How dumb are constructs?

[pallandrome]

Yes, the golem would recognize the acid as attacking it.

And hit the acid with its fist, attempting to destroy it.

Recognizing that acid can't be hurt in this way is above 0 intelligence, likely.

Perhaps it's "common sense" (assumed under wisdom) if the Golem attacks 100 times and discovers nothing is happening. But it's probably goo by then.

Ahh, but the acid is in the pit, not the room, therefore the interlopers take precidence.

 

[pallandrome]

Just to add to the confusion, I could easily see the argument that the golem recognizes the acid as dangerous. Even a really stupid creature will get hurt and pull away from the dangerous thing. However, let's say my player put another pit in front of him after the first one. Since the golem has no int, it cannot learn, so it wouldn't remember the pit is dangerous and just walk into the next one wouldn't it?

Putting a pit UNDER a golem to drop it down and putting a pit in front of the golem are two different balls o cheese there buddy. Being mindless is NOT the same as being stupid. The golem will do whatever it has to to fulfill it's directives. It can (and should!) opt to go AROUND obsticals that it cannot go through. Honestly, would you say that a golem would not walk around a 5ft wide wall of force if it were between him and the players? Besides, as we've stated, the golem has wisdom, meaning it can percieve the pit. It should also be able to percieve that it's quarry isn't IN the pit, therefor it has no reason to go into the pit itself.

 

[Stalker0]

Honestly, would you say that a golem would not walk around a 5ft wide wall of force if it were between him and the players?

How does the golem know the wall of force is only 5 ft. It might just try to destroy the wall and then move to its quarry. And mindless DOES mean stupid, heck its dumper than stupid, even stupid creatures can learn from their mistakes, but a 0 int means you are incapable of learning from experience.

 

[Particle_Man]

a 0 int means you are incapable of learning from experience.

(Nitpick) Constructs don't have a 0 Int. Constructs have no ability score in Int. (end nitpick)

 

[CRGreathouse]

A bug in a pit filled with a (mild) acid would try to get out, right? Vermin, like golems, have Int --.

Now if the characters, being magically immune to acid, stood at the bottom of the pit the golem would probably jump down into it to attack them -- but that's a different situation.

 

[The Lost Muse]

I would argue that constructs follow the "Three laws of Robotics" unless otherwise detailed.

 

[Stalker0]

A bug in a pit filled with a (mild) acid would try to get out, right? Vermin, like golems, have Int --.

Now if the characters, being magically immune to acid, stood at the bottom of the pit the golem would probably jump down into it to attack them -- but that's a different situation.

Yet how many bugs try to crash into a lightbulb over and over and over again?

 

[two]

And bugs feel pain to some degree... thus the avoidance of acid or flame...

Yet the do fly into lightbulbs and kill themselves; this is a case of internal reflexes (fly to the light) defeating preservation of life (too much heat is bad).

A point to consider: golems presumably don't feel pain. Would it even know if acid was eating away at it? If so, how? Does it come pre-programmed with a list of everything possible that can harm it?

 

[CRGreathouse]

Yet how many bugs try to crash into a lightbulb over and over and over again?

Lots. They can't learn or remember, just like golems. That's why I suggested the 'PCs going into the acid' scenario -- it burns the golem, but it doesn't figure this out round to round, each round essentially figuring 'I'll get out of this acid right after I finish this guy off' instead of learning after a few rounds that the PC is just fighting defensively with Expertise to kill the golem with the acid.

I do essentially agree with Timmundo's comment, except that the first law is gone and the second applies only to its creator. (The Third Law, self-preservation, is what's relevant here.)

 

[CRGreathouse]

A point to consider: golems presumably don't feel pain. Would it even know if acid was eating away at it? If so, how? Does it come pre-programmed with a list of everything possible that can harm it?

I'd say they know on the basis of their Wisdom score. This can come in a variety of different ways -- sensors similar to pain receptors, large lists of harmful things, or just observing one's structural degradation.