Golem

Crafted of base materials and then magically animated into a powerful guardian, the legendary golem is a living construct that mindlessly obeys its creator's commands— often continuing to do so for years or even centuries after its creator's death.

## Appearance

Since a Golem is a created construct, there is really no limit on what a golem can look like. Golem design is usually humanoid, standing upright with two arms and legs.

## Creation

There exist two known methods of animating a golem. The traditional method involves harvesting and implanting an elemental soul or essence within the newly crafted host statue, a procedure seen as vile and blasphemous to those who value the sanctity of the soul; evil or amoral golem crafters tend to prefer this method. The other, less disreputable technique involves siphoning pure positive energy into the statue to artificially imitate the creation of a soul. The result does not give the golem a true soul and is generally a more costly and time-consuming method of creation. Regardless of the method used, the resulting golem functions the same. A golem's unique animating force leaves it susceptible to certain forms of magic, but apart from these few weaknesses, it is impervious to magic and difficult to damage with weapons.

## Variants

Golems come in a variety of different versions, main depending on what material they where created from. Common variants include:

### Adamantine Golem

Crafted from a nigh-indestructible metal of great rarity, adamantine golems can’t be destroyed except by the most powerful foes. Crafting an adamantine golem requires a quantity of adamantine so massive that collecting it usually requires wealth beyond most nations or mounting a mining expedition to the Elemental Plane of Quintessence. For some that might be worth it for a Adamantine Golem is neigh impossible to destroy or stop from achieving their goal.
A Adamantine Golem is squat and broad, much like a dwarf, with a ever-burning furnace within its chest cavity that it can vent.

###### Loot

The powerful heart of an adamantine golem can be turned into a legendary forge for blacksmithing.

### Alchemical Golem

This golem is a walking alchemical nightmare capable of inflicting all manner of painful wounds. Its ability to follow orders is granted by the otherwise mindless humanoid brain that floats in its dome-like head. In exceptionally rare cases, the brain used in its creation might retain fragments of memories or even actual intellect, resulting in an alchemical golem with a personality and agenda of its own.

###### Loot

When an alchemical golem is defeated or disabled, if any of its alchemical chambers remain intact, the chamber can be salvaged and used as a lesser alchemical bomb of the corresponding type

### Carrion Golem

Carrion golems are foul-smelling and fly-swarmed amalgams of putrefied parts stitched together from many different creatures. Unlike most golems, carrion golems only rarely are given a humanoid form, instead appearing more twisted and bestial in frame. As a result, some students of golem crafting claim that the carrion golem isn't a “true golem,” but regardless of those claims these foul constructs certainly share other golem-like traits, including their significant immunities. What is true is that most who craft carrion golems don't do so out of true interest in the technique of golem crafting, but for the golem's ability to spread disease. The crafters of carrion golems send their mindless minions to cause immediate destruction and leave wakes of illness and death behind them.
Carrion Golems are the simplest, easiest to create and also weakest Golem

### Clay Golem

Traditionally, clay golems are crafted in the image of a Saint and used as guardians of tombs or sacred crypts. Clay golems have the power to lay curses upon their victims as punishment for intrusion, leading many to believe that these oft-ancient constructs have a touch of the divine to them. While this idea seem to have little basis in reality, superstitious folk still tread lightly around statues that resemble clay golems even in the slightest.

The animating force within a clay golem is unusually unstable, making the golem prone to entering a berserk frenzy when damaged. Entire treasuries have been totally ruined as a result of a rampaging clay golem, so crafters do well to make sure their golems are maintained and in good working order—or otherwise place them on the other side of the door from the treasures they wish to protect.

###### Loot

The remains of clay golems are worth more to archaeologists and scholars than to merchants. The magnificent treasures often guarded by these ancient wardens, however, are another matter entirely.

### Flesh Golem

Made of odd scraps of skin and muscle, a flesh golem is a grotesque parody of life. Though it has no mind, it can still go into a berserk rage when harmed, giving it a faint semblance of emotion. Flesh golems guard the laboratories and charnel houses of fleshwarpers and necromancers who feel no compunctions about desecrating corpses for their own ends. Though the first flesh golem is believed to have been a misguided attempt to create from simple base elements, these monstrosities are far from human. In isolated cases, echoes of a personality might rise in a flesh golem if the brain used as part of its construction belonged to a particularly powerful personality, but such tragic instances are (thankfully) rare in the extreme.

### Fossil Golem

Fossil golems are typically made from the fossilized bones of dinosaurs and other ancient megafauna, though some crafters stretch the definition and instead use magically petrified bones of dragons or even giants. Not bound to any specific model, fossil golems are crafted to be as terrifying as possible instead of models of anatomic accuracy. As such, most fossil golems are nightmarish saurian amalgams whose massive arms end with the complete skulls of apex predators like tyrannosauruses, their bite enhanced to petrify flesh.

The enchantments that animate fossil golems grant them a form of modular flexibility, letting them trade mobility for extended reach through the rapid rearrangement of their limbs. This also lets them appear like a jumbled mass of bones at rest, making them likely to be mistaken for décor rather than guardians.

