lack of opportunity's for natural 20's and redundant checks, tell them you set the DC's - if they don't take the deal, you're going to set higher-than-normal DC's and they may fail 2-3 times, making it actually harder for them to meta at all. This isn't like finding a crossbow trap. This is about a higher level of investigation - this is some sherlock holmes shit..
Then, flood your players with information. Add red herrings, subplots, and consume them with events. Make a number of events occur for spice - power goes out (magic lights or darkness), screams, events that occur not based on a timeline, but when you feel the pace is slogging. Make a dozen NPC's - you need fodder for deaths, and you need people to be missing and it not seem out of place. Again - they can be subplots or red herrings. See "Clue". Really note the times where certain characters are missing in that movie and how the secret passages could be used to move about stealthily. Magic spinning fireplaces (see indiana jones and the last crusade)... then, most crucially....
Make sure each player gets 1 key piece of information about the plot. You will be shocked how long it takes for people to communicate information within a group. Do this by making a bunch of random innocuous cards - a bloody candlestick with "Rosebud" written on it. A crow's feather, inked, nearly empty (suggesting a missing note). Make 3-4 dozen and then make sure each player gets a few, and mark where they got it under what conditions. Make sure only 4-5 of them matter, the rest pertain to red herrings and subplots.
Consider adding agenda's - give players conflicting agenda's, and watch the meta just go CRAZY. They may not be evil, but say, getting a Lich's notes might be very lucrative for a necromancer, and bait players into wanting to sneak away from the group... or openly separate. This will skew their sense of time. Really reward these nefarious behavior's - say, releasing a warlock for a set of lich's notes. These subplots add additional information, which slog down the puzzle nature. Make the actual murder easy - then obscure it in red herrings.
If people flounder, have NPC's discover pertinent details. Then roll dice and kill one or two - if they are floundering, create new evidence. Don't let them bake their noodles and hide in the library if they aren't making forward progression. Derail them with events, to spice things up.
Add battles after major revelations, make sure they feel an incremental gain. Found a crucial key to a locked magically sealed room? Excellent, the space in there is an encounter with a wight who lives in the gamehall, or have that room be locked holding in something like a banshee, or a horned devil - or a genie.
Anyway, it's not as bad as it seems - you'd be surprised how often parties obfuscate information. You can hand them the plot gift wrapped, half the time they'll drop it somewhere along the line. You'd be surprised.
rubesqubes1997 Depends on what the mystery is I guess. I'm currently running a mystery like campaign, where something terrible has changed the natural world, and a world ending event has happend. after the extinction of some playable races, the parties job is to figure out what happend many years ago and reverse the world ending problem.
it all depends on how detailed you get really. What really gets people enthralled with mystery are a few things.
(make the mystery fun and challenging. make it a mind bending puzzle rather than a skill check event. )
Give them a sence of impulse to solve the puzzle for instance (if your game is a murder mystery and the party is trying to figure out who the killer is, maybe that killer will strike again and kill off one of their favorite NPC's)
You don't have to reward your players with physical value such as money or loot. Your reward could be something like them finding a secret passage way that lures them in deeper into the story.
I'd say for you my friend just take some time and test run your campaign before hand,
then ask your self
how would you play? how would your players play? are my puzzles too hard or too easy? would they care at all about the NPC's and the world I've created? what's in it for them when they start figuring out your puzzles.
Also for a mystery campaign, I usually don't tell them that it's a mystery before hand, as they might be disengaged the secound they understand that they need to solve puzzles and riddles. Instead present the world to them, let them stumble upon an unsettling event and draw them in through your use of discription as well as their sence of wonder and discovery.
hope that helps, if you need help or have any questions feel free to ask , I'm sure the fantastic gentlemen here at WEB DM will help as well.
It is on the list.
