[RPM] Making a Golem

[Musashi2]

I'm making a new character, as my previous died, and one of my ideas was a sort of golemancer/maker of constructs. Myself and a couple others from my group have been trying to figure out how to make it work in PRM (i.e. a ritual and its costs).

My first idea was to take the Clay Golem template from Magic pg. 59 and reverse engineer it to figure out the cost in RPM. However, I must have done something wrong or simply picked the most expensive way to go about it, as my energy cost for creating the Golem out of thin-air is 1206, something my character couldn't do without moderate shenanigans. And neither myself nor the GM wants shenanigans.

I've though about separating the ritual in two, which actually makes it doable but doesn't address the fact it's really, really expensive still.

Something tells me I'm just being a blockhead and my methodology is just wrong, and I've yet to find anything in the forums that helps get me in the right direction. I'm going to continue looking, but I figure if I make a post, someone who knows more than I might be able to step in and give some advice or point me in the right direction.

For completeness' sake, I do have 270 points to work with (we started the game with 175 points, not including a "be reasonable" disadvantage limit). The setting is mostly typical Fantasy, albeit less power/overt power than a standard D&D game. On top of that, magic items are limited/rare, otherwise I might have probably just tried to brute force it with an item.

With any luck it's something doable at this power level, and any help with ideas or methodology is appreciated.

[Nereidalbel]

If you're not concerned with what your golem is made of, Greater Control Matter and Greater Create Mind would be a good basis for a living creature made out of whatever terrain you're standing on. You'll probably need to give it a Greater Strengthen Body to provide the ST score you want, but, material itself provides HP, DR, and Injury Tolerance.

[Musashi2]

I'm not fantastically concerned with what it's made of myself (the GM of course will have his own thoughts and opinions), but I was wondering about that. My using the template seemed like I was paying for things that should be inherent in something made of clay (or what have you), which was increasing the cost of the ritual.

Maybe I'm just over-thinking it or too stuck on the idea of making it fit the theme of a golem? It may well work out to be easier to just springboard off your idea and make a creature/creatures out of nearby material and deal with their upkeep, assuming things like doesn't eat/breath aren't implicit in their material composition (that is, clay doesn't really need to maintain itself).

Edit: I don't know if it bears mentioning, but my idea of what I want to do is close to the necromancer in Diablo II, who could just summon up a clay golem (or whatever) out of the ground using his mana (energy for me). My GM is thinking of it more along the lines of D&D or typical fantasy golems, that require elaborate material components, time, and effort, usually resulting in one or two constructs of high cost/power.

[Nereidalbel]

I'd call it a feature of your conjured golems that they replace the need for air and food with magic. Essentially, if you don't use your Path of Magic skill to "feed" the golem, it dies. You'll need to talk with your GM and work out X energy for Y time. The easiest way to do this is paying for Duration in the initial cast, then renewing the timer before it runs out.

For the more elaborate golem, make a charm containing the high-cost spell you offset with material sacrifice in the safety of your own home. That's the one where you build a proper template, buying whatever DR and HP you think you can afford.

[ericthered]

this is a fantastic resource for summoning with rpm

Its from an "Author Blog", so its not just some random blog, but its not quite cannon either. There is a thread on it, but I can't remember where...

[Nereidalbel]

Excuse me as I bookmark that blog for later...

[Musashi2]

I'll give that blog a peruse (although both my GM and I have seen a/the forum post about the summoned modifier, neither of us knew who made it. He did find it a bit odd and shut it down, a second look couldn't hurt), and think again about how I might best go about it. I'll be able to talk with the GM more tonight too, so hopefully I'll have something I can present for him to mull over.

Forum post I mentioned, not sure if it's the one you were thinking of: http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...3&postcount=38

[mikeejimbo]

OK, bear with me here, but what if you did it like this: Greater Control Matter (5) + Greater Create Mind (6) + Altered Traits (Ally, 25%, Constantly Available, Minion) (6) + Duration 1 Day (7) = 24x5 = 120

Of course this is functionally the same as Ghostdancer's modifier, but maybe you could trick the GM into thinking it's different.

[oneofmanynameless]

Originally Posted by Musashi2

I'll give that blog a peruse (although both my GM and I have seen a/the forum post about the summoned modifier, neither of us knew who made it. He did find it a bit odd and shut it down, a second look couldn't hurt), and think again about how I might best go about it. I'll be able to talk with the GM more tonight too, so hopefully I'll have something I can present for him to mull over.

Forum post I mentioned, not sure if it's the one you were thinking of: http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...3&postcount=38

Originally Posted by mikeejimbo

OK, bear with me here, but what if you did it like this: Greater Control Matter (5) + Greater Create Mind (6) + Altered Traits (Ally, 25%, Constantly Available, Minion) (6) + Duration 1 Day (7) = 24x5 = 120

Of course this is functionally the same as Ghostdancer's modifier, but maybe you could trick the GM into thinking it's different.

I'm honestly surprised that Ghostdancer hasn't responded to this thread yet. But if the issue is that your GM isn't sure about the validity of the source Ghostdancer wrote the Pyramid 3/66 article on Alternative Ritual Path Magic and I think he's worked on a couple other RPM related articles.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by ericthered

this is a fantastic resource for summoning with rpm

Its from an "Author Blog", so its not just some random blog, but its not quite cannon either. There is a thread on it, but I can't remember where...

Yup. I created the Summoned modifier because it was a hole in the system - one that was unforeseen I think - but a hole nonetheless.

Originally Posted by Nereidalbel

Excuse me as I bookmark that blog for later...

Sigh. I don't know how people don't know about my blog as much as I (reasonably) promote it. It gets updated regularly and with lots of (what I'm told are) interesting topics. I'm not sure how else to get the word out at this point.

Originally Posted by Musashi2

I'll give that blog a peruse (although both my GM and I have seen a/the forum post about the summoned modifier, neither of us knew who made it. He did find it a bit odd and shut it down, a second look couldn't hurt), and think again about how I might best go about it. I'll be able to talk with the GM more tonight too, so hopefully I'll have something I can present for him to mull over.

Forum post I mentioned, not sure if it's the one you were thinking of: http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...3&postcount=38

Well, he's the GM and if he doesn't want it in his game that's his call. But I've written more on Ritual Path magic than anyone other than PK himself (a fact which he admits) and I've been the officially unofficial resource for the system with his blessing for quite a while. If your GM reads this thread please let him know these things and also that Summoned will appear in a Pyramid article at some point or another so it's just "waiting in the wing" to become a official rule (should it be published anyways - I have no control over that process. I just write stuff and submit it).

Originally Posted by oneofmanynameless

I'm honestly surprised that Ghostdancer hasn't responded to this thread yet. But if the issue is that your GM isn't sure about the validity of the source Ghostdancer wrote the Pyramid 3/66 article on Alternative Ritual Path Magic and I think he's worked on a couple other RPM related articles.

I'm here now. Been a bit under the weather last half a day - migraine - but as others have noted, the easiest way is to use the Summoned modifier from my blog so you don't get a spell that costs over 1,000 energy to do something that is fairly common in the fiction. This would be (and is) how I build golem-creating, demon-summoning, angel-binding, etc. spells.