Iron Golem

A titan of pure iron and magic, the Iron Golem packs a wicked punch (and halitosis to boot). I love golems and constructs of all kinds. If you haven't gathered that yet, you will.

I'm conflicted when it comes to the use of golems, though. On the one hand, I love surprising players with these mindless guardians (also I just love them a lot in general okay).

On the other hand, they're immune to an awful lot. Their vulnerabilities always seem to be something seldom available. In the case of the iron golem, being able to deactivate its breath weapon for 1 minute (basically the entire fight) is huge! However, that vulnerability is tied to neutralize poison, which I've never had anyone prepare or learn. It's also vulnerable to rust, which, outside of waving a rust monster antenna at it or having a primal caster for rusting grasp, isn't easy to accomplish RAW.

These are by no means reasons to not use the iron golem. It's the perfect monster to complement a mad wizard, a secret laboratory, or a ruin lost since the Iron Age. A merchant selling scrolls of neutralize poison outside of an iron golem's locale would be interesting if the party was too low of a level to properly fight it. Disable its breath weapon and run! It's not very fast, I'm sure your party can probably make it!

I mean, come on, it's a golem! You should use it in any instance that you can. Lucky for you, you've come to Beastfinder, and providing instances to use monsters is exactly what we do.

-TJ

Hook 1 (Max) - Iron Maiden

The small mining town of Coalsmine has been seeing a lot of commerce and travelers in the last couple of years. The reason? A discovery their workers made underground that has been since maintained by the local wizard, an ancient construct of considerable power.

"Come test your mettle against Iron Maiden!" all sorts of mercenaries and vagabonds are urged. The townsfolk, being clever as they are, charge a hefty sum for everyone who passes through that wants to try their hand in single combat against the golem. This has worked out surprisingly well for the people of Coalsmine, as they've seen a great upturn in their profits. Not many combatants manage to win and if they do, repairing the contraption proves an easy matter.

Rules of the challenge are simple—one combatant at a time, no single-use items, the one who manages to walk off the arena wins. The possibility of death is high and the town does not cover any recovery costs.

The arena is quite big for one-on-one combat, approximately one hundred by one hundred feet, laden with sand and barren. Once the challenger enters it, comes forth the Iron Maiden. One could mistakenly take her for a normal golem, though that would be a great miscalculation, as with each failure she had been modified and upgraded to become the ultimate killing machine beyond her original capabilities.

Hook 2 (TJ) - Haywire Handlers

The smog of the smokebelchers is getting to be a real problem. Each of the Utheni guilds has suggested various solutions to said problem. The air-purifying automatons wandering the streets of Dren are a pet project of the Golemancers Guild; this doubles as their bid to solve the smog problem and as their submission to the Contest of the Steel Kings. If this iron golem schematic is approved for entry and subsequently wins the contest, the election of the Golemancers Guild to the Forgeseat will mark the first time in 74 cycles that a fledgling guild has succeeded.

The Machinists Guild does not recognize the Golemancers Guild as an independent entity. While their reasoning is not official, the general consensus is that—considering the Golemancers are an offshoot of the Machinists—the Machinists tentatively have the rights to Golemancer developments. When one of the iron golems goes haywire and begins spewing the toxins back into the Dren atmosphere, Jarmek Shattermace, the current Forgeseat, doesn't care whom the golem belongs to, he just wants it stopped. The ramifications for the Golemancers' Forgeseat application will have to wait.

Hook 3 (Reece) - To Sink or Swim

A new piece of dwarven technology has proven particularly deadly in the conflict between the Relendish Isles and The Grand Tyranny. So far, only one ship of its kind has been fielded, and it was a genuine terror during the fight at sea.

The dwarves are particularly recalcitrant when it comes to sharing the secrets of their forging techniques, so no one really understands how exactly they got it to work, though it has most assuredly been their finest contribution to the war effort, at least since the advent of cannons.

The warship—known simply as The Iron Lady—is a floating monstrosity of iron, bristling with cannons and twice the size of any normal galleon. The hull of the thing was so impenetrable that The Tyranny had only one choice—boarding.

Unfortunately for those involved, this was their greatest error. The forecastle of The Iron Lady is ostentatiously adorned with the iron reliefs of two dwarven women, or so the Tyrannymen thought. Upon boarding the ship the two statues lept to life, tearing through the boarding party before pulling down the boarding ship's mast using massive rune-laden chains. Now, each ship that attempts to board the unbreakable hulk is rebuffed and similarly struck down. One report notes that a ship was entirely overturned in the water, killing everyone on board.

