Editing Golem

[[File:Golem-of-prague.jpg|300px||thumb|right|Make jokes about big noses and banking at your own peril]]
:''Not to be confused with [[The Lord of the Rings|Gollum]] or the [[Pokémon]] Golem.''

A '''golem''' ('''גולם''') is a creature from Jewish mythology. It is an animated humanoid made from inanimate material (typically clay) brought to life by holy words by rabbis who, through their piety, gain some of God's power and knowledge, including some of that which he used to make Adam. Almost inevitably in the myths, this involved inscribing certain Hebrew words in clay upon its forehead - usually the four letters of the ''shem'' ('''שֵׁם''', the tetragrammaton, i.e. the secret name of God that is forbidden to be pronounced). One particularly interesting tale has the rabbi write ''''אמת''', ''truth'', on a golem that then goes berserk, but is then rendered inert by the erasure of one letter yielding '''מת''', ''death''.

Purposes for making a golem include general labor; labour in hostile conditions; defending treasures, places, and tombs; and killing the fuck out of goyim. This tends not to go so well for their creators, though; ''hubris'' is perhaps the ultimate theme in these stories, with the occasional added motif of the ''golem'' being available to help the rabbi and his people again should they be in need.

So, [[robot]]s before Karel Čapek thought up the word and servile zombies before the Haitians, let alone Mary Shelley, thought up the concept. Artificial entities created for servile purposes, whose level of sapience varies and whose possession of a soul is a topic of frequent debate due to their non-biological nature, and who either A) mindlessly follow the orders of their masters to the letter rather than the spirit, B) go on a berserk rampage and rebel against their creators out of spite, or C) both. None of this was lost on Isaac Asimov who did the most to bring these themes from Judaism into modern robot lore.

Comparable myths about animated statues can be found in other places; for example the Greek God Hephaestus creating gold and silver maidens to help him out, being crippled and everything (and also [[PROMOTIONS|to have sex with]] because his wife was Aphrodite and naturally fucked everyone but him). The word "Golem" has become a catch all term for such things. The idea of artificial people is thus very ancient, and the fear of their rebellion may originally just be an extension of the general fear of slave revolts.

==Golems in Dungeons and Dragons==
In D&D, Golems are mid-tier enemies that are treated sort of like man-made [[elemental]]s, with each type being made purely out of only one substance. There's about as many kinds of Golem as there are things out of which you could potentially make them, from quasi-robot Steel Golems to quasi-Frankenstein's Monster [[Flesh Golem]]s. You could even use clay, if you're the kind of person whose pet tortoises die of boredom, though they do have ''some'' unique abilities. (Chiefly, hasting themselves and having a chance of going berserk.)

They tend to have lots of raw strength and hit points, on top of high damage reduction and magic resistance (or even immunity) as a racial trait. Some of the more-exotic types have magical powers. [[Warforged]] are the closest thing to a PC variant golems possess, and even then they're really a grey area between golem and straight-up robot... unless you play Third Edition, in which case you can play as a [[Maug]], a Zelekhut [[Inevitable]], or any of the other honest-to-god nonliving constructs that WotC had the balls to give level adjustments and favored classes for use as player characters.

[[Ravenloft]] adds the added wrinkle of "dread golems"; while they may look and act like regular golems at first glance, the Dark Powers have used the obsessiveness of their crafters (who may not even know what they're making- all they need is a strong enough desire to create a thinking being) to make them truly sentient, rather than being unthinking automata. Unfortunately, the Dark Powers' "gift" also makes dread golems extremely malicious by nature, and most if not all of them will eventually attempt to murder their creators.

You might think that golems get pretty old, pretty quick, but they come in a massive array of forms, abilities and levels. And we mean '''massive'''; check out this list!