This reminds me of a recent D&D session I had where the DM had an encounter with this like mad scientist and his flesh golem. The scientist had an electricity weapon that he could use to attack and heal the golem. It was supposed tobe a really challenging fight and the DM was exited for it... then the sorcerer cast levitate on the golem, making him unable to do anything exept float there for the rest of the fight, this essentialy ended the encounter
just made a Warforged pugilist called Justice who was made by a couple of powerful wizards and embodies all the different golems by having stone, clay and iron but with a humans brain which is how it gained its sentience.
Being a new player to D&D that is currently playing a faerie Necromancer that plans on making lots of constructs and golems this was very helpful! Thank you for the amazing videos!
Glad we could help.
I made a campaign that when the PC killed an orc camp a dark gem stitch all the Gore together and created a giant orc flesh golem with a gem in it's chest.
My story with golems seems very much like the sentient Frankenstein monster. One of my players decided to play a warforged in my warforged-free world in pathfinder. "OK!" I said.
He was a very powerful fighter but his story was difficult to fit in my late medieval narrative. So we made him the first and only of his race, a mysterious golem who developed a soul of some sort, a failed experiment turning him in his Father's favourite "son". Discovering how he came to life ended up becoming part of his long term goals. He was so heart broken when he found out that the soul was actually implanted via reincarnation of a samsaran (go check the race for extra tears) thanks to the idea of a mad colleague of his "father". Mind that this was revealed only after they travelled through a terrifying hidden laboratory filled with their past failures and "older brothers". It was amazing! He was 13 level character by then, a cruel general of an entire army who never felt sorry for anything he had done, but now he was for himself and the misery of his birth.
Never say no to player, use imagination even if you know their doing it for power play, make them feel different from they're original choices! :D
This whole video just makes me think of Discworld golems and gargoyles...
I'd love to play something like that.
Flesh golems are my favorite, since horror is one of my favorite things in any entertainment. I love how you guys talked about the alternate version of someone being honored after death in making them a flesh golem with their spirit inhabiting it. I think a military general's spirit preserved into a sentient living corpse along with some early mechanical engineering makes for an awesome character, could go evil and be the big bad, lead armies or even just be a memorabl/ useful npc.
Good video as always
I'd always figured if you used a water Elemental the golem would probably not stay humanoid shaped; it might be all bloby like a giant clay bludgeoning ooze.
The army of low-level terra-cotta stone golems gave me such a good idea of my Asiatic campaign!
I kinda always wanted to make a mage that is obsessed with golems, even going so far as to ogle an enemy golem, making sure to always have one ready as a servant, even at lower levels they could have some weak little thing that does simple tasks and sucks at combat. Their personal goal would be working their way up to an adimantium golem.
So I was thinking about letting my adventures gather up "special parts" to argument the Flesh Golem who's Manuel I gave them. for example a troll heart to give health regeneration, basilisk eyes to give it the ability to turn things to stone. That to OP or no? They'll have to Quest for it of course.
God I Love Glyph of warding for powerful mages.
"Toss them, smoke them, lock them down!" My wizard just activated three glyphs that first Scattered the enemy onto a predetermined platform, cast Cloud Kill on them, and then put a Bubble of Force around them. Then my group can kill the ones who saved/were left over and we cna focus on the ones that didn't choke to death.
Could y'all do a video about Potions/Oils? Perhaps delve a little bit into crafting in 5e. I know the DMG has some stuff on magical crafting (which is all kinda shitty imo). I'd love to hear how you all handle magical crafting, alchemy, blacksmithing, etc.
I'll put it on the list. They recently came out with an Unearthed Arcana on Downtime. There's quite a bit on crafting. You should check it out.
JPruInc I would love to hear what you have to say about crafting potions and such. The rules in the books are either so bad and not helpful at all or so excessive that is it pointless to even try to make a potion. You might as well just buy a healing potion then actually making one for yourself...
Also if you wouldn't mind, I would like to see what you think are some other cool ideas for potions then the ones in the Dungeon masters Manuel.
