Golems

Anubis (Stone Golem from 3x3 Eyes)

While the default material for Golems is (presumably) clay, there is a an interesting opportunity to make animated servant-warriors from a variety of other materials. Using other materials changes the base cost of 250 Energy, but never reduces it below 130 Energy. As per usual, golems are animated via the Golem spell.

Fanon: Golem Vitals

Some golems have vitals in the form of runes, glyphs, or other symbols of magical power. For servitors, these are usually easy to spot, but golems meant for combat are often covered in "decoy" runes.

Spot the Difference

A knowledgeable Delver might know which rune is the real one by using Thaumatology or Symbol Drawing. In combat--especially in the dark, or with complex magic symbols--a Delver might need to get close to see the fine details.

Telescopic Vision, or its spell counterpart, Hawk Vision could change this from Range 1 to 2 or more?

Melee Options

Fast delvers can Rapid Strike with Defensive(?) Attack, prodding different marks to see which causes the golem to "flinch" or flicker.

Golem Resonance

Strong delvers could hit the golem and see which side "feels" more magically resistant—it's not enough to count as additional DR, but there should be a different texture the closer the hit is to the "golem core". This would be a Perception check... maybe cutting weapons can get stuck in a golem, counting as a ST check (like Cotton Stomach!)

Knowledge of your foe's material improves this "Vitals detection check"—Prospecting for stone, Armoury for metals and leathers, Survival (any type) for woods, clays, and fleshy bits. Feel free to get creative with this rule—common materials should be more familiar, and weird rare ones should be trickier!

Creating a Golem

Calculation Process Used

Golems in italic only appear in Classic: Magic Items 3 and have had their energy costs adjusted per the Golem spell's suggestion of every character point change from the clay golem results in a change of 2 energy points as several of them were below the 130 energy minimum.

To make things easier for GMs in dealing with Quadruped Golems a Base Golem that needs exactly 130 energy to make is provided. That base line is used to recalculate the energy costs of the Appendix Z article as the energy costs for both the standard and Quadruped golems are wrong, even using the authors base values and Quadruped [-35] points rather then the Author's homebrew Quadruped [-40] doesn't get to correct Q Energy values. Ironically the Quadruped [-35] results in totals closer to the authors Q Energy values (512 vs 518 for the Adamant.

Since classic Golems at best had only 'One weapon skill (maker’s choice) of (skill level)' and the Clay golem used weapons at default the skill points adjustments are figured from a DX/Hard weapon at the relevant level. The Stone Golem appeared without an energy cost in Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons; it used the HP 30 (HP+10) that appeared in Magic Items 3.

Q Adj's formula is negative ST+DX cost (-40%)+35+skill point difference. So the Q Adj for the Clay Golem is (50+20)*-0.4-35 or [-63]. This results in -126 making a Quadruped Clay Golem's energy 124 which is below the 130 minimum. So a Quadruped Clay Golem costs 130 energy

Another Method

Another method is to build the Golem as a character/vehicle using points with the (number of character points x 2) adjusting the 250 base with the energy needed to enchant never going below 130. So a Fixed-Wing Aircraft [-8] version of a clay golem would require only 234 energy (250-8*2) while a Hovercraft [+24] clay golem would cost 298 energy (250+24*2).

If the golem must have an operator than replace IQ-2 [-40]; Automaton [-85]; Cannot Learn [-30]; Disturbing Voice [-10]; and Reprogrammable [-10] (total [-175]); with IQ 0 [-200]; Compartmentalized Mind 1 (Controls) [25] (total [-175]) for [0]

The Golem Table

This table combines the information in Classic: Magic Items 3 and "Appendix Z: Golem Construction System for GURPS". Sadly the Energy totals in the Appendix article are wrong so it had to be recalculated using the method described above. Also every golem in Classic: Magic Items 3 has split HT many with HP different from their ST. However, the Clay Golem in 4e magic didn't have an adjustment to its HP as did its Classic counterpart; add another 20 energy to both totals if you want to model that golem in 4e.

Golems in bold appear in both sources; those in bold italics have different HT attributes between the two sources; the table uses the HT stat that appears in Appendix Z unless the one in Magic Items 3 is higher.

