| Rock golem | |
 "No, masters are kind! We are strong. They like us." |
|
| Monster ID | 15 |
| Layer | Monster |
| Movement | Direct beelining |
| First appears | DROD 2.0 |
| Is required | Yes |
| Is brain visible | No |
| Rock pile | |
 A stony nightmare. |
|
| Monster ID | 15 |
| Layer | Monster |
| Movement | None |
| First appears | DROD 2.0 |
| Is required | No |
| Is brain visible | Yes |
- For the DROD RPG monster, see Rock golem (RPG).
Rock golems are powerful albeit dumb creations of the Rooted Empire. They are a prevalent monster encountered throughout the Beneath.
Description[]
Rock golems were an early creation of the Empire, back in the days when they were just figuring out the basics of mineral-based life. Unfortunately, the Empire found them rather difficult to control -- not because they're rebellious or willful, which they aren't -- but because they're just really, really dumb, and they don't understand instructions very well. They don't remember them very well, either, unless they're really simple. If you tell the rock golem to go to the field, pick up some nice round rocks, and carry them to your house, you may discover later that the rock golem got confused, pulled your house up from its foundations, and carried it to the field. Because of these limitations, the Empire tends to use them only as brute force defenders when possible.
While golems do have a brain, it only gets used when they are faced with something their raw instinct can't deal with, such as dealing with obstacles in their path. Rock golems are capable of speech, but their vocabulary is rather limited and shallow, and they rarely have much to say anyway. They don't need to eat; rather, they're driven by their desire to relax alone and with fellow rock golems, and by their love of crushing prey with their large and heavy fists. They won't kill anything else that's a rock, and since perception is not their strong suit, a clever individual would have no trouble disguising themselves as something rock-shaped to evade them.
Rock golems are hard to kill permanently, as they will gradually reconstruct themselves from rubble over the course of many months. But from the practical perspective of a smitemaster, the worst thing about golems is the boulder-corpse left behind when defeated. These are obstacles, so delvers must be careful about where they defeat each and every golem. Fortunately, it's possible to destroy golems completely by using explosives, or by smashing apart their remains with a pickaxe.[1]
Most citizens of the Empire hold mixed feelings toward rock golems. They possess great strength and durability, but they're also stupid and ungainly. They're seen as a throwback to earlier, less elegant days of Empire science. As a result, when they're not called to duty, rock golems live in the abandoned tunnels between Rooted Hold and Lowest Point, where they're out of sight and thus out of mind.
Despite their simple nature, rock golems are nevertheless sapient beings who see humans, goblins, and most other animals as soft, fast, and confusing creatures. Rock golems prefer to live at their own languid pace, away from their bothersome creators. They enjoy playing sports such as rockball in their leisure time.[2]
Behavior[]
- See the interactions page for a list of all interactions for this element.
Movement[]
- Rock golems are terrestrial creatures. They can wade through shallow water.
- Golems use default rules for determining their target.
- Rock golems pathfind toward their target using direct beelining. This works the same way as normal beelining, but if a golem's first-choice destination tile is blocked, it will simply not move at all. As a result, it won't "slide" along obstacles the way most monsters do.
- Brained rock golems move identically to brained roaches, unless their highest priority move is blocked by a brain-invisible object. Instead of attempting the second-best move as directed by the brain, the golem will simply wait in place until it can follow its highest priority move.
- Rock golems will walk through puffs and crush them with impunity. Puffs will not target rock golems.
- Boulders cannot move, but they can be pushed.
Vulnerabilities[]
- Rock golems are vulnerable to sharp weapons, hot tiles, active firetraps, and floor spikes. When a golem is killed one of these ways, it becomes a boulder.
- Rock golems are also vulnerable to explosions, briar, and being eaten by adders, but these do not leave a boulder behind.
- Boulders can be destroyed with the sharp edges of a pickaxe, explosions, briar, and being eaten by adders.
- Living or otherwise, rock golems can also be destroyed by pushing or dropping them into pit and water.
Other[]
- Live rock golems are not treated as obstacles by brains, but boulders are.
- Boulders can be used to turn a tile of shallow water into a stepping stone, destroying the boulder in the process. If a rock golem is killed in shallow water, its boulder immediately converts the tile into a stepping stone.
Trivia[]
Rock golems were introduced in DROD 2.0. Aumtlichs were also considered for this release, with an extra interaction where aumtlich beams that hit boulders would reanimate them. However, aumtlichs were not implemented until 3.0, and the developers decided against introducing the reanimation mechanic.[3]
Boulders do not have a separate monster ID; their animation uses the rock golem's "center" or "no direction" orientation. However, attempting to set a rock golem character's orientation to 4 (which is this "center" direction) yields no result. Architects must use the Imperative: Die special script command to turn rock golem characters into boulders.
External Links[]
- ↑ Article on rock golems
- ↑ Entrance text from The City Beneath: Rocky Hollow
- ↑ Scroll from The Second Sky: Bonus: Concept Art: 2E