DM Q&A: Golems

[Deleted]

Brief question:


For creating and animating a golem (any golem/construct) the crafter needs to use the spirit of an elemental, right?

[Munroe]

First of all, I feel this needs to be said: Golems and other constructs that are widely available on FRC to player-characters are summoned golems, not constructs created by the casters. If they were created, the labeling in their names would reflect that they were created, as the created undead do. Golems and other constructs available from the normal summoning items are summoned creatures being called into service from somewhere else by use of summoning spells. This may not be specific to your question, but it bears mention.

Regarding the animating spirits, only actual golems, a sub-group of construct creatures, specify that they bind an elemental spirit as their animating force. Other forms of constructs may have other animating forces. Animated objects are created by the spell animate objects, for instance. There is no mention of animated objects binding a spirit as an animating force. Likewise, there is no mention of using elemental spirits as the animating force in the creation of shield guardians.

Golems have Immunity to Magic as a trait, and each type of golem lists specific immunities and spells that affect it in unusual ways. This is such a common feature to golems that the Monster Manual lists it in the general golem section as a trait that all golems share. Also listed in the general golem section is the fact that they have elemental spirits as their animating force. Other constructs are no more likely to have animating elemental spirits than they are to have the Immunity to Magic property--both are common traits to golems that other constructs don't necessarily share.

[Deleted]

Alright, thanks for Munroe for the detailed reply and info.

[Xzanos]

Mar 6, 2017 21:35:48 GMT -5 Munroe said:

First of all, I feel this needs to be said: Golems and other constructs that are widely available on FRC to player-characters are summoned golems, not constructs created by the casters. If they were created, the labeling in their names would reflect that they were created, as the created undead do. Golems and other constructs available from the normal summoning items are summoned creatures being called into service from somewhere else by use of summoning spells. This may not be specific to your question, but it bears mention.

Regarding the animating spirits, only actual golems, a sub-group of construct creatures, specify that they bind an elemental spirit as their animating force. Other forms of constructs may have other animating forces. Animated objects are created by the spell animate objects, for instance. There is no mention of animated objects binding a spirit as an animating force. Likewise, there is no mention of using elemental spirits as the animating force in the creation of shield guardians.

Golems have Immunity to Magic as a trait, and each type of golem lists specific immunities and spells that affect it in unusual ways. This is such a common feature to golems that the Monster Manual lists it in the general golem section as a trait that all golems share. Also listed in the general golem section is the fact that they have elemental spirits as their animating force. Other constructs are no more likely to have animating elemental spirits than they are to have the Immunity to Magic property--both are common traits to golems that other constructs don't necessarily share.

I was going to create a new post regarding Shield Guardians, but this thread seemd to have some of the information i was looking for. So hoping to help people find what they are looking for faster in the future, Im just going to add my question here.

You seemed to differentiate between a "summoned" creature and one that was "created" is this just for RP reasons or game engine/scripting related.

Is it possible to "create" a Shield Guardian, or will I always have to summon one with an item.

From what I have experienced in the past you can only have 2 "summoned" creatures such as a familiar and summon monster 1 with any further creatures replacing their respective counter part. Do "created" creatures subvert this somehow?

Obviously any specifics on this should be RPd in game, just wondering how this will all work in terms of the mechanics and interactions with other game functions.

[Munroe]

Dec 24, 2019 13:09:35 GMT -5 Xzanos said:

Mar 6, 2017 21:35:48 GMT -5 Munroe said:

First of all, I feel this needs to be said: Golems and other constructs that are widely available on FRC to player-characters are summoned golems, not constructs created by the casters. If they were created, the labeling in their names would reflect that they were created, as the created undead do. Golems and other constructs available from the normal summoning items are summoned creatures being called into service from somewhere else by use of summoning spells. This may not be specific to your question, but it bears mention.

Regarding the animating spirits, only actual golems, a sub-group of construct creatures, specify that they bind an elemental spirit as their animating force. Other forms of constructs may have other animating forces. Animated objects are created by the spell animate objects, for instance. There is no mention of animated objects binding a spirit as an animating force. Likewise, there is no mention of using elemental spirits as the animating force in the creation of shield guardians.

Golems have Immunity to Magic as a trait, and each type of golem lists specific immunities and spells that affect it in unusual ways. This is such a common feature to golems that the Monster Manual lists it in the general golem section as a trait that all golems share. Also listed in the general golem section is the fact that they have elemental spirits as their animating force. Other constructs are no more likely to have animating elemental spirits than they are to have the Immunity to Magic property--both are common traits to golems that other constructs don't necessarily share.

I was going to create a new post regarding Shield Guardians, but this thread seemd to have some of the information i was looking for. So hoping to help people find what they are looking for faster in the future, Im just going to add my question here.

You seemed to differentiate between a "summoned" creature and one that was "created" is this just for RP reasons or game engine/scripting related.

Is it possible to "create" a Shield Guardian, or will I always have to summon one with an item.

From what I have experienced in the past you can only have 2 "summoned" creatures such as a familiar and summon monster 1 with any further creatures replacing their respective counter part. Do "created" creatures subvert this somehow?

Obviously any specifics on this should be RPd in game, just wondering how this will all work in terms of the mechanics and interactions with other game functions.

Mechanically, as far as the NWN engine is concerned related to "pets," there is no distinction between creatures that are summoned, called, and created. They should be treated as different even if they behave the same mechanically. (Otherwise, the called outsiders and created undead would all still say "Summoned" over their heads.) So you can have one familiar, one animal companion, and one summoned, called, or created creature (as these three behave mechanically as summoned), for a potential total of three.

There is a chance that summoned, called, and created creatures may react differently to spells that affect summoned, called, or created creatures. I don't actually know if the script differentiates them at this time, but they should be different, so even if a spell doesn't presently, that's not to say it always won't. I'm speaking specifically about dismissal and banishment spells. I don't think they differentiate between summoned/called and created, but they should and some day they might.

There is no scripted means in-game to permanently create your own constructs. The ones available in-game, at least without direct DM intervention, are summoned creatures.