Ideas for a flawed golem army

[ffy]

In my current campaign the players are currently in a city that instead of regular City Guard has statues worked into the architecture of nearly every building - the statues are actually golems that are activated when any wrongdoing takes place, thus the streets are kept safe by everyone being scared of death by golem. The golems are also the city's last line of defense (the other line of defense would be an untrained hastily raised militia of townsmen to man the walls). Due to the way they are controlled though, there are several problems with a guard force like that. Namely, they are bent to the will of a benevolent seeming master wizard, who might actually not be as benevolent as he seems (are they ever? )

The PCs will probably need to take out (or take control of) the golem army soon, and one of the paths to doing that is finding and reactivating the PREVIOUS golem army that was used as City Guard. Now, that will be the 'easy way out' and I want to make choosing that option morally gray. By that I mean activating the old golem army will lead to further problems down the road, so that when the PCs find the old army and the means to activate & control it, they will have to pause for a second and consider the consequences.

Where I ran into problems though is trying to imagine what might be wrong with the old golems (after all, they were shut down and replaced by the 'MkII'). Of course there could be a technical problem with them (maybe they lack the energy reserves to work for extended periods and thus would fail in case of the city being besieged), but that isn't exactly interesting enough. I would like it if there was something wrong with them, that might impact the quality of the life in the city negatively. Does anyone have any ideas what that might be?

 

[Scott DeWar]

The old golum army was made of bones, is damaged and needs necromany to repair it. DARK DARK DARK spells at that .. .. ..

 

[Herobizkit]

Along the same bent, perhaps the golems are chemically powered, and said chemicals cause plagues, infertility, and poison crops and water.

Kinda like radiation.

Or exactly like it.

 

[Harley Stroh]

Maybe the old golems are programmed to enforce an antiquated social/racial order. Their extensive set of weird, outdated, offensive laws ("To the back on the bus, elf!" "No dogs or dwarves allowed!" "Alcohol is prohibited!") no longer apply in your campaign's more enlightened age.

So sure, you can activate the hulking golems to battle a greater evil, but they are causing a ton of lesser evils in the meantime.

//H

 

[jonesy]

The golems also need alcohol added to the fuel, but they are consuming more and more of it as they become more rundown. This increasingly rundown nature is making them act a bit woozy.

The city has been forcibly siphoning shipments from local dealers.

This is causing a severe shortage everywhere, and a lot bad spirits among the citizens.

Not only that, the criminal underworld is starting to sober up conserning the loss of profit from their liquid business.

 

[Tonguez]

What if Mark 1 were just more prone to malfunction?

perhaps after a series of malfunction (either golems that failed to respond or golems that overreacted (executing people for arguing in the street)) it was decided to decommission the old golems as a whole.

If the PCs reactivate the old golems they have the problem of age having caused even more of them to malfunction in various ways.

ie the PC now lead an army of either confused and randomly catatonic golems or confused and randomly homocidal golems

 

[weem]

I would like it if there was something wrong with them, that might impact the quality of the life in the city negatively. Does anyone have any ideas what that might be?

What if the "problem" was that they started thinking for themselves. All their time "watching" humanity pass back and forth in front of them for all those years.

I'm doing something with a shared-mind in a campaign I'm working up right now, and I think that might be cool here as well. They might share all of their experiences, and as such have a very deep understanding of humanity - one that humans could never see to such an extent - it's this that has sparked within them this new life and sense of self.

There are similarities with this to things like "I, Robot" etc, but that's not a bad thing!

I also really like Herobizkit's idea

 

[Deset Gled]

Slowed - Due to a combination of age and general wear-and-tear, all the old golems act as if the are Slowed. Some of the better conditioned ones may just have a slower move speed.

Missing Parts - Some of the old golems literally left parts of their bodies in the architechture. A golem with a missing leg moves at half speed. A golem with a missing arm gets no extra attacks when making a full attack action. Golems with no legs can be carted around the battlefield or used as sentries. Golems with missing heads are not affected, but are generally creepy. Some golems may also have extra building parts embedded in their bodies: A golem with a pillar attached has extended reach.

Magic im-immunity - The original buildings were constructed with magical means, so the MrkI golems had to be made with only partial magic immunity. Any transmutation spells affect the golems as they would a normal creature.

Bad Communications - Due to issues with mass production, the MrkI golems can only be given a new commands once every 5 (or maybe 10) rounds. Alternative implementation: Giving a command to a golem requires two full-round actions to complete (with a concentration roll required if attacked during this time).

Berserk Risk - The MrkI golems are a bit unpredictable. They have a 5% chance of going berserk every time they are given a new command. Use standard rules to get them back under command.

Too Passive - For safety reasons, the MrkI golems were made with a lack of aggression. Unlike other golems, they will not attack unless specifically ordered to do so. They will not defend themselves when attacked, and cannot be given orders like "Guard this area". To make a golem attack, it must be commanded to attack a specific target. The golem must be re-commanded to attack every round, or it will stop fighting. Given the background for the golems in the city, I think this one is my favorite.

