An Iron Golem goes on a rampage in a city... (3.5)

[Seharvepernfan]

In some district of a city, let's say a slum area, and let's say at night; an iron golem breaks out of a building and starts demolishing structures and killing any creature that gets too close (or is too slow to get away). If not stopped, it will continue its rampage until no buildings or people are left, then probably continue on outside the city towards any other structures, such as nearby towns or outlying farms.

Assume that this isn't faerun or eberron, so there is a regular, DMG amount of leveled characters and magical wealth to be had in this particular city.

What can the people of the city do to stop it? I'm looking for a list of things they could/would do, not just "hire adventurers". EDIT: No ToB or gunpowder.

2nd EDIT: What if it's a town instead? What if it's a city in an E6 world?

[Deffers]

Well, if there's magic marts in a city, I'm sure the shopkeepers have some good stuff. I mean, I don't think alchemist's fire would work, because IIRC iron golems actually heal from being on fire.

Me? I'd try to stick it in an environmental hazard of some variety. Maybe the resident Absurdly Spacious Sewer which all cities HAVE to have could be used as a sort of trap.

Lure the iron golem down there, where it's too dark to see? Then maybe find a lyre of building and use it to seal up the golem in stone? Maybe you could use a low-level illusionist to mask the sound?

Yeah, that could work. Ask the local thieves for assistence, they're sneaky buggers. They could move around in a darkened sewer without much help.

An alternative.

Set up a rotation of chicken-infested commoners to feed the golem living things, as it were.

[Matticussama]

The local wizards in the city (or Experts with lots of knowledge skills) would be able to determine that electric damage dealing spells slow down an Iron Golem, no save, for 3 rounds. So the first thing that the city would likely do is hit the golem with electric attacks to keep it slowed, to keep it from completely trashing the city. There are plenty of ranged electric attacks of 3rd level or lower which can fulfill this, and there should be enough casters in a large city willing to help protect the town to keep it slowed.

Damage total doesn't actually matter (the Iron Golem is slowed by any electric damage attack) so preferably lower-level casters are used for this while higher level casters can use battlefield control tactics. Entangle is another good low-level spell for this; the Golem's spell resistance doesn't matter, and its Reflex save is only mediocre considering its level. Plus, the Slow effect from electric damage reduces its Reflex save even further. With several level 1 Druids keeping it entangled, plus the slow effect, it will be effectively immobile.

Now that the creature is kept from rampaging, the city would need to send in people capable of actually damaging it. Although the DMG character level breakdowns don't include later publications, lets assume for sake of reason that there are Warblades in the Fighter population. Several Warblades with Mountain Hammer would be able to bypass the Iron Golem's DR, allowing them to actually deal damage.

The Slow effect reduces its AC by 1 and the Entangle effect will lower its Dex by -4, thus reducing its AC by 2; its AC is now an 17, making it possible for level 3 - 5 Warblades to hit (plus any higher level martial characters in the city). By flanking they increase their chances to hit even further. Meanwhile, the Golem is taking a -1 to hit from Slow, a -2 to hit from Entangle, and can only attack once per round thanks to Slow. This will keep it from completely decimating the attackers. By sheer force of numbers, a group of 1 - 6 characters organized by the leader of the city guard should be able to bring it down by a war of attrition. They will take losses, but it won't be completely devastating.

[DementedFellow]

You let nature take its course and unleash rust monsters.

Failing that, lure it to a spot and use demolition charges to blow up the pavement underneath, this way he is now the gelatinous cube's problem. It's super common for there to be a cube to be in the sewers to help with the waste management problem that every city faces.

[Seharvepernfan]

Good so far, but let's assume no ToB or gunpowder. Also, entangle requires plants (it's listed in the spell's area).

[XmonkTad]

Just thumbing through cityscape I see that the city may defend itself (Zietgiest) which could pretty easily take on an iron golem.
Less "deus ex" answer may be a swarm of dustform hoard scarabs that get released from the museum that the golem will eventually crash into. Really though, the crushing damage from falling buildings and or damage from commoners dropping stuff on its head might be the most likely solution.

[ArcturusV]

Rich guy who has a Rust Monster pet? Since the Arms and Equipment Guide does list Rust Monsters as guardian pets and mentions the rich and powerful will often have them. Presuming the people can get him to either: Unleash the Hound, so to speak (Easily possible, money, fame, favors from the ruler, etc), or the Iron Golem just gets done with the Slums and approaches the Noble District where said man is at.

EDIT: Noticed I missed someone already mentioning Rust Monsters. Though my post suggests more reliably why there might be one, and how to get it to the battlefield.

[8wGremlin]

Assume that this isn't faerun or eberron, so there is a regular, DMG amount of leveled characters and magical wealth to be had in this particular city.


So first off some questions:

How was the golum created?
Was its creator the highest level there is
What is the general level of this particular city


To create a golem you need to have 7th level spells (limited wish), so you have to be 13th level minimum to create an iron golem.

Creating a large town (http://www.myth-weavers.com/generate_town.php?do=town&size=7&seed=778430&econtype=tcentre&miltype=medium&settype=urban&aligntype=neutral) as per DMG

We can see we have Thorkil, male dwarf Wiz15: CR 15; Size M (4 ft., 0 in. tall); HD 15d4+30; hp 80; Init +1; Spd 20 ft.; AC 11;
Attack +5/+0 melee, or +8/+3 ranged; SV Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +10; AL NE; Str 6, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 13, Cha 9.

Who was the creator of the golum...

now based on the Myth Weavers City, you can see we have 1124 x 1st Level Warriors, lets be generous and say 10% or them are archers , so 112.4 (one of them is a halfling?)

so 112 Archers, all with adamantine arrows, shoot it with a few bards, and some volley fire fighters etc... should be able to do some damage to it...

Also having a large pit dug will also help, one in which the golem can fall, a very large pit trap built by the rogues with help?

[Callin]

Well once the smart people figure out what it is. The community hitting it with Flasks of Acid will melt the thing. Touch AC of 8 is pretty easy to hit even for a commoner.

(Unless your table uses DR to stop stuff like that. My table does not so its why I suggest it)

[Matticussama]

There should be some plants within the city; grasses, ivy, bushes, etc so that particular limitation shouldn't factor in. Cities aren't wastelands; there is still plenty of plant life for the most part. You don't need overgrown forests to use Entangle.

Unfortunately, having hundreds of archers with adamantine arrows won't work; we're limited by WBL, and each individual adamantine arrow costs 60GP.

Assuming no ToB, they would need need to switch tactics for their damage but the debuffing should still hold true. Given WBL restrictions, 5th level or higher characters might conceivably have a Golembane Scarab. Realistically only a few might be found in the city, but give them to a few heavy damage dealers and that will help deal consistent damage. Likewise, you would need to gather up any existing Adamantine weapons in the city to be used; again, we're talking WBL for level 4 - 5+ characters, but in a big city there should be at least 5 to 6 that can be mustered in a city's defense.

