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sengmeng
2017-05-17, 10:16 AM
I'm creating a quasi-villainous wizard antagonist but I don't eat to make him evil through and through. I decided he modified the process of becoming a lich so that his phylactery occupies a construct body. What's a good material that evokes power and maybe just a little evil? And is there a material that says this construct is maybe powered by negative energy rather than the usual golden animating process?

Edit: and he didn't want to be a lich because he's vain, so it could be an ostentatious material as well

CharonsHelper
2017-05-17, 10:25 AM
Onyx - no doubt. It's what's used to make undead with negative energy - so it only makes sense to be what a golem powered by negative energy is made of.

Brion
2017-05-17, 10:40 AM
Onyx - no doubt. It's what's used to make undead with negative energy - so it only makes sense to be what a golem powered by negative energy is made of.

That was my first thought as well.

LibraryOgre
2017-05-17, 10:44 AM
Onyx - no doubt. It's what's used to make undead with negative energy - so it only makes sense to be what a golem powered by negative energy is made of.


That was my first thought as well.

Me, as well. You might go with other sorts of gems, as well... though Forgotten Realms Adventures notes that, in the Realms, jet was a traditional gem for Soul Trap, so you might have them be primarily Onyx but with Jet eyes, or somesuch... something to have a subtle, visual, difference. The kind of thing gnomes notice after the thing is dead, but no one else cares about.

Quertus
2017-05-17, 10:47 AM
I'm creating a quasi-villainous wizard antagonist but I don't eat to make him evil through and through. I decided he modified the process of becoming a lich so that his phylactery occupies a construct body. What's a good material that evokes power and maybe just a little evil? And is there a material that says this construct is maybe powered by negative energy rather than the usual golden animating process?

Edit: and he didn't want to be a lich because he's vain, so it could be an ostentatious material as well

Ok, first off, he has placed his soul in the golem, rather than enslaving an elemental spirit? Chalk one up for him being good.

Second, I'll second third onyx, and also mention the solidified negative energy known as Voidstone.

Lvl 2 Expert
2017-05-17, 10:49 AM
Would you describe him as a traditionalist or more into innovation? In the later case maybe something metallic, lighter than steel, maybe even self healing or something, scifi stuff. In the first case definitely go for something that invokes demons or something. I really like the onyx suggestion.

Quertus
2017-05-17, 10:50 AM
Would you describe him as a traditionalist or more into innovation? In the later case maybe something metallic, lighter than steel, maybe even self healing or something, scifi stuff. In the first case definitely go for something that invokes demons or something. I really like the onyx suggestion.

Living Metal (from Forgotten Realms?), perhaps?

EDIT: add in a little weirwood detailing for the "ostentatious" aspect, and call it a day.

gkathellar
2017-05-17, 11:01 AM
Flesh of something immensely powerful, maybe? Or somethings?

sengmeng
2017-05-17, 11:14 AM
I just google image searched onyx jewelry, and I love the idea. Thanks! I originally thought obsidian, so I'm kind of kicking myself for forgetting about onyx.

Kane0
2017-05-17, 04:35 PM
I vaguely remember Shadesteel Golems from one of the 3.5 MMs, that might be up your alley.

Whyrocknodie
2017-05-17, 05:36 PM
Skulls! A monstrous construction of hundreds upon hundreds of skulls plundered from the necropolis.

How about lead? Lead is heavy and dull-looking, not shiny and heroic.

Stone slabs from broken tombs, maybe?

evocurio
2017-05-17, 09:25 PM
Skulls! A monstrous construction of hundreds upon hundreds of skulls plundered from the necropolis.

How about lead? Lead is heavy and dull-looking, not shiny and heroic.

Stone slabs from broken tombs, maybe?

I'm voting for this. Bones/skulls seem like perfect mediums for hosting negative energy.

sengmeng
2017-05-17, 10:01 PM
I'm voting for this. Bones/skulls seem like perfect mediums for hosting negative energy.

Certainly, but he's against becoming a lich because he finds that distasteful, so...


Anyway, I statted him up in the homebrew section. The deathforged: essentially a mindless "spare" body of this type, with rules to add a mortal spellcaster's soul at the bottom. And an exciting new creature subtype: Undead Construct! Not actually that exciting

Inevitability
2017-05-18, 12:36 AM
Black diamonds?

Mutazoia
2017-05-18, 05:31 AM
A golem powered by negative energy.....so....a Goth Golem?

sengmeng
2017-05-18, 07:59 AM
A golem powered by negative energy.....so....a Goth Golem?

Negative energy, not negative attention :P

Lvl 2 Expert
2017-05-18, 08:07 AM
Negative energy, not negative attention :P

To be fair, you were considering to create it using a form of rock.

N810
2017-05-18, 09:25 AM
To borrow From Warhammer a bit:

Make it out of Warpstone.
It's a crystal made from condensed chaos magic,
it tends to corrupt mutate or warp anything nearby,
and that's just as a side effect.

The crystal itself glows with a intense dark green light.

Quertus
2017-05-18, 03:26 PM
To borrow From Warhammer a bit:

Make it out of Warpstone.
It's a crystal made from condensed chaos magic,
it tends to corrupt mutate or warp anything nearby,
and that's just as a side effect.

The crystal itself glows with a intense dark green light.

Creating a warpstone golem was actually one of my character's goals.

Honest Tiefling
2017-05-18, 04:52 PM
Obisidian and Bone. The bones are either animal bones, or harvested from people wrongly killed that he's intending to avenge. Okay, so they didn't really give permission, but it was sorta hard to ask a murder victim if they would object to the idea.

If you intend to go Onyx, mess with the players. Pure black onyx is rare (most of what you see has been treated), and most is brownish or reddish. Have them expect a pure black golem or track someone buying a lot of black stone...Only to reveal a fashionable, banded golem. Or he took the banded stuff and made it black (treatments for onyx might have existed in ancient roman times), further foiling any attempt to find a man who bought a lot of black onyx.

Inevitability
2017-05-19, 03:03 AM
Obisidian and Bone. The bones are either animal bones, or harvested from people wrongly killed that he's intending to avenge. Okay, so they didn't really give permission, but it was sorta hard to ask a murder victim if they would object to the idea.

Speak With Dead, perhaps?

Mutazoia
2017-05-19, 10:38 PM
Just realized....some one already made a golem powered by negative energy...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4P3pvKmbsg

Excession
2017-05-20, 06:47 AM
Jet. It's so black it came to define being black in the term "jet black". It used to be alive, as a tree. IIRC it was commonly worn as jewellery while mourning in the past.

Newtonsolo313
2017-05-20, 03:13 PM
What about a mound of black dragon scales?
Though if we think of evil colors I think the classic ones are red purple and black so that would mean
Amethyst
Onyx
Ruby
Various types of minor gemstones or colored stones
Obsidian basalt jet
Darkly colored metal
One thing that comes to mind is those ceramic black and orange materials the Greeks used to make pots with, the golem could be black with runes of orange on it