I recently found this Blood Golem from an old article on WotC's website. I really like the concept, and I want to convert it to 5th Edition while being as accurate as possible. I've managed to get it to this so far:
However, I can't figure out how to convert the Blood Drain, Alternate Form Construct Traits, and Magic Immunity into 5e. Would anyone be willing to help me with this, please?
Looking at current Golems in the Monster Manual (Specifically the Flesh Golem), I would assume the following would be true for the Construct Traits:
Damage Immunities lightning, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't adamantine Possibly adding necrotic and psychic damage?
Magic Resistance. The golem has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Change Shape. The golem magically polymorphs into any Large creature, or back into its true form. Its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It reverts to its true form if it is destroyed. Possible alternative to the Alternate Form ability?
I'm still not sure exactly what to do for Blood Drain. Should I just add the 1d4 points of damage and 1d2 temporary Constitution damage into 1d6 points of damage? I know that in 3.x that golems couldn't heal damage, but in the article it says that the blood golem uses the blood drain to "power itself". So should I use that 1d6 of damage to heal itself?
I'm also concerned about the CR conversion. It's a CR 7 in the 3.x article, just the simple conversions I did dropped it to a CR 4. I know that'll change once I add in the immunities/resistances and the more damage/damage absorption from the blood drain. But that's why I'm looking for assistance on this.
Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Let's go bit by bit. A creature that has blindsight with a range of 60 feet doesn't need darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
Not all golems are immune to lightning. The flesh golem has a special feature called Lightning Absorption.
I actually think poison would do damage as it's made of blood? It is definitely immune to psychic damage. Do not add stunned.
Magic Immunity is ungodly powerful, magic resistance works just fine.
Change shape seems fine.
Blood Drain would be stacked on top of the slam attack and would look like the vampire spawn's bite attack.
I suggest looking at the DMG's guide to monster building for CR ideas.
I was mainly using the Flesh Golem as a starting point since that was the closest golem to the Blood Golem. I can see the argument for poison damage since the golem is made of blood. But following that same logic, why wouldn't the flesh golem be susceptible to lightning damage? Flesh in general isn't immune to a lightning strike, it burns badly and can throw the entire nervous system out of wack.
As for blindsight and darkvision, I was following the base build of the golem from the article. It has blindsight 60 ft., and the Construct Trait also gave it darkvision 60 ft. But I agree that having both is redundant. Should I change the range on one of them, or eliminate one altogether?
I agree magic immunity is very owerpowered, which is why I figured going with the magic resistance would be much better.
I didn't even consider the vampire spawn's bite attack as a similar thing for blood drain!
Thank you very much for the feedback and suggestions.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
After spending several hours meticulously going through the Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual; comparing similar abilities and monsters to the original Blood Golem, I have finally come up with a completed version for 5th Edition that I'm happy with.
I'll go ahead and explain some of the choices I made for this version.
Fire/cold damage: This choice was made based on the a section in the golem's Magic Immunity that stated that fire damage gave the golem the haste effect, and cold damage gave it the slow effect. Instead of trying to mess with adding these, I simply gave the blood golem immunity to fire, and vulnerability to cold. Simple. Easy. Done.
Psychic/poison/necrotic damage: This choice was simply based on how the original golem's Construct Traits had immunity to these things. Well, it wasn't immune to psychic damage, but it did have immunity to "mind-influencing effects". However, even with all of the things the Blood Golem is immune to, this still leaves several types of damage that can effect/damage it.
Change Shape: Because the original golem had Alternate Form, and it didn't change anything about the creature other than its appearance, I decided to use the Night Hag's Change Shape and just flavored it more to fit the blood golem.
Blood Drain: Still using the original golem's two slam attacks, I used the Vampire Spawn's bite attack as a base for the Blood Drain ability.
AC/HP/Stats: All I did for this was use an online 3.5 to 5e converter. When I entered in the original stats, the output is what I used for the final version.
Challenge Rating: I was working on the assumption that the creature would still be roughly CR 7. So after I plugged in all of the other information, I used the tables in the DMG to calculate the CR for each thing, then averaged them together for a result of 8.75. So all I did was rounded up for a final challenge rating of 9. And voila! A fully converted Blood Golem usable for 5th Edition campaigns.
I'd still like some feedback from others for suggestions. If there's anything you think can be improved, please let me know!