###### Loot

Intact fossilized bones are difficult components to scrounge, much less whole skeletons. An alternate way to obtain them is to hire expert hunters or adventurers to seek out live dinosaurs, bring back the bones, and use magic to turn them to stone. Of course, some purists prefer genuine fossilized bones and are willing to pay the price for their acquisition.

### Glass Golem

Crafted of hardened glass and held together by magically treated lead, glass golems are both deadly guardians and works of exquisite art. Glass golems most often protect grand cathedrals or opulent palaces—testaments to the wealth and power of those they serve, or once served. Once spurred into action by the commands of their creators, glass golems are quicker and more agile than most other golems. Their sharp, blade-like limbs can easily sever veins and arteries, creating wounds that bleed profusely.

Of all the various types of golems, the glass golem is the one most akin to a work of art. Just as powerful aristocrats might use an ice golem for temperature regulation or a wood golem as an ego-boosting statue, a glass golem's colorful glass construction can elevate the beauty of any chamber by its mere presence.

### Ice Golem

Ice golems are either carved from massive blocks of ice, or pieced together from individual components that are then fused together through heat and refreezing. In most cases, the resulting shape is little more than a crude approximation of a humanoid form, but given the right talent, an ice golem could be an exquisitely carved statue of a mythical creature, famous persona, or even a Saint.

While ice golems most frequently serve as guardians in freezing climates, the magic that holds an ice golem together keeps it from melting in warmer temperatures. This, combined with the fact that ice golems lie on the lower end of the scale as far as cost and difficulty to create, gives these constructs unusual features that puts them in great demand. The rich and powerful in hot, arid regions often commission ice golems not only as guardians for their estates and vaults, but for comfort—the presence of an ice golem standing quietly sentinel in the corner of a room can help to keep the chamber at a comfortable temperature. The truly decadent use ice golems as servants to keep drinks cold.

### Iron Golem

Traditionally crafted into the forms of giant suits of armor or powerful animals, iron golems are products of exquisite artistry and skill. Their articulated joints and sturdy armored bodies require great care and mathematical precision to craft, and regular cleaning and oiling ensure they don’t rust over the ages. With proper care, iron golems can remain in good shape for thousands of years, being passed down for generations, as long as they aren’t destroyed by opposing forces. In addition to their incredible strength, iron golems possess a potent toxic breath weapon that is often more than enough to dispatch entire groups of opponents.

###### Loot

An iron golem can be melted down for scrap or traded to fire giants for repurposing into armor for large creatures.

### Mithral Golem

Mithral golems are gorgeously crafted, silvery humanoids made from colossal amounts of the purest mithral. While massive in construction, they possess amazing speed and grace through literal fluidity. Unpredictable and flexible, they can melt into liquid form and reform into a solid shape in mere seconds, allowing them to shape their limbs into sharp spikes or heavy fists as needed.
The mithral golem's fluid form offers endless possibilities for inventive owners looking to deploy these constructs within their trap-filled domains. The golem can be instructed to remain in its liquid phase until a specific triggering event, appearing as a pool or font filled with quicksilver, or covering columns or statues. Truly fiendish minds might store them in hidden reservoirs hooked to pumps and nozzles, ready to spray a dangerous foe onto unsuspecting intruders.

### Obsidian Golem

The art of golem animation is not limited to societies with access to expensive crafting materials or a long history of arcane mastery. Among the resource-poor Troglodytes who dwell in the Underdark, especially those hardy clutches that call the Black Desert their home, obsidian is one of the most common crafting materials available. Combine this ingredient with a powerful spellcaster and the troglodyte tradition of inflection—magically warping and working normally inflexible stone—and the end result is an obsidian golem.
Demon worshippers in particular show a strong propensity toward creating obsidian golems, often designing these constructs in the image of their demonic patron.

### Stone Golem

Stone golems are slow and steady constructs typically carved from marble or granite. They’re often made to serve as works of art when at rest, so some golem crafters employ master sculptors to ensure the constructs make beautiful statues. Older stone golems might be weathered, with scuffed or cracked surfaces or missing noses and digits, but this weathering is largely cosmetic and doesn’t adversely impact the golems’ functionality.

Tales tell of particularly immense stone golems residing in certain ancient ruins. Survivors from time-lost civilizations bent on carrying out orders from long-gone masters, these immense stone golems are much more powerful than most stone golems. Because their size is so great and the structures they dwell in so dilapidated, the awakening of such a stone golem can cause surrounding structures to collapse, ancient foundations to buckle, and ceilings to come crashing down on foes. These massive stone golems attack with wide, sweeping strikes capable of knocking down multiple targets at once.

### Wood Golem

Wood golems are often given vaguely humanoid shapes, almost as if cobbled together from scraps of firewood and discarded burls. It's less common for wood golems to have artistic embellishments such as engraved patterns, or to be carved in the shapes of different types of creatures to meet the tastes of their owners. While wealthy patrons have been known to commission wood golems to be painstakingly carved to resemble themselves or their ancestors, to serve dual purposes of protection and ego bolstering, most wood golem crafters don't bother. Druids and creatures who protect woodlands, such as arboreals, typically see wood golems as an affront or an abomination, akin to the horror humanoids often feel when facing a carrion or flesh golem. As a result, it is rare to see such creatures serving as guardians for fey or druidic holy sites, despite the thematic match between the wood golem's appearance and such locations.