WAR PIG GOLEMS

[ A short bestiary of random denizens from Pangaria and elsewhere... (part five) ]

WAR GOLEM (#23/31, #23/365) [OOTP IV]

SKILL: 12

STAMINA: 64

ATTACKS: 4

WEAPON: See below

ARMOUR: Heavy

DAMAGE MODIFIER: Double Damage

HABITAT: Wherever their creator is, Dungeons, Ruins

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 1

TYPE: Magical

REACTION: Hostile

INTELLIGENCE: Low

While many types of Golem are constructed by magical conjuration rituals, the WAR GOLEM is a machine of technomancy, powered by a rechargeble fuel-source that grants it a premium amount of time to run amok in an orgy of destruction. For the War Golem is the pinnacle of warmongering automation, a great metal figure clad in plated iron armed with two gigantic weapons of some sort, one clamped in each steel fist. Roll twice on the table below to determine what the weapons are:

Roll Weapon

1 Mace

2 Sword

3 Handaxe

4 Warhammer

5 Scimitar

6 Spear

The War Golem can be fought in one of three ways. Firstly it can be fought as per the scores above, using regular melee combat rules. Secondly, the War Golem can separate into six separate flying body parts, each powered by its own smaller independent power-source and guided by at least one pilot. It takes one Attack Round for the War Golem to split into separate parts, and one Attack Round to reassemble again. To determine what flying metal body part is attacking a victim at any given point in time, roll below on the following table:

Dice Roll Part SKILL STAMINA Weapon

1 Giant Metal Head 8 10 Very Large Bite

2 Giant Metal Torso 6 11 Unarmed (Large)

3 Giant Metal Left Hand 8 11 Unarmed (Large)

4 Giant Metal Right Hand 8 11 Unarmed (Large)

5 Giant Metal Left Leg 7 10 Unarmed (Large)

6 Giant Metal Right Leg 7 10 Unarmed (Large)

Each part will attack separately with its own Attack Strength. Each roll should be checked against the opponent's single Attack Strength. For each one that is higher, a hit will be delivered to the victim. For the victim's part, they can attempt to hit only one of the parts (chosen at random by rolling one die on the table above). If their attack is better than the part's, they may wound it as per normal. Any part that is reduced to zero STAMINA will drop to the ground, shattered and destroyed. Any pilot within that part must reduce their STAMINA by the roll of one die also.

The Metal Hands and Metal Legs have special batter and stomp attacks respectively, that they can use as a last ditch attempt: roll a die: 1-2 the special attack does +1 STAMINA damage (in addition to normal damage), 3-5 the special attack fails and the part takes +1 STAMINA damage (Armour roll allowed).

The third and final way to fight the War Golem is to either engage it in mass-combat with a sizeable unit or vehicle crewed with enemy assailants, or use a similarly-sized champion against it. For instance, there have been rumours that Krazic, the Chief Engineer of Pangaria went rogue, built a huge War Golem in the form of a Goblin, and attempt to sell it to a Khulian mercanary consortium led by Commander Mattias Talliman of Anghelm. The plot was decisively aborted when Tideus the Sea Giant, aided by a lone Sky Watch Officer, defeated the War Golem (which by then had fused with Boreas the rogue Stormborn and co-conspirator alongside Krazic), in an epic giant-sized battle for the ages!

Crew sizes for the War Golem vary, but must be at least six if it is to separate into six self-piloted flying parts (for this reason it also needs six storm crystals to deploy this ability). The War Golem built by Krazic was designed to house twelve Pangarian Goblin pilots; being two pilots for each part - one main and one backup. Thus the scores for a full crew of Pangarian Goblins piloting a War Golem would be:

1 TECHNOMANCER Captain (usually seated within head): SKILL 7 STAMINA 12, Wrench (Club), Flightsuit (as Leather Hauberk), Aeronaut Helmet

5 AERONAUT Pilots: SKILL 7 STAMINA 6, Wrench (as Club), Flightsuit (as Leather Hauberk), Aeronaut Helmet

6 ENGINEER Backups: SKILL 6 STAMINA 6, Wrench (as Club), Flightsuit (as Leather Hauberk)

Baseline vehicle scores for a War Golem may look something like this:

WAR GOLEM

VEHICLE STAMINA: 40

VEHICLE WEAPONS: Heavy

VEHICLE ARMOUR: Heavy

Base Movement:8

Encumbrance: None

CREW: at least 6, maximum 12