* Amber: A [[Mystara]]n golem, typically fashioned in the form of a great cat. Appeared in [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]].
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amber golem MC Mystara.jpg
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* Ash: Native to [[Dark Sun]], creating these golems requires a whole lotta ash, the blood from an Athasian fire drake, and the spells ''wish'', ''burning hands'', ''polymorph any object'', and ''geas''. They can burn whatever is in their touch, hurl fireballs, and emit clouds of caustic ash.
<gallery>
ash golem MC12.jpg
</gallery>
* Brain: Created by [[illithid]]s and widely regarded as one of the ''stupidest'' possible golems for that choice. The key component is a chunk of neural tissue from an Elder Brain, and these golems are treated as the most useful and valuable slaves in an illithid community.
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Brain golem MA.jpg
Monsters brain golem.jpg
Brain golem 3e.jpg
</gallery>
* Bone: A golem fashioned from bones taken from felled [[skeleton|skeletal undead]]. May have debuted as part of the [[Ravenloft]] setting, but has quickly become a generic D&D staple.
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Bone golem MM 2e.png
</gallery>
* Clay: One of the most iconic golems of all time, as this is the actual mythical golem. In old-school D&D parlance, this was actually considered a "lesser" golem, like the [[Flesh Golem]].
<gallery>
Clay golem S4.png
Clay golem 1e.png
Clay golem MCV1.jpg
Flesh golem Clay golem MM 2e.png
clay iron golem 4e.png
Clay golem 5e.jpg
</gallery>
* Chitin: Native to [[Dark Sun]], creating these bug-flesh golems requires a sufficient supply of chitin or giant bug carcasses ([[kank]]s are favored for how common they are), which need to be painted in a mixture of Athasian earth drake blood and the juices squeezed from potion fruits for ''animal control'' and ''vitality''. Then the caster hits the mess with the spells ''animate dead'', ''geas'', ''polymorph other'', and ''wish'', and bang, you got a Chitin Golem. Only [[defiler]]s can create this golem type in AD&D. They're impervious to spells of 5th level or lower, as well as to all necromancy spells, and they wield toxic claws to rip people apart.
<gallery>
chitin golem MC12.jpg
</gallery>
* Diamond: Most powerful of the gemstone golems, which originated in the [[Forgotten Realms]] and were created in ancient [[Mulhorand]]. In modern times, or at least AD&D, they are only seen in [[Thay]], and only the Zulkir of Evocation knows how to make them.
* Emerald: The middle child of the gemstone golems, which originated in the [[Forgotten Realms]] and were created in ancient [[Mulhorand]]. In modern times, or at least AD&D, they are only seen in [[Thay]], and only the Zulkir of Evocation knows how to make them.
* [[Flesh Golem|Flesh]]: Basically Frankenstein's Monster. They got their own page.
* Fungus: One of a collection of "lesser" golems featured in [[Dragon magazine]] #341.
<gallery>
fungus golem Dragon 341.png
</gallery>
* Garbage: One of a collection of "lesser" golems featured in [[Dragon magazine]] #341.
* Glass: Renowned for its beauty, often incorporated into stained glass features.
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Gargoyle golem Glass golem MM 2e.png
</gallery>
* Hellfire
* Iron: Traditionally the strongest, nastiest of all the golems.
