Ruby golem
' ruby golem 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 28 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 4d10 physical, Breath 5d6 fire |
| Base level | 24 |
| Base experience | 795 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 3 |
| Base MR | 60 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 2000 |
| Nutritional value | 0 |
| Size | large |
| Resistances | fire resistance, cold resistance, shock resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, drain resistance (SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM only), acid resistance (Hack'EM only) |
| Resistances conveyed | none |
|
A ruby golem:
| |
| Reference | SLASH'EM_0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line3579 |
A ruby golem, ', is a type of monster that appears in the Lethe patch, SLASH'EM, SpliceHack, SlashTHEM, and Hack'EM. The ruby golem is a type of golem that is made of its namesake gemstone - it is strong, thick-skinned, has an affinity to fire, and will seek out weapons and other items to pick up.
Ruby golems have a strong weapon attack and a strong fire breath attack - in Hack'EM, the weapon attack is changed to a claw attack. Ruby golems possess fire resistance, cold resistance, shock resistance, sleep resistance, and poison resistance; in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM, they possess drain resistance, while in Hack'EM they also possess acid resistance. A ruby golem that is subjected to stoning will become a stone golem.[1]
A ruby golem is poisonous to consume, which primarily comes up if it is digested by another monster.
Generation
Randomly-generated ruby golems are always created hostile. Ruby golems are always generated with 250 HP.[2]
Ruby golems leave behind 2-8 rubies upon death instead of a corpse.[3] They are not a valid target for genocide.
Strategy
Ruby golems are typically the first of the highly dangerous gemstone golems that most heroes will encounter: they deal significant physical damage, resist several damage types, and their MR score of 60 provides significant resistance to magical effects.
Fortunately, a hero will usually have speed and perhaps a source of reflection for the breath attack by that point, and should have enough AC to blunt any damage dealt; a hero should also maintain proximity in order to prevent the golem from using its breath attacks in the first place. Any hero planning to fight powerful golems such as this may consider taking steps to keep the golem isolated from other hostile monsters to avoid being overwhelmed - spellcasters may find themselves stonewalled and forced to employ other means of offense due to the golem's resistances and reflection. If all else fails, a means of inflicting stoning (e.g. a footrice egg or corpse) can significantly weaken its defenses by turning it into a stone golem.
Origin
The gōlem is an animate, anthropomorphic being that originates from Jewish folklore, and is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud. The most famous golem narrative is "The Golem of Prague", which tells of the late 16th century rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel and his creation of a golem using clay from the Vltava River, which he brought to life to defend the Prague ghetto from anti-Semitic attacks and pogroms. In modern popular culture, the word became generalized to refer to any crude anthropomorphic construct that is made of inanimate material and brought to life by some means, with the method of animation and the resulting creation's sapience and/or sentience varying wildly.
Encyclopedia entry
The ruby golem shares the same basic encyclopedia entry with other golem monsters that lack a unique entry:
"The original story harks back, so they say, to the sixteenth
century. Using long-lost formulas from the Kabbala, a rabbi is
said to have made an artificial man -- the so-called Golem -- to
help ring the bells in the Synagogue and for all kinds of other
menial work.
"But he hadn't made a full man, and it was animated by some sort
of vegetable half-life. What life it had, too, so the story
runs, was only derived from the magic charm placed behind its
teeth each day, that drew down to itself what was known as the
`free sidereal strength of the universe.'
"One evening, before evening prayers, the rabbi forgot to take
the charm out of the Golem's mouth, and it fell into a frenzy.
It raged through the dark streets, smashing everything in its
path, until the rabbi caught up with it, removed the charm, and
destroyed it. Then the Golem collapsed, lifeless. All that was
left of it was a small clay image, which you can still see in
the Old Synagogue." ...
