As per the title... Do they possess some (unmentioned in the rules) foolproof means to identify their creator when accepting orders or are they limited to mundane visual/auditory recognition like the rest of us? That is to say, could someone merely disguise themselves as a golem's creator and usurp control of it that way? What if the creator himself is unrecognizable to the golem due to being older, disguised, polymorphed, etc? Would the golem ignore his creator's orders until he manages to resume an appearance the golem recognizes?
Magic, they magically know who the person who created them is I would
say. but your dm, could fiat it and make it work
I would say "Named Magic". As the creation, the creator imbeed the True name of the futur controller. By this way a Golem creator can sell his production to others.
As a House Rule you can state :
A golem without master (because of his death) could be "reprogrammed" with the proper creation feat and maybe a 10% cost based on the golem price.
I'm with Lobo on this one.
The golem knows. The same way that the victim of a compulsion spell knows who the controller is. The same way that a summon monster knows who summoned them. It's magic.
It is really up to the DM. I have seen this one vary from campaign setting to campaign setting.
Yes, there is a usually a foolproof way for the golem to know, but what it is is generally up to the DM.
In some cases, it is a magical bond.
In some cases, there is a magic item that confers control. This is very common in cases where the mage is making the golem for someone else.
In some cases, the golem's instructions are hardwired into the golem during creation, and the creator can't control it. This sometimes results in the creator's death at the hands of said golem.
As per the title... Do they possess some (unmentioned in the rules) foolproof means to identify their creator when accepting orders or are they limited to mundane visual/auditory recognition like the rest of us? That is to say, could someone merely disguise themselves as a golem's creator and usurp control of it that way? What if the creator himself is unrecognizable to the golem due to being older, disguised, polymorphed, etc? Would the golem ignore his creator's orders until he manages to resume an appearance the golem recognizes?
Meta Magic root kit.
I'm in with the it's magic! camp... but by the same logic, one could say employ the use magical device skill to or by similar fundamental laws of magic create a 'key.'
Clearly it's some unique (or nearly unique) aspect of a person, not his entirety, because a golem will still listen to you if your hand gets cut off or you change hats. So there should be a way to cast a spell or make an apparatus that can copy that aspect.
And by same logic, there should be a way to blind the golem so it can't recognize it's creator.
A magical connection seems to make the most sense...and I'd go right for the soul as the connecting item. A golem should recognize its creator through any disguise, and even after a Reincarnation, and it shouldn't be fooled by disguises or similar actions.
If the creator gives a command like "follow the commands of Jojo as if they were my own.", then then golem has no special sense of who Jojo is aside from visual recognition (or whatever other senses it has), so fooling it becomes a much easier option.
IMC, if a golem's creator dies, it continues to follow its last set of instructions stopping only to defend itself (and maybe not even that).
This all presumes golems with an INT of --. If the golem has an INT score (I don't think there are any at this point), then its ability to recognize Jojo or make choices after its creator's death may be significantly more robust.
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I'm in with the it's magic! camp...
Same with me. I think of its as some kind of soul bond or primal awareness.
...but by the same logic, one could say employ the use magical device skill to or by similar fundamental laws of magic create a 'key.'
That's a really cool idea. What do you (or anyone else) think the DC would be to fool a golem into thinking you were its master?
I'm thinking 35. A DC 35 Use Magic Device check to give a golem a single command as if you were its master.
35 because the DC to fake an alignment is 30, and that comes pretty close to disguising your true essence. Also the Disguise check (against a Perception +0 character who is taking 10) to pretend to be someone of a different age, race, gender and size category and fool someone intimate with them is 36. So 35 feels like its in the right zone for using Use Magic Device to Emulate A Golem's Master.
The argument could be made that the DC to emulate should be 20+caster level of the spellcaster who created the golem.
I like the idea of a bard facing off with a golem master, each of them standing farther apart than the golem can move with one full move action, sending the golem running back and forth between them, like a game of pong.