The Tyranny has a plan, though, to destroy the weapon before it turns the tide of the war.

Why try to destroy the golems, when you can simply shove them overboard where they will sink into the deepest depths of the ocean?

Homunculus

A Homunclus is an impish construct created from their creators' blood, along with classical alchemical junk treasures. They serve as lab assistants, scouts, or whatever job their scholarly masters deem them fit for.

In most campaigns, these are going to be NPC's helpers, even mouthpieces. But if you're running a campaign where magic is an integral part of all the PC's stories, or maybe a solo campaign, homunculi could easily come up as regular NPCs.

Their basic stat block really doesn't give them much to work with at base, other than their notable mind link to their master, but the fact that they are each a uniquely crafted creature means you're practically obliged to go nuts customizing them with unique abilities.

- Nemanja

Hook 1 (Max) - Living off Borrowed Time

While striding through the woods, you might stumble upon a spiteful little creature by the name of Spark. It resembles an impoverished goblinoid with meek stature and sickly white skin. As it comes across your path, it will likely start throwing insults your way and try to chase you into a nearby cavern, where the remains of its master lie.

Spark is aware that with its creator's passing whatever time it might have will soon prove to be short, so it tries to find someone to replace them. The homunculus' bargaining chip is the laboratory and study left by its late owner. The thing is, the old wizard set up a myriad of traps to defend it and Spark needs help disarming them.

Not like Spark knows how.

Hook 2 (Nemanja) - Paleblood Plea

Pakworth Paleblood is a fully autonomous homunculus, serving as the Chair of Necromancy at the Wygreth Wizardly Univesity. Other than his unusually complex persona—he is known to be deeply cynical while also being empathetic and warm—two more things stand out about professor Paleblood. Firstly, much unlike other documented masterless homunculi, he outright refuses to utter a single word about his former master. Secondly, he has chosen to specialize in the study of vampires, a rare, near-extinct phenomenon that is supposed to only exist on the outskirts of civilization.

In truth, the construct is not autonomous at all. He is in fact a vessel through which his master, an ancient Nosferatu vampire know as Gorge, interacts with the world.

Gorge has been living in the catacombs beneath the university for ages and has been trying to find a cure for his curse all the while. Should anyone follow professor Paleblood after dark, they might stumble upon his master, in which case they better hope his need for help is greater than his hunger...

Hook 3 (Reece) - Examination: The Sepulchre

"The Sepulchre is a place from which one does not return. It is a place of blood and fire, ruled by a cruel mage who has extended his life far beyond what is natural. Should you die within his domain, he will make a point to personally retrieve your body and stuff your soul back in it using blood magic of his own devising, a cruel joke that he plays to amuse himself between his studies and his machinations to conquer the southern continent."

- Excerpt of a conversation from a tavern goer in the city of Darath Sabar. 

After buying the patron several more drinks, he seems to have passed out on the bar top. A brief examination of his exposed neck and covered forearms has revealed sutures and general tampering with his biological structures, as expected. Alcohol tolerance above average for a human of his height. Corroborates other accounts, though this is the first "live" one I have encountered. Further investigation needed to ascertain if he has indeed escaped this "Sepulchre". Subject would indeed be the largest homunculus on record, should his origin indeed be as I suspect.

Guthallath

Game and Dungeon Masters, be honest. How much time have you really spent on your world? Is it ever enough? The answer is obviously no. The guthallath is a monster for GMs to indulge in. Its role as a (literally) gargantuan war machine from the ancient past is one of the best excuses you'll ever find to dig deeply into the history of what you've put together, though it isn't likely to be a monster that gets much actual use.

The guthallath is a gargantuan construct created with a sole purpose: destruction. If there's a phrase that has made me more excited than that, I can't think of it right now. This powerhouse is not lacking in both powers and immunities. Its 10th level disintegrate every 1d4 rounds puts a dragon's breath to shame. Constant true seeing means you can't make illusory terrain to divert it from its goal. Immunity to spells lower than 7th level and Resistance to the tune of physical 15 severely limits what your players can use against it. The ability to Trample huge or smaller creatures means you can't block it with sheer size. That isn't even mentioning its Erosion Aura (which creatures are never immune to) and its Powerful Blows feature, which helps it crit more often.

So how are you actually going to use this monster? Honestly, it's a 19th level creature! So you probably won't. 

