Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 275 - Monster Series - Golems

Episode Date: May 10, 2026

Let’s look at Golems! Mindless, magically-constructed automatons that are the ultimate guardians. We break down the classic types—Flesh, Clay, Stone, and Iron and give some  essential DM tips for deploying these terrifying, tireless constructs in your D&D and Pathfinder campaigns. #rpg #ttrpg #dnd #pathfinder #gmtips #golems Resources: Buy Me a Coffee! - ko-fi.com/taking20podcast www.taking20podcast.com  Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/taking20podcast  Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/taking20podcast  Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/taking20podcast.bsky.social 

This week on the Taking 20 podcast. Thank you for listening to The Taking 20 podcast, episode 275. Another entry in the Monster series, this time talking about golems. I want to thank this week's sponsor, Ears. Did you know that Captain Kirk on Star Trek has three ears? He has his left ear, his right ear, and the final front ear. Hey, do you have any topics you'd like me to hear me discuss or questions you'd like me to answer or maybe issues I can help with?

If so, please send me the ideas on the socials. Links are in the description, by the way, or email me, feedback at taking20 podcast.com. Or you can do like a couple people did this week and message me on my coffee. K-O-F-I.com slash taking 20 podcast. Speaking of which, a huge thank you to Robert and Kurt Loy who donated to the podcast over on coffee. One had a question and the other had a topic idea and they're floating right to the top of my queue. So thank you both for your contributed support for the podcast. You guys have been so generous, I greatly appreciate it.

Let's get the basics of golems out of the way first. I've heard them pronounced golems and golems. And I'm not sure which is correct. I'm going to use the long oh, golems, because I think that's the term from Jewish folklore where the monster originally came from, I think. If you pronounce it differently, by the way, please accept my apologies and just assume I'm an arresticated moron.

Golems are constructs in the D&D and Pathfinder 2E, game systems. They are automaton, basically, brought to life via magic and crafting checks. They're commonly used as guardians for people, important objects, and most commonly areas. They come in a huge variety of types, more on that in a minute, but there are some common characteristics across all golems, and that's where I want to start. First off, they are mindless. In game terms, this means that they are immune to mind effects like charm, sleep, fear, and any sort of psychic effect. This is because they have zero capability

to think, reason, or adjust their orders. They have no, for lack of better term, soul or personality. They follow the instructions of their creator literally. If they're told to guard a prison door, for example, they will do so until the prison crumbles to dust around them or maybe even longer. Golems have various levels of magic resistance. They are notoriously difficult to affect with various spells.

Golems are, in some cases, by the way, completely immune to magical effects and damage unless you hit it with the exact right spell or effect. The more of the party relies on spellcasting, the tougher encounters with golems will be. These immunities, by the way, vary by golem type. For example, in D&D and Pathfinder, flesh golems, more on those in a minute, are averse to fire, but are healed by lightning spells. So think twice before you drop that chain lightning in the flesh golem room. By the way, Flesh Golem Room is the name of my sex dungeon. I have just been informed by my wife that the sex dungeon joke

was completely, quote, inappropriate for the podcast and that I should make a different choice here. Fine. How about we call the room the Aphrodisium? The cynical of carnality? How about the boudoir of banging? The crypt of consummation? Okay, fine, fine, I'll abandon the sex dungeon plans

and go back to golems there. Golems, consistently across D&D and Pathfinder, are very hard to kill. They usually have a large hit point pool, physical resistance via damage reduction, or damage resistance of some type, making them hard to hurt with non-magical weapons on top of the previously mentioned magic resistances. Okay, Jeremy, so they're constructed creatures made by magic, science, or an unholy mix of both. What types of golems are there out there? When short, lots.

and D&D and Pathfinder have slightly varying lists. But what I want to do is I want to start with the big four that have been around in tabletop RPGs for decades now. I think I remember them in first edition, so let's focus on those four and what makes them unique. First off, the flesh golem. These are probably the weakest of the golem family, and I always picture something akin to Frankenstein's monster.

