Lesser Golem - the "dumb robots" for your fantasy setting!
Reading various books on GURPS magic spells and discussing magic stuff with my friends online, I've noticed a peculiar fact about GURPS Magic and magical servants. That is - they're kind of hard to get... Unless you're a necromancer, that is.
Golem spell has prerequisite count of 14, takes very long to cast and costs 250 points at the very least. Servants conjured by Create Servant, Create Warrior, etc - are temporary and require maintenance. They could be made permanent, but this would most much more than a golem with similar stats. Elementals are also quite expensive, and sometimes have the disadvantage of being hard to control. Overall, the only way to get magically created at a good price would be the Zombie spell... Which poses some problems.
Problems like "what happens to the soul of the reanimated dead?" (nothing good, usually), "is this magic evil?" (usually it is), "how would the locals react?" (usually badly), and more. And finally - not all players are ok with being a necromancer.
That's where I come in with a solution!
Lesser Golem
Making and Breaking / Illusion and Creation
Create and animate a relatively unskilled servant, using a simple pre-made body of some material. The Lesser Golems are not very good warriors or workers, but what they lack in skill and intelligence - they compensate with dedication, hardiness, and being relatively cheap to create. Actual capabilites vary a little, depending on the material out of which the golem was made, but are comparable to those of undead, reanimated by Zombie spell. Moreover, lesser golems can be manipulated and destroyed by spells like Control Creation, Dispel Creation, and are subject to Making and Breaking spells that affect non-living objects. Unlike zombies, lesser golems do not modify the stats of the "original subject", because there is none. Moreover, lack of an original subject also leave Lesser Golems without any starting skills. On the other hand, they can be taught.
Lacking any initiative to learn, Lesser Golems can only learn what they're taught directly, and cannot improve just by doing things (learning on the job). However, if someone is willing to teach them, with time they have more potential than any necromantic servitor.
There is no "Mass" version of Lesser Golem.
Duration: Lesser Golem remains animated until destroyed.
Cost: 8.
Time to cast: 1 minute
Prerequisites: Either Animation and Sense Spirit or Awaken Craft Spirit
Body of a basic Lesser Golem (made out of wood) requires 1 day to make and a Carpentry+4 roll, and costs 100$, including materials, and labor of an average carpentry workshop (a single carpenter and some apprentices).
For those using LTC3, success by 11+ or failure by 1-3 will improve or worsen all physical attribute of the body by 1 step. So, a success by 18+ on a crafting roll, would result in a strong, agile golem (but therefore cost much more, on account of better materials, longer crafting times and more skilled carpenters)
Lesser Golem, the statblock
ST 11 HP:15
IQ: 8 Will: 8
DX: 10 Per: 8
HT: 10 FP: -
Traits:
Damage Resistance 2 [10]; Doesn’t Breathe [20]; Doesn’t Eat or Drink [10];
Doesn’t Sleep [20]; High Pain Threshold [10]; Immunity to Metabolic Hazards
[30]; Immunity (All mind control) [30]; Indomitable [15]; Injury Tolerance (No
Blood, Homogenous) [25]; Single-Minded [5]; Temperature Tolerance 10 [10];
Unaging [15]; Unfazeable [15]; Automaton [-85]; Fragile (Unnatural) [-50]; Fragile
(Combustible) [-5]; Numb [-20]; Dependency (Mana; common, constantly)
[-50]; Disturbing Voice [-10]; No Sense of Smell/Taste [-5]; Reprogrammable
[-10]; Social Stigma (Valuable Property) [-10]; Unhealing (Total) [-30]; Wealth
(Dead Broke) [-25].
Affected by Control Creation, Dispel Creation, Making and Breaking spells, as well as Pentagram. Cannot Have Mental Skills.
The other lesser golems
The stats
listed above are for the basic wooden Lesser Golem. Of course, there are other possibilities.
Here are two more possible results of a Lesser Golem spell. GMs are free to introduce
other varieties, but be vary of making Lesser Golems too good, compared to
their “greater” variety.
|
Hay Golem ST 9 HP:9 Traits:
|
Varnished Golem ST 11 HP:15 Traits: A process of varnishing
and painting a golem body takes a week of curing, and another 50$ to
complete, but makes for a bit smarter servant that is less likely to catch
fire. It still can't learn IQ-based skills on its own, though. |
Tips and Ideas:
Lesser golems provide a very important middle step towards full-on golems, making career of a "golemancer" much less of a pipe dream. This spell provides a much less "yucky" option for magically created workers.
In some settings, this could justify people being wealithier and having better access to education at lower TLs, and living freer, more fulfilling lives, while golems are tasked with menial labor. Every man is a king, an artist, a philosopher - as golem workers work in the mines and fields, the people are empowered to learn arts and sciences.
In other settings, however - tireless and obedient wooden soldiers may march through the city streets, opressing populace on behalf of their wealthy overlords. The human serfs may be put to work at huge golem-making factories, never to see the sun of day.
Maybe in some fantasy setting may see a movement, similar to Luddites, of disgruntled workers, left without any way to support themselves, replaced by convenient golems that have no families to feed. Maybe one day, the workers grab their axes and torches, and come to their lord's house, cutting and burning the wooden guardsmen...
No matter how you choose to implement Lesser Golems in your fantasy world, be sure to not have them overshadow the Golem spell. They're supposed to be simple servants and soldiers, while full Golems can be made with whatever stats creator desires. Lesser Golems make for perfect "dumb robot goons", same as zombies for necromancers.
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