Golem: Wood
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Description:
Wood golems are magically animated humanoids carved out of wood and brought to life via magical ritual. They are easily mistaken for spriggan, eoten, wodewose, dryad and a range of other creatures, but they are totally different in that they are not sentient in the same sense as those creatures. Wood golems have strong, flexible bodies, making them excellent workers. Many wood golems have a rough hewn appearance, but elaborately carved and decorated wood golems - sometimes stained in bright colors, and given truly exotic appearances have been known to exist.
Special:
Wood golems are immune to normal weapons, and take only half damage from shock and frost based attacks, but they take +100% damage from flame based attacks.
As mindless automata, they are immune to many magical effects including any spells or skills that affect the mind or the emotions, or any magic that drains or buffs Stats, Attributes or Derivatives. They are similarly immune to any physiological effects such as poisoning or disease and can see perfectly in total darkness.
Wood golems can be disabled using Dispel Magic and winning a Challenge against whatever spell brought the golem to life, however, they are not effected by the Decay Spell the way Clockwork creatures are.
Variants:
Wood golems, must be carved from a single piece of wood, so making them is not as simple as is making many other golems that can be wrought from easily available materials. That said, they remain more common than more exotic golems that require sophisticated processes to manufacture, and they are tough durable enough to have value in a rnage of different contexts.
Standard Wood Golem
The standard wood golem stands about 2m in height. Like wicker and clay golems, they are able to work tirelessly, and almost endlessle, but unlike their breathrea, wood golems can endure harsher climates and more variable weather conditions, and are likely to last for a decade or more.
Giant Wood Golem
Giant wood golems, which reach 4m in height, are uncommon owing the sparsity of trees with the length and girth required to carve them from. That said, when the right tree is found, the right artisans brought to carve it, and the right magic used to animate it, a giant wood golem can be a formidable and long lasting servant. They will not persist as long as their stone or iron cousins, but will outlast their clay and wicker brethern by a wide margin. They can be useful on the battlefield, but as with wicker golems, their vulnerability to fire leaves them at a disadvantage.
Wood Golem Servant
Wood golem servants are the most common of all wood golems. They can be carved fairly quickly and animated to serve in support of light labour and household service. They can also be carved by master artisans to display exquisite detail, and even stained to give an almost lifelike appearance. In some households, they may even be carved and stained to have a humanoid appearnce, and then dressed in clothes to give a very organic, lifelike impression.