But you definitely should. 

Bury it deep underground. Have the PCs come across its inert, slumbering form. Let it hint at the history you've created. Decide where it came from and what it's doing. Make an entire high-level one-shot or mini-arc about preventing it from destroying the known world. Plant mysteries about cyclic destruction, and hint that this thing is responsible. Then, when it awakes, consider making this an extended skill challenge rather than a flat-out combat. Again, in my opinion, this is definitely a monster that's more for GMs to flex creativity with than really for players to fight. Draw ideas from media like Shadow of the Colossus, Breath of the Wild, and the Iron Giant to really help the guthallath shine. Or leave it where it slumbers, waiting for its chance to start the engines of war once again, its very existence hinting at stories of epochs past and peoples long gone.

-TJ

Hook 1 (Max) - The Colussus of Tragge

The Great Colossus of Tragge is one of the greatest wonders on this side of the known world. The towering statue was reportedly created long before the city itself, as it was already here when the first settlers arrived. Its exact origin is a long-contested subject between scholars and the locals of Tragge. The monument stands well over one hundred feet tall, bearing a proportionally oversized shield and spear, as well as an additional set of arms crossed behind its back. Its face is a demonic visage set in a vicious snarl.

Today, however, it is not in the center of attention, for Tragge celebrates its sixth century of existence. Travelers from far and wide have arrived to take part in the variety of festivities, games, and pleasures that the metropolis offers.

At the third bell, the current city council announces that a play will take place—a reenactment of the city's founding! It tells a story of the legendary founder, who tamed many beasts to aid the people before finally forging the Colossus to protect them when he's gone. Everyone, being so enamored with the spectacle, fails to see one extremely vital thing.

The Colossus moved. And it looks angrier than usual.

Hook 2 (Nemanja) - The Collapse

When all of the world's seas disappeared overnight, many lives changed.

For some, it meant near-certain death as they found themselves living at the edge of a desert rather than in a magnificent port city. For others, it meant new opportunities arose; now, sunken ruins with undisturbed riches were suddenly within grasp. For brave sir Bellathor and his Burly Band, it meant their castle was instead atop a massive stone goliath instead of an island in the middle of the sea. 

As if all that wasn't enough, the not-island is evidently starting to wake up.

Hook 3 (TJ) - Riven Valley Rampage

The denizens of the Riven Valley have learned a lot over the centuries. Well-documented charts and maps show the path of The Great Destroyer. As such, they've settled outside of its attentions. Every 50 years The Great Destroyer, a colossus of unknown origin, stomps its way through the valley, carving an identical path of destruction before eventually settling down on the opposite side and slumbering again to later repeat the cycle. The rampage is expected this year and the Riven Valley inhabitants have shaped their lives around its occurrence. They readily throw their refuse into its preordained path, waiting for the piles of garbage to be evaporated by the Destroyer's disintegration beams; some even sell guided tours to see it where it slumbers. As word of the event has spread, ticket sales to view its berserk state have greatly exceeded previous figures. People have flocked from all over to see the Great Destroyer rise again, and the Riven Valley is having a hard time supporting the influx of people. Little do they all know that this year will not be like the others...

Flesh Golem

Ah, the flesh golem. A classic horror monster used by crazed scientists and necromancers the multiverse over. The stat block notably contains hefty golem resistances. Having a good grasp on what golems are immune to goes a long way in helping them feel imposing and unstoppable. The Flesh Golem (like other golems) is mindless and neutral. Subvert expectations of this quintessential creature by having a benign master, or even giving it a basic level of intelligence. Crowds of townspeople are likely to take offense at its unnatural visage, which could serve a myriad of uses. Serving perhaps as a morbid reminder of their mortality and a perversion of their existence, the Flesh Golem can lend itself as a centerpiece to social encounters as well. When tensions escalate and townspeople try and drive this amalgam of magic and flesh out of town, however, they run the risk of activating its Berserk ability; proving they were right about its nature all along.

Hook 1 (TJ) - The Trawler
Leeside is one of the most prosperous fishing towns in the region, largely thanks to one man, known colloquially as "The Trawler." Very little is known about him, other than that he exclusively takes his boat out by himself at night. Each morning he returns with record-breaking hauls of fish in addition to other more strange and exotic varieties of seafood. Any fishmonger that starts to ask too many questions misses out on doing business with the Trawler as punishment. If only the locals knew the truth. If they ever caught a glimpse of the mer-flesh monstrosities swimming below the surface, dragging the nets between them...

