Monday, April 29, 2013

Quantium Golem


We’ve reached the letter Q!  Which I plan to race through as fast as a quickling, appropriately enough.  And the first up is an Inner Sea Bestiary monster courtesy of Russ Taylor: the Quantium golem

Since I can’t link to stat blocks of ISB monsters, here’s a quick rundown: In the Pathfinder home setting of Golarion, there are two Quantium golems, both created by the legendary archmage Nex to guard his capital city of Quantium.  These are twin CR 20 Gargantuan creatures capable of dealing staggering amounts of damage (how do 30d6 eldritch blasts work for ya?) and who are resistant or immune to most attacks.  In short, they are one…er, two-of–a-kind constructs PCs will only encounter at the highest levels.

Obviously, you don’t have to use Quantium golems solely on Golarion—change their names and they can go anywhere.  But many of the same attributes should apply.  1) They should be so iconic that they are as much landmarks as they are guardians—we’re talking Colossus of Rhodes iconic.  Like the adamantine golem, they should only be in the service of legends, great metropolises, and gods.  2) Each should definitely have a certain thing to guard (most likely a city or set landmark), so that its Urban Defender (Su) ability (which gives it 150 extra hp) is put to use.  3) Though this is less crucial than #2, keeping the golems a matched pair keeps the spirit of the original constructs. 

Attacking a Quantium golem should be an act of hubris or suicide.  Actually defeating one should be the stuff of legends.

The scarlet Titan of Antapolis stands astride the city’s harbor, ever staring out to sea.  Two green boots only guard the High Gate on the opposite side of the city.  The blue dragon Queveros the Mad Azure smashed the green Titan golem to pieces with its lightning breath and adamantine tail-mace before the scarlet Titan finished the legendary wyrm off.

Ambulos, the Walking City, does not actually walk—it floats on a cushion of gravity-defying magic.  The nickname comes from the two golems that labor beneath the city-state, appearing to carry it on their backs.  When Ambulos needs defending however, they effortlessly shrug off their shared burden and draw their Gargantuan +5 bastard swords in answer.

The Lawful Foundry of Ordinance is said to be the most fabulous golemworks of the Planes, where inevitables craft themselves and axiomites break new ground in robot design.  But experienced travelers scoff at Ordinance.  They whisper of the Twins, gigantic golems that guard the android moon known as the Forever Crèche.

Inner Sea Bestiary 19

Thanks to alchemyprime for the vote of confidence and the reblogs.

In other news, I don’t know much about sports.  So if you really like sports—say, enough to take off work to watch the NFL draft with your buddies—you may want to turn off your phone if I have your number. 

The bad news about this radio show: You have to fast forward through four and a half minutes of dead air to get to the start. The good news about this radio show: It starts with "You! Me! Dancing!"  I suggest you download it.

(Aside from the fast-forwarding mentioned above—I wasn’t able to get to the station early this week—the usual drill applies: The feed skips on some browsers, so if this happens to you, try loading in Firefox or Chrome, then Save As an mp3 and enjoy in iTunes forever.)

No comments:

Post a Comment