[maximara]

Originally Posted by Plane

That seems odd to me, I always figured you would buy down ST/DX to zero and then buy your entire ST/DX with the NFM discount.

Does that mean there's no NFM discount for a ST 10 / DX 10 person?

Since NFM is both a limitation and a disadvantage you don't get the limitation discount on ST and DX
as the base costs are [0] each so there is literally nothing to adjust but there still is the disadvantage discount for [-30] or [-50] for no limbs.

Yes, having NFM as both a limitation on two stats as well as a straight disadvantage is a royal pain but that is how the thing is set up. Joy.

Originally Posted by Plane

Was there a specific reference to a ST 10 DX 9 HT 15 golem somewhere?

No, it was a creation of mine, "To make things easier for GMs a Base Golem that needs ''exactly'' 130 energy to make is provided."

Originally Posted by Plane

I think maybe you erred in calculating -70 ? -5 ST [-50] and -2 DX [-40] totals [-90]

Uh, where is that "-2 DX [-40]" coming from?
"Clay Golem; Attribute Modifiers: ST+5 [50]; DX+1 [20]; IQ-2 [-40]; HT+4 [40]." (Magic pg 59)

To get a base golem that is exactly 130 energy one needs
ST-5 [-50]; DX-1 [-20]; HT+1 [10]. [-60]*2 = -120 energy.

Add that to the clay golem and you get 130 energy, the absolute minimum.

Originally Posted by Plane

I think the author possibly forgot there was a Quadruped metatrait on B263 which is worth fewer points as a discount since it countains the 5 points Extra Legs advantage.

Using the term Quadruped when that's absent could be confusing. It seems they did remember to keep Extra Legs in mind when writing it, as it's one of the things mentioned (between Extra Arm and Flexibility) as optional add-ons.

I think they just wanted the baseline template to be a little more clumsy than actual quadriped animals tend to be.

It still makes things a mess.

Originally Posted by Plane

Before we even calculate whether or not the Q Energy is correct, maybe we should first check to see if the base Energy is correct...

814-250=564 more energy...

There's a CP*2+250 formula for energy costs, so a template being 290 higher should result in costing 580 more energy.

I'm not sure why you're counting up the Adament from base 10 to get 290 points...

To make the later Quadruped calculations for the GM saner.

Originally Posted by Plane

I would count it up from the Clay's baselines.

I have a minor in math though in setting things up I can totally FUBAR things. Spent way too much time on setting up The Golem of Prague as a lens of Magic's Clay golem because I kept missing that Unnatural [-50] was replaced by Fragile (Unnatural) [-50] and was banging my head trying to figure out where I was messing up.

Originally Posted by Plane

Some other stuff you didn't calculate: as they compare to a Clay, Adaments are also +1 IQ (20 points) and +1 HT (10 points) and +12 DR (60 points) and these extra 90 points would bring us to +310.

Since I was using the Base Golem as the baseline (hence the name) the math is different but should get the same results if set up correctly.

Adament (Base Golem adj)
ST 35; ST+25; [250]
DX 12; DX+2 [40]
IQ 9; IQ+1 [20]
HT 15; NA
Skills 12; [2]
DR 12; DR+12; [60]

250+40+20+2+60=372 or 744 energy. Add in the 130 and you get 874; as you say 60 less than what we are given.

For the Quadruped Golems the reason for for the Base Golem's existence becomes clear - you going to have to buy down the ST and DX to 10 and then buy them back up at 60% of their original point totals.

So why not have a golem that starts there and use a very simple ([ST]+[DX])*-0.4-35 formula rather then having that extra step?

I mean for the Adament Golem you are still going to be use ((250+40)*-0.4-35) and get [-151] or -302 energy. Add that to the 874 and you get 572 but even subtracting [60] doesn't get us to 518 but 512 instead. Using the 814 we are given we again get 512 not 518. So something there is wonked. Yes, it works out to be 3 points but it is in the wrong direction to be Adament's Semi-Ablative DR as that would be [-6] not the [6] difference I am getting.

So, I'm not even sure where that 518 coming from. There is a reason my math teachers were always in "show your work" mode. Heck, it is something I do with the write ups I do on the GURPS wiki so if I do FUBAR the math someone can more easily spot the error and correct it.

Originally Posted by Plane

F22 actually mentions "Its DR is semi-ablative (see pp. B46-47), but damage never reduces it below DR 9" so actually I could recalculate the DR costs based on this.

While one should ideally do this it is just more thing for an GM who wants to make golems of his own to worry about sofor their sanity I ignored it and given the benefits are negligible it was a good move.