3.5 Monster: Birthday cake golem

Hi! For one of the upcoming sessions of mine, I discovered that one of my players has his birthday then. So I created a Birthday Cake Golem, heavily inspirered on the Calzone golem. I don't know the numberwork, so I assigned DC's as I deemed appropiate. Oh, and please also note English is not my native language:smallredface:
Anyway, I present for comments and criticism, the Birthday Cake Golem!

Birthday Cake Golem
Medium-Size Construct
Hit Dice: 6d10 (33 hp)
Initiative: –1 (Dex)
Speed: 30 ft. (can’t run)
AC: 13 (–1 Dex, +4 natural)
Attacks: Slams +8 melee
Damage: Slam 1d8+1 and 1 Dex
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Stickiness
Special Qualities: Berserk, construct, magic immunity, spurt, illumination, smoke, tasty
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +1, Will +2
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 9, Con —, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 14
Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground
Organization: Solitary or gang (2–4)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 7–12 HD (Medium-size); 13–18 HD(Large)

The birthday cake golem is a sticky construct created by an unknown wizard. These golems appear once in 3d100 days and are almost always eaten to death by bystanders. It is created by a mixture of magic, fine ingredients, and a process of temporal controlling, making it pop up in existence whenever most needed. It looks like a big colourful pie with candles and decoration. It’s skin is sticky but sweet. Although commonly it has a vanilla cream flavour, there are unconfirmed reports of variations with chocolates, fruits or even coconut.

Combat
As a golem, the birthday cake golem is incapable of strategy or tactics. Its creator can command it if within 60 feet. When not directly controlled, most birthday cake golems stand as steadfast guardians of kitchens, pantries, or dining halls.
Stickiness (Ex): The birthday cake golem has a sticky skin and sticky innards, which act as a powerful sugary adhesive, holding fast any creatures or items that touch it. An adhesive-covered golem automatically grapples any creature it hits with its slam attack. Opponents so grappled can get free with a DC 16 strength check or a DC 20 Escape Artist check. A weapon that strikes an adhesive-coated mimic is stuck fast unless the wielder succeeds on a DC 16 Reflex save. A successful DC 13 Strength check is needed to pry it off.
Water dissolves the adhesive and deals 1 damage for every gallon poured out over the golem, also ruining its substance. The golem can not end its stickiness at will.

Berserk (Ex): When a birthday cake golem is struck by a slashing or piercing weapon, it must make a Will save (DC 12), or its elemental spirit breaks free and goes berserk. The uncontrolled golem begins rampaging, attacking the nearest living creature or smashing some object smaller than itself if no creature is within reach, then moving on to spread more destruction. Once the golem goes berserk, no known method can reestablish control.
Construct: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, disease, and similar effects. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage.
Magic Immunity (Ex): Birthday cake golems are immune to all spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural effects, except as follows. Cold-based effects slow them (as the slow spell) for 2d6 rounds, no saving throw. Fire-based effects deal no damage but rather harden the golem temporarily, increasing its natural armor bonus by +1 for every 3 points of damage it would otherwise deal (this hardening fades after 1d4 hours) and removing the stickiness. The golem rolls no saving throw against fire effects.
Spurt (Ex): If the birthday cake golem is struck for damage by a slashing or piercing weapon, it spurts out a small splash of extremely tasty juices from the wound. This spurt inflicts 1 point of dexterity damage to all individuals within 5 feet of the golem, unless they succeed on a Reflex save (DC 13).
Illumination (Ex): The candles on top of the birthday cake golem gives shadow illumination with a range of 20ft. When these candles are stifled, the golem no longer illuminates. If these candles are cut or otherwise destroyed, the golem regrows them in 1d6 hours. The golem can not voluntarily stifle or destroy his candles.
Smoke (Ex): When the candles are destroyed or lit, the golem creates smoke around him, like the spell Obscuring Mist, with a range of 10ft. Medium wind or a Gust of Wind spell or higher dissipate the smoke immediately.
Tasty (Ex): When the birthday cake golem does damage, the victim must make a Charisma check (DC 15). When the victim fails its check, it has the irresistible urge (similar to charm person) to eat the golem. The victim lurches itself on top of the golem and eats until the golem dies or the victim can not eat any more. If the victim has no bite attack, it receives it for the duration of this effect a bite effect appropriate to the victims size. This is an mind-effecting effect.