But then again, that's probably because I share a last name with the author of that book. They are roughly humanoid-shaped collections of, body parts stitched together with magic or science. They serve their creators but may have broken memories from their various component parts. So imagine a creature, seven, eight feet tall, made of lots of different body parts. Some human, some lizard folk, maybe a piece or two of bug bear thrown in, and maybe the snout of the dog all stitched together looming over you, ready to slam you to the ground with its giant left hand. And the fuck, is that a tentacle? What is, what are you made? What are you

made up. Then it looks at you, mutters your name, uh, Steven, before screaming in anguish and rushing to attack. And if that doesn't sound fun enough, flesh golems are averse to fire, again like Frankenstein, taking disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls when they're damaged diet. It lasts until their next turn, but they are healed by electricity damage. Fire bad! That's right, Frank. Fire is bad. Now go over there and guard my gaming books for me, okay? Thanks, buddy. I appreciate you. Also, when flesh golems

dropped below a certain hit point threshold, they have a chance to go berserk and attack the nearest creature, even allies. That's why I keep an eye on Frank back here. Flesh golems are great challenges for parties of a fifth or six-level characters, but they could be a real challenge to even

higher levels of parties that rely on a lot of spellcasters, but they have no good fire damage spells. The second type of golem I want to about are clay golems. Clay golems are made from earth, mud, and appropriately clay. They can be humanoid in shape, but they don't have to. They could be a semi-formed mass of material shaped like, I don't know, animals, multi-limbed monstrosities, are just giant blobs of earth. One interesting thing from their description in D&D, by the way, is that the material they're made of may have

been from, say, a holy site or a magical ruin. I don't know why that little fact sticks with me. But I like the thought of a temple or a mosque or a holy site of a deity being destroyed by an invading army, and the ruins are reshaped into the object of vengeance. Maybe they're roughly the same shape as the deity they're avenging for, like a huge earthen aspect of Grumsh or Tatiana or Callistria, wreaking havoc on those who dare defile their holy places and people. Back off, Frank. Anyway, sorry, clay golems have a challenge rating of nine, so they are a lot tougher than flesh golems.

They are healed by acid, and once per day can even give themselves the benefit of a haste spell for about a minute, so effectively the entire duration of most fights. Clay golems can also go berserk when dropping below a certain hit point threshold, just like flesh golems do, so be careful about counting one as a permanent ally. Next up, stone golems, challenge rating 10. Massive, 10-foot-tall automaton's hewn from rock that are strong and durable and can completely F up most parties' days. They can be anything from finely carved stone to a crude block of granite, obsidian, limestone, quartz, any type of rock you can imagine. It all depends on the skill level of the creator and the material available to them at the time.

My stone golems, when I drop them into a campaign, are usually humanoid shaped, but the more you read about them, they don't have to be. They could be an animal or some monstrous beast or something that doesn't resemble anything the party's ever seen before. Maybe they kind of look like one of the elder gods beyond the veil with 50 eyes and 100 hands that all want to squeeze the life out of any PC who gets too close. A common shape I could think of for stone golems could be like a mounted general, so it has four legs for the horse and the humanoid shape up top that's wielding weapons. Stone golems have a slow ability where they can treat an area as if it's under that spell effect. That makes them harder to kill since you can't attack as often and can't even run away very easily, and you become easier to hit yourself.

Now here's where it gets interesting. If you read the 5E description of a golem, it says that it's powered by an elephant, elemental spirit from the elemental plane of earth that's bound the physical form. So what's the difference between that description of a stone golem and an earth elemental? Robert Norris sent me that question, and when I first read it, I, you know, honestly, I'd always just glossed over the differences, but they are different creatures. Thank you, Robert, by the way. Your question sent me on a nice learning adventure of my own. It made me learn something I'd never paid attention to, so, hey, everyone, come with me while we take a little dive

on Stone Golems versus Earth Elementals. In both D&D and Pathfinder, Earth Elementals are natural beings of the multiverse, whereas a stone golem is a manufactured tool. While both creatures are basically living, stone, or rock, the difference lies in their creation, their intelligence, and obviously the game mechanics they have. Let's start simply.

