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Message: <blockquote data-quote="smbakeresq" data-source="post: 7487821" data-attributes="member: 28301">According to Ovinomancer none of that occurs when a golem moves as it is not explicitly stated in the description.  You can't infer that a metal creature that weighs thousands of pound makes noise when it moves as it is not stated at all just like you cant infer that a motionless, lifeless construct would be silent when not moving and taking no actions.  I will put a microphone by my car to record all the sounds it makes when it is sitting in my driveway with the engine off and completely cooled down from driving so you don't hear the heat dissipation.  It sounds absurd when you put it like that doesn't it?  Doing nothing is different then trying to remain silent, but its a construct that is not alive as we think it is, it needs no air, so you wouldn't hear breath.  It has no heartbeat or circulatory system as an organic being would. I guess you could say the spirit that animates would make noise of some form, but the spirit is described as having no will of its own.If it was animated by an air spirit I could see it, the air moving around.  That's the argument for the invisible stalker, you cant see it and all you hear is the wind (stealth check +10.)  This is a tiny earth spirit that just sits there with the will to do nothing but obey.  I have seen these arguments before, that passive perception lets you always detect an inanimate motionless object like a rug of smothering that is just sitting on the floor like a real rug since its stealth bonus is only +2 so its passive stealth would be 12.  Those rules for the rug though state it is specifically "False Appearance. While the rug remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a normal rug" which to me means you will never be allowed a check to perceive it as anything else unless you take a specific action to check it out.  I understand that the golem rules do not include that specific language. A fully visible but motionless Iron Golem to me would be just like an Iron Statue and I would describe it as such to the players, it would not have to make a stealth check to conceal itself as an inanimate iron statue of itself, and your passive perception wouldn't let you detect it as an iron golem automatically.  If you took an action to check it out, sure.  I understand though that the explanation in the paragraph above is not specifically stated in the rules and that many DMs (it seems) would have the PCs instantly notice a motionless iron golem as an iron golem and not a statue right away as the PC passive checks would beat the golems passive stealth check (9).  I used passive stealth since a motionless golem waiting for a trigger or order is taking the stealth action over and over so would be an average result for a task done repeatedly or 9 for the Golem.  At least one PC will have a passive perception of 9 or more in every group.</blockquote>

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