Table Key

• Q Energy: the energy cost to make a quadruped form of the golem.
• NA: Not Applicable
• NG: Not Given
• Type: Silver = Metal; Wheat = Earth; Pink = Body; Yellow = Plastic; Green = Plant

Low-Tech / Standard Golems

Material	Lbs.	ST	DX	IQ	HT	HP	DR	Skill Points	Building Time	Points Adj Energy	Q Adj Energy	$ Cost
A Base Golem	NA	10	10	8	15	10	0	10	NA	130	[0] 130	NA
Adamant	500	35 [250]	12 [40]	9 [20]	15	35	12 [60]	14 [4]	NG	878 [+274]	(-302) [-151] 576	NG
Brick	400	15 [50]	10	8	15	15	2 [10]	10		250 [+80]	(-110) [-55] 140
Bronze	1800	25 [150]	13 [100]	9 [20]	16 [10]	30 [10]	6 [30]	10	5 Weeks	690 [+280]	(-238) [-119] 452	$30,000
Chalk	500	14 [40]	10	8	14	14	0	10		190 [+30]	(-102) [-51] 130
Clay	200	15 [50]	11 [20]	8	14 [-10]	15	0	10	1 Week	250 [+60]	(-126) [-63] 130	$9,020
Concrete	500	17 [70]	11 [20]	8	14 [-10]	17	1 [5]	10	1 Week	300 [+85]	(-142) [-71] 158	$13,750
Copper	1800	19 [90]	12 [40]	9 [20]	14 [-10]	19	5 [25]	10		460 [+165]	(-174) [-87] 286
Corpse(see 4e Rules note)	N/G	15 [50]	12 [40]	8	12 [-30]	20 [+20]	2 [8]	4 [-6]	N/G	300	(-154) [-77] 146
Cotton	250	12 [20]	11 [20]	8	13 [-20]	12	0	10		170 [+20]	(-102) [-51] 130
Crystal (Alchemy)		20 [100]	15 [100]	9 [20]	13 [-20]	20	2 [10]	18 [8]	6 Weeks	566 [+218]	(-230) [-115] 336	$40,000 $3,000 of salt/crystals
Diamond	700	20 [100]	16 [120]	9 [20]	15	20	2 [10]	14 [4]		638 [+254]	(-246) [-123] 382
Flesh	200	18 [80]	12 [40]	8	14 [-10]	20 [4]	0	10	2 weeks	358 [+114]	(-166) [-83] 188	$15,000
Glass	500	15 [50]	15 [100]	9 [20]	14 [-10]	15	2 [10]	10		470 [+170]	280 (-190) [-95]
Gold	4000	20 [100]	13 [60]	9 [10]	14 [-10]	20	4 [20]	10	4 weeks	510 [+190]	(-198) [-99] 312	$21,250
Granite	500	20 [100]	11 [20]	8	15	20	4 [20]	10		410 [+140]	(-166) [-83] 244
Ice	200	15 [50]	15 [100]	9 [20]	12 [-40]	15	1 [5]	12 [2]	1 week	404 [+137]	(-190) [-95] 214	$16,250
Iron	1600	30 [200]	12 [40]	9 [20]	16 [10]	30	6 [30]	14 [4]	5 weeks	738 [+304]	(-216) [-131] 476	$40,000 $1,000 of iron
Ivory	400	14	12	8	13	14	1	10	2 weeks	260		130
Lead	2300	20	11	8	14	20	4	10		390		214
Marble	500	20 [100]	11 [20]	8	16 [10]	30 [20]	6 [30]	10	4 weeks	490 [+180]	(-166) [-83] 324	$25,000
Origami	15 [50]	5 [-100]	14 [120]	8 [-70]	10 [-10]	5 [-25]	0	10	1 week	160 [15]	(-30) [-15] 130	$556
Orichalcum	1700	50	12	9	15		12	14		1178		746
Paper	250	13	11	8	14		0	10		210		130
Porcelain	500	9 [-20]	13 [120]	9 [20]	10 [-50]	13 [8]	0	10	3 weeks	186 [28]	(-55) [-110] 130	$1,970
Rag (Alchemy)	80	8 [-20]	14 [80]	8	10 [-50]	11 [6]	0	10		162 [+16]	(-118 [-59] 130	$556
Salt	420	20	15	9	14	20	2	10		570	330
Scarecrow		7 [-30]	9 [-20]	8	13 [-20]	8 [2]	0	12 Wpn-8 [2]	1 week	130 [-66]	(-110) [-55] 130	$150
Silver	2000	20 [100]	14 [80]	9 [20]	14 [-10]	25 [10]	5 [25]	14 [4]	4 weeks	588 [+229]	(-214) [-107] 374	$27,500
Stone	200	20 [100]	11 [20]	8	14 [-10]	30 [20]	4 [20]	14 [4]	3 weeks	[+154] 438	(-166) [-83] 272	$20,000
Tar	250	15 [50]	13 [60]	8	13 [-20]	22 [14]	0	10	1 week	[+94] 304	-158 [-79] 146	$15,000
Wax	200	10	11 [20]	8	14 [-20]	16 [12]	0	10	1 week	154 [12]	(-86) [-43] 130	$17,500
Wood	200	20 [100]	12 [40]	8	14 [-10]	20	5 [25]	10	2 weeks	440 [155]	(-182) [-91] 258	$17,500
Wool	300	16	11	8	15		0	10		290	146