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I recently found this Blood Golem from an old article on WotC's website. I really like the concept, and I want to convert it to 5th Edition while being as accurate as possible. I've managed to get it to this so far:
However, I can't figure out how to convert the Blood Drain, Alternate Form Construct Traits, and Magic Immunity into 5e. Would anyone be willing to help me with this, please?
Looking at current Golems in the Monster Manual (Specifically the Flesh Golem), I would assume the following would be true for the Construct Traits:
Damage Immunities lightning, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't adamantine
Possibly adding necrotic and psychic damage?
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned
Possibly adding stunned?
Magic Resistance. The golem has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Change Shape. The golem magically polymorphs into any Large creature, or back into its true form. Its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It reverts to its true form if it is destroyed.
Possible alternative to the Alternate Form ability?
I'm still not sure exactly what to do for Blood Drain. Should I just add the 1d4 points of damage and 1d2 temporary Constitution damage into 1d6 points of damage? I know that in 3.x that golems couldn't heal damage, but in the article it says that the blood golem uses the blood drain to "power itself". So should I use that 1d6 of damage to heal itself?
I'm also concerned about the CR conversion. It's a CR 7 in the 3.x article, just the simple conversions I did dropped it to a CR 4. I know that'll change once I add in the immunities/resistances and the more damage/damage absorption from the blood drain. But that's why I'm looking for assistance on this.
Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Let's go bit by bit. A creature that has blindsight with a range of 60 feet doesn't need darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
Not all golems are immune to lightning. The flesh golem has a special feature called Lightning Absorption.
I actually think poison would do damage as it's made of blood? It is definitely immune to psychic damage. Do not add stunned.
Magic Immunity is ungodly powerful, magic resistance works just fine.
Change shape seems fine.
Blood Drain would be stacked on top of the slam attack and would look like the vampire spawn's bite attack.
I suggest looking at the DMG's guide to monster building for CR ideas.
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
I was mainly using the Flesh Golem as a starting point since that was the closest golem to the Blood Golem. I can see the argument for poison damage since the golem is made of blood. But following that same logic, why wouldn't the flesh golem be susceptible to lightning damage? Flesh in general isn't immune to a lightning strike, it burns badly and can throw the entire nervous system out of wack.
As for blindsight and darkvision, I was following the base build of the golem from the article. It has blindsight 60 ft., and the Construct Trait also gave it darkvision 60 ft. But I agree that having both is redundant. Should I change the range on one of them, or eliminate one altogether?
I agree magic immunity is very owerpowered, which is why I figured going with the magic resistance would be much better.
I didn't even consider the vampire spawn's bite attack as a similar thing for blood drain!
Thank you very much for the feedback and suggestions.
Excellent point about poison damage. You could give the blood golem Poison Absorption.
Scrap darkvision, blindsight works.
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
After spending several hours meticulously going through the Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual; comparing similar abilities and monsters to the original Blood Golem, I have finally come up with a completed version for 5th Edition that I'm happy with.
So without further ado, I present the new Blood Golem.
I'll go ahead and explain some of the choices I made for this version.
Fire/cold damage: This choice was made based on the a section in the golem's Magic Immunity that stated that fire damage gave the golem the haste effect, and cold damage gave it the slow effect. Instead of trying to mess with adding these, I simply gave the blood golem immunity to fire, and vulnerability to cold. Simple. Easy. Done.
Psychic/poison/necrotic damage: This choice was simply based on how the original golem's Construct Traits had immunity to these things. Well, it wasn't immune to psychic damage, but it did have immunity to "mind-influencing effects". However, even with all of the things the Blood Golem is immune to, this still leaves several types of damage that can effect/damage it.
Change Shape: Because the original golem had Alternate Form, and it didn't change anything about the creature other than its appearance, I decided to use the Night Hag's Change Shape and just flavored it more to fit the blood golem.
Blood Drain: Still using the original golem's two slam attacks, I used the Vampire Spawn's bite attack as a base for the Blood Drain ability.
AC/HP/Stats: All I did for this was use an online 3.5 to 5e converter. When I entered in the original stats, the output is what I used for the final version.
Challenge Rating: I was working on the assumption that the creature would still be roughly CR 7. So after I plugged in all of the other information, I used the tables in the DMG to calculate the CR for each thing, then averaged them together for a result of 8.75. So all I did was rounded up for a final challenge rating of 9. And voila! A fully converted Blood Golem usable for 5th Edition campaigns.
I'd still like some feedback from others for suggestions. If there's anything you think can be improved, please let me know!