Iron golem

From PathfinderWiki
Iron golem
A model of an iron golem.
(Creature)

Iron golems are a type of golem created from iron by a powerful spellcaster.1

Appearance

They are generally humanoid in shape, stand 12 feet tall, and weigh 5,000 pounds. They are usually crafted so as to appear to be wearing iron armour.1

Abilities

Iron golems are sometimes given a weapon, but this is scarcely necessary as they can strike incredibly powerful blows with their iron fists. They can also exhale a cloud of poisonous gas.1

Their iron construction makes them difficult to damage, and they shrug off most weapons. Only attackers with great strength or wielding an adamantine weapon can reliably harm them.1

In common with most golems, iron golems are immune to all but a handful of spells. Electricity slows them down, but fire can actually heal them. They are, however, subject to rust.1

Construction

To create an iron golem, a golemwright needs 5,000 pounds of iron, and must add rare (and expensive) compounds during the smelting process. Moulding the body requires skill at crafting weapons or armour—mere blacksmithing skill is not sufficient. A number of extremely powerful spells must be cast to animate the construct, and some of these are not readily available to most divine casters, so iron golems are usually constructed by arcane casters such as wizards.1

Variants

In ancient times, it was not unknown for iron golems to be created that were much larger than the standard size, although it was a rare civilisation that possessed the resources to do so.1

It was mistakenly thought that the Nexian capital of Quantium possessed two huge iron golems that ceaselessly patrolled its boundaries.2 Upon more careful study, it was revealed that the pair are quantium golems, the only two known to exist on Golarion, built millennia ago by the archmage Nex himself.3

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Jason Bulmahn, et al. “Monsters A to Z” in Bestiary, 162. Paizo Inc., 2009
  2. James Jacobs, et al. Nex” in The Inner Sea World Guide, 133. Paizo Inc., 2011
  3. Jim Groves, et al. Inner Sea Bestiary, 19. Paizo Inc., 2012