Force Golem

[maggot]

Okay, so I couldn't find a good force golem, so I made my own. I wanted it to be made from a wall of force, so it is nearly immune to nearly everything. What changes should I make, and what CR do you think this is? Although it has only 10 hit dice, I think it could cause a 15th level fighter a lot of problems.

Thanks.

Force Golem
Medium Construct
Hit Dice: 10d10+20 (75 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
AC: 22 (+2 Dex, +5 natural, +5 deflection) touch 17, flat-footed 17
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+10
Attack: +5 Greatsword +11 melee touch (2d6+14)
Full Attack: +5 Greatsword +11 melee touch (2d6+14)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Force Greatsword, Wall of Force
Special Qualities: Energy immunity, Magic immunity, Weapon immunity
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +3
Abilities: Str 22, Dex 14, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1
Skills: -
Feats: -
Environment: -
Challenge Rating: -
Treasure: -
Alignment: Neutral
The force golem appears as an outline of a fighter outfitted in full plate with a greatsword.
Combat
Force Greatsword (Ex): As a free action, the force golem can create a +5 greatsword made from pure force. The blade requires a touch attack to score hit instead of a regular attack. Since the blade is made of force, it ignores the miss chance for incorporeal creatures, and deals regular damage to objects and creatures affected by force (such as another force golem). The sword disappears when no longer held by the force golem or when the force golem dies.
Wall of Force (Sp): The force golem can create a wall of force as a free action once per minute. The force golem uses this ability to isolate opponents.
Energy Immunity (Ex): The force golem takes no damage from any form of energy except for force energy.
Magic Immunity (Ex): The force golem has unbeatable spell resistance against all spells except for the following. Spells with the Force descriptor work normally against a force golem as do any effects that would work against a wall of force (such disintegrate). A dispel magic targeting the force golem deals 1 damage per caster level (maximum 10). A greater dispel magic targeting the force golem deals 1 damage per caster level (maximum 20).
Weapon Immunity (Ex): When struck by a weapon, the force golem takes only damage equal to the enhancement bonus of that weapon. All other damage is reflected off the golem.

 

[domino]

OUCH. That weapon immunity is DAMN powerful. Unless the characters have high enchanted magic weapons (rather than a low number, with extra effects, like I think is more common) the characters could be there FOREVER. At least it has a moderately low AC, which means that they just have to survive long enough to whittle him down, rather than try to hit him and then just do minimal damage.

That also means that most of any physical attack is completely ignored. Charging, power attacking, sneak attacking, weapon spec, strength bonus, weapon bonus, barbarian's rage, bard's song, all worthless.

 

[ergeheilalt]

I should think brilliant energy weapons would deal damage normally? It seems to fit with the idea that only force effects work.

 

[domino]

Except that brilliant energy isn't a force effect. It's light. There's no enchantment in the SRD that would be beneficial to the weapon immunity.

 

[domino]

Also, take a look at the force dragon, from the ELH. http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/dragonEpic.htm#forceDragon

It migth be handy.

 

[maggot]

OUCH. That weapon immunity is DAMN powerful. Unless the characters have high enchanted magic weapons (rather than a low number, with extra effects, like I think is more common) the characters could be there FOREVER. At least it has a moderately low AC, which means that they just have to survive long enough to whittle him down, rather than try to hit him and then just do minimal damage.

That also means that most of any physical attack is completely ignored. Charging, power attacking, sneak attacking, weapon spec, strength bonus, weapon bonus, barbarian's rage, bard's song, all worthless.

You're right the weapon immunity is brutal, but if it were truly a wall of force with a mord's sword attached to it, weapons would be useless. Kind of like the fact that dispel magic/greater dispel are useless against a wall of force, but I made them do some damage to the thing.

I don't think any character is going to have a +1 weapon at 14th level (the level of characters involved). Greater Magic Weapon at that level lasts 14 hours and gives out +3. The 14th level fighter will probably hit it 3-4 times per round (depending on haste) due to the low AC. So he deals 9-12 damage per round and can take it out in 6-9 rounds. During that time, the force golem will deal 126-189 damage if it hit every time. So it would be a close fight.

So I'm thinking it is about a CR 14. 50-50 fight for an equal level character, 20% resource fight for a party of four 14th level characters. (Probably cost the party a single heal and maybe a disintegrate or a dimension door.)

Is my CR analysis correct?

I really wanted the guy to be more like CR 10 so I can use more than one. Can you think of a way to make the creature less brutal without losing the flavor?

 

[domino]

Except that you'd never have a wall of force weilding a mord's sword. There'd always have to be some sort of caster controlling it. And you can always attack the caster. (and I'm fairly sure that the caster can't just put the sword on the other side of the wall). And it's not like the wall of force can chase you down.

Were I to do it, I'd give it standard magic immunities like all golems, and then make it so that force effects heal it rather than do damage. After all, most cold type creatures are immune to cold. And maybe hefty DR, instead.

 

[maggot]

Except that you'd never have a wall of force weilding a mord's sword. There'd always have to be some sort of caster controlling it. And you can always attack the caster. (and I'm fairly sure that the caster can't just put the sword on the other side of the wall). And it's not like the wall of force can chase you down.

My point was that if the golem is truly made out of a wall of force, no weapon could harm it. A golem made out of adamantium or iron can be damaged by weapons just like a statue made out of adamantium or iron can be damaged by weapons. So in a way, I'm giving the fighters a break by letting them do some damage.

Yes, I could give the force golem "DR 20/epic" to avoid most all damage dealt to it, but then it doesn't really feel like a wall of force. It feels like yet another golem with a high DR.

I'm going to try this version in my game. Thanks for your help. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[domino]

The problem, is that while yes, it should be immune to weapon damage, much like a wall of force, there's a difference.

A wall of force fills much the same niche as a normal wall. It's a barrier, and a wall. Not an opponent. It doesn't fight back.

 

[maggot]

I tried it out, and it worked well. I figure the CR around 12.

I allowed brilliant energy weapons and construct-bane weapons to strike true. In addition Mord's sword and spiritual weapon could do full damage as they are made of force. I also changed it so Mord's dysfunction forced a will save or die, but it didn't come up.

The party fled the first encounter and came back to deal with them later. The party was pretty weak in the first encounter and had a rough time. The second encounter when they knew what they were up against was a cake walk. They loaded up on Mage Armor (force effect), Shield for those that could use it (force effect), and deflection/dodge bonuses. Due to the things relatively low AC, fighting defensively and combat expertise were used to great effect.