Thursday, October 20, 2011

Clockwork Golem

Clockwork golems may have “clockwork” in their name, but don’t be mistaken—these are not simple spring-wound automatons.  They have the same potentially violent elemental spirits bound inside them that all golems do—as their resistance to magic and their ability to supernaturally unfold into a wall of gears attests—making them true magical constructs, no matter how many gears or difference engines may be included in their makeup. 

The key to unlocking the great machine city of Polis Or is to make peaceful contact with the gatekeepers there.  What no one has yet figured out is that these legendary guardians are the gates themselves.  Each whirring wall of gears at the cardinal and ordinal entrances of Polis Or are actually just clockwork golems in their supernatural forms.

Mikam of Garn, a fighter whose reputation spans the continent, loathes mages.  He commissioned an inventor to craft him bodyguards and sparring partners no wizard or sorcerer defeat.  He was pleased with the clockwork golems he received, until he discovered the bill of sale listing all the magical components that went into their construction.  His first order to the golems is to grind their creator to ribbons in their gears.

Gambling on golem, zombie, and cockatrice fights is illegal in the steam-powered city of Mechus.  But the strict laws of the Artifice Lords can’t touch the bookmakers of the Floating Isles, a ring of zeppelins and dirigibles spiraling in lazy loops just above and outside the city walls.

Pathfinder Bestiary 2 137

Clockwork golems can easily give your adventure a steampunk or a Hellboy feel—neither of which is a bad thing in all but the most strictly Arthurian campaigns.

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