Best ways to harm a construct

[Nail]

Except the AoE pretty much covered the entire room he was in... and he was a summoned golem who was trying to interpose/attack us -

The first is a relevant detail; the second is not.

The golem needs to get to you. If it needs to crawl to do so, sobeit.

 

[moritheil]

The first is a relevant detail; the second is not.

The golem needs to get to you. If it needs to crawl to do so, sobeit.

Hmm, I'm not so sure if golems have even the tiny amount of intelligence it would take to crawl instead of attempting to walk. Crawling is instinctive, after all - and they have no instincts.

AFAIK it's not called out one way or another in the RAW, but it is noted that even if you give a golem a suitable weapon, it will ignore it and attack with its fists or built-in weapons instead. Perhaps it comes down to whether or not a "crawl routine" was programmed in, if one views constructs as being essentially robots.

Anyhow, would most of you allow Rock to Mud to cause heavy golems to sink under?

 

[Question]

Disintegrate wont work against golems btw, immune to all SR spells.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Why is most everyone talking about golems? The OP started off by asking about constructs in general, and quickly specified he meant living constructs such as warforged.

And they're still talking about golems.

 

[moritheil]

And they're still talking about golems.

Well, at this point, that is where the discussion has gone, so yes, they are.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Well, at this point, that is where the discussion has gone, so yes, they are.

Only because people haven't made a distinction between the two throughout the thread.

 

[Patlin]

And they're still talking about golems.

Also, Golems are just a more interesting question. Almost any form of attack will hurt a warforged just fine... what's to talk about?

 

[ThirdWizard]

Also, Golems are just a more interesting question. Almost any form of attack will hurt a warforged just fine... what's to talk about?

There's plenty to know about Constructs as well as the difference between Living Constructs and Constructs.

Unlike constructs, living constructs are affected by things that specify "living creatures." Now, I know this might seem obvious, but its still worth it to point out, I think. They also have a Con score and lose the seeming universal Construct immunities to mind-affecting abilities, non-lethal damage, stunning, ability damage, ability drain, and death effects.

This makes them very different from Constructs. Since the OP didn't feel the need to call out "warforged" in the opening post, he or she might not be aware of these important differences.

They keep: immunity to gas based attacks, poison, sleep, paralysis, disease, nausea, fatigue, exhaustion, and, energy drain. That's important to keep in mind, because many spells that would normally be useful against most PC race types will be useless against warforged. For example, hold person, the monk's stunning fist, contagion, cloudkill, and waves of fatigue are useless.

They are subject to sneak attack, but have a 25% natural immunity to them. So, rogues are still will want to flank if they deem it is safe enough to warrant the 25% immunity to their sneak attacks. This is a difference between constructs, in which it is only worth flanking for the +2 to hit, and non-constructs in which you will almost always have sneak attack when you're flanking.

 

[Artoomis]

They keep: immunity to gas based attacks, poison, sleep, paralysis, disease, nausea, fatigue, exhaustion, and, energy drain. That's important to keep in mind, because many spells that would normally be useful against most PC race types will be useless against warforged. For example, hold person, the monk's stunning fist, contagion, cloudkill, and waves of fatigue are useless.
....

Really? No Stunning Fist? They cannot be stunned?

 

[ThirdWizard]

Really? No Stunning Fist? They cannot be stunned?

Oops! Yes, they can be stunned. For some reason I was thinking paralysis. Even though the ability has stunning in the name. I even listed stunning as something they specifically are not immune to in a paragraph above that!

EDIT: And to clarify the immunity to hold person above, they lose immunity to mind affecting things (which hold person is), but it is the immunity to paralysis which stops hold person from affecting them.