If we can assume at least 5 adamantine weapons, maybe 2 - 3 Golembane Scarabs, plus the aforementioned debuffs, it should still be possible to bring them down. If you can rally 8 - 10 Warriors, Fighters, etc of level 5+ (which should be possible by large city demographics) you should be able to still bring it down. Not quite as easily as you could with Warblades, but still possible by taking advantage of flanking bonuses and continually debuffing the golem.

[limejuicepowder]

--snip--

Idk about these tactics, even if ToB is concerned. Characters without range that are much lower CR than the golem are going to have a very hard time. The golem has a decent melee attack, but it also has a breath weapon: cloud of poison once every 1d4+1 rounds, filling a 10x10x10 cube. Initial damage 1d4 con, secondary 3d4 con. Fort DC 19 to negate each instance. If it mattered, it's usable as a free action.

This would make being close to the golem quite dangerous.

[8wGremlin]

In the above large city it breaks down the classes and levels thus:


Class: warrior
Level: 1, Number: 1124 Level: 2, Number: 16 Level: 4, Number: 8 Level: 6, Number: 4 Level: 9, Number: 2 Level: 14, Number: 1

Class: cleric
Level: 3, Number: 4 Level: 6, Number: 2 Level: 13, Number: 1

Class: fighter
Level: 2, Number: 8 Level: 4, Number: 4 Level: 8, Number: 2 Level: 16, Number: 1

Class: expert
Level: 1, Number: 674 Level: 3, Number: 4 Level: 6, Number: 2 Level: 13, Number: 1

Class: adept
Level: 1, Number: 112 Level: 3, Number: 2 Level: 10, Number: 1

Class: wizard
Level: 2, Number: 16 Level: 4, Number: 8 Level: 6, Number: 4 Level: 10, Number: 2 Level: 15, Number: 1

Class: druid
Level: 4, Number: 2 Level: 13, Number: 1

Class: commoner
Level: 1, Number: 20465 Level: 3, Number: 4 Level: 6, Number: 2 Level: 13, Number: 1

Class: monk
Level: 3, Number: 4 Level: 6, Number: 2 Level: 12, Number: 1

Class: paladin
Level: 3, Number: 2 Level: 10, Number: 1

Class: ranger
Level: 2, Number: 2 Level: 8, Number: 1

Class: rogue
Level: 2, Number: 512 Level: 3, Number: 256 Level: 4, Number: 128 Level: 5, Number: 64 Level: 6, Number: 32 Level: 8, Number: 16 Level: 10, Number: 8 Level: 13, Number: 4 Level: 16, Number: 2 Level: 20, Number: 1

Class: bard
Level: 2, Number: 16 Level: 3, Number: 8 Level: 5, Number: 4 Level: 8, Number: 2 Level: 13, Number: 1

Class: aristocrat
Level: 1, Number: 112 Level: 3, Number: 4 Level: 6, Number: 2 Level: 12, Number: 1

Class: barbarian
Level: 2, Number: 2 Level: 8, Number: 1

Class: sorcerer
Level: 2, Number: 4 Level: 5, Number: 2 Level: 10, Number: 1


Just so you know...

[limejuicepowder]

In the above large city it breaks down the classes and levels thus:

Commoner
Level: 13, Number: 1


Level 13 commoner? Dafuq? What on earth could someone possibly be doing that is dangerous enough to level all the way to 13, but not dangerous enough to actually learn a class other than commoner?

[ArcturusV]

Probably using alternate XP rules like they used to have in older editions. Where you could get XP for something like making masterwork items, or "casting spells that further your ethos" and similar things other than just killin' people and taking their stuff.

[Psyren]

1) Ready a squad of archers with adamantine arrows on the rooftops around the monster.
2) Cast Grease
3) Shoot until dead
4) Go back to bed

This works best if you have a way of getting grease at-will. In Pathfinder, even baby copper dragons (good-aligned and playful, so they'd love to help) can do this; there should be a similar creature that can provide this service in 3.5 somewhere, but I'm too lazy to go looking.

In case there aren't, you'll just need multiple low-level mages to keep refreshing/blanketing the area under the golem.

[DementedFellow]

Level 13 commoner? Dafuq? What on earth could someone possibly be doing that is dangerous enough to level all the way to 13, but not dangerous enough to actually learn a class other than commoner?

Firefighter springs to mind.

Also obstacles that are overcome grant XP. It's possible they are just severely unlucky to have hardship after hardship. And they are just lucky enough to overcome those hardships.

[ngilop]

hmm somebody has been reading their Jewish mythology.

anyways if there is indeed a 15th level wizard could know ar ne it wekanes hen proceed to stay flying in the air whilst raining down lignting based spells whiel the 13th levle cleric buffs himself and the 16th levle fighter up to crazy amounts and they proceed to stomp the goelm with adamantite weapons to the face

[Matticussama]

Idk about these tactics, even if ToB is concerned. Characters without range that are much lower CR than the golem are going to have a very hard time. The golem has a decent melee attack, but it also has a breath weapon: cloud of poison once every 1d4+1 rounds, filling a 10x10x10 cube. Initial damage 1d4 con, secondary 3d4 con. Fort DC 19 to negate each instance. If it mattered, it's usable as a free action.

This would make being close to the golem quite dangerous.

I actually forgot that the breath weapon could be used as a free action; I thought it was a move action, so it would be impacted by Slow.

[ZeroNumerous]

Assuming there is, in fact, a 15th level Wizard in town then he stops it personally. Unless he's Evil, then he just leaves.

If he is evil, then the Cleric, Warrior, Fighter, Druid, and Bard stop it through self-buffs + druidzilla while the Monk and Paladin help out by getting themselves punched in the face repeatedly.

[Soranar]

Well they'll need to restrict it's movement first

The grease spell can keep it put for a while. (grease ignores SR)

While that keeps it busy, the other villagers /townspeople can load up a heavy catapult and fire away. Hitting a square is a DC 15 check so whoever will be firing it should be the town expert. Maybe a level 1 warrior with high INT.

Even if he misses, each miss increases the hit of the next hit so , eventually, it'll hit. How many catapults you have to do this depends on the town size but each hit should be able to bypass DR even if the stones aren't adamantine (6d6 damage each time).

still, with 21 (3.5 x 6) damage on average (-15= 6) this process might take a while... (129 average HP)

[Jack_Simth]

Hmm... small city or a Large city?

