Golems: Method to Madness?

[Sixten]

Stained Glass - CR 5 - 12 HD - 10.000 GP - 200 XP - DC 25
Brass - CR 10 - 16 HD - 200.000 GP - 4000 XP - DC 25
Drolem - CR 13 - 30 HD - 200.000 GP - 4000 XP - DC 25

Wow. Those prices are definitely out of whack compared to that formula. XP cost is still GP cost / 50, though.

Stained Glass: 833 GP/HD or 5000 GP + 417 GP/HD
Brass: 12,500 GP/HD or 5000 GP + 12,188 GP/HD
Drolem: 6,667 GP/HD or 5000 GP + 6,500 GP/HD

OTOH, the range of HD larger than that of the "basic" golems. (The Drolem really has 30?) The stained glass golem is definitely weird. Low HD, super-cheap, and an amazingly high construction DC (even iron golems are only DC 20, and flesh is DC 13).

Do these guys have weird circumstances that could explain the discrepancies?

 

[Krishnath]

Well, the stained glass golem is made from a cheap material that is hard to work with (thus the cheap cost, and hight DC).

The brass is highly magical compared to other golems, thus the high DC (also it has a +3 wounding greataxe, whose creation cost is part of the total cost for the golem, so substract that from the total cost before applying your formular).

And the Drolem is made out of parts of dragons, thus the very high HD, cost, and DC, not to mention the fact that it's DC 25 for two different rolls. Also, the Drolem has the additional cost of making the creator the enemy of all dragons, regardless of alignment and species.

 

[Sixten]

Managed to get the details of the gemstone golems from Monsters of Faerun:

Ruby: CR 11, 10 HD, 10k + 15k GP, 1500 XP, DC 15
Emerald: CR 11, 12 HD, 10k + 60k GP, 1500 XP, DC 15
Diamond: CR 12, 14 HD, 10k + 65k GP, 1500 XP, DC 16

So... much cheaper than the SRD-based formula would suggest (the first price is for the heart gem alone, the second for the rest). And the XP costs for the ruby and emerald variants are higher than expected (500 and 1400, respectively).

Hrm. So much for consistency. I borrowed a copy of the Mongoose constructs book... I'll have to see whether their rules are consistent with and of these creatures.

 

[Conaill]

Hi guys,

Sorry for reviving this old thread, but I was doing some research into golem (and other construct) construction myself...

Regarding the Ruby golem... is that price off? The stats for Gemstone Golem (Ruby) are listed in an online Monster Mayhem article. Here's the "Construction" paragraph from that article:

The heart of a ruby golem is a great ruby that must be worth at least 10,000 gp. The golem costs an additional 55,000 gp to create, which includes 2,000 gp for the semiprecious stones that make up the body. Assembling the body requires a successful Craft (gemworking) or Heal check (DC 15).

The creator must be 16th level and able to cast arcane spells. Completing the ritual drains 1,500 XP from the creator and requires limited wish, move earth, polymorph any object, and stone shape.

So what is it... 10k + 15k GP as Sixten quoted from MoF? Or 10k + 55k GP as listed on the Wizards site? Is there any errata document for MoF?

 

[Kafkonia]

Thread Necromancy Alert!

So what is it... 10k + 15k GP as Sixten quoted from MoF? Or 10k + 55k GP as listed on the Wizards site? Is there any errata document for MoF?

Well, the figures from the WotC site actually gibe with the formula above: 10k +5k/HD. The emerald golem listed also fits, and the Diamond golem is off by either 1 HD or 5000 gp.

 

[Grazzt]

Wow....old thread.

I know this..they changed the formula in 3.5 vs 3e (this thread was started back when 3e was still the system).

Cost is calculated in one of two ways:

1. ( (Price - cost of materials) / 2 ) + cost of materials

IRON: ((150,000 - 10,000) / 2) + 10,000 = 80,000 (cost)

-OR -

2. ( (Price / 2) + cost of materials

FLESH: (20,000 / 2) + 500 = 10,500 (cost)

The iron golem (MM) and the golems in MM3 use the first formula. The stone, clay, and flesh golem use the second formula.

XP Cost is 1/25th of the market price minus materials ((price - materials) / 25)

This only works for golems with listed prices and material costs. As for doing it from scratch (and finding a formula that works)....no clue.


EDIT: Also, not sure if the formula (if they have one) is based on HD or whatever. In MM3, the mud golem and web golem both have the following:

materials 1000 gp; Price: 65000; Cost 33000; XP 2560

They have different HD totals (mud = 14, web = 11).

Maybe the final formula/result is modified up or down based on strength of material used (webs vs mud). No idea.

 

[BOZ]

i think Shade preserved some of this info in the Monster Conversion Notes thread.

 

[Shade]

It looks like I've got some more to preserve now. Good stuff!

 

[Garnfellow]

In the new, expanded statblock format, where does the construct creation information go? Under the "For Player Characters" heading?

 

[ElectricDragon]

The big thing that bothers me is that creation costs do not include any xp for the spells used to create the golems (which do cost: Limited Wish and Wish being the foremost). XP costs (for spells used) is a part of every other magic item formula.

Ciao
Dave