While the wizards and clerics responsible for the Tournament of Souls are reviewing and testing the latest entries, we thought we would take a minute to talk a bit about the creation process for many of the golems we’ve seen over the last 101 years of the tournament. Today we’ll hearing from a senior student, whose focus for the last two decades has been the study and creation of constructs. Please welcome Con’Leath Nariess! His discussion will be centered around the power that animates the construct, giving it life, mobility, and at times a portion of the animating spirit’s power!
Con’Leath Nariess
For the most mundane constructs, namely golems crafted of materials such as stone, iron and even flesh, are animated by some manner of elemental spirit. In these cases the creator channels just enough of the elemental’s power into the crafted form to give it life, while preventing it from achieving free will, or tapping into its natural powers. While this is a very safe way to protect oneself from a golem gone mad, it also severely restricts the usefulness of the creation.
The tournament has inspired a great deal of experimentation within the Academy of Malla Zhaunil, the greatest institution in the Empire of Illuria. While the souls of mortals CAN be transferred into a constructed form, doing so to an unwilling participant creates a creature that is constantly seeking to break free from its creator’s control. The innately magical energy of Outsiders, such as the previously mentioned elementals, tanar’ri, or even beings from the upper planes are ideal for animation. Yet we must not limit our view to only getting just enough essence to animate our creations.
Allowing a greater portion of the Outsider’s essence into the construct not only makes it capable of limited decision making capability, but can provide the creator easy access to a portion of the Outsider’s natural magical abilities! For instance, crafting a construct of obsidian, which is a type of stone that possesses a natural affinity for the power of fire, and imbuing it with a major portion of the essence of a fire elemental can, at the creator’s preference, grant the construct increased intelligence as well as numerous flame-related abilities!
It is true that a particular enchantment or combination of enchantments must be used to provide conduits of power in order to enable the creature, in this case a fire elemental, to utilize these powers; and at times determining which spell combination to use can be excruciatingly frustrating. However, let me assure you that unlocking these potential abilities can provide great power to your crafted servants, be they for personal protection, or for entry into the tournament. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if we saw this very principle in action in this year’s tournament!
Thank you Con’Leath for that great piece of insight! I imagine the every different type of entity and material could present a unique combination of potential abilities, immunities and magic! We’ll be talking more about construct creation as we progress through the tournament, rest assured. For those keeping track, we’ve included all of the statistics generated by Con’Leath in his experiments for the creation of what he refers to as an Obsidian Squire, for your enjoyment! Good gaming to all, and my your dice be forever kind.
