D&D Monster Spotlight: Golems 2, My Precious
Golems get so much weirder than stone, clay, and flesh, and this week we’re taking a look at some of the strangest and scary that D&D has had to offer.
Way back in the before times when going to restaurants wasn’t taking our lives into our own hands, I wrote about golems, highlighting my favorite from each edition of D&D. We had a few laughs, there were a few great golems to take a closer look at, but we had to skip over so many to get there. I promised I’d go back and pull out some of the weirdest and wildest eventually and I think now is that day. So let’s take another look at golems!
Glass Golem
The glass golem is one of my favorites, and one I want so much to see in more recent editions of D&D. Being glass, they’re especially fragile and not terribly difficult to defeat, but the nature of encountering one would almost guarantee that the fight wouldn’t be pleasant for anyone involved. They are often a guardian of a church or shrine, blending in with the other works of art and stained class and as such are able to use the element of surprise to their advantage in most fights. Once engaged in combat, they can unleash the prismatic spray spell from their body in a 25 food radius all directions, plus, they’re sharp. Y’know, glass. It may not be strictly on-book, but I would have a glass golem windmill their arms wildly and if any nearby adventurers get hit (and sliced) it’s their own fault.
Necrophidius
Also known as the death worm, the necrophidius is a human skull on a snake-like skeletal body. It moves silently and fluidly, and is animated for somebody for one single task – usually to guard or carry out an assassination. Imagine, if you will, being stalked by a creature that looks like the image above and doesn’t make a sound no matter how many crunchy chips you leave on the ground for it to slither over. When it reaches its victim the necrophidius is able hypnotize its prey with what only it could call a dance and can paralyze and render them unconscious with a bite. No thank you.
There’s also one pictured with the glass golem if you really want official art, but we all know what gargoyles look like, right?
Gargoyles
It didn’t ever occur to me to think of gargoyles as golems, but now that I am… well, of course. Unlike their counterparts in popular culture, D&D gargoyles aren’t forced into a rocky nap by sunlight. They are created to guard a structure and do just that full time. Though they have wings they can’t fly and are immune to most magical attacks with the exception of the earthquake spell, to which they are vulnerable.
Spiderstone Golem
These golems are carved from a single block of obsidian to look like a four-armed drow man. They are smooth and glossy and faster than other kinds of golem. In addition to its speed and great prowess as a fighter, the spiderstone golem can climb and walk along walls and create webbing like its namesake. Why only be one kind of terrifying when you can be all of them?
What’s your favorite kind of golem? Maybe your favorite kind is a homebrew, there are tons of those! Let us know in the comments.
Happy Adventuring!
