This tome contains information and incantations necessary to make a particular type of golem. To decipher and use the manual, you must be a spellcaster with at least two 5th-level spell slots. A creature that can't use a manual of golems and attempts to read it takes 6d6 psychic damage.
d20 | Golem | Time | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
1-5 | Manual of Clay Golems | 30 days | 65,000 GP |
6-17 | Manual of Flesh Golems | 60 days | 50,000 GP |
18 | Manual of Iron Golems | 120 days | 100,000 GP |
19-20 | Manual of Stone Golems | 90 days | 80,000 GP |
To create a golem, you must spend the time shown on the table, working without interruption with the manual at hand and resting no more than 8 hours per day. You must also pay the specified cost to purchase supplies.
Once you finish creating the golem, the book is consumed in eldritch flames. The golem becomes animate when the ashes of the manual are sprinkled on it. It is under your control, and it understands and obeys your spoken commands.
Notes: Creation, Consumable
Wish there were more magic items like this, but for making creatures like undead and other constructs (perhaps the CR of the created creature could be linked to the rarity of the item, so it would be easier and cheaper to create stuff like undead dogs or a non-spell homunculus, an animated armor would be something in the middle, and a skeleton ogre or a warforged titan would cost a fortune and the item itself would be way rarer).
I think they should update that, in no campaign (homebrew or AL) would someone have a straight up month or half a month worth of uninterrupted downtime to do this.
Why no weight?
For the various manuals of golems? Plenty of magic items don't have a listed weight probably because it's not considered a crucial detail to the mechanics of the game. It can weigh whatever the DM sees fit.
However, seeing as this is a book and the rules list a book as weighing 5 lbs. You can probably expect this item to weigh about 5 lbs.
Because golems are more than just a construct with magic in it, they require someone very experienced in Arcana. I'd bend the rules a bit for an artificer with proficiency in arcana.
Corpses are cheaper than clay.
It's only usable once? That's stupid. It should recharge like, once every two weeks.
In the campaign I'm playing in, I got this as a magic item reward for an extreme fight (as in an all-out war with a few major character deaths, including our rival party of NPCs). My DM said that it'd work infinitely and for any type of golems, but the downside is that they start off with one simple command & said command can't be changed. He also said they'd be cheaper & easier to make, but we're struggling to find a good balance. Any ideas?
Spell progression rates are slower for an Artificer than a wizard.
Say a wizard had a simulacrum do the work to make the golem. Would the golem only obey the commands of the simulacrum or would it also obey the commands of the original wizard?