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iron golem 1e.jpg
iron golem MCV1.jpg
clay iron golem 4e.png
iron golem 5e.jpg
</gallery>
* Lightning: A [[Forgotten Realms]] creation, a golden mannequin bristling with powerful electrical energies.
* Maggot: Ever wondered how you can make the [[Flesh Golem]] more disgusting? Meet the ''Maggot'' Golem, which looks and smells exactly how you're picturing it. This guy showed up in [[Ravenloft]], and its creator actually became a demilord during that brief period of time when Azalin was deposed.
* Magic: A golem that began appearing in the [[Forgotten Realms]] after the [[Time of Troubles]], created by somehow fusing a human soul to a [[Wild Magic]] zone to create a mindlessly obedient creature of pure magical energies as the ultimate "fuck you spellcasters" servant.
* Magma: One of the most powerful golems native to [[Dark Sun]], created by the [[Athasian Dragon]].
* Mist: Native to [[Ravenloft]], and less a golem and more a magic-spawned hateful doppelganger of a wizard whose experiments in creating golems goes awry.
<gallery>
mist golem MCR3.png
</gallery>
* Mud: Basically a soggier, grosser cousin to the Clay Golem, native to [[Mystara]].
<gallery>
mud golem MC Mystara.jpg
</gallery>
* Obsidian: A powerful golem native to [[Dark Sun]]. 
<gallery>
obsidian golem MC12.jpg
</gallery>
* Paper: One of a collection of "lesser" golems featured in [[Dragon magazine]] #341.
<gallery>
paper golem Dragon 341.png
</gallery>
* Rock: You might be thinking [[Derp|"isn't that the same as stone?"]] Well, yeah. Like the Skeletal Golem, this is basically the [[Mystara]]n version of a golem seen elsewhere in the multiverse, and it's largely identical, save for some fiddly little details.
<gallery>
rock golem MC Mystara.jpg
rock golem MC12.jpg
</gallery>
* Ruby: The weakest of the gemstone golems,  which originated in the [[Forgotten Realms]] and were created in ancient [[Mulhorand]]. In modern times, or at least AD&D, they are only seen in [[Thay]], and only the Zulkir of Evocation knows how to make them.
* Salt: One of the weaker [[Dark Sun]] golems.
* Sand: Native to [[Dark Sun]].
<gallery>
sand golem MC12.jpg
</gallery>
* Silver: A metallic golem native to [[Mystara]] made of silver and filled with quicksilver (mercury), which somehow makes it incredibly fast.
<gallery>
silver golem MC Mystara.jpg
</gallery>
* Skeletal: The [[Mystaran]] version of a bone golem, characterized by having four arms and so being able to make more attacks.
<gallery>
skeletal golem MC Mystara.jpg
</gallery>
* Snow: Native to [[Ravenloft]].
<gallery>
snow golem MCR3.png
</gallery>
* Stone: Traditionally one of the strongest of all the common golems, second only to the Iron Golem.
<gallery>
Stone golem 1e.jpg
Stone guardian 1e.png
Stone golem Monster card.jpg
Stone golem MCV1.jpg
Stone golem 5e.jpg
</gallery>
* Tin: One of a collection of "lesser" golems featured in [[Dragon magazine]] #341.
* Wax: There's two different kinds of wax golems in D&D. The first is a shapeshifting golem that originally debuted in AD&D for [[Ravenloft]]. The second is a "lesser" golem, which was part of an article full of the things in [[Dragon Magazine]] #341.
<gallery>
wax golem MCR3.png
</gallery>
* Wood: One of a collection of "lesser" golems featured in [[Dragon magazine]] #341.
<gallery>
wood golem MC12.jpg
wood tin wax golem Dragon 341.png|Wood, Tin and Wax
</gallery>