Community Modifier is either +6 (roll twice) or +9 (roll three times). So they likely have ... what, a 7th and 8th level Barbarian (small), or an 11th, 12th, and 13th level Barbarian (Large), a Bard 8 and 10 (small) or a Bard 11, 12, and 13; a Cleric 8 and 10 (small) or a Cleric 11, 12, and 13; Druid 8 and 10 (Small) or a Druid 11, 12, and 13 (Large), a Fighter 9 and 12 (Small), or a Fighter 11, 13, and 15; and so on through the Rogues, Monks, Sorcerers, and Wizards. Also Warriors; they're actually somewhat useful in this scenario.

A stock Iron Golem is CR 13.

I... really don't think it'll last all that long, and you hardly need tactics.

[ZeroNumerous]

I... really don't think it'll last all that long, and you hardly need tactics.

Really, once the 15th level Wizard/Sorc/Cleric/Druid gets involved then the golem goes down like a chump. The question is: How much damage can said golem do before those characters get there?

The answer being: Not a whole lot.

[ArcturusV]

Though I believe that's against the spirit of what the OP was asking for. As at that point your plan is really "High level adventurers show up". Sure they might not "technically" be adventurers. But it's the same gist.

[Krobar]

Assuming there is, in fact, a 15th level Wizard in town then he stops it personally. Unless he's Evil, then he just leaves.

If he is evil, then the Cleric, Warrior, Fighter, Druid, and Bard stop it through self-buffs + druidzilla while the Monk and Paladin help out by getting themselves punched in the face repeatedly.

Why would he leave because he's evil?

Evil doesn't mean "doesn't care about anything or anyone and won't lift a finger to help." An evil wizard may very well run right out there and destroy the golem for his own reasons. Maybe he wants the town to be in his debt. Maybe it will help him to further his influence with the town's rulers. Maybe he just wants to make sure that golem doesn't head to HIS ABODE next and destroy the horrifically evil experiments he's been working on for the last six months.

Too many people play evil as totally one-faceted, with no depth and no consideration of all of the ways someone can do good things for evil reasons.

[Doorhandle]

Excellent point that.

...but now I want to run an adventurer where one player is the iron golem, and everyone-else is a commoner trying to kill it. Like VS saxton hale, really.

Hmmm.

[Dr.Epic]

You walk right up to the golem, look it right in the face, and say "You are not a gun! You are who you choose to be! Now choose!"

[Erik Vale]

In the above large city it breaks down the classes and levels thus:
Class: rogue
Level: 2, Number: 512 Level: 3, Number: 256 Level: 4, Number: 128 Level: 5, Number: 64 Level: 6, Number: 32 Level: 8, Number: 16 Level: 10, Number: 8 Level: 13, Number: 4 Level: 16, Number: 2 Level: 20, Number: 1


Bolded for emphasis [Ok, can't seem to, consider the last one bolded]. Said rouge pulls out his 'just in case' scroll of wish, uses UMD for some sort of wish to destroy said golem.
Or he pulls some other sort of shenanagin available to level 20's.

[Toy Killer]

You walk right up to the golem, look it right in the face, and say "You are not a gun! You are who you choose to be! Now choose!"

Preferably after spending the last week or so with it, doing some zany antics avoiding a government agent. :smallamused:

Great movie by the way.

[Friv]

I like to think that the local captain of the guard, that Level 16 fighter, waves aside all of the magical folks, walks up to the golem, puts out his cigar and says, "You're under arrest."

And then he trips the golem by knocking it over with his greatsword. And every time it tries to get up, he does it again, because he has Improved Trip and a stupid-high Strength and the touch attacks basically always hit. And every time he knocks the golem down he greatswords it for a few points of damage, until it gets the message or dies.

[holywhippet]

From what I can see on the SRD, Golems aren't actually immune to critical hits. So in theory you could swarm them with guards armed with the most damaging weapons you can arm them with and hope they get some critical hits in. Short of cowardice, it would be the city guards duty to hold it back while the citizens evacuate.

[tyckspoon]

From what I can see on the SRD, Golems aren't actually immune to critical hits. So in theory you could swarm them with guards armed with the most damaging weapons you can arm them with and hope they get some critical hits in. Short of cowardice, it would be the city guards duty to hold it back while the citizens evacuate.

All Constructs have crit immunity unless mentioned otherwise; it's a general rule for their creature Type, so you won't necessarily see it repeated in every relevant statblock.

@ thread topic: I think it's been shown pretty well by now that the 'DMG amount' of leveled characters and items for a city of any significant size includes enough mid to high level characters to contain an Iron Golem pretty easily. It'll likely be less damaging than a good fire, in the end.

[Lateral]

Class: rogue
Level: 20, Number: 1


What.

I mean, yeah, a level 15 wizard is probably stronger than the level 20 rogue, but... ostensibly, the game presumes that all classes are roughly equal in power. Why is the most powerful person in this city a rogue?

[8wGremlin]

What.

I mean, yeah, a level 15 wizard is probably stronger than the level 20 rogue, but... ostensibly, the game presumes that all classes are roughly equal in power. Why is the most powerful person in this city a rogue?

Random rolls on the DMG city info...
See the myth weavers roll I posted a while back

[Psyren]

Excellent point that.

...but now I want to run an adventurer where one player is the iron golem, and everyone-else is a commoner trying to kill it. Like VS saxton hale, really.

Hmmm.

Replace Grease in my strategy with marbles and the result is mostly the same.

[holywhippet]

Replace Grease in my strategy with marbles and the result is mostly the same.

Iron golems weigh 5000 pound. Marbles are just going to be smashed into powder or driven into the ground.

Looking at the rules some more, D&D 3.5 does have siege weapons available. Enough hits with a ballista and/or catapult could take an iron golem down as they can potentially do enough damage to get past it's damage reduction.

[ZeroNumerous]

Why would he leave because he's evil?

Evil doesn't mean "doesn't care about anything or anyone and won't lift a finger to help." An evil wizard may very well run right out there and destroy the golem for his own reasons. Maybe he wants the town to be in his debt. Maybe it will help him to further his influence with the town's rulers. Maybe he just wants to make sure that golem doesn't head to HIS ABODE next and destroy the horrifically evil experiments he's been working on for the last six months.

Too many people play evil as totally one-faceted, with no depth and no consideration of all of the ways someone can do good things for evil reasons.

Because it's a waste of energy, because he doesn't actually live in the city. He's a 15th level wizard. He lives on another plane most likely, and just visits the city for kicks. A town of level 1 scrubs being in his debt is irrelevant, anything he wants from the town he can take with no one being the wiser, and if he wants to influence the town's rulers then he Dominates them.

If an evil wizard is in a city that's being attacked, then he flies off because helping reduces his individual power due to the spell slots/abilities expended to do so.

Also: Too many people play wizards as people who care about mundanes or any assistance mundanes can offer, and do not take into consideration the fact that gold is literally worthless to characters who have access to 5th level spells and up.