In two of the campaigns I'm in our party has gotten hold of a Shield Guardian. The one we procured in Rise of Tiamat was carried around by our Wizard in a portable hole and would be unleashed whenever we got into combat. After a while its lack of magical attacks meant it wasn't doing quite as much damage as we'd like, but it was still handy to have another body and something that could smash through doors and walls. Unfortunately that one met its end at the breath of a Red Shadow Dragon we were fighting. We tried to find out how to fix it or make another one, but the resources involved were daunting and we figured we had better things to do.
In the Curse of Strahd game I play we got our hands on one and turned it over to our halfling sorceress so it could mitigate some of the damage she takes as she's got the lowest AC in the group. She immediately named it Shieldy and has started decorating it. I'm eager to see how useful the thing will be in Castle Ravenloft.
I also liked that ye mentioned the fire regeneration of the Iron Golem. In a homebrew sidequest of our Rise of Tiamat group we fought an Iron Golem and a handfull of flame skulls. First thing the skulls did was fly up out of reach and just start hitting the flame golem with fire balls and fire rays. Fucking thing took forever to kill! Hahaha.
I had a great time in CoS with my Shield Guardian. I was playing a life cleric, and just put Spirit Guardians in it every time. He would stand over me and rain death on anything stupid enough to attack in melee. It was glorious.
A village angry mob... And every Villager is a flesh golem.
Dm'd an encounter with an pair of iron golems in a temple of the forge once, two of the temple clerics cast heat metal on them. The party had fun with that one.
I think the best thing about golems is their homebrew capabilities. my favorite and strongest homebrew golems are the crystal golem and the adamantine golem. the crystal golem came into play because they were trying to create Excalibur in order to fight tiamat. they used a divine intervention to find out where the last part they needed for Excalibur was (a beautiful bixbite crystal) and it turned out to be inside a mountain on the elemental plane of earth. when they got there and entered the mountain it turned out the mountain was a giant geode filled with every crystal imaginable but when they found the bixbite and tried to take it out of the ground the ground started rising and a gargantuan golem made of different crystals rose up. I essentially just took a tarrasque reduced it's hp by 150 and gave it the ability to heal from radiant damage.
A Warforged building himself a flesh golem body to transfer his essence into? So, like a reverse Renegade Mastermaker? Interesting...
I always wanted to have an enlightened Flesh Golem Mystic as a BBEG who learns about his own soulessness and tries to gain the favour of the warforged to overthrow the humanoids in charge.
I thought of an interesting idea. How about a warfordged enchanter who use ms charm spells to keep a person enslaved. On the surface, they appear like a normal wizard/construct relationship, but that's how the war forged keep a low profile.
That's devious! I love it.
Fuckin a, Pru. Thermodynamics are a hell of a thing.
Thinking about this subject takes up at least 10% of my waking hours.
That's a whole lot of time.... But somehow I can see it.
Great ideas for the golems! Love the iron golem near the fire wall or covered in alchemist fire.
An Iron golem with an illusion that makes it look like an ice elemental
GO lem, not Gollum. lol! Good show! That's a badass Idea about it being an honor to be used in the creation of a flesh golem! Love it, and gonna use it in my dark sun game! Thanks!
One thing about golem's - they're terrifying. I like to think they represent the subconscious - will, animated from materials from the earth to fulfill an objective, then return to dust. Very human. Simply a confrontation, no frills, against a golem can absolutely tailspin a hardy player. I remove the breath weapons and with just raw physicality, and add a grapple specialty - standard grapple check, except that you restrained if it grabs you.
Tons of flavor, and that's a very foreboding RP without any additional junk - I do strength checks for him to toss somebody and equate the distance to fall damage (easy would be standard strength check = feet thrown calculated as additional fall damage)... much less dangerous than a breath weapon or a berzerk golem, and much more "golem" esque.
