ComatosePhoenix
2014-09-03, 12:38 PM
Back in 1996 a Real time strategy game called Blood and Magic was released under the AD&D license while the game did use monsters and terminology from the original RPG there was little resemblance. regardless the game was quite fun. However while most units were taken from Dungeons and Dragons or general mythology there was one genuinely original creature. The Basal Golemn,
http://i.imgur.com/CE2V0b4.png
This weird looking blue dude that could be created out of magical essence at a blood forge.
Now Basal Golems interest me because they were never used again in any of the monster manuals or expansions, I don't think I have ever seen proper stats for this creature which is a shame because they are actually pretty interesting.
The primary use of basal Golems is to generate mana, now mana doesn't exist in normal D&D games and it shouldn't, but the general idea of a minion that lets a caster draw from its power instead of the caster's own is perfectly reasonable. In order to provide this power the Golem takes the form of pyramid and cannot move.
The second use of Basal golems is their ability to transform into virtually anything permanently. There is the obviously mundane use of transforming a golem into a more combat capable form such as an armed soldier or monster, but the more interesting use is that with enough golems you could build solid structures like castles, houses, dungeons.
Now how do these processes work? From an RP perspective I figured that a basal golem could become a perfect clone of any creature. This process would take a significant amount of time represented in game by the golem transforming into a metapod (lolwut) and slowly converting to a new form. compare this to transforming into a wall or castle which was instantaneous provided that there were enough golems.
There were other tradeoffs to transforming the golems, once a golem transfromed it could no longer turn into its magic generating pyramid form, additionally a golem transformed into some kind of caster has no actual magic and draws its abilities from its creator.
Anyway I like these guys, and I was wondering if anyone had some idea of how to implement them into a game without being horribly broken. Obviously they are strictly the toys of a high level mage, and probably more suited to the secret weapon of a BBEG than an adventurer. but I still find them cool and still am very confused as to why the concept was never looked at again.
http://i.imgur.com/CE2V0b4.png
This weird looking blue dude that could be created out of magical essence at a blood forge.
Now Basal Golems interest me because they were never used again in any of the monster manuals or expansions, I don't think I have ever seen proper stats for this creature which is a shame because they are actually pretty interesting.
The primary use of basal Golems is to generate mana, now mana doesn't exist in normal D&D games and it shouldn't, but the general idea of a minion that lets a caster draw from its power instead of the caster's own is perfectly reasonable. In order to provide this power the Golem takes the form of pyramid and cannot move.
The second use of Basal golems is their ability to transform into virtually anything permanently. There is the obviously mundane use of transforming a golem into a more combat capable form such as an armed soldier or monster, but the more interesting use is that with enough golems you could build solid structures like castles, houses, dungeons.
Now how do these processes work? From an RP perspective I figured that a basal golem could become a perfect clone of any creature. This process would take a significant amount of time represented in game by the golem transforming into a metapod (lolwut) and slowly converting to a new form. compare this to transforming into a wall or castle which was instantaneous provided that there were enough golems.
There were other tradeoffs to transforming the golems, once a golem transfromed it could no longer turn into its magic generating pyramid form, additionally a golem transformed into some kind of caster has no actual magic and draws its abilities from its creator.
Anyway I like these guys, and I was wondering if anyone had some idea of how to implement them into a game without being horribly broken. Obviously they are strictly the toys of a high level mage, and probably more suited to the secret weapon of a BBEG than an adventurer. but I still find them cool and still am very confused as to why the concept was never looked at again.