Class suggestions for a golem crafter

[Caws Rorec]

Ok so long story short, game is starting soon.

I have this idea for a character who eventually staffs the entire ship with golems and constructs etc.

So here is my question.

In this campaign what is the best class to do this with?

I have the following stats to work with:

18, 17, 14, 11, 11, 11

I am open to race suggestions and class suggestions for the build.

Keeping in mind I have to survive long enough to get to a level where I can build golems.

[ferrinwulf]

Interesting.

Not sure how it would work though. Cost wise to staff the entire crew would be astromomical.

Golems start at 18'000gp to build plus half in raw materials so thats 27'000gp. Not to put too much of a point on it but im not sure if you would have the funds handy to do this. Running a ship, crew and eventually a fleet is expensive in itself. Plunder will only get you so much gold etc and that would need to be shared out amoung other players and crew and pay for the upkeep of the ship. Also not sure if you would have the time or the place to actaully build them either. There is not much downtime in this AP and you will be on board a ship for most of it, probaly helping with the running of it I would have thought. A single construct takes 1 day per 1'0000gp to make so for a wood golem you are looking at 20 days.

You may be able to squeeze 2-3 out later in the AP maybe? But would it be worth the feats and money involved?

It could work but personally I have no idea what to suggest. You may want to talk to the other players first to find out what they are playing and work with them otherwise you may find you're plan of a crew of golems or constucts not fitting very well with what they have in mind.

[Caws Rorec]

I realize its only much later in the adventure path.

Early on it would be about cranking out wondrous items etc.

[ferrinwulf]

Probably between book 4 and 5 then is best as there maybe some downtime (should be 11th level by then)and book 6 there will be no time at all I would think as its fast paced, you will finish at around level 14,unless the gm adds anything else after. Personally I can't see you making much use out craft construct to be honest. But it might work and it sounds fun. I'd also ask the GM as he might say the same as me or he could make some allowances along the way.

[Wycen]

Our party (sandbox campaign, not Skull & Shackles) has a wizard who's goal early on was building constructs.

You'll want to go wizard so you get the bonus item creation feats. And wizards spell progression gives you the quickest access to the spells needed (unless you plan to buy scrolls).

The feat chain:

Craft Construct (Item Creation)
You can create construct creatures like golems.

Prerequisites: Caster level 5th, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item.

Benefit: You can create any construct whose prerequisites you meet. The act of animating a construct takes 1 day for each 1,000 gp in its market price. To create a construct, you must use up raw materials costing half of its base price, plus the full cost of the basic body created for the construct. Each construct has a special section that summarizes its costs and other prerequisites. A newly created construct has average hit points for its Hit Dice.

I believe all golems have a minimum level for creation, the lowest being 7th I think, the carrion golem. Aside from carrion golems, other golems require higher levels for the creator (maybe not 3rd party variants, but I only looked through the Pathfinder version when I was checking to see how soon our wizard might be able to make a golem. He's just now reached 9th level and I expect we wont see a golem following him around for sometime. Now that I've said that of course he'll show up with one next game).

Now, if you craft constructs, like animate suits of armor or whatever, they are probably cheaper. I haven't done any research on regular constructs.

[Shaun]

Also, I hope nothing ever happens to send your golem overboard. That's a large investment literally in the drink. Look into the buoyancy of wood golems, I guess, haha! As someone who's running the AP, I'd recommend you look into a caster more in line with the suggestions in the player's guide. You'll probably have more fun, be more powerful and get a lot more opportunities by fitting in more with the milieu of the AP.

[Turin the Mad]

Use constructs, not golems, makes them cost much, much less. (Ultimate Magic has the guidelines you need as I recall.)

Wizard is the