Dungeon’s Path

Ally shrugs, ‘That’s a good question. Be nice to know the answer, but the system isn’t telling and it isn’t like other dungeons are too talkative about the subject.’

Doyle sighs, ‘The system really does hate dungeons using golems, doesn’t it?’

Ally once again shrugs. ‘I wouldn’t say hate? Though mostly because I don’t know how emotionally developed this system is. Rather, whoever made the system certainly had a specific view when it comes to golem dungeons.

‘And to be fair, golem dungeons in other places are totally cheap and unfair. The sheer variety of golem types and the form they can take! The only thing holding them back is their mental complexity and you can do stuff to fix that. They’re sort of the mirror of robots.’

Doyle, ‘Well, how do I set a golem pattern? I’ve got a nice basic clay and quartz dealio that feels worthwhile.’

Ally holds up both hands, ‘Woah now, there is a little bit more to confirm. Once set, you can’t change things up so we need to make sure you’ve got exactly what you want and that means going into how golems are categorized. The important stuff for you will be size or mass depending, material, core, and movement.’

Doyle tilts to the side, ‘Why size or mass? Both of them can vary by quite a bit.’

Ally nods, ‘That actually hooks into the last category, movement. There are a lot of methods, but if your golem specifically moves through morphing itself, then you’re restricted by mass. Unfired clay golems fall under that category because even though they tend not to, they can in fact morph their shape wildly.’

Doyle, ‘What about a golem designed to change forms? Would that be by mass, its biggest size, or smallest size?’

Ally shrugs, ‘Depends. If the golem is designed to have many different forms and to be able to shift freely, that will be by mass. Golems that instead have a limited number of forms they can take will go off of their base shape.’

Doyle, ‘Couldn’t you make a small base shape, but then have it constantly walking around in a bigger size?’

Ally shakes her head, ‘Base shape is determined not by the maker, but rather by whatever shape takes the least power and in cases of a tie, whichever is largest.

‘The only caveat to that is that it has to be an active form. No making a deactivated form to act as the base form. Though that restriction is actually to help you, not hurt.’

Doyle, ‘I’m going to guess that the base form determines how much energy it naturally uses and anything beyond that pulls on an internal store? So a deactivated form would result in a golem that pops up and then just as quickly falls over from lack of power?’

Ally nods, ‘Yep, the low power form represents how much power it can naturally absorb from the dungeon and also a capacitor inside of it. The only catch is that you can add extra power storage, but that messes with things. Way too many ways such a thing affects stuff to lay out. As a general rule of thumb, just assume the system will go with the most restrictive option if given a choice.’

Doyle, ‘Well, that is most of the categories and material is self explanatory, so what’s up with core?’

Ally, ‘While core would make you assume some central part of the golem, it actually just means wherever the mind is located. Going by that, a human’s “core” is their brain. The thing is, golems are very much not restricted by having a centralized mind.

‘If you make a one material golem and don’t focus on one area, the entire golem will be its core. This tends to limit the mind or even outright denies it a mind, but it also makes the golem really hard to defeat, especially for the more morphic varieties. Splat a clay golem and all that will happen is the golem needing some time to reassemble itself.

‘This makes them really popular in high magic societies as automation components. Stupid as a brick, sure, but if all you need is for them to do the same thing over and over, they actually beat out some tech options as they don’t wear out as quickly.’

Doyle, ‘Okay, now I assume if there is a specific core, that makes them vulnerable?’

Ally, ‘That certainly makes a weak point. Even if all you do is focus on one extremity of a clay golem and make that the core, it ends up being a weakness. Most common for this to happen when making a sapient form and the crafter ends up focusing on the “head” of the golem. At that point, any pieces cut off from the core become inoperative.

‘The most popular core is to have an actual centerpiece that can hold a shape. Weak to being destroyed since it can’t just form back together like clay, but allows for a much smarter golem.’

Doyle nods, ‘Okay, so going by that I don’t have a size figured out for my golem, though it will likely go by mass as it is a clay golem. Of course, the material will include clay, but also quartz, which will be used as the core.’

Ally smiles, ‘And what’s the clever bit? That isn’t a bad setup for a regular golem, but you seemed to have something special worked up.’

Doyle scoffs, ‘There are no clever bits left for golems at the level I’m working at. Even just in the local universe, base golem designs should be pretty figured out. No, I didn’t try for clever, I designed for simplicity and efficiency.’

Ally rolls her eyes, ‘Then what did you figure out was efficient?’

Doyle, ‘Like I said, clay body with a quartz core, except for two things. I start with a single crystal of large enough size to equal one percent of the golems mass. Then the second thing is that I carve down the crystal to half the mass and I powder the pieces that were carved off and mix it in with the clay.’

Ally nods, ‘Well, as you guessed that isn’t some new design. Though most people don’t bother with it as simply sticking a crystal of large enough size into the golem will make up for the mind. I must admit though, that is a popular form factor for a combat golem so good for us.