[ArcturusV]

Here's the thing though. Laziness never knows a level.

You could just dominate key figures in a town. Or you could do them a favor one time, maybe twice, and then they do things for you for years. Instead of bothering to waste spells on them constantly. :smallwink:

If you're evil, you can be far sighted enough to recognize it. Why do you think Fiends do Faustian Deals? It ain't just for kicks. Simple favors give you all sorts of leverage without actually needing to burn all that many resources.

[Psyren]

Iron golems weigh 5000 pound. Marbles are just going to be smashed into powder or driven into the ground.

Wait, are we talking RAW here or physics? Because if we're talking physics, they could just use a Commoner Railgun to blast him into powder.

[Seharvepernfan]

Okay, so the various, leveled, PHB-class characters who live in the city can take care of it, using their powers or the magic items that can be found in the city. Question answered.

However, I supposed I should have said "town" instead of "city", because I'm looking for what lower-level people would do.

What if it's an E6 world?

[ZeroNumerous]

You could just dominate key figures in a town. Or you could do them a favor one time, maybe twice, and then they do things for you for years. Instead of bothering to waste spells on them constantly. :smallwink:

Or you could just not bother, because they don't matter. What are they gonna provide you?

Nothing.

You just Dominate them because you wanna cause trouble, not because you actually need anything they could provide.


If you're evil, you can be far sighted enough to recognize it. Why do you think Fiends do Faustian Deals? It ain't just for kicks. Simple favors give you all sorts of leverage without actually needing to burn all that many resources.

Fiends do Faustian Pacts because it sends souls to the Nine Hells, which creates more demons, which feed into the Blood War.

That do not do it for money, resources, emotional/mental leverage, or anything any mundane can provide aside from his/her soul. It is exclusively the soul they are after.

An evil wizard that wants a soul just kills a guy rather than talking to him.

Finally: Mundanes provide no leverage or support you couldn't get by going to the Elemental Plane of Air and getting wishes from a genie. Money is worthless, their information is worth less than your divination spells, and you get better labor out of zombies/skeletons than living mundanes.

EDIT:
What if it's an E6 world?

See Psyren's marbles/grease strategy. The golem can't balance, so it auto-loses to marbles/grease.

[Seharvepernfan]

See Psyren's marbles/grease strategy.

Any DM will rule-zero the marbles-tactic not working, due to the golems' weight.

[ZeroNumerous]

Any DM will rule-zero the marbles-tactic not working, due to the golems' weight.

You wanted an answer. You got it. You should stop moving the goal posts when someone gives you something unsatisfactory.

Regardless, a city in E6 wins via Grease abuse.

[Seharvepernfan]

You wanted an answer. You got it. You should stop moving the goal posts when someone gives you something unsatisfactory.

Regardless, a city in E6 wins via Grease abuse.

Oh, I'm sorry, is this your thread?

Why don't you take your bad attitude elsewhere?

[Matticussama]

I think the better question is why are you throwing an 18HD, CR 13 creature into an E6 world. Is it just an experiment to see how people can react?

[Seharvepernfan]

I think the better question is why are you throwing an 18HD, CR 13 creature into an E6 world. Is it just an experiment to see how people can react?

I suppose so.

Everybody knows that high-level people with magic at their disposal can beat pretty much anything. I underestimated the power of the random inhabitants of a city (and the amount of adamantine). I'm looking for what more...regular? people would do. I figure that, in an E6 world, there won't be much adamantine, no high-level magic, and less low-level magic (unless somebody has a wand of grease laying around [and they might], people can't "spam" grease).

Also, it might be a CR 13 creature, but it's a golem, not a dragon. Unless you're stuck in a room (or other small, finite space) with it, it's not very threatening.

[ArcturusV]

Well, we ruled out "Adventurers" and "Explosives". I presume this also encompasses Demo tactics. I mean if I dropped a building on someone, a building would be what, an improved Gargantuan (For something like a two story house/shop combo) weapon, and thus inflict probably enough damage to ding the golem. So if it's on some building destroying rampage, I suppose the sheer amount of building dropping on it as it wrecks a building might take it out. Least if the people involves finds some way for it to mostly fall on the Golem.

Acid I know got mentioned as something. I do favor alchemical items for Peasant/Villager defense myself. Had a few campaigns where a player character wanted to be a Vampire and prey on an entire village. Blatantly. Like maniacal laughing "Har har, I have DR, you cannot stop me!" sort of terrorizing. So the next day a few low level clerics armed a bunch of peasants with Blessed Holy Water and took him out in a single round.

Siege engines of course also got mentioned as something a large enough city might have available to them and able to crack it.

Not sure if it's legal, because I've yet to see someone do it, but I can't find something to suggest it's not legal after a quick look... but do a Peasant Bum Rush? I mean the Iron Golem gets what, one AoO? Having three guys try to grapple and pin it (One dies to the AoO, and another dies to the Golem's attack on its turn), and a bunch of villagers Aiding Another to boost their grapple check until it's pinned? The moment it's pinned you at least have time to arrange something better without having to worry about collateral damage. Fetching the Alchemist to get some Acid and drip it on the locked down Golem? Fetching someone who has a pet Rust Monster? It'd be a desperation tactic but possibly work. Depending on how you rule the ability to Aid Another on it and how many people you can get to mob as tightly together as possible to do it.

[Volthawk]

The question in an E6 world is this: Who the hell made the golem? You need a 16th level caster to make an iron golem.

[Seharvepernfan]

Yes, siege engines would work. As would acid, if it can affect iron (I've never been sure of the RAW on that). I had not considered that falling damage (that is, things falling on it) could hurt the golem - I never actually thought about it, but I guess I subconciously assumed that an iron golem would be immune to the damage that a wood/plaster/whatever building would do to it.
Rust monsters would work too, assuming it/they didn't get killed first. Someone mentioned rigging sewers to collapse under it, which, if you got it in the sewers then collapsed them on it, would probably work as well. The grease idea, even if the spell isn't available, would still work, as people could just get actual grease, or oil or whatever, and use that.

The peasant bum rush would not work, however, due to the poison gas.

I'm just curious if there are other ways, as I'm trying to cover all possible ways to deal with an iron golem, without resorting to high levels or magic-surplus.

[ArcturusV]

Shows you how much I mess around with Golems as a DM, that I didn't remember a poison gas...

Stranger, squickier things? Well, an Iron Golem is animated by a bound elemental spirit (If I remember correctly), meaning an appropriate Cleric with the ability to turn Elementals via domain should impact it. Probably not by RAW as it doesn't have the Elemental type, but a neat idea in theory. If the DM was sleeping or couldn't logic that out, be odd to see something like "Well, probably was a small earth elemental? Well the town level 3 cleric has the right Domain and he passes the check to destroy the elemental inside it and thus de-animates the Golem".