Oh, and if the generic material-based golems of AD&D aren't enough, it also featured specialized types of golem, too:
* Autognome: A [[clockpunk]] automaton built by the tinker gnomes of [[Spelljammer]] with a penchant for malfunctioning.
<gallery>
Autognome MC9.jpg
</gallery>
* Blood Golem of [[Hextor]]: A golem made of the blood of sacrificial victims, clad in magical armor and wielding flails.  Because it is constantly leaking blood it must replenish itself regularly by draining it from recently killed corpses.
* Brass Minotaur: A powerful vengeance implement, consisting of a [[minotaur]] skeleton bathed in brass to create a sculpture that is then animated.
* Burning Man: A crude golem made of burning coal.
* Caryatid Column: A stone golem designed to resemble a statue of a beautiful woman being used as a support column, but which can step out of its column to battle intruders.
<gallery>
Caryatid column MM 2e.png
Caryatid column B3 PF.jpg
</gallery>
* [[Carrionette]]: A relative to the Doll Golem native to the [[Ravenloft]] domain of Odiare, made from a marionette. Capable of stealing a person's body by stabbing them with a magic needle, leaving the victim's mind trapped in the marionette. 
* Clockwork Eunuch: An enchanted clockwork golem used to guard harems in [[Al-Qadim]], and thus designed to resemble the stereotypical big fat turban-wearing eunuch harem guard. Somehow incredibly skilled at grappling things despite having big-ass scimitars in lieu of hands.
* Copper Automaton: enchanted clockwork soldiers of copper and brass native to [[Al-Qadim]].
<gallery>
copper automaton MC Al-Qadim.png
</gallery>
* Doll Golem: An animated doll.
<gallery>
Doll golem MM 2e.png
</gallery>
* Drolem: A [[Flesh Golem]] built out of dragon parts.
<gallery>
drolem MC Mystara.jpg
</gallery>
* Figurine Golem: A malicious miniature golem that disguises itself as a [[Figurine of Wondrous Power]], native to [[Ravenloft]]. There are many different varieties, made from various different materials; ceramic, crystal, diamond, ivory, obsidian (jagged or smoothed, each is its own variant), and porcelain.
<gallery>
ceramic figurine MCR3.png
crystal figurine MCR3.png
ivory figurine MCR3.png
obsidian figurine MCR3.png
porcelain figurine MCR3.png
</gallery>
* Furnace Golem: A variant iron golem that is created to serve as a secondary [[spelljammer]] helm.
<gallery>
furnace golem MCS1.jpg
</gallery>
* Gargoyle Golem: A stone golem designed to replicate a [[gargoyle]], which somehow gives it a petrifying touch. Also has an '''Iron''' Gargoyle Golem variant, which is only found in [[Mystara]].
<gallery>
Gargoyle golem Glass golem MM 2e.png
iron gargoyle golem MC Mystara.jpg
</gallery>
* Juggernaut: A giant stone golem that runs about on stone rollers, crushing anything in its way.
<gallery>
juggernaut AC9.png
juggernaut DMR2.png
juggernaut 3e.jpg
juggernaut 5e.jpg
juggernaut B4 PF.png
</gallery>
* Mechanical Golem: A <s>robot</s> mass of vicious machinery given clumsy life as a golem, native to [[Ravenloft]].
<gallery>
mechanical golem MC Ravenloft 1.jpg
mechanical golem MC Ravenloft2.jpg
mechanical golem MCR2 cover.jpg
</gallery>
*Mek: A [[Mystara]]n <s>robot</s> golem of unknown origins with an insectoid appearance.
<gallery>
Mek MC Mystara.jpg
</gallery>
* Metagolem: A <s>straight-up freaking robot</s> sapient golem made of metal with intricate mechanical innards.
* Naàruk: A 10-foot tall winged bull composed of bronze, created by the [[enduk]] of [[Mystara]] as a magical flying troop transport.
<gallery>
naaruk MCSC.jpg
</gallery>
* Necrophidius: A bone golem mockery of a [[naga]], comprised of a fanged humanoid skull atop the skeleton of a giant snake. So-called because "Bone snake" would've never made it past the editors.
<gallery>
necrophidius FF 1e 1.png
necrophidius FF 1e 2.jpg
Necrophidius MC5.jpg
necrophidius MM 2e.png
necrophidius 3e.jpg
</gallery>
* Radiant Golem: A rare and powerful golem that sheds a magical death aura, implied to be made out of radioactive material.
<gallery>
radiant golem MCS1.jpg
</gallery>
* Scarecrow: An animated scarecrow; what did you think it was?
<gallery>
Scarecrow MC5.jpg
scarecrow MC Ravenloft 1.jpg
scarecrow MM 2e.png
scarecrow 1.jpg
scarecrow Dungeon 154.png
scarecrow Dungeon 183.jpg
scarecrow 5e.jpg
</gallery>
* Shaboath Golem: A golem constructed from magically animated water by [[aboleth]]s.
<gallery>
shaboath golem Night Below.jpg
</gallery>
* Spiderstone: A [[drow]]-crafted golem consisting of obsidian magically worked into a four-armed drow.
* Stone Guardian: A giant stone golem used as a temple guardian.
* Temple Critter: 1-foot tall golems made by priests to maintain and defend temples.
<gallery>
temple critter MCSC.jpg
</gallery>
* Zombie Golem: A [[Flesh Golem]] made from rotting, dead bodies infused with necromancy.
<gallery>
zombie golem MC Ravenloft 1.jpg
</gallery>

