Wanting to Design the Golem of Prague

[kevin video]

The Golem of Prague was a clay golem that was controlled by a Jewish rabbi who was able to make it do what he wanted. It would seek out those who'd wish to do his people harm, and be a protectorate. The only known way to defeat it was to remove one of the letters on its head so that instead of it saying "truth/reality" it would say "dead". It was made of stone and clay, and become stronger every time it grew more experienced. There's even a story about how it eventually gained some basic sentience and fell in love.

More can be found here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem#The_classic_narrative:_The_Golem_of_Prague Anyone who's seen The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror XVII remembers that Bart wrote on scroll and fed it to the golem.

I've got a lot of different books, including a couple of golem craft ones, but I'm looking for advice on how to truly go about this, and complete the entire checklist, including what the final CR would be. If I'm missing something, please bring that up as well.

1) Clay and stone golem = Clay Golem with Reinforced Armor (+4 nat armor for +1 CR)
2) Discern Location at-will = +1 CR
3) Knowledgeable in fighting = Combat Golem template http://www.purpleduckgames.com/mstcombat-golem +2 CR
4) Bound (obeying commands, cannot go berserk so long as controller is alive) = -1 CR
5) Rudimentary Intelligence (Int 6, gains feats) = +1 CR if 12-23 HD, +2 CR if 24+ HD
6) Can repair itself = Fast healing 5 = +1? CR; Repair Moderate Wounds 3/day = +1 CR

I don't think there's anything else, but that looks like it'll probably fit well enough.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

GAAHHH !!!!
I've been hacked.
 
... and a cookie.


Relentless fighter that can't be taken down
except one or two weakness, and general
brute force.  I mean the CR is basically a
guess anyway.  It's really a matter of if the
party can keep away, and pepper it with
damage, to outlast it.  The party Wizard has
to cast a few Divs to find it's weakness(-es). 
Of course the party can do damage, but
the other details might be tricky.

On the fluff text side of things ... a fantasy version
of a real life fantasy, can go all sorts of ways.  I've
made the point off and on over the years, that some
of the specifics of Judaism and Christianity can't
occur (randomly) is a different universe.  So you cut
down the details a lot, and assume those specifics
happened way waayyy off in the Far Realms.
I'd figure the Cleric that made it had the domains
Law, Good, Artifice d20srd and one more campaign specific.

[docmartin]

If I might make a suggestion, one tool I've always found useful when creating a golem adversary is a Ravenloft text. Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium, Volume I. The third book in this volume (Van Richten's Guide to the Created, also available in singular format, apart from the compendium), is full of fluff and interesting options for golems. However, it's for ADnD 2e, rather than 3.5, but I've had no problem updating the abilities I want to fit with the 3.5 ruleset.

[nijineko]

awaken construct spell should be useful at some point.

maybe set it as a contingent spell so that it "takes effect over time".

[awaken_D_M_golem]

grrr ...

awaken construct spell should be useful at some point.

awaken golem ... ahem.


 

[nijineko]

i was actually talking about the awaken construct spell in savage species, but that works too.