‘The only thing I would suggest is using bits of the clay to make armor plates. It allows you to include even more details on the golem, which will help with its strength.’

Doyle rolls to the side, ‘Not going to suggest anything even fancier?’

Ally shrugs, ‘There honestly isn’t much going on at the low end, especially with clay golems. Their feature is their ability to morph, which severely limits your ability to apply the flourishes to make it even stronger. Though I guess I would suggest not limiting yourself to quartz when setting the pattern. Include at least one other normal gem so you can make models that use other gems without needing a new pattern slot.

‘And that really is what it comes down to for you. Unlike most normal golemancers out there, you have a different design ethos you have to follow. Most golemancers will try to make their golems as unique and fancy as possible for the power boost. You instead need to make your golems as generic as possible so you can fit even more designs in under your limited patterns.’

Doyle, ‘Then what about the plates you suggested? Couldn’t you first more for less by having the model not have them?’

Ally shakes her head, ‘For a clay golem, any solid pieces are an alteration to the pattern. What matters is the percentage from nothing solid all the way to being completely made of fired clay and losing all shape shifting.

‘I suggested the plates because they provide a worthwhile boost to power through craftsmanship. Yes, they do create a weakness of sorts as they won’t automatically repair during a fight. However, the golem doesn’t lose power when they are shattered.

‘Also, they provide solid surfaces to use when attacking. Not saying that getting smacked in the face by wet clay is going to be a safe and injury free experience. However, compared to getting smacked with a brick, there is a clear difference.’

Doyle nods, ‘Any tips on what does the best to improve a golem? I can carve whatever on them, after all.’

Ally laughs, ‘That would be too easy! We’re dealing with magic here. There are three things which determine how much power and what kind of power a golem will derive from its ornamentation and design. Oh, and part of a golem’s power is its mind so that can be improved this way as well.’

Doyle sighs, ‘Of course it can’t be as straightforward as painting them red to go faster.’

Ally laughs even harder. ‘Oh, but it is! If there is a reason unrelated to science or logic that makes you believe it being red would make it go faster, it will!

‘After all, the three things are quality, intent, and faith. Your skill, Conceptual Reinforcement, is perfect to shape the intent part, but that leaves the other two. Though quality is easy enough to understand and caps out at masterwork.’

Doyle dims, ‘But can’t you have something of a higher quality than masterwork? As far as I can tell, you can start pumping out masterworks pretty early, all things considered.’

Ally, ‘Oh totally! The thing is, masterwork represents the highest quality you can get without “breaking the rules”, as it were. Once you get past masterwork quality, you step into the realm of magic and that instead feeds into intent.

‘Masterwork is also the highest quality you can automate without a soul involved. Well, that is slightly incorrect. If on a scale of one to 100, a masterwork was 100. You can automate up to 99.999… and it can never quite hit 100. After all, there is no such thing as perfect. It is just that when a being with a soul crafts a masterwork, a part of their soul is left in the product and is what allows the magic to hook onto it.

‘Thus, automation tends to be used to make pieces instead of complete works. After all, rarely do you need to enchant a nail. Rather, you want to enchant the box made with the nail and not having to worry about the nail’s quality can help quite a bit.’

Doyle, ‘The more I hear about masterwork stuff, the less precise the term seems to be.’

Ally shakes her head, ‘There is a lot of nonsense involved, but in the end the line is very obvious. Can you enchant the crafted item? If yes, it was masterwork. If not, it wasn’t.

‘Also, back on the matter of golems. Just because the matter of quality stops at masterwork, doesn’t mean a higher quality product doesn’t help. Just that it doesn’t matter for that category.

‘For that reason, many people like to view the quality as a negative modifier. At masterwork, you’re simply multiplying by one. Any less? Well, you’re multiplying by something less than one and thus losing power.

‘Golems are actually a good example of a place where people like to use automated pseudo-masterworks. Yes, you lose an infinitesimal amount of power if you use automated nails to put a wood golem together, but it is a lot cheaper. The only thing is you have to make sure not to use such things in too many places because those negative modifiers can start to stack if you aren’t careful.’

Doyle, ‘And what about faith? Isn’t that just another form of intent?’

Ally shakes her head, ‘By faith, I don’t mean the simple act of believing in something. Rather, I mean the resource deities gather. Of course, it doesn’t just go to deities.

‘Rather, you can have faith in many things. A good example is for a people who don’t know how the sun works. If they don’t have a sun god, they will instead have faith in the sun rising every morning. This also works for simpler things.

‘If you do truly believe that making something red represents it being faster, you have faith in it. The more people who believe in it, the more faith is invested into it. Sadly, you’re going to have a bit of a problem with this category.

‘A good example of it being used with golems is temple guardians. Since that is directly related to the divine, there is a lot of spill over. Even a roughly carved statue of a deity’s faithful hound, can have surprising strength when defending a temple.’