Hello there and welcome to the first in a series of articles designed to help DMs run, and players fight, specific monsters better. This article's focus is golems, those mindless bashers that can be a handful at any level.

A Quick Note About 4e Golems

Golems in 4e are all elite monsters, like our very own Burning Heart Golem, so they're certainly tougher than your average critter, but they don't have the brick-wall immunities that they had in 3.5. Therefore, dealing with them is not much different than any other strong brute or soldier. Since their slams can keep you dazed continuously, though, and their strongest powers recharge regularly, it's probably best to take out golems as fast as possible.

This article focuses on, but is not limited to, the tactics and tribulations of running and fighting golems in D&D 3.5.

Golems

Golems are hard to fight because they have few real weaknesses. They have strong attacks, overlapping defenses, and more immunities than a room full of antiviral medications. Being mindless doesn’t detract from the golem’s ability to smash PCs into pudding, either, but it does make them impossible to trick, bait, or ambush in any effective way. Still, even the mightiest golem can be reduced to its composite parts, be they gem, flesh, clay, stone, or iron, with a little bit of forethought, some quick acting, or a combination thereof.

Golem Strengths 

• Golems have blanket spell-immunity, simply ignoring most magic
• Golems have excellent damage reduction (traditionally DR 10/Adamantine, or better, but our own 3.5 Burning Heart Golem has paltry DR 10/Magic and Bludgeoning), mitigating even the most spirited sword strikes and hammer blows
• Golems are mindless, so they can't be bargained with, baited, fooled, dominated, or cajoled
• Golems are immune to sneak attacks and critical hits
• Golems hit hard

Golem Weaknesses

Golems have few real weaknesses, and a canny DM will place them in small rooms or make them a part of traps to mitigate what few they have. Still, each has specific vulnerabilities. If your characters can learn them your fights will be much easier.

• Golems are mindless (or near enough), making them predictable. Chances are very good that they will close to melee and punch away
• Golems are usually slow-moving (although a 4e golem will surprise you in a very bad way every little while with its recharging golem rampage ability)
• Golems have very specific weaknesses in that certain spells affect them, usually in rather debilitating ways, despite their blanket immunities.

Fighting the Golem (For Players)

If possible, perform all of the following steps before entering combat with golems.

1. Research your golem

2. Go shopping for big-ticket items

Buy, create, or steal as many Golembane Scarabs (3.5DMG Pg.266), and construct-bane (3.5DMG Pg.224) and adamantine (3.5DMG Pg. 283) weapons as you can. Depending on your campaign, this may not be many, but make it a priority to put at least one of these items in the hands of your tank (soldier) with the most staying power.

3. Go shopping for small-ticket items

Be sure to buy potions, scrolls, or oils that will keep your tank/soldier on his feet for longer (and if you haven't already. be sure to check out U20's basic hero survival guide entitled So you want to kill monsters and gain treasure. If you're battling burning-heart, flesh, or clay golems, focus on HP, AC, and dealing damage. If you're facing stone or iron golems, or advanced versions of the lower-level golems, focus on HP and dealing damage only, as the golem's attack bonuses will probably outpace any AC buffs you can manage.

(Don't let me stop you from trying, though; my first experience with a clay golem turned a bit silly when it batted us around for a while, we ran away, we came back, we buffed each other for five straight rounds, and then we simply outlasted it in melee. It was inelegant, but it worked. ~RPG Ike.)

4. Revise and review your role in the battle

Understanding your role in the party is important when fighting golems, especially since your role may change dramatically when faced with their daunting defenses. Here's a breakdown by role.

Tank/Soldier - Be the first the golem sees, and deal damage every round you can. Grit your teeth, smash away, and hope the healers have your back. Golem ACs aren't usually very high, so this might be a great time to use two-handed Power Attacks.

Striker/Specialist - Your role is purely support in this battle. Sorry, but chances are that you just won't have the raw power or items to damage, trip, grapple, or  otherwise hinder a golem reliably. Instead, focus on strategic flanking, aid another actions (3.5PH Pg. 154), and be ready to drag party members out of harm's reach or to pour potions down throats. If you're Itching to get in there and swing away, be ready to take up that particular torch when your tank gets punched out.  If the golem has friends, however, your goals should be to wipe them out as quickly as possible, especially if they are giving the golem orders.

Controller/Artillery/Glass Cannons - If you've learned what spells affect the golem, use them mercilessly and you'll be responsible for winning the day. Even cantrips can cause serious trouble by keeping golems slowed for the entire battle, but your character won't know that unless he's researched it. If you didn't do your homework, prepare the escape routes, buff your front-liners, stay out of reach, and hinder the golem any way you can.