Also a lot of it is in the flavor - when players get hit you want them to be damaged by their armor folding in on itself, a twisted arm releases a bone chip, a shot to the shoulder is almost enough to knock someone out from whiplash. These kinds of descriptions really reflect the implacable nature of this stone object - and the fragility of the human form.
I also do the same thing when the golem takes damage. Thinks like shots to the eyes, stick a sword between the knee's, if they are using non-magical weapons I say they risk breaking them, but never really actually follow up on it - it's enough to get them "thinking".
I try to lay off the gimmicks because like... if you have a golem, you designed it to be mobile and to protect something in an unusual place. If you had time to design a room that needed to be protected, you wouldn't assign a golem to it, instead make traps or just fill it with monsters, or simply lock it magically. Create things like hallowed ground effects and so on - a golem is a character, it's a tool that highlights another creatures will.
Someone told it to "wait here" and then was killed by a cave-in. Now it blocks the hallway permanently, which can be a problem if his bulk stops, say, a cart you're pulling with crucial artifacts.
Same scenario - someone's turned the golem into a makeshift chest, having locked something inside its breastplate via a dimension door spell. In an effort to protect itself, it kills anyone trying to get "inside" it by rupturing its chest. Just CLIMBING the thing will be disturbing.
Try to think of the reverence you have when you see an exquisite marble statue - this is much the same thing. An implacable monument of willpower. Make it a showpiece rather than a simple a minion encounter.
If you are going for straight "encounter".
All I'm gonna say is, consider "The Terminator". Dull down the size of it, keep its grapple tendencies instead of breath weapons, make it a kind of one-off assassin. Someone sends one of these guys at someone and it's like a wrecking ball, no sense of self-preservation whatsoever - it's coming for that King and it will work its way through his guards like fodder.
It's a great start to a story when someone see's someone walking down the street in a cloak and hood, uninterrupted destroying everything on its way to say, the mage's tower. No stealth, just raw physical power. It's movement belies the normal governmental response - I mean, how fast can a community REALLY react? Again, see "The Terminator". It'd be pretty hard to stop even in a world as magically inclined as D&D - just getting word across town would be hard when it's moving full-pace.
Make it improvise weapons but instead of wielding them smartly, it's using raw force. Wielding a mace at someone with a shield, they'll block, but it might not matter. It might hit hard enough to break his arm through the shield - this is the kind of flavor you want to focus on. It validates the real "sense" of the creature itself.
They make great setpieces to be focused on rather than just another encounter - they are a walking talking clue to someone else's intents.
A terracotta army of clay golems to fight tarrasques.
Another question for golems. Following the idea of "what if you need a willing elemental". First, does have have to be willing, or can you just bind it to the plane until such a time when you force it into the construct? Second, what about the type of elemental? Because of this, my game world I've been working on (which is rather high magic) now has three different types of each golem. The first powered by a mephit, the second powered by an elemental, and the third powered by a genie. Using the flesh golem as an example, the smoke mephit would create a standard, monster manual, flesh golem. With an air elemental, the flesh golem gains the elemental's Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores, 30 ft fly speed (no hover), and a variant of the Whirlwind action. With a djinni, the flesh golem gains the elemental's Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores, 60 ft fly speed (with hover), saving throw proficiencies, innate spellcasting, and the Create Whirlwind action.
Thinking that a paladin to Gond could be cool literally created to do his will on this plane and tirelessly serving him.
I homebrewed a Bronze Golem for my Dark Sun campaign, basically a weaker version of an Iron Golem. It''s a pretty neat mid-tier level mob.. the players barely damaged it and needed to run.
I love the idea of a necromancer that only brings back peoples pets for them
The organization of voluntary soul's donors for powering armies of zombies imagined by Jim sounds amazing.
All these videos have helped find cool and interesting ways to use monsters that I may have looked over. You guys are doings great work. Class videos have also helped me with interesting new concepts.