The Scarecrow Golem's materials consist of a set of clothes, a quantity of straw to stuff the clothes with, and a sack with a face drawn on it.

High-Tech Golems

These golems are made with materials that you probably wouldn't find in a Dungeon Fantasy setting!

Plastic Golems

Material	Lbs.	ST	DX	IQ	HT	HP	DR	Skill Points	Building Time	Points Adj Energy	Q Adj Energy	$ Cost
A Base Golem	NA	10	10	8	15	10	0	10	NA	130	[0] 130	NA
Bakelite	300	12 [20]	12 [40]	9 [20]	13 [-20]	17 [10]	2 [10]	10	1 Week	290 [+80]	(-118) [-59] 172	$5,890
FPS	10	10	13 [60]	8	10	10	0	10		250 [60]	130
Garbage (Plastic)	100	13 [30]	11 [20]	8	11 [-40]	16 [6]	1 [5]	18 Wpn-12 [8]	1 week	188 [+29]	130 [-66] (-110)	$3,580
Plastic		10	13 [60]	6 [-40]	8 [-70]	15 [10]	1	14 Wpn-13 [4]	1 week	[-26] 130	[-59] (-118) 130	$15,000 $100 of plastic
PVC	250	10	13	8	11	10	1	10		180	130
Rubber	200	15[50]	15 [100]	8	16 [10]	30 [30]	1 [10]	10	3 weeks	520 [+135]	(-95) [-190] 330	$32,500
Silicone	230	14	15	9	15	14	1	10		460		268

Advanced Metal Golems

Material	Lbs.	ST	DX	IQ	HT	HP	DR	Skill Points	Building Time	Points Adj Energy	Q Adj Energy	$ Cost
Aluminum	540	20 [100]	14 [80]	8	13 [-20]	20	6 [30]	10	NG	510 [+190]	(-214) [-107] 296	NG
MMC	140	50 [400]	12 [40]	9 [20]	15	40 [-20]	20 [100]	14 [4]	6 weeks	1218 [+544]	(-422) [-211] 796	$63,750
Steel	1700	45 [350]	12 [40]	9 [20]	15	40 [-10]	8 [40]	14 [4]	5 weeks	1018 [444]	(-382) [-191] 636	$50,000
Titanium	900	40 [300]	12 [40]	9 [20]	16 [10]	40	12	14	NG	998 [434]	(-342) [-171] 656	$60,000 $10,000 of titanium
Uranium	3800	35	11	8	16	35	12	10		800	504

Different Sizes and Shapes

Classic Rules

The Classic rules for building golems of different sizes and shapes were somewhat involved.

"Energy cost for larger golems increases in proportion to their volume and weight. Energy cost for smaller golems is 50% of that for full-sized golems, plus another 1% for each 2% of standard volume and weight." Golems can be made in animal shapes.

For High Tech Golems (TL6+), "Smaller golems can be created by using less energy and material. Energy cost, time to build the body, ST, hit points and DR are all multiplied by the golem's scale factor; e.g., by 1/2 for a 1/2-scale golem. The golem's weight and material cost scale with the cube of its scale; e.g., a 1/2-scale golem weighs 1/2 as much and requires 1/2 the materials. Round fractional statistics down. A golem needs at least ST 1 and 1 HP to function.