Construction
A birthday cake golem’s body is created from a mixture of fine ingredients. Its recipe remains a secret, but there is probably a lot of sugar involved. The golem costs 10,000 gp to create, including 500 gp for the ingredients and 7 ounces sovereign glue. Assembling the body requires a successful Profession (cook) check (DC 15), along with 4 hours of baking at approximately 200 degrees. The creator must be 9th level and able to cast arcane spells. Completing the ritual drains 250 XP from the creator and requires charm person, grease, major creation, and obscuring mist.

You have a few copy/paste errors where you have the Calzone Golem. Other than that, looks good to me.

I'd say get rid of the damage from water. If this is CR 3, your party is assumed to be level three. Therefore, with create water, a cleric could kill your creature really easily with two gallons x 3 = six gallons = 6d6 damage.

That's just with create water, an orison. Perhaps 1 damage from getting hit by water...

Tasty should probably be a Will saving throw, not a Charisma check.

For flavor, I think there should be a caster controlling it, singing Happy Birthday.

The standard DC formula is 10 + 1/2 HD + Ability Score Modifier. The modifier should be Constitution for Spurt, which, in the case of a non-ability is +0, although a case could also be make for Strength. Tasty should be charisma based.

Maybe water damage like a vampire it has to actually be submerged for it to work.

Quote:

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You have a few copy/paste errors where you have the Calzone Golem. Other than that, looks good to me.

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-How most embarassing:smallredface: I fixed it.
-I have lowered water damage to 1hp per gallon. (Of course, who would come up with the idea to use water to spoil cake?:smalltongue:

Quote:

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The standard DC formula is 10 + 1/2 HD + Ability Score Modifier. The modifier should be Constitution for Spurt, which, in the case of a non-ability is +0, although a case could also be make for Strength. Tasty should be charisma based.

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Thanks Dracodei for this info! Tasty will require a DC of 15 (charisma-based) and the Reflex save for Spurt will be 13.

And Temotei, I am going to use your idea of the Happy Birthday singing caster completely!:smallbiggrin:

This is rather superb. I think I may use this golem in the keep of a rather insane yet playful lord in one of my games...

This is actually a 3.0 monster not a 3.5. To update it to 3.5 is relatively easy.

BAB/Grapple: +4/+8

Touch AC is 9, Flat-footed is 13

Slam damage should have Str bonus.

Attack line would be written
Attack: Slam +8 melee (1d8+4)
Full Attack: 2 Slams +8 melee (1d8+4)

Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.

Change Climate/Terrain to Environment

Debby

I'm guessing he used this program for races here.
http://mwtools.thyle.net/
It works well for a starting point for a stat block but sadly was never updated for 3.5

there's a copy/paste error from Mimic in the "sticky" entry as well.

also, I'd like to see a larger progression, you know, for really special birthdays... like a lich-king's 1000th or something. 32 hit-dice legendary cakey goodness.

I dunno about the "spurt" ability. I can't say I've ever seen a liquid-centered cake before. a pie, certainly, but not a cake. perhaps replace that with engulf, so that those stuck to the golem or "eating" it because of its tasty ability are in actual danger.

additionally on the spurt ability, instead of dealing dex damage, what about entangling instead? that would make a little more sense, and work well with engulf. I can understand getting splattered with icing becoming a sticky mess, but I would also think thats why you don't cut cakes with baseball bats. switch it from slashing/piercing to bludgeoning, I'd say, and you could leave it in.

what about cake variants? like an icecream cake golem? 1d6 additional cold damage on successful slams, fire vulnerability, cold absorbtion, opponents grappled or "eating" the golem take additional cold damage, potential for brain-freezes (treat it like the slow spell or sickened status).

I think there should be additional powers for the candles at higher hit dice. perhaps a fire attack, like scorching ray, or produce flame. it would, of course, lose these abilities if it's candles were stifled, making extinguishing them a sub-objective of the fight and helpful, if not crucial, to victory. perhaps these abilities would come at a cost to the icecream cake golem variant in the form of -1 Charisma damage per use, or a few hp per use...

just some ideas I'd thought I'd throw out. I love the initial idea, and I've wanted to experiment with something like this ever since I saw the lil' adventure with the Calzone Golem on WotC's site... I actually wanted to run an encounter with a cake golem for a friend's birthday, and stumbled on this via google. thanks, ka bna.

Major opportunity here: The golem should have 1 HD per candle on its head, and should have a headbutt attack which deals 1 fire damage per candle.