Golems and their Daddies

[AuraSeer]

A golem can be ordered around by its creator. Is this some kind of magical link, or does the construct have to recognize its creator by sight?

For instance:
1) I create an iron golem and leave it guarding my castle. While I'm gone, a rogue disguises himself as me and waltzes in the front door. Presuming the golem fails its Spot check to see through the disguise, does it obey the rogue's orders?

2) Say I come home early, catching the thief red-handed. He's still disguised as me, and he's having my golem help him break into my treasure vault. I order it to stop; he orders it to continue. How does the construct decide what to do?

3) Maybe while I was gone, I was accidentally polymorphed into a goblin. Would that change your answer to the above situation?

 

[kreynolds]

In all of the D&D literature that I've ever read, golems are faithful only to the original caster, and they always know from where and who the order is coming from. I follow that to keep it simple.

 

[Greythax]

Well, I would say magical. I mean, golems are not exactly known for their higher reasoning abilities, so *normal* recognition would be a functional nightmare.

Greythax

 

[Xarlen]

What happens when the creator dies?

Can he name an heir or a controller, so the power to command changes hands?

What if a golem-creater creates it for someone else?

 

[The Sigil]

What happens when the creator dies?

It depends...

Can he name an heir or a controller, so the power to command changes hands?

Under the rules as they exist, no. The golem will try to carry out the master's last instruction to the best of its ability for the rest of its existence.

What if a golem-creater creates it for someone else?

I would suggest that a houserule for this might be that when a golem is created, it can be "keyed" to a talisman. The wearer of that talisman is always treated as the golem's creator. That also means the talisman can be lost/stolen/whatever and the original creator will have no control over the thing in such an instance... the power to control is bound to the talisman. In this instance, it would be possible to pass control to an heir.

--The Sigil

 

[kreynolds]

What if a golem-creater creates it for someone else?

The the golem-creator simply gives the following order, "Follow all orders given to you by Fred." It's a simple command and the golem would understand.

 

[The Sigil]

Clever...

The the golem-creator simply gives the following order, "Follow all orders given to you by Fred." It's a simple command and the golem would understand.

A clever workaround, but it doesn't solve the original question...

Does the golem now have a magical link to Fred? If so, why did this link suddenly come into being? If not, what happens if someone impersonates Fred?

We're back to square one here.

This is my own house ruling, but I will say that a golem can be tied to (a) a creator or (b) an amulet/talisman but not both.

My next house rule - a golem effectively cannot comprehend a command of "obey person X" because the golem cannot instinctively recognize person X from any other person of the same race and gender. It magically distinguishes "creator" from other people, and has enough perception to distinguish general racial and/or gender characteristics, but that's it. It can be ordered to "obey all elves" or somesuch, but then can be fooled by a disguise...

The default DC to disguise your race/gender vs a golem is 20 (an arbitrary number pulled out of my backside), should it ever be needed (e.g., attack everyone except female elves) provided you do the disguising before moving into the golem's area of perception.

Perhaps that's a contradictory ruling, but I think it solves most of the problems quite handily. Pick it apart, now, folks.

--The Sigil

 

[kreynolds]

This is my own house ruling, but I will say that a golem can be tied to (a) a creator or (b) an amulet/talisman but not both.

Like I said, most of the D&D literature I've read would contest that you do not need a talisman to tie the golem to someone else. Anybody familiar with the flesh golem known as "Bok"?

I think I'll just keep it simple and say that only the creator can fully command the golem. If he dies, the golem carries out the last command to the best of it's ability. After that, the golem is essentially worthless. I will, however, still support the golem being "assigned" to someone else, though it's ultimate "loyalty" still falls to it's creator.

 

[the Jester]

I'd say it's magically tied to its creator, who can tell it to obey someone else; but then, the thief mentioned in the initial post could impersonate that someone else and befuddle the poor construct, while the creator can't be effectively impersonated.

 

[kaboom]

Hmmm.... If a mage wanted to createa Golum that would follow the wearer of a ring or something absolutely, I'd allow him to sunder one of the golum's fingers and make a ring out of the iron that the golum could feel through a magic link, command the golum to obey the holder of the ring, and then command it to never follow his orders again.