... that wouldn't fly by RAW. But still, fun idea.

[Killer Angel]

Oh, I'm sorry, is this your thread?

To be fair, this isn't your thread neither. No more, at least... :smallamused:

If you don't like the marbles-tactic for an E6 world 'cause it's unrealistic, i wonder how in the first place, we have an iron golem in an E6 world...

[TiaC]

Even in E6, a Mounted charger can whittle him down while still remaining out of range.

[ZeroNumerous]

Oh, I'm sorry, is this your thread?

Why don't you take your bad attitude elsewhere?

So far you have rejected: ToB, explosives, magic, adventurers, high level players, and perfectly legitimate RAW tactics.

It seems less and less like you want an actual answer and more and more like you're just looking for "However the plot demands it be fixed" as a response. So, there you go, it's stopped based on whatever the DM feels is appropriate for stopping it.

[Crake]

To be fair, this isn't your thread neither. No more, at least... :smallamused:

If you don't like the marbles-tactic for an E6 world 'cause it's unrealistic, i wonder how in the first place, we have an iron golem in an E6 world...

to be fair, e6 just means mortals are limited to level 6, you still have things like advanced couatls or solar angels (or even dragons) that can make stuff like iron golems, and then 1000 years later have forgotten about them when they're excavated by humans from ancient ruins, and one of them happens to accidentally activate it in kill mode?

[Killer Angel]

to be fair, e6 just means mortals are limited to level 6, you still have things like advanced couatls or solar angels (or even dragons) that can make stuff like iron golems, and then 1000 years later have forgotten about them when they're excavated by humans from ancient ruins, and one of them happens to accidentally activate it in kill mode?

Fair enough, I suppose...

Well, you could even try to lure it away from the city: attack and retreat, take the golem to a bridge and destroy it.

[Krobar]

Because it's a waste of energy, because he doesn't actually live in the city. He's a 15th level wizard. He lives on another plane most likely, and just visits the city for kicks. A town of level 1 scrubs being in his debt is irrelevant, anything he wants from the town he can take with no one being the wiser, and if he wants to influence the town's rulers then he Dominates them.

If an evil wizard is in a city that's being attacked, then he flies off because helping reduces his individual power due to the spell slots/abilities expended to do so.

Also: Too many people play wizards as people who care about mundanes or any assistance mundanes can offer, and do not take into consideration the fact that gold is literally worthless to characters who have access to 5th level spells and up.

Maybe in YOUR world all evil wizards are exactly the same, with the same personalities, desires, and motivations, and they all live on other planes, but my world is a good bit more diverse than that.

Evil doesn't automatically mean stupid in my world. It also doesn't mean they live in a bubble. Evil wizards can have friends and loved ones just as much as anyone else and be total despots to the rest of the world. It also doesn't automatically mean cowardly.

There can be a lot of reasons for an evil wizard to stay and help. There can be just as many reasons why they wouldn't, depending on what motivates them, their ties to that community, their particular personality, what they like/dislike (maybe that particular evil wizard had a bad experience with an iron golem previously and now hates them, for example) etc.

Making blanket statements like "evil wizards don't care" or otherwise implying that all evil wizards would do the same thing in a given circumstance really shortchanges the evil wizard. It neglects the fact that there are as many different types of evil wizards as there are evil wizards, and every one is unique.

[Zero grim]

Simple solution on the same line as siege weapons.

get a squad of archers, all with Composite longbows 3+Str, this will do 1d8+3, so each shot has a 1/8 chance of hurting the golem, give them to the best archers in the city, you could probably round up at least 10 guys with enough strength and base attack bonus to hit the golem 50% of the time.

you can then use electricity and entangling and other such delay tactics to give the archers enough time, is this a fast or overly dramatic solution, I don't think so, but i think is the best realistic solution.

This can be improved by using rangers with favoured enemy or by finding the guy who has a demolition crystal for sale and giving it to the best archer.

[Dr.Epic]

Preferably after spending the last week or so with it, doing some zany antics avoiding a government agent. :smallamused:

Great movie by the way.

Movie? I was talking about a real life thing that happened to me.

Also, what about rust monsters? Like, a few dozen rust monsters? A touch attack from one of them would be extremely harmful to an iron golem.

[Pally din]

Spore Field first to make 'plants' that you can then use to Entangle.

[Fouredged Sword]

In an e6 world the golem turns a corner to run into a level 1 sorcerer or wizard a warrior 1 with farshot and the local ranged military unit (21 warrior 1 archers with longbows and good dex)

The first level one warrior hits it with a flask of alchemists electricity. Even if he misses the golem eats 1point of electrical splash damage and is slowed for three rounds.

The sorcerer then approaches and greases the golem from a safe distance.

Then the archery squad uses the volley fire rules to deal 11d8 damage each round as a single attack untill it dies.

Max character level - 1
Cost - A few charges of a 750GP wand, a few flasks of alchemists electricity, and arrows.

[Lapak]

In an E6 / non-magical / non-heroic environment? As a variation on the 'rigging a collapse' idea, luring it to the town well would probably do the job.

- Golem goes to smash structure, as per rules.

- Structure is above a big, deep hole

- Golems are not smart enough to climb out of the hole

- Townsfolk dig a new well, advertise The Golem Hole as a tourist attraction. (Or, I suppose, bury the thing and call it a day.)

(Actually, that last explains at least some of the 'you unearthed a dormant elemental/golem/whatever in this old abandoned mine' scenarios by answering how the heck they got put down there to begin with.)

[Fouredged Sword]

Alternate stratagy without magic.

Hit it with the alchemists electricity, then a tanglefoot bag. The golem lacks a slashing weapon to scrape the glue off so faces getting it's move speed halved.

So between slow and tanglefooted it has a 5ft move speed and cannot both move and attack.

Now the city archers can simply kite the golem by taking 5ft step actions to retreat all the while hitting it with DR penetrating volleys of arrows. If you want to be really cost effective give all the ranged attack squad slings for zero cost ranged weapons.

Zero spells. All level one characters. You can take it down with maybe 100gp of investment and a 23 or so people.

You could even conscript commoners for the volley attack. Volley rules don't care if the assistants are any good with the weapon they are firing.

[Shining Wrath]

The question is, who is in charge? And how competent are they?

Getting the town wealth and rulers out of town to a safe place might be the only concern.
Or perhaps getting non-combatants out of the way while the healthy adults died bravely fighting the unstoppable monster if their IQ is low.

