Golem Overview [Ravenloft]

Ordinary golems are powered by elemental forces, but those of the misty dread realm are animated by the realm's own dark powers. That is why kinds unknown elsewhere appear there, and why these golems are bound to the land and cannot exist anywhere else. Eight varieties are known, each with its own strengths and flaws, all sharing the traits described below.

The first of them date from the realm's early days and the dealings of two of its mightiest lords. A lich-king, then laboring under a vampire lord's domination, was ordered to examine several of the vampire's zombie and skeleton servants that had been destroyed in strange ways. He discovered who and what had done it, as demanded, but also found that some trace of life lingered in those broken remains.

For weeks he hid away among his experiments, probing forces new to him. When the vampire demanded an explanation, the lich told him truthfully, though not completely, that he had found an oddity in the magical fabric of the realm that needed more study. Assuming it related to his assigned task of finding a way out of the mists, the vampire let him be. The lich never mentioned that he had learned to build two new kinds of golem from the realm's own essence.

When he later became ruler of his own mist-shrouded domain, he found himself unable to learn any new spells, but his golem process was already worked out, and the realm's first bone and zombie golems soon followed. Others have since uncovered his secrets and devised further types. All are unique to the dread realm, and each requires a pact with its dark powers that has proven fatal for many makers.

Only weapons of +2 or better harm these golems. They are immune to poison and to spells that affect the mind or life force, such as charm, finger of death, hold and sleep. Dispel magic works against all of them. If the caster's level equals the maker's, the golem collapses as if dead for 1 turn per caster level; detect magic on it reveals a lingering aura that slowly strengthens as the golem recharges. A caster of higher level than the maker destroys the golem outright.

These golems hate all life, as other golems do, and only their maker's will restrains them; a golem that escapes control will try to kill its master. Each has a 10% chance of breaking free. Once a month, at the full moon, the golem saves vs. spell: failure binds it for another month, success makes it free-willed, and it then devotes itself entirely to destroying its creator.

Making one is a perilous, intimate act requiring careful craftsmanship and special spells laid over the body. Because it involves such close dealings with the dark powers, the maker must make a dark powers check for every month spent researching or building. Once the body is complete, the animation ritual takes one full lunar cycle between full moons, and any interruption means starting over. Scrolls, devices or any other source can supply the spells; a spell cast by a helper must be specially altered to attune it to the would-be master, at no added cost.

Bone golem: wizards of 18th level or higher only. The body is assembled from bones of skeletal undead, of any type including the vampire lord's own skeletons, that were made and destroyed within the dread realm. Only 10% of each skeleton is usable, so a single golem mixes bones of humans, animals and monsters into a nightmarish whole. Components cost about 25,000 gp; spells are animate dead, binding, symbol of fear and wish.

Doll golem: priests of 15th level or higher. It takes the form of a plaything, such as a stuffed animal or a baby doll, and may serve either as a child's protector or as an unspeakable murderer. The body takes just two weeks, but components cost 15,000 gp; spells are bless, hideous laughter, imbue with spell ability, prayer and holy or unholy word. The first appeared with a wandering priest in a blood-soaked domain, apparently built to guard his wife and daughter on their travels. Their fate is unknown, and some say the doll still roams the realm.

Gargoyle golem: priests of 16th level or higher. Modeled on a true gargoyle and set to watch over rooftops, cathedrals and tombs, it is much like a stone golem. It is carved over 2 months from one 3,000-pound slab of granite, with 75,000 gp in components, 15,000 of which buys reusable vestments, so later golems cost 60,000 gp. Spells: bless, conjure earth elemental, exaction, prayer, stone shape and holy or unholy word. A warlord ruling a militaristic domain ordered the first to guard his castle; the method later leaked. Rumor holds that none can harm him and that all secretly obey him, though that seems unlikely, even if no one has seen one turn on him.

Glass golem: priests or wizards of 14th level or higher. Made entirely of stained glass, it is the most artful of the dread golems, taking 3 months and 100,000 gp, plus wish, rainbow, glassteel, animate object and prismatic spray; that spell mix usually means a multiclassed maker or a powerful helper. Its origin is unrecorded, but legend credits a would-be artist, perhaps the ruler of one small isolated domain slain by adventurers.

Mechanical golem: the only kind any character class can build, even without spells, given Intelligence 16 or more plus either Dexterity 17 or more or training in fine work such as watchmaking. The body takes a year, allowing at most 2 breaks of no more than 30 days each, and 125,000 gp, of which 60,000 equips a laboratory, so later golems cost 65,000 gp. Animation requires animate object, chain lightning, fabricate, grease, and major creation or wish. A mad lord obsessed with machines commissioned the first, claiming he saw its design while studying a falling star.

Zombie golem: wizards of 16th level or higher; one of the lich-king's two original designs. It is stitched from parts of destroyed zombies of any type, the vampire lord's zombies and animal zombies included, and just as for bone golems, a mere 10% of each corpse is usable, so the result looks lopsided and alien. Sewing takes a full month and 50,000 gp in consumed components; spells are control undead, polymorph any object, stinking cloud, strength and wish.

Rumor tells of tomes each describing how to make and animate one kind of these golems, just as ordinary manuals of golems do. The dark powers favor their own creations, so an ordinary manual of golems carried into the realm turns into a manual of dread golems 75% of the time. It does not change back if taken out, but the golems it describes cannot be built elsewhere, so it is nearly useless abroad. A manual found within the realm is rolled on a percentile table to determine its golem type. These books work like normal manuals in every respect, except that the mechanical golem manual can be used by any class meeting the mechanical golem's requirements.