Burning Man Golem

The burning man has the shape of a person but is made of red-hot coals crusted with white glowing embers. Heat rolls off it in waves, and anything flammable it touches catches fire. Each time it punches, a spray of burning cinders flies from its body and keeps smoldering until washed off.

It is a brute with no intelligence and almost no tactics, best turned loose on a battlefield where it can stride into packed enemy ranks. It throws off too much heat to be useful in peaceful roles.

Once per day it can let out a dreadful keening, usually about two rounds into a fight. Each creature within 80 feet is then struck with fear, as by a wand of fear, unless it saves vs. breath weapon.

Each fist that lands also coats the target in embers that burn for 1 damage per round per shower until smothered with earth or water. Unless magically shielded from fire, the victim also suffers as though from a symbol of pain, lasting 2d10 rounds: -2 Dexterity and -1 on attack rolls. Only the burning stacks: two showers mean 2 damage per round, but the Dexterity penalty never exceeds -2.

Weapons of less than +2 enchantment cannot hurt it, and it is immune to magical fire, magical lightning and illusions. Quench fire (produce fire reversed, a 4th-level priest spell) puts out its cinders and drops its Armor Class to 6 for one round per level of the caster.

It regenerates 1 hit point per turn. At 0 hit points every piece of it flares brightly and collapses into ash, but that ash slowly reforms the whole golem, even from a single speck, unless every heap of ash is stirred with holy water and strewn about. Regrowing from dust to full form takes a month, and each regeneration adds a cumulative 1% chance that it escapes its maker's control.

It has no instinct for self-preservation, so while carrying out a task its morale is Fearless (20). A burning man that has thrown off its master's control acts only on its own wishes and has Steady morale (12).

Anyone tempted to make one should think long and carefully. Its fiery essence gives it a hunger to burn and destroy everything, its creator included. Magic forces it to obey, but only the literal wording of an order; it actively looks for ways to twist a command's intent, so for most purposes it cannot be trusted.

Building a burning man takes three months of work by a wizard of at least 14th level and costs 60,000 gp. The wizard weaves a huge man-shaped wicker frame and packs it with pitch, then casts geas, fire shield, burning sphere, animate object and wish upon it.