As for practical responses that aren't amoral or stupid, in a low-magic setting:

Try to get the golem to follow you toward the end of town to buy time. Get everyone to safety.
Dig a pit and lure it in, or lead it to a cliffside or riverbank and try to push it over.
Pick a leg joint, e.g., right ankle, and have everyone capable of a meaningful attack hurl rocks and arrows and chunks of metal and anvils swinging from chain (think Ewoks and trees) against that one joint. Bring it down, it's much less dangerous crawling.
Figure out a way to do trip attacks with the combined strength of many people. When it face plants, attack the head until it gets up
Spray it with a lot of water, and hope it rusts or freezes
Hit and run ranged attacks. Just keep plinking. Even if one arrow out of 20 hits, and one hit out of 10 does 1 point of damage, after 40,000 arrows or so it will be down

[Toy Killer]

I fancy a gnome illusionist could make a silent image of a Neon Rabbit for it too chase around Town/City until taking out to the nearest large body of water. As a mindless construct, It can't roll to disbelieve until it interacts with it.

[holywhippet]

Simple solution on the same line as siege weapons.

get a squad of archers, all with Composite longbows 3+Str, this will do 1d8+3, so each shot has a 1/8 chance of hurting the golem

From what I can see there are two serious flaws in your math. Firstly an iron golem has an AC of 30. The only way you are going to hit with anything less than a natural 20 is to have an attack bonus of 11 or greater. Given the restrictions of the world you'd need to be a level 6 fighter or fighter type class for a BAB of 6, have a bonus of 4 from dexterity and have some kind of bonus to attack from somewhere (enchantment, spell, bard song etc). In short, most of those shots are just going to bounce off.

Second problem is that an iron golem has DR of 15/adamantine. A bow which does 1d8+3 damage can't do more than 11 damage unless you manage a critical hit - which constructs like golems are immune to.

[Malrone]

From what I can see there are two serious flaws in your math. Firstly an iron golem has an AC of 30. The only way you are going to hit with anything less than a natural 20 is to have an attack bonus of 11 or greater. Given the restrictions of the world you'd need to be a level 6 fighter or fighter type class for a BAB of 6, have a bonus of 4 from dexterity and have some kind of bonus to attack from somewhere (enchantment, spell, bard song etc). In short, most of those shots are just going to bounce off.

Second problem is that an iron golem has DR of 15/adamantine. A bow which does 1d8+3 damage can't do more than 11 damage unless you manage a critical hit - which constructs like golems are immune to.

He's referring to the concentrated volley rules out of HoB, most likely:
"To produce a concentrated volley of arrows, up to ten
contiguous archers focus their fire on a particular 5-foot
square. Each archer makes a full attack, firing as many
arrows as he chooses (and is capable of firing).
The leader of the volley makes a special attack roll (as
noted above) against AC 20. (It is not possible to score a
critical hit with this special attack.) Success means the
volley hits the target square; failure means it hits some other
square (again, see page 158 of the Player’s Handbook). All
creatures in the target square take damage as if they were
hit by one-fifth of the arrows fired (1d6 points of damage per
five arrows fired from shortbows, or 1d8 points of damage
per five arrows fired from longbows). If the arrows don’t
all deal the same damage—because they are fired from
different bows or because of damage modifiers that apply
to some but not all attackers—use the damage dealt by the
most arrows in the volley as the default damage value.
A target that makes a DC 15 Reflex save takes half
damage. Modifiers can adjust this save DC, as noted in
Table 4–2 above."

Special Attack Roll: Uses only the squad leader's
base attack bonus, Intelligence modifier, and any range
increment penalty

As per RAW, this can damage the golem, as it is a single attack. Up to the DM to allow that damage to actually work.

[holywhippet]

I don't see how that gives a 1 in 8 chance of hurting the golem on any given arrow.

I'm really not sure if I'd consider the arrow volley as being viable or not either. It may be a single attack, but is all damage counted together or is each arrow that is estimated to hit counted individually? I'm not sure which is the case by RAW. I'd have thought it the latter though.

[Fouredged Sword]

By raw it is a single attack, reflex for half, with damage equal to xD8 where X/5 is the number of arrows fired.

Once you slow and tangle foot the big guy you have time to line up as many bowmen as you need and just peg it with a massive volley.

[ArcturusV]

Indeed. Thus if you have 20 archers all firing (Easily a company/squad of guardsmen so it's not THAT unreasonable), the attack does 4d8 damage, which armor class doesn't apply to, reflex save for half, which the Golem will probably make. Which is only 9 damage on average, so it will just bounce off. Though it has a chance to deal minor damage with luck.

But when the first squad calls for reinforcements to deal with a tough challenge, then suddenly you get 40 archers all firing, and an attack which is dealing 8d8 damage, which armor class doesn't apply to. Probably will make it's reflex save, but now you're talking 18 damage on average, so it will be noticeably taking slight damage, and with a bit of luck will take even more.

Third squad of reinforcements show up, as they might because such a mostly unheard of construct attacking would be the equivalent of a five alarm fighter? Then you got 60 archers, 12d8 damage, average damage of 27 even on a save. At that point it's days are numbered. And a golem is slow enough that it will never be able to close the distance and stomp the archers. And since it's Mindless it shouldn't be thinking tactically and using cover. Unless someone was guiding it. But in an E6 world, that someone would be low level enough it might not want to deal with 12d8 damage flying in every round.

This being just from level 1 Warrior NPCs. With maybe a level 2/3 "Captain" Fighter leading them. Course, it only has a 50% shot of making the reflex save, so it might go down even faster.

[holywhippet]

All creatures in the target square take damage as if they were hit by one-fifth of the arrows fired (1d6 points of damage per five arrows fired from shortbows, or 1d8 points of damage per five arrows fired from longbows).

I dunno. There might be something I'm missing to me but to me it says you get hit by a certain number of arrows and thus would apply damage for each separately. I don't see it saying you add all the damage together and apply it all at once.

It's like the manyshot feat where you are firing two or arrows at once. I don't see it saying you add all the damage together at once.

[ArcturusV]

It's because Manyshot specifically says "Damage Reduction applies separately to each arrow". Where as the Volley rule doesn't.

[Fouredged Sword]

Remember that the Golem is taking something like -3 to reflex saves due to being both slowed and tanglefooted, and if the mob of archers is having hard time hitting the 20 AC of the volley, then a few can fire first as aid other actions to give +2's to the captain.

Remember, while the golem is hard to kill, it isn't actually that dangerous. It can kill one NPC a round, maybe a few more with it's poison every 1d4 rounds, but even that won't one hit kill a NPC as it simply isn't enough con damage to one shot someone until the secondary damage kicks in.

Even if it hit with every attack, kills with every blow, and catches the max number of people in every poison cloud, killing everyone caught inside, it is killing only 2.5ish people a round. This is dangerous, but not in a large scale needed to destroy a city. Besides, people can simply pick a direction and run, go stay with the country relatives until the dang thing wanders off, come home and rebuild the holes in the walls it walked through.

