Re: [dq-rules] Golems

[William Hough <houghpt@yahoo.com>]

Hi Craig.

If your purpose is to have a logical reason for a
golem to "hang around" and last until some unfortunate
player's characters show up, you might try having
spell S-5 of the College of Shaping Magics (Spell of
Animating Golems) as a ward to be activated by them.
The range on this spell is touch plus the fact that a
backfired spell will result in 40% chance of the golem
being destroyed, but with a ward we assume that the
cast check was successful. Since the range of the ward
is determined by the spell thus invested, you could
have an ordinary statue turn into a nasty golem as
soon as the PCs touch it, thus activating the ward.
The old trick of course is to put gems in the eyes
(standard for iron golems) but I'm sure you can think
of subtler ways. 

The above method will not work for Flesh Golems since
as time passes, the spell S-5 loses effectiveness.
Neither will it work for Clay Golems since the clay
eventually dries out if not soon activated.

As far as making the golem itself last longer, the
spell S-7 of the College of Ensorcelments and
Enchantments could come in handy, but you would have
to stretch the letter of the rule because S-7 applies
strictly to spells, not rituals. Assuming this is
allowable, and the shaping mage succeeds in coercing
or otherwise securing the cooperation of an enchanter,
Rank 10 in Spell S-7 will extend the life of an Iron
Golem 150 minutes, a Stone Golem for 5 hours. Rank 20
in Spell S-7 will of course double these values. I'm
kind of conservative as a GM for the sake of
maintaining campaign quality so I would likely
disallow use of S-7 to extend the duration of a
ritual, but give it a shot if you can. Of course, if
you are the GM, only your conscience can say no.

Flesh Golems, assuming a shaping mage doesn't wait too
long after fashioning one before casting S-5, will
last indefinitely; "Once animated, a flesh golem will
remain active until it is killed or dispelled...",
making them more suitable for longevity than Clay,
Stone or Iron golems once activated.

Hope this helps.

Pat Hough

--- "Craig <morbius@cyberone.com.au>"
<morbius@cyberone.com.au> wrote:
> Hi All!
> 
> I'm afraid that I haven't had a lot of experience
> with golems in DQ.
> 
> Which sort of golem would be capable of staying
> active for a number 
> of years without supervision?
> 
> In addition, how can a spell caster make a golem
> last longer?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Craig Brain
> Australia
> 
> 


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