Clay golem
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This article contains information of uncertain canon status due to changes made in Monster Core. Golems are no longer a family of constructs. Replaced by clay effigy. Additional context might be available at Meta:Golem. |
Clay golems are a type of golem created from soft clay, usually by powerful divine spellcasters. They are generally eight feet in height and six hundred pounds in weight. (To put that in context, the average ogre is two feet taller but weighs only fifty pounds more.)
Abilities
The mindless clay golem is an uncomplicated opponent, and in combat attempts to batter its opponents into submission using its powerful fists. The wounds it causes are cursed. They do not heal naturally, and only the most experienced spellcasters are able to heal them via magical healing.
Once per day, the normally lumbering golem can move at frightening speed for a short period.
In common with most golems, they are immune to all but a handful of spells—typically those that affect earth. Acid attacks actually heal them.
There is a flaw in the method of constructing clay golems; the elemental spirit that powers them is imperfectly bound. There are numerous tales of clay golems going berserk under stress, attacking the nearest creature or object regardless of any orders it may have. There is no known way of re-establishing control once a clay golem goes berserk
Construction
The golem's body is crafted from a single block of clay of at least 1,000 pounds in weight. Skill at either sculpture or pottery is required to create the final form, which is then treated with special oils and powders. Various spells are then cast to animate the golem; these spells are outside the scope of most arcane magicians, so clay golems are generally created by clerics.1
Variants
Palanquin golem
Palanquin golems, which were developed in Osirion, lack the ability to increase their speed and are permanently attached to stone platforms that carry passengers. They are unable to fight, but there is no chance of them going berserk.2
Dero clay golem
Deros have discovered how to create variant clay golems from the black sludge they remove from their mines at the bottom of the Makers' Mark, a great rift in the underground ruined city of Ilvarandin.3
References
For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.
- ↑ . “Monsters A to Z” in Bestiary, 159. Paizo Inc., 2009
- ↑ . The Pact Stone Pyramid, 9. Paizo Inc., 2008
- ↑ . “Ilvarandin” in Lost Cities of Golarion, 8. Paizo Inc., 2011