Mechanics-wise, you can go all read the stat blocks just like I can, but they have different challenge ratings at your table. I'll just highlight that Earth Elementals can swim through the ground without leaving a trail while Stone Golems have to walk like we traditional prime material plane people do. Fundamentally, the origins of the creatures are very different. Earth Elementals are living creatures from the elemental plane of Earth. It is a manifestation of the plane itself.

It has a soul, or at least some sort of approximate life force that comes close to a soul. Earth Elementals have a language tear in that they can speak and understand. and Earth Elementals have their own intelligence, free will. Now, granted, the intelligence is low to average, but at least it's intelligent. And they have the capability to determine their own purpose, motivations, and personality. Earth Elementals can decide they love you or hate you, or you can potentially be reasoned with, or bribed, or otherwise interacted with, as if they are a self-aware being because they are.

Stone golems, by contrast, are constructed objects. they are stone or rock shaped or carved by a mortal, like a wizard or a priest or something like that, and animated by binding a minor spirit into it. It doesn't eat, sleep, or breathe, and it has no thoughts of its own. It can only follow the commands of its creator. Guard this door. Attack anyone not wearing this vest. Cast slow on anyone who attempts to grab the sacred chalice.

That type of thing. Stone golems, unlike Earth Elementals, have no intelligence, can't speak, can't be bribed or reasoned with. They do not have the capability to differentiate beyond their orders. They don't form separate opinions about different people based on past experiences. In summary between the two, Earth Elementals are effectively people. They just happen to be made of stone. However, a stone golem is little more than a security system made of granite

that can only take simple actions and will not stop until you are dead or it is. Robert, I hope that answers the question and thank you very much for sending it in, by the way. If not, please feel free to email me or contact me on coffee again. Feedback at Taking20 Podcast.com and I'll take another crack at answering it one-on-one. The last of the big four that I want to talk about, though,

is the Iron Golem. They are challenge rating 16 and are tough as nails, literally. They're iron statues with bladed arms and they have a poisonous breath attack. They stand like 12 feet, tall and weigh 5,000 pounds. They're a mechanical armor over a magical core that can shoot flame bolts. Yikes. Besides the magic resistance that all golems have, they are healed by fire

spells. So that thing that would take out the flesh golem will just heal the iron golem. You're not, we don't want to mix those up. These beasts are difficult for even high-level parties to deal with. In the latest version of D&D, by the way, they have a whopping 250, Hit points. As per usual, by the way, they tend to be guardians of areas or sometimes people. A long time ago, I ran a low-level adventure where the entire point of the one shot was to bring an iron golem back to life to defend the town from this overwhelming force that the party couldn't hope to handle on their own. They had to find various magical components, and the final fight was at the feet of the golem with the Big Bad's minions trying desperately to stop the party from activating it.

By the way, I glossed over it, but Pathfinder has its own versions of these classic golems, and they mostly have similar abilities, just tune for Pathfinder 2E remastered. By the way, iron, stone, clay, flesh golems are not the only types of golems that exist in Pathfinder and D. There are so many others that I don't have time to cover in-depth, like glass golems that can reflect spells back against casters, or ice golems that can slow or freeze an area around them, Golems made of blood and bone, sand and wood, alchemical golems, tombstone golems, gemstone golems, good times can be had by fighting all of these things at various challenge rating levels.

Unless you're a spellcaster who depends on things like mind control or mind-affecting spells, you're, if you depend on mind spells, you're going to have a bad time, because these things are mindless. Anyway, one last general fact about golems. Most of them have a default instruction to always defend themselves of their attacks, so you can't just not trip the trigger and beat the shit out of a golem until they're destroyed. They may be mindless, but they recognize when something is trying to destroy them, and they will use their own abilities to defend themselves.