 

[ffy]

Along the same bent, perhaps the golems are chemically powered, and said chemicals cause plagues, infertility, and poison crops and water.

Kinda like radiation.

Or exactly like it.

I think that is a great idea, I also think that it is a good way to input our Genasi more personally (he hasn't really had much time in the spotlight so far) to the campaign - probably in such a way that part of the control system was thrown into the chemical substance to ensure that they wouldn't be reactivated, and he is the man to go get it (being a swordmage with Hedge Wizard's Gloves and an acid/fire Genasi I imagine the chemicals having a lesser effect on him, or him being able to use Mage Hand or the like to do the job).

The golems also need alcohol added to the fuel, but they are consuming more and more of it as they become more rundown. This increasingly rundown nature is making them act a bit woozy.

The city has been forcibly siphoning shipments from local dealers.

This is causing a severe shortage everywhere, and a lot bad spirits among the citizens.

Not only that, the criminal underworld is starting to sober up conserning the loss of profit from their liquid business.

The party is very big on getting drunk (they like to emulate their own RL behaviour with their characters ) and reactivating a golem army that makes it difficult to find a drink in the city would probably be something they would care about a lot. Heh, maybe I will make it so that the chemical fuel required by the golems (Herobizkit's idea) needs an alcohol base to create After all, the barbarian is a bit too cerebral to get enraged while he is sober, and a barbarian that doesn't rage is just...weird.

What if the "problem" was that they started thinking for themselves. All their time "watching" humanity pass back and forth in front of them for all those years.

I'm doing something with a shared-mind in a campaign I'm working up right now, and I think that might be cool here as well. They might share all of their experiences, and as such have a very deep understanding of humanity - one that humans could never see to such an extent - it's this that has sparked within them this new life and sense of self.

There are similarities with this to things like "I, Robot" etc, but that's not a bad thing!

The old army being able to think for themselves is definitely a cool idea, but I want them to be able to actually have full control of the army and later give the control over to whoever they deem worthy. I think that the side-plot of sentient golems would steal the show a bit too much from the main plot - they are coming up on the end of heroic tier and the climax of the campaign so far. Maybe when they are sent ahead in time (and they definitely will, I like the idea of the party getting a glimpse of the future and then having to decide if they should take action to shape the future they saw, once they get back into their own timeline) they will come to the city and find the MkI golems to have developed sentience.

Slowed - Due to a combination of age and general wear-and-tear, all the old golems act as if the are Slowed. Some of the better conditioned ones may just have a slower move speed.

Missing Parts - Some of the old golems literally left parts of their bodies in the architechture. A golem with a missing leg moves at half speed. A golem with a missing arm gets no extra attacks when making a full attack action. Golems with no legs can be carted around the battlefield or used as sentries. Golems with missing heads are not affected, but are generally creepy. Some golems may also have extra building parts embedded in their bodies: A golem with a pillar attached has extended reach.

Magic im-immunity - The original buildings were constructed with magical means, so the MrkI golems had to be made with only partial magic immunity. Any transmutation spells affect the golems as they would a normal creature.

Bad Communications - Due to issues with mass production, the MrkI golems can only be given a new commands once every 5 (or maybe 10) rounds. Alternative implementation: Giving a command to a golem requires two full-round actions to complete (with a concentration roll required if attacked during this time).

Berserk Risk - The MrkI golems are a bit unpredictable. They have a 5% chance of going berserk every time they are given a new command. Use standard rules to get them back under command.

Too Passive - For safety reasons, the MrkI golems were made with a lack of aggression. Unlike other golems, they will not attack unless specifically ordered to do so. They will not defend themselves when attacked, and cannot be given orders like "Guard this area". To make a golem attack, it must be commanded to attack a specific target. The golem must be re-commanded to attack every round, or it will stop fighting. Given the background for the golems in the city, I think this one is my favorite.

I like these ideas, but we probably won't be having a real combat (initiative and all) with the golems involved. And even if we do, having their weaknesses really only show once the fighting begins (this time or in the future) isn't the kind of problems I am looking for - with a big enough army of slow, unpredictable and dumb golems the city would still be pretty safe from invaders or uprisings. After all, the PCs would probably be smart enough to warn the government of the problems and have them install additional golem commanders or train a militia to counteract the problems. However, I don't want the golems' shortcoming to be easily solvable - I want there to be a choice between activating and using the problematic golems, or finding another (harder) way to keep the town safe.

 

[Whisper72]

What if the 'old army' is not so much old in the sense they are worse or something, merely, the old army was given another purpose, namely, guarding against some other evantuality (the rise of some other evil). This other evil will take some time to manifest once the golems are gone, so the party has time to think of a remedy for that threat, but probably not before this evil has done some sort of harm... The question then is, is the immediate, certain, threat worth it to risk exposing a new threat, later along the line?