Healers - Buff the tank and keep him alive. If he falls, be prepared to step into his place to bash away, or use total defense if necessary while the others get him back on his feet. When things turn sour, you are probably the one the whole party will look at to set things right.

The Worst-Case Scenario

You walk into the room, the doors slam shut, and the golem stomps towards you. What do you do?

Fulfill your role as well as you can, as soon as you can.

Being surprised by the golem just means that performing your role as given above becomes much more important. The tank needs to start taking and giving damage right this instant, the casters need to buff him up so he'll stay standing, and so he can bust through the golem's DR, and the strikers need to help wherever they can while avoiding those massive fists. A battle with a golem is usually straightforward, so stick with what you do best and you should be okay (depending on your DM).

Running the Golem (For DMs)

Golems have just one purpose--they punch things, so they aren't particularly difficult or rewarding to run. They can cause your players a lot of problems, or they can encourage meta-gaming and boring, ciruclar buff-fests, so there are still a few things to pay attention to when running golems.

1. Give the players a chance to learn the golem's weaknesses

We've provided base Knowledge:Arcana (3.5PH pg 78) DCs below alongside the information the PCs could glean, but it might be worthwhile to lower them a point or two if it will allow the PCs to act on their own, rather than the players simply looking up the creature in the MM. Remember that for every 5 points above the base DC you can reveal another useful bit of information.

Burning-Heart Golem - Base DC 16

A magical attack that deals sonic damage causes dischord in the golem's "heart" gem, slowing* it for 2D4 rounds with no saving throw; Submerging or drenching a Burning Heart Golem in water may extinguish its heart, effectively killing it; The Quench spell (3.5PH Pg.267) extinguishes the golem's "heart" gem with no saving throw, effectively killing it.

Flesh Golem - Base DC 19

A magical attack dealing cold or fire damage slows* a flesh golem for 2d6 rounds, no save; A magical attack dealing electricity damage breaks any slow effects and heals 1 point of damage for every 3 points it would normally have dealt, no save.

Clay Golem - Base DC 21

Damage dealt by a clay golem never heals naturally, and even resists magical healing; A magical attack dealing acid damage heals 1 point of damage for every 3 points it would normally have dealt, no save; The Move Earth spell (3.5PH Pg. 257) drives the golem back 120 ft. and deals 3d12 damage, no save; the Disintegrate spell (3.5PH Pg. 222) slows* the clay golem for 1d6 rounds and deals 1d12 damage, no save; The Earthquake spell (3.5PH Pg. 225) stops the clay golem from moving on its next turn and deals 5d12 damage, no save.

Stone Golem - Base DC 24

The Transmute Rock to Mud spell (3.5PH Pg. 295) slows the stone golem for 2d6 rounds, no save; The Stone to Flesh spell (3.5PH Pg. 285) negates both the stone golem's damage reduction and magic immunity for one round, no save.

Iron Golem - Base DC 28

The iron golem can spew a cloud of poisonous gas in combat; A magical attack that deals electricity damage slows* the iron golem for 3 rounds, no save; A magical attack that deals fire damage breaks any slow effect and heals the iron golem 1 point for every 3 points of damage it would normally have dealt, no save; Rust attacks, like the Rusting Grasp spell (3.5PH Pg.273) or the attacks from a rust monster, function normally against an iron golem.

*A slowed creature moves at half speed, suffers a -1 penalty to attacks, AC, and Reflex saves, and can only take a single move or standard action each round. (3.5PH Pg. 280)

2. Place your golems somewhere enclosed

Golems are generally slow, and are often meant to guard a specific site. Once your players are facing golems they will definitely have the edge in mobility, so be sure to avoid flesh golems guarding wide-open forest groves, and try not to place them in vast libraries with 50-foot vaulted ceilings. A single sorceror with spider-climb or fly will make those encounters boring for everyone involved, and while you should always encourage and reward ingenuity (even if the results are sometimes at the expense of your beloved critters), you want each encounter to feel vital and exciting for your players, not just a matter of time.

3. Make Golems Consistently Dumb

Third-edition golems are totally mindless, 4th-edition golems are able to reason and change tactics in rudimentary ways. Every "decision" the golem makes needs to be governed by these facts or you risk alienating your players--chances are they know it's "just" an automaton. Consistency is perceived as fairness, and nothing will cause an argument quicker than forcing your players to say "Really? It hid behind the door and ambushed us? I don't buy it."

If you want your golems to adapt to the situation, you'd better pair them up with their creator and have him give them new commands.

The Finished Product

Following these steps as a player and DM will ensure that your next golem encounter will be heroic, (hopefully) not too deadly, and rewarding, plus the critter will reach its full potential while avoiding the pitfalls that can arise when stone, clay, iron, and flesh walks anew.

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