Unique Golem (My players stay out)

[moritheil]

You mean a big obvious squiggly thing that means nothing unless you hit a DC X knowledge (religion/planes/arcana) check, right?

Heh. Well, I mean that effectively makes it obvious to the party, since they're packing decent knowledge ranks. But yes, I do make them check.

 

[Pell-Mell]

Consider the following modifications to the iron golem:

The Iron Worm: This iron golem is not shaped like a humanoid, but rather resembles a purple worm. It has all the normal stats for an iron golem, except replace the Breath Weapon with the Curse of the Iron Worm:

Curse of the Iron Worm (Su): Once every 1d4+1 rounds as a free action, the Iron Worm may breathe out a score of tiny, construct worms in a 10-foot cloud cube. These worms bore into the flesh of any living creatures caught in the cloud. Those who fail a Fortitude save (DC 19) immediately take 1d4 Con damage. Regardless of whether this save is made, the worms continue to bore into the victim. One minute later, the tiny worms explode in the victim, causing 3d4 Con damage if the victim fails a Fortitude save (DC 19). The save DC is Constitution-based.

It is also has the following:

Rustproof (Ex): The Iron Worm is made of unique iron alloy and is immune to rust attacks, such as that of a rust monster or a rusting grasp spell.

I would put this monster at CR 14-15.

 

[moritheil]

Very interesting.

So basically, I'm getting that breath damage is worth more than immunities - even removing the standard weaknesses of the golem entirely would not strike most posters here as a fair trade. (I didn't mention lightning, but surely lightning immunity is not worth as much as the breath weapon Pell-Mell described.)

 

[Corbert]

Consider the following modifications to the iron golem:

The Iron Worm: This iron golem is not shaped like a humanoid, but rather resembles a purple worm. It has all the normal stats for an iron golem, except replace the Breath Weapon with the Curse of the Iron Worm:

Curse of the Iron Worm (Su): Once every 1d4+1 rounds as a free action, the Iron Worm may breathe out a score of tiny, construct worms in a 10-foot cloud cube. These worms bore into the flesh of any living creatures caught in the cloud. Those who fail a Fortitude save (DC 19) immediately take 1d4 Con damage. Regardless of whether this save is made, the worms continue to bore into the victim. One minute later, the tiny worms explode in the victim, causing 3d4 Con damage if the victim fails a Fortitude save (DC 19). The save DC is Constitution-based.

It is also has the following:

Rustproof (Ex): The Iron Worm is made of unique iron alloy and is immune to rust attacks, such as that of a rust monster or a rusting grasp spell.

I would put this monster at CR 14-15.

Pell, if they bore into the flesh, wouldn't they also cause hp damage?

 

[Pell-Mell]

I was visualizing it as a massive bodily assault that was tearing up the insides of the afflicted PC, leaving them weak and disabled if they fail. I think Con damage models this effect pretty well and they will lose hit points if their Con is lowered.

That being said, the range is extremely short and will likely only effect melee fighter types. For this kind of PC, most of whom their best save is Fort, a DC 19 save should be very easily made at their level.