Hook 2 (Reece) - A New "Friend"
The local smith's daughter Teirdre is often found playing on the outskirts of Adarlin, a tiny village of less than one-hundred people. It has long been known that her family has had some level of sorcerous talent that many in the town have been eagerly awaiting to see manifest. One hero from every generation, the town is fond of saying.

As she nears her tenth name day, Teirdre has been speaking of "The Man in the Caves" that she has "play dates" with. As she persists with the tale, her father has become worried that some nefarious entity could be praying on her.

To the surprise of both the village and Teirdre herself, she has unwittingly taken control of a Flesh Golem that was intended to steal her away to The Cult of Melting Flesh. Her new "Friend" is the first sign of the cult's activities near the town, and it may be the only clue as to how to stop them.

Hook 3 (Nemanja) - Birthright: Prometheus
The shores of Alba Endura, the island retreat for the richest men on Earth, are protected by a nameless legion of Flesh golems crafted from the bodies of the very laymen who built the high-tech facilities on the secret island. While the golems are taken for granted and treated as mindless, recent whispers talk of a golem who has developed a cunning and forceful personality.

As the stories go, the Golem - calling himself Prometheus - will give other golems little bites of his own brain matter, after which they also display signs of having a personality and mind of their own, albeit for a very limited time. For now, his motives remain entirely unclear.

Clay golem

Honestly, despite many generations of dungeons and dragons and its derivatives offering many different varieties, the original clay golem remains my favourite. Given its classic origins, i think classic stories of hubris and overly literal adherence to commands suit these things more than any other construct.

In the thrice-blessed city of Kragooy, almost every temple has clay golem guardians, with heads ornately carved to resemble their patron deities. In the past few weeks, there have been several instances of these faces melting off. After that, the golems, with newly featureless and perfectly smooth faces all went into a rampage, killing innocents out on the streets of the city. If the source of this vile magic isn't found soon, the city will undoubtedly go into chaos.

In an attempt to keep his village safe, a now famous wizard left a clay golem to stand guard over it. The golem was popular for a while, keeping wolves and the occasional basilisk or ankhrav at bay, but then one day, mysteriously disappeared without a trace. Several months later, he returned, carrying an enormous quantity of bottles of philosopher's brew - the famed potion of eternal life. As it turned out, the maker told his golem to "never harm or kill anyone in the village, or allow anyone to be harmed or die through inaction".
Unfortunately, the sheer amount of the extremely rare and valuable brew makes the little village a target for much greater threats than before, and the wizard and his compatriots must rush back to its aid.

On his deathbed, King Grzegorz the Greedy commanded his personal golem (crafted in his likeness) to guard his crown until a worthy heir appears. Several days later, when all the king's heirs fell, trying to wrestle the crown from the mighty construct's clay hands, the kingdom fell into disarray. Desperate to keep the peace, the remaining great lords issued a proclamation: whosoever manages to beat the golem, shall be crowned the new rightful king of Polithania.

Animated object

The animated object "family" of creatures comes with four examples in the bestiary - from the lowly animated broom, to the genre classics animated armor and statue, and finishing off with the giant version of the latter. Of course, the possibility for creating countless others exists within the framework of the game - its a simple matter of using the right ritual.
As opponents, animated objects aren't exactly the type of encounter you'd base your around - they work best as simple obstacles or even mere "set dressing".

The king's new bride kept complaining about how unclean the castle was - and a group of gremlins heard her. While never gentle and always mischievous, the gremlins have lived in the castle for generations, and had a special fondness for the young king. They immediately took a dislike to the new queen. Seeing their opportunity, they stole every single broom in the kingdom, and then promptly animated all of them in the middle of the castle. The King's guests are led on a wild hunt for the tiny tricksters, through the nooks and crannies of the labyrinthine castle, but if they find out the impossibly beautiful queen's dark secret, they may yet side with the gremlins in antagonizing her.

The megalopolis of Petroskin has a huge necromancer problem. To deal with it, the Maple Hill Cemetery uses a large number of animated statues. These statues remain immobile during the day, but as soon as night falls they start patrolling the graveyard. To distinguish the animated and regular statues, the sculptors sculpt their own faces onto the animated ones.
Recently, however, there have been several disappearances among the cemetery staff. What is more, a rumor is starting about a mysterious huge statue starting to appear from time to time. For some reason, unlike the other statues, the huge one appears to have a completely blank and featureless face.