Okay, so my beloved DMs out there, you've listened to me long enough. What are some tips for adding and running golems in your game? First and foremost, put them in areas where it makes sense. The vast majority of them are created to guard an area. Put them somewhere where it makes sense like guarding a treasure vault or a maximum security prison or something like that. Golems don't just decide to run away from home and shirk their duties. They're told to stay here and defend X,

so they're going to do that until probably and through the end of the world unless they're given different orders by their creator. As they are designed with their default characteristics and stat blocks, you're not going to meet a golem adventurer who gives up the dull life of a bodyguard to set out and become a bard. Nope, they're mindless and expensive. And so they're always created for a purpose, and they will execute that purpose relentlessly. Secondly, the only time they'll be encountered as wandering monsters would be when they're executing a command given to them by their creator.

Take this thing to Lord Burtmeister or whatever. They do so, without question, and will ignore anything else unless they're stopped or attacked. So, a great random encounter would be a flesh golem, delivering something between a Big Bad and the lieutenant, for example. If the party attacks it, they're going to have a nasty fight on their hands. But if they're smart, stay out of its way, follow it, they may get led straight to a fight with a lieutenant

bypassing a lot of trouble along the way. Third tip. To increase the fight difficulty, put golems in areas where their magic resistance gives them an advantage, and the environment can trigger their healing abilities. Iron golems are healed by fire damage, so have them guard the alcove of a volcano layer where the heat can exhaust the party, but heal the golem. But Jeremy, maybe I need a golem in an area

and there's nothing to guard per se. Well, that's fine. You can always make them relics of a bygone era, following long-forgotten orders and taking actions that maybe only they understand. Or maybe they're a forgotten companion or bodyguard. And what would be very interesting

is if the golem recognized somebody from the party as being a descendant of who they used to guard. Now you've got an iron golem following you around. Is that a good thing? Could be, but it also could be very, very annoying. Golems are basically simple computer programs that execute exactly what you tell them to do. And stories abound of stone golems smashing the wrong people

because they weren't given specific orders not to. do so. Okay, let me dive into one more golem, by the way, before I leave. The gold golem. Standing guard over the ultimate treasure. Imagine your players finally burst into the fabled Dragons Horde, but instead of just piles of coins, they see the gold itself start to coagulate and shifting into this massive humanoid shape. This is the golden golem and it's not just a giant punching bag. Its very presence creates a blinding effect. It's shining, shimmering, Splendor means its reflecting coins give anyone too close within 10 feet, by the way, disadvantage on things like dexterity saves, making them clumsy targets for its attack.

The real threat maybe is its berry and gold ability. This is a perfect climactic moment, by the way, for the vault. It targets a 10-foot cube and on a failed save, it buries the players under thousands of pounds of gold. They're grappled and restrained. They can't breathe. and you're forcing the allies to try to spend actions to dig them out. It's a great challenge, by the way, for a mid-to-high-level party, because they clock in at CR-11. It provides a fun, thematic twist on the standard, fight the monster, get the treasure room.

Plus, when the party finally wins, the golem breaks down, satisfyingly shattering into a million pieces. Maybe all of that treasure that's made up of is lost, but it leaves behind them the massive pile of loot it was guarding, which was a great payoff. No matter what, golems can serve as great antagonists for the party. They're not intelligent. Don't make them big bads.

That's not what they're used for. They are the ultimate and stupid henchmen. Put them in an area, give them some reason to be there, give them some instructions they have to follow, put them in front of the party and make them figure it out. I'd be willing to bet that you and the party would have fun doing it. Thank you so much for listening. I'd like to get your feedback on social media or email,

Feedback at Taking20 Podcast.com. If you're listening on Spotify, by the way, you can leave a comment, or if you're listening on YouTube, you can also leave a comment. I read every single one of them. I would love to know what you think. Tune in next episode when I was actually asked a very interesting question that doesn't have a clear-cut answer. How do you get people you play with to try new game systems?

For example, how do you get that D&D group to give Delta Green a try? Tune in next time and hear my thoughts on that. But before I go, I want to thank this week's sponsor, Ears. A friend of mine works in a machine shop where there's sharp objects flying around everyone's head all the time. I mean, if you're not careful, it's ear today and gone tomorrow. This has been episode 275, all about the mindless but extremely dangerous golems. My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game. The Taking 20 podcast is copyright 2026 by Jeremy Shelley.

The opinions or views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host. References to game system content are copyright their respective publishers.