I had an idea of a clay golem who's earth spirit was unwillingly imprisioned by a wizard and escaped, now travels around asking people to kill him lol
Just make sure the golem isn't the property of some late game enemy before you go and try breaking it. you may upset someone dangerous :3
I wonder if anyone with get this reference
"The magnificent dagger face!"
"I'M DAGGER FACE!!!"
Caryatid columns are always my favorite.
Cover a iron golem WITH oil and set it on Fire it heals Every turn
Funny as fuck. If we ever meet at a convention I’m buying the first few rounds.
This Channel is why the other channels I'm subbed to aren't being watched.
currently playing an animated armour bard
its gnome sized and has a trumpet for its helm
my first game was supposed to be me playing a stupid character nooting at people but after meeting a wizard turned into an introspective journey onto how im technically not alive
Another excellent video guys! Might I request a video on Liches soon? I'm writing a campaign centered on one and who better to look for advice on playing them then by you guys.
ever thought of a video about some more obscure demons/devils/ fey? some of the ones in Volo's are rad. Like the devourer and the draegloth and darklings
I'll put it on the list.
you guys are the best
JPruInc btw how many suggestions do you guys get on average per video? I would imagine it's a lot
Im my campaign for my friends Flesh Golems for me is just necromancy and has to be controlled directly by a necromancer or anyone that has some sort of way to enthrall undead. And scary thing is, if you kill the owner it goes into a berserk rampage attacking any and everything living thing in sight. Additionally the metal golems are only made by master craftsman in mine and are more like constructs than golems.
You guys rock. Seriously. Your discussions are always informative and interesting.
Thanks!
Eberron had those robot like homonculi. And they are a good replacement for a regular familiar
If the golem is powered by an elemental spirit, shouldn't you be able to use the Banish spell to defeat them?
KingCarrot if I were running the game, I'd say yes. You could also argue that the ritual that binds the spirit to an object protects the spirit from banishment.
I would say that the binding spell protects the spirit from banishing (similar to dimensional anchor probably), but a wizard with intimate knowledge of golem construction could probably fix that somehow. Maybe a targeted dispel magic.
But wouldn't that make a Golem susceptible to a Dispel Magic spell? xD
SinerAthin Yea I guess so, but it would need to be higher than third level. It would be a complex ruling, for sure.
I'd rule that Banishment works as if the Golem is native to the current plane as long as the spirit's vessel is intact. If you destroy the vessel while it's banished however, the spirit has nowhere to go except back to its home plane. (this idea would mean that the spirit is banished, but not the "body" which is not how it works with other creatures, but I feel fits for Golems)
That'd hopefully be enough of a reward for clever thinking, but not so much as to ruin an encounter with an Iron Golem with one 3rd level spell
How did you know I needed to learn more about Golems for my campaign
You watch us. We watch you...
HoodedLefty why was it taken down?
Awesome video as always Web DM. You guys are awesome! Constructs are a ton of fun to use.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed.
Great timing again -- I'm prepping a stone golem miniature while listening.
I've been checking constantly today for this video
Bezelels Theme songbwould have been Tom Waits - What’s he building in there. Great episode guys thanks.
The "transmuter child warforged" is just Ed from FMA lmao
Then someone gets the brilliant idea to cram demons into custom Golems resulting in profanity slinging slaves who can't wait for their cage to breakdown.
Am running a dungeon of a oriental emperor, that terracotta scare will be fucking awesome
No player character can ever make an Iron golem *without* a DM immediately summoning a legion of rust monsters to deal with it.
It's just the rules.
You guys should do a mini episode. Maybe discuss the evolution of the mini's from the beginning to now? Show off some of the cooler ones you guys like to use and talk about the pros and cons of mini use in dnd?
I'll put it on the list.
I've always seen golems as being good for guarding the under dark, a guardian that doesn't sleep
I have been thinking of making a stone golem as a player character. I have a backstory ready for this sentient golem (think Dorfl from Discworld) but the power balance is difficult to still keep the feel of this powerfull being. It would be a barbarian by class but a pacifist by nature.