Examples

• Mandrake: 6 inches high manikin formed from a whole mandrake root. Has ST 3, DX 4, HT 10/2, IQ 7. It has a speed of 5, no PD or DR and costs 100 energy.
• Undersea: 7’3” tall steel golem. Has ST 90, DX 12, HT 15, HP 80, IQ 9. It has a Speed of 6, PD 3, DR 13 and costs 1900 energy.
• Bronze Elephant: ST 2,000, DX 13, HT 15, HP 2,400, IQ 5. It has a Speed of 7, PD 3, DR 6 and costs 28,800 energy.

4e Rules

The Golem spell provides guidelines for the energy cost of more powerful golems with the baseline of an additional 2 energy for every extra character point of abilities added to the golem. So, for example, each additional 20 points of energy could give one ST+1, HP+5, or DR2. This rule can be reversed for less powerful golems (such as the watchmaker golems in Qabala's flavor text This makes it easy to figure out how to make Golem versions of nearly anything.

The Corpse Golem shows a different type of Golem in terms of Advantages and Disadvantage and how this rule can be applied to cost.

Animation vs Golem

While statues with Animation are more durable then Golems (being able to take more damage) they can only be controlled by the person who created them.

Mechanical Golems

The golem spell provides four components: articulation, animation (includes mechanical articulation), perception, and comprehension which can be replaced with their technological equivalents at TL1, TL3, TL5, and TL4 respectively. This is a trade off of time for energy as it takes time and the relevant Engineer skill to add these improvements but it makes the Golem spell cheaper.

At a fundamental level this is -5% per TL so TL2 improvements are 90% of energy cost, TL5 is 75%, and TL9 is 55%.

Golem, Attribute-less Meta-trait

This is the clay golem from GURPS Magic stripped of its modifiers to Attributes.
Cost: -70 Points

Energy: 130 (minimum; by the math it would be 110)

Advantages	Doesn’t Breathe [20]; Doesn't Eat or Drink [10]; Doesn't Sleep [20]; High Pain Threshold [10]; Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30]; Injury Tolerance (Homogenous, No Blood) [45]; Single-Minded [5]; Unaging [15]; Unfazeable [15]; Vacuum Support [5]	[175]
Disadvantages	Automaton [-85]; Cannot Learn [-30]; Disturbing Voice [-10]; No Sense of Smell/Taste [-5]; Reprogrammable [-10]; Social Stigma (Valuable Property) [-10]; Unhealing (Total) [-30]; Unnatural [-50]; Wealth (Dead Broke) [-25]	[-255]
Features	Neither has nor spends Fatigue Points	[0]
Skills	10 points of skills appropriate to the golem’s intended function	[10]

Golem-Armor Swordsman (Quick and Dirty)

This is a special Flesh Golem (it uses the body of a former swordsman) whose armor turns into an "armor golem" when the Flesh Golem is killed. It is stated that the armor is augmenting strength but it only has a ST 13 which is well below the Classic Flesh Golem of ST 18. A better version is to have the Golem have the ST of a Golem be the material the armor is made from and use that if it is higher then ST 18.

A quick and dirty way to calculate this golem via the table is to have the Golem Spell cost twice but with the exception of ST and DR all the stats of the material the armor is are the same as the Flesh Golem. Since both golems have the Berserk (12) [-10] disadvantage the Flesh Golem is only 320 Energy.

So a Golem-Armor Swordsman in bronze armor would be ST 25 or ST+7 [70], DR+6 [50], and Berserk (12) [-10] for 110 points which is 220 energy. So the "armor golem" is 540 and the Bronze Golem-Armor Swordsman 860 Energy to make.

Go-limbs

Go-limbs are golem based magical prosthetics that are created via variants of the Golem and Restoration spells. As presented in Classic: Magic Items 2, they are far more expensive in terms of money and time then a full human sized golem (For example, an arm alone costs $195,000, takes 6 months to make, and the spells cost another $240,000). This practically restricts go-limbs to settings where magical healing is difficult to obtain, absurdly expensive, or both, or that the recipient’s flesh was too badly damaged to regenerate.

Outside things like eyes and ears with full abilities, there are some logic issues with this. For example, it would be more effective in time and cost to create a hollow golem and have it function like an exoskeleton. Furthermore, Go-Limbs is a pun, sounding like "golems" itself.

References

• GURPS Magic