==Pathfinder==
[[File:Wood Colossus.jpg|300px||thumb|right|My mansion turns into a 60ft tall monster I can control from the inside. Don't talk to me about pimp.]]
[[Pathfinder]] follows in the tradition of D&D with a stupidly huge array of golems made from different materials and types. It even introduced the idea of Colossi, incredibly huge and powerful golems made only by true masters of magic.

The current list of Pathfinder golems stands at:
* Adamantine
* Alchemical
* Behemoth
* Blood
* Bone
<gallery>
Bone golem B3 PF.png
Animal bone golem.jpg
</gallery>
* Brass
<gallery>
Brass golem B3 PF.png
</gallery>
* Cannon
<gallery>
Cannon golem B3 PF.png
</gallery>
* Carrion
* Caryatid
* Clay
* Clockwork
* Coral
* Crystal
* Flagstone
* Flesh
* Fossil
<gallery>
Fossil golem B3 PF.png
</gallery>
* Furnace
* Gelatinous
* Glass
* Gold
* Ice
* Iron (with Iron Archer and Iron Maiden variants)
* Junk
* Lead
* Magnesium
* Marrowstone
* Mask
* Mithral
* Mummy
* Noqual
* Obsidian
* Ooze
* Quantium
* Quintessence
* Robot
* Rope
* Stone (with Stone Guardian variant)
* Tallow
* Viridum
* Wax
* Witch-Doll
* Wood

==Monstergirls==
{{Monstergirls}}
Golems enjoy some popularity as [[monstergirls]]. Because of their hard bodies they are lacking in the physical department: no hugging, no kissing and no sex. Handjobs are technically an option, but given the often hard and cold materials golem girls are made of they tend to be uncomfortable at best. Despite (or because of) this they often desperately want to feel and touch their lovers, with romantic streaks being common. On the other hand, somewhat cold and aloof personalities also appear amongst them. Actually permanently turning a golem girl into something fleshy is out of the question, because that would defeat the entire point of a golem girl. But the science/magic that made them also proves the answer. By linking something like a fleshlight into her body the girl can feel and have sex, even if it is somewhat uncomfortable. Aside from the shenanigans that come from a golem girl being quite heavy for her size (being made out of stone or metal and all), there is one tragic element to them. Because of their nature a golem can live forever if they're not destroyed. As such they're very likely to greatly outlive their lovers, which sometimes has them stand over their lovers' graves unmoving for a long time to come.

Because of the close relationship between the Golem and other "Construct type" monsters, such as [[Animated Object]]s and [[Tsukumogami]], monstergirls based on other forms of construct are often considered golem-girls as well.

Needless to say, golems appear in the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]]. Aside from the stone-based, rune-powered "common" Golem, there's also the more mechanical Automaton, the [[slime]]-like Lava Golem, the [[Gargoyle]] and the [[Skeleton]], a [[necromancer]]'s equivalent to a golem. The setting's equivalent of the Construct Type is the "Magic Materials" type, which makes the Golem relative to the Cursed Sword, Living Armor, Living Doll, Gargoyle and the Tsukumogami mamono.

<center>
<gallery>
File:MGE Golem.jpg|A Golem
File:MGE Lava Golem.jpeg|A Lava Golem
File:MGE Automaton.jpg|An Automaton
File:MGE Cursed Sword.jpg
File:MGE Gargoyle.jpg
File:MGE Living Armor.jpg
File:MGE Living Doll.jpg
File:MGE Chochin-Obake.jpg
File:MGE Ittan-Momen.jpg
File:MGE Karakasa-obake.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

==See also==
*[[Neutronium golem]]

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Pathfinder]][[Category:Monsters]]