Do iron golems rust?

[Yqatuba]

If so, how would a badly rusted iron golem be different?

[Lathiira]

There aren't really rules for rusting. I'd treat the golem in one of several ways. First, apply the young creature template to it, using that to reflect that its weaker than normal. Not great though. Second, I'd reduce its stats. Reduce its DR, reduce its Strength, reduce its hp to say it's easier to hurt, takes less punishment to drop, and just can't hit as hard as it used to.

[Melkiador]

The rust monster and rusting grasp spell merely deal hitpoint damage to the creature. So natural rust should probably be the same. Just start the golem with less hitpoints, depending on how rusted it is.

[Darigaaz the Igniter]

Give it a save vs tetanus on its slam attacks.

[Slim Jim]

Well, did the maker cheap out on the primer like a mid-2000s Chrysler minivan?

[Meirril]

Generally speaking, enchanted equipment tends not to be affected by mundane wear and tear. How many times have you see the description of a long abandoned armory full of rusted ruined equipment, except for that suspiciously preserved sword? Or that pristine chainmail?

As a GM if you want something to happen, it happens. But a normal iron golem should be protected from normal rust. This would be very similar to asking 'how long does a flesh golem take to rot?' The answer is the magics used to animate it prevent normal corruption of its substance.

[ANebulousMistress]

Maybe a superficial patina? Not all iron golems need to be oiled and pretty, some might look really cool instead.

[Dizzydoo42]

Dorthy kept her favorite woodcutter oiled up, wasn't the Tinman a tin golem.

[avr]

The Tin Man was originally a human, who replaced everything with mechanical parts IIRC. Not a golem, more a cyborg.

[Aaron Bitman]

Also, tin doesn't rust. It doesn't oxidize so easily in air. (Well, maybe if the tin is nickel-plated, the nickel might rust.)

But OK, I think that Dizzydoo42's point is that if the GM so decides, iron golems may need maintenance. But I expect most GMs wouldn't.

[Kitty Catoblepas]

Seems like a good use for the Degenerate Template.

[Dajur]

Rust on an Iron Golem is just patina. Remember, rubbing it off or restoring it improperly decreases the value of the Golem and the guys at Antique Roadshow will be unhappy with you.

[The Sideromancer]

It was never rust Tinman had to worry about, it was the cold

[Yqatuba]

That and only iron and steel rust.

[GRuzom]

Yqatuba wrote:

If so, how would a badly rusted iron golem be different?

Rust Never Sleeps

[Java Man]

Rust, corrosion, dry rot, etc.. all sound like good rationales for the GM to weaken a construct, perhaps with a downgrade template like young, if a lower CR version is desired. More a tool for encounter design than a mechanical weakness of the creature in question.

[UnArcaneElection]

Yqatuba wrote:

That and only iron and steel rust.

Although not ordinarily called rust, many metals corrode -- some of them violently. When I was little, before I had ever heard of golems (so I didn't actually use the word), I thought the Wicked Witch of the West might have been a Sodium Golem . . . .

[Aaron Bitman]

In the book, Dorothy saw "...the Witch actually melting away like brown sugar before her very eyes."

(On that note, I once stumbled upon this adventure with a candy cane golem.)

[UnArcaneElection]

I wrote:

Yqatuba wrote:

That and only iron and steel rust.

Although not ordinarily called rust, many metals corrode -- some of them violently. When I was little, before I had ever heard of golems (so I didn't actually use the word), I thought the Wicked Witch of the West might have been a Sodium Golem . . . .

Now that I think back more to the childhood memories, I remember speculating to my mother that the movie(*) used a sodium robot on the set(**) . . . .

(*)Yes, the one released in 1939.

(**)And yes, I grew up as, and still am, a nerd.