Clockwork Golem - By Bill Silvey
Frequency: Very Rare
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: -2
Move: 6"
Hit Dice: 50 Hit Points
% In Lair: Nil
Treasure Type: O, Q (See Below)
Number of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 2-16
Special Attacks: Acid Spray
Special Defenses: See Below
Magic Resistance: See Below
Intelligence: Non-
Alignment: Neutral
Size: L (10' tall)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
Level/XP Value: VIII/2500 x.p. (flat)
One of the most fiendishly clever golem types, the rare Clockwork Golem is
likely the result of a mad Gnomish cleric's experimentation with both arcane
lore and mechanical tinkering. The golem itself is comprised of intermeshed
gears, pulleys, chains, pistons and other less recognizable mechanical pieces,
all intricately assembled into a frightening array of parts. The incantations
and detailed mechanical knowledge required to create such a thing have long
since passed from this world; if it exists at all it would only be in the minds
of perverse demihuman priests deep beneath the Hellforge Mountains.
Reports of encounters with the golem all seem to point to it being part of an
elaborate trap; adventurers tricked into activating a windlass, tripping a
counter-weight that sets in motion a winding mechanism, or some other nefarious
method of activating these mechanical nightmares is the impetus for their
attack. Once set in motion, the Clockwork Golem is relentless in it's pursuit of
intruders, and will not stop until it either runs out of whatever powers it or
it is destroyed, or it destroys those who disturbed it.
The golem is resistant to fire-based spells such as Burning Hands, Fireball,
etc. Electrical attacks do double damage; cold-based spells such as Ice Storm
act as a Slow spell.
Thrice daily, the Golem can spew forth a 1" x 1" x 1" cloud of
acid as a Black Dragon of equal hit points. Affixed to one arm is a massive
battle-axe capable of smashing through plate-mail as if it were paper.
Outer plates covering the creature have been enchanted in some unknown manner;
only weapons of +1 or greater stand any chance of piercing through and doing any
damage.
The multidinous bearings and cams and gears within are usually fashioned of
semi-precious metals and jewels, and some can possibly be scavenged after the
machine is stopped and rendered harmless.
Once activated, the approach of the Clockwork Golem is heralded with an ominous
ticking, combined with the steady clank of it's alloy-shod feet upon the ground.
...
SNOW GOLEM -
By Bill Silvey
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
NO. APPEARING: 1-3
ARMOR CLASS: 10
MOVE: 4"
HIT DICE: 20 Hit Points
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2/Special
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-4/Special
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Cold
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Cold Resistant
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Non-
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: M
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense modes: Nil
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: III/250 xp
Among the truly strange creatures ever encountered by delvers, the Snow Golem is one of the most perplexing. Inexplicably, adventurers have encountered animate snowmen guarding treasure hordes in wintry locales, or during cold seasons. These frozen automa behave as do Iron, Stone and Clay Golems (q.v.), with one serious limitation: they are invariably incapable of withstanding any kind of Fire based attacks. Such attacks do double maximum damage, usually resulting in the destruction of the Snow Golem. On the other hand Cold based attacks such as Cone of Cold have no effect on the Golem whatsoever.
The Golem has two stick arms, with which it can rake for 1-4 points of damage. The real danger in dealing with the Golem is it's frozen breath; the Snow Golem can project, thrice daily, a blast equivalent to a Cone of Cold. Worse still, it can hurl a ball of snow from it's own form that damages as Otiluke's Freezing Sphere.
It is the opinion of those who have encountered the Snow Golem that they are a prank created by some half-mad wizard since they have never been observed to attack children, and the "treasure" they guard is almost always valueless.
Rumors abound of a single, unique specimen that possesses both intelligence and a rudimentary spell-casting capability. Fortunately, these same rumors indicate that this creature is of Good alignment, and merely seeks to live in peace in a cold locale with a similarly constructed "female". It has been suggested that chance placement of a powerful magic item on or in this singular Snow Golem gave it it's reasoning capability.