A city block going up because someone dropped a lantern while running away is likely to cause more damage than the golem.

I would assume that in any reality that big monsters exist that people have planed for it. Civilians run for storm cellars and fortifications, and soldiers move in after gathering in number.

A dragon is nasty because it can kill large numbers of archers at once, allowing it to thin the volley attack. An army is dangerous because it cannot be locked in one place to volley attack all at once.

[holywhippet]

It's because Manyshot specifically says "Damage Reduction applies separately to each arrow". Where as the Volley rule doesn't.

Yeah, but it doesn't say that all the arrows merge together to act as a single damaging strike. The rules just say that you are considered to have been hit by 1/5 of all arrows fired with damage being either 1d8 each or 1d6 each depending on bow type. If you wanted to argue that all the arrows hitting more or less at once would work like a single damaging strike you'd need to consider cases where archers were firing more than one arrow per round.

Like if you had 10 archers firing 3 arrows per round. That's 30 arrows in total, so if 1/5 hit that's only 6 hits. But can you assume all 6 come from the same shot? To be fair you'd have to divide the hits amongst the shots - so 2 arrows hit per shots or 2d8/2d6 damage per shot.

I'd be surprised if a DM let you treat the volley rule as being a single damaging strike. Otherwise consider the implications for fighting a tarrasque with a small armoy of archers. The tarrasque has DR 15/Epic and takes up 4 squares. Given that the volley rules say even on a failed attack you hit an adjacent square, there's a decent chance that every volley will connect. The amount of damage the tarrasque could be taking each round would be huge. But that isn't meant to be a viable tactic. That epic damage reduction is meant to stop everything but really strong heroes from hurting it.

[TuggyNE]

I'd be surprised if a DM let you treat the volley rule as being a single damaging strike. Otherwise consider the implications for fighting a tarrasque with a small armoy of archers. The tarrasque has DR 15/Epic and takes up 4 squares. Given that the volley rules say even on a failed attack you hit an adjacent square, there's a decent chance that every volley will connect. The amount of damage the tarrasque could be taking each round would be huge. But that isn't meant to be a viable tactic. That epic damage reduction is meant to stop everything but really strong heroes from hurting it.

I don't think RAI arguments are going to get you anywhere here, since you can't assume people will agree on your chosen example. (That is, there's likely to be at least one person who considers volleying the tarrasque perfectly valid.)

[ArcturusV]

As a DM, I actually would.

I mean outside Leadership Shenanigans, of which this would be one of the less flagrant examples, it won't work for PCs. And it's all done on a single attack roll, so a single attack is a basic leap of logic.

Basically? It's an NPC only rule. And it's an "Equalizer" intended for a low level army to be able to explain how they can threaten stuff like Golems, Dragons, Demons, etc. It adds to the... what is that word... verisimilitude? Anyway, it adds to the sense that towns are a safe haven for a reason. That you can shelter there for a reason. And honestly the game (To a point) NEEDS that to be something you can do.

[Fouredged Sword]

And the whole thing is bested by a single spell. Wind wall will shut the whole thing down.

Or anything with evasion and a good reflex save.

Or a tower shield. You don't even need proficiency. Seriously, immunity to volley attacks costs 30gp.

Or anything not lured into an open field where 100 or so archers can all fire at you at once.

It makes sense that all the monsters hide in caves and old dungeons. To press a mob through a dungeon craw would be a matter of paying for every square in blood, leave that up to the heros. The town guard will just hang back and level anything that sticks it's neck out far enough to shoot from the town wall.

[holywhippet]

As a DM, I actually would.

I mean outside Leadership Shenanigans, of which this would be one of the less flagrant examples, it won't work for PCs. And it's all done on a single attack roll, so a single attack is a basic leap of logic.

Basically? It's an NPC only rule. And it's an "Equalizer" intended for a low level army to be able to explain how they can threaten stuff like Golems, Dragons, Demons, etc. It adds to the... what is that word... verisimilitude? Anyway, it adds to the sense that towns are a safe haven for a reason. That you can shelter there for a reason. And honestly the game (To a point) NEEDS that to be something you can do.

For NPCs I can understand why you might make an exception. I was objecting more in terms of the PCs being able to pull off something like that as the potential for rules abuse would be excessive.

As an aside, my former DM told me a of a group who abused flaming sphere spells to basically wipe out a town. They sat themselves where they could overlook the town and cast several flaming spheres in. Whenever someone tried to extinguish the spheres with water they'd just attack them en masse.

[ArcturusV]

Well, I mean for PCs, it only does damage equal to Archers divided by 5. So without Leadership, it's pretty much impossible for PCs to use outside of the very largest parties (With Hirelings as well probably), and even then if you had 10 PCs/Hirelings, you're only talking about 2d8 damage which doesn't use the enemy's AC.

About the only thing I could see PCs using it for is... I dunno, if you had several pixies or similarly small targets all crammed into a single square? That way all your archers do 2d8 damage to every pixie in the square.

With Leadership, it might be a thing. But if someone is going to use Leadership they're probably looking for slightly more broken things like Circle Magics.

[holywhippet]

Well, the main abuses I can see are: a) getting around DR for strong monsters and b) only having to attack vs AC 20. The Tarrasque for example has AC 35 so normally a low level party couldn't even try to hurt it short of a critical hit. Of course even if you abused the volley trick there's always the problem of it needing a wish or miracle spell to keep it dead.

[ArcturusV]

Well, I mean to get past the Tarrasques DR, you'd need to still do over 15 damage, at the very least. Over 30 since it'll probably be able to save the pitifully low DC on Volley.

Which means to do it reliably you need: 8d8 on a volley, at least. Meaning you need 45 Archers to do it. So outside of Leadership (And likely having two people use Leadership unless one of them is REALLY focused on jacking up their Leadership Mod to the max), a PC wouldn't be able to do it.

Even 8d8 isn't all that great for it. That's just the bare minimum where you can expect at least a reasonable chance for it to do anything. To be a viable Tarrasque killer, you'd need many times more. You not only have to overcome DR reliably, you have to overcome the Regeneration reliably. AND be able to do it multiple times per round (At least level 6 Fighter followers? But that's not possible with Leadership really, and that would be the only way to reliably get the numbers you'd need to be talking about). You're talking about massing something like 500 Archers to all shoot the Tarrasque at once. Plus enough to sustain losses.

Which you aren't getting outside of some shenanigans. Serious shenanigans. Like almost any story about killing the Tarrasque.

[holywhippet]

You'd assume the PCs have to be high enough of level to have access to wish or miracle (otherwise, why bother). As such, they'd be strong enough to keep the tarrasque off of the archers while they whittled it down.