Sir Flavio's school of the highest art of the rapier is a rather prestigious school of fencing. As part of the mind-numbingly expensive deal, after finishing the course, students are given a an animated suit of armor, loaded with the commands for basic fencing practice, with the idea that no real fencer ever stops honing his skills. A week ago, however, a high-profile assassination was pulled off - one of the school's armors was somehow replaced with one with the instruction to murder the student's rich father as soon as it was delivered.
Sir Flavio has reason to believe that the assassins will try again, and inspectors he hired now have a hard task ahead of them - decide which of the ten remaining constructs were planted by the assassins, but preferably do so without damaging any others.

Alchemical Golem

While by no means the toughest or meanest golem in the bestiary (its the second lowest level of the bunch, outclassing only the flesh golem), the alchemical golem might actually be the toughest one to prepare for.
With the potential to dish out six different types of damage, its nigh impossible to set up defenses against it. Fighting one should feel wild, chaotic and unpredictable, and should keep both players and player characters on their toes. The fact that while rare, these golems do become sentient, can also be used in many, many ways...

The order of the Last Light has outlawed both the technomancers and the necromancers. Banding together, they have repurposed several Alchemical Golems by filling their vials with ghoul fever and zombie rot. If the decree outlawing them isn't revoked by dawn of the next day, they threaten to release these necrotic constructs in the poorest slums of the city, killing thousands in a matter of hours. Luckily, a certain young thief has information about where the scholar controlling the golems is hiding, but getting to him wont be easy...

Bjørn Bloodsplat was an alchemist who heard the stories of alchemical golems attaining true consciousness, and tried to replicate such an occurence. His experiment went a little too well though - BB-769 not only ended up with a personality, it ended up with six of them. Depending on the balance of chemicals in its many vials, it may try to murder, negotiate with, or preach to the envoys sent to recruit it.

Lucas Longly was a dwarven merchant and dabbler in the arcane, who among other things left an alchemical golem as heirloom to his progeny. A hundred and fifty years later, Lucas's grandson Yucas is in need of such a construct. There are several complications though - the cave in which the dormant golem is located has become infested with dire bats, who could easily shatter the delicate glass dome adorning the golem. What is more, dire bats have recently been pronounced an endangered species, meaning that anyone involved in harming them would need to pay quite high a fee. The specialists on Yucas's payroll will need to get creative.

 

Adamantine golem

The biggest, meanest entry in the golem family so far, an adamantine golem is a high-tier threat. It is rare and and expensive to create, that the mere creation of one should be an event of epic proportions. Its' high CR and insanely powerful abilities make it a great choice for a campaign-ending encounter.

Fifteen years ago, king Fulchrist sold his crown to the people of Stadia, turning it into a republic, and then mysteriously disapeared. Now he's back, riding on the shoulders of an an adamantine golem, and is threatening to destroy his old capital, unless the council gifts him The Elder Sword.
However, The Elder sword is the last known vorpal sword in the nine realms - supposedly the only weapon able to bring down an adamantine golem. As betrayal and backstabbing erupts among the councilmen, it is up to the newly appointed Chamber Guard to decide the fate of the republic.

When the Burntooth tribe discovered a giant metal man in the depths of their caves, they did what any sane goblin would do - they set it on fire and then promptly ran away.
After discovering that the thing is now awake, and will not harm them as long as they keep it supplied with a steady stream of fire and explosives, the Burntooths have quickly become the leading force in the Emerald Woods. As reports of them becoming bolder and luring the golem towards dryad outposts in the woods are becoming more and more frequent, it is only a matter of time before they set their sight on the undefended elven capital of Llewyth, and the green elders are offering the breath of eternal life to anyone who can put down that technological travesty.

The march of the machines is the local name given to a weird technomagical phenomenon on the world of Dunia. Namely, from the foothills of Gryffon mount, up to the entrance to the Gilded Caverns a thousand leagues northeast, there is always a never-ending line of adamantine golems, or forgewalkers as they are locally known. The golems are docile most of the time, but any attempts to break their line or sneak into the beginning or end points of their journey are met with swift resistance. Recently, however, golems with new designs have started appearing - some sporting antlers, others with intricate engravings across their bodies, and even a rare few whose internal forges seem to be glowing with blue fire. The Shimmerhammer clan of dwarves is launching a mining expedition that will dig through to the core of the mountain to once and for all solve the mystery, and they are anyone capable and mad enough to acompany them on the journey.