You wouldn't just be relying on leadership either for the archers. According to the SRD the base pay for a trained hireling is 3 silver per day. Admittedly that is the base pay, it could cost more. But it's low enough that a party could afford a decent sized army for a few days.

[ArcturusV]

Reasonably any DM should have Hirelings going ".... what? No... hell no... No." and demanding, if anything, more Hazardous Duty pay for such an assignment. The only way to guarantee they would follow through on the plan would be to have leadership (never get enough archers that way unless you had like 10 PCs all taking Leadership), or to tell them up front. And thus every archer would reasonably say... "Okay... you're giving me a death mission. I want to be payed 1000 PP, so my next of kin can live in the lap of luxury for me basically writing off my life. And since I'm only level 1, I can't be brought back..."

If you tried to surprise them and not tell them what the mission is? They'd drop their bows and run for the hills.

Plus, DnD lacks ways to really control Aggro like a MMO game would. There's no way the players could "Block" for the archers and keep the Tarrasque busy. It's Wisdom is high enough it should be able to realize, "Hmm, those are the things that are actually doing damage to me"... and then.. STOMP.

DnD is horrible for "Tanking" or anything like that.

[Traab]

Considering that list of high level townsfolk, I honestly think it would work this way.

"Oh my god! An iron golem is tearing up the town!"
"Go get mitch the wizard! He should be at his usual spot in the library!"
"Ok, you go get Carl the barbarian, he is probably only half drunk at the tavern, its only 10 am!"

Things like that. You see, in most towns, I would expect the most powerful residents to be known. Not mysterious strangers that noone has any knowledge of outside of rumors. So chances are the first thing they would do is go for the town guard. if that doesnt work, they would likely ask the biggest baddest mofos in town to take care of things.

[holywhippet]

Plus, DnD lacks ways to really control Aggro like a MMO game would. There's no way the players could "Block" for the archers and keep the Tarrasque busy. It's Wisdom is high enough it should be able to realize, "Hmm, those are the things that are actually doing damage to me"... and then.. STOMP.

DnD is horrible for "Tanking" or anything like that.

A Wall of force spell or two should do the trick nicely. Assuming you have a bottleneck you can just drop a few in a place that will stop the tarrasque from approaching but not block the arrows.

[ArcturusV]

I don't think any of the "Wall of X" spells are one way though.

DnD is just really bad for "Tank and Spank". The closest you get to being able to do it is Trip Spam or spells that effectively end encounters anyway by some method, though the Tarrasque is immune to a lot of them, like trying to Drain it's Int to zero so it basically turns into an inanimate object, as far as Combat is concerned.

[Arbane]

Evil doesn't automatically mean stupid in my world. It also doesn't mean they live in a bubble. Evil wizards can have friends and loved ones just as much as anyone else and be total despots to the rest of the world. It also doesn't automatically mean cowardly.

"This is my favorite donut shop. YOU! SHALL! NOT! PASS!" :smallbiggrin:


Well, you could even try to lure it away from the city: attack and retreat, take the golem to a bridge and destroy it.

The bridge might not work - unless it's over a REALLY deep chasm or similar that can be collapsed on top of it, the golem will eventually just walk out of the water and renew its rampage.

Golems are mindless, so lure it in front of a set of loaded ballistae? Seige engines should do enough damage to get through DR...

[Traab]

Get some sort of engineer type to build a big treadmill and let the golem walk onto it. /nod Setup a generator for power and not only is the problem solved, but you get to profit from it too! :smallbiggrin:

[Erik Vale]

Props if you make the golem into the generator. Free energy!

Edit: Hmmm... In DnD land you can have unlimited clean energy. Awakened Windmill. :smallsmile:

[Traab]

You know, unless the golem keeps randomly changing direction, it might matter how close to the edge of town he is. If he smashes his way in a straight line through 2 houses and a palisade, I say let it go. On the other hand, if he shows up on the west side of town and walks straight to the east side, its something that has to be dealt with. Afterwards you can fine whoever is responsible for releasing the damn thing.

[Pickford]

In some district of a city, let's say a slum area, and let's say at night; an iron golem breaks out of a building and starts demolishing structures and killing any creature that gets too close (or is too slow to get away). If not stopped, it will continue its rampage until no buildings or people are left, then probably continue on outside the city towards any other structures, such as nearby towns or outlying farms.

Assume that this isn't faerun or eberron, so there is a regular, DMG amount of leveled characters and magical wealth to be had in this particular city.

What can the people of the city do to stop it? I'm looking for a list of things they could/would do, not just "hire adventurers". EDIT: No ToB or gunpowder.

Well...it's the slums, so there is probably a shelter there, tended to by an order of benevolent Monks (maybe even with vow of poverty) and your average Monk at level 18 (Iron Golem being an 18HD monster) could probably take it with adamantine ki strikes and immunity to poison.

On the other hand, if we're talking not adventurer material...anyone with access to shocking adamantine weapons would do pretty well. Javelins of Lightning are actually pretty cheap under the circumstances...or Stormstrider Boots (Complete Mage)


2nd EDIT: What if it's a town instead? What if it's a city in an E6 world?

Isn't an Iron Golem a tad insane for an E6 world?

[Malrone]

Just because mere mortals are constrained to level six, does not mean everything else is. Giants could still well exist, and all that. Besides, the presence of the golem is not up for debate, not is how unreasonable a golem encounter would be.

[avr]

Obscuring mist or similar will stop it seeing anything beyond 5' which should earn you a few minutes. Since it is mindless and only follows orders, it isn't rampaging, and the orders would have to be carefully crafted for this situation; it would default to doing nothing unless attacked I think. Or, with a 20' move, find out by experiment what it's been ordered to attack and get one of them to lead it in circles around the block.

You could further immobilise it by digging a pit trap if tanglefoot bags & electricity and the ideas above aren't enough. A few minutes aren't enough to do this manually, but you could say use summon nature's ally II to get a dire badger.

Adamantine arrows aren't something many people are likely to have lying around but I think this scenario makes a case for the town guard to have some in a locked room somewhere.

[Toliudar]

Further, even if the golem has been ordered to destroy buildings and attack people who get close to it, a sorcerer with Silent Image and invisibility can create silent image 'fog' to conceal actual buildings and a fake person (or small building) that retreats when approached. The golem never has an opportunity to touch any part of the illusion, so never gets a will save. The golem pursues the bait and is lured out of the city and into a place where there are no people or buildings nearby. Destroy it at a distance at your leisure.

[Yogibear41]

Level 13 commoner? Dafuq? What on earth could someone possibly be doing that is dangerous enough to level all the way to 13, but not dangerous enough to actually learn a class other than commoner?

Lots and Lots of Role Playing experience, lol


Obviously its a single parent with a full time job and 10ish children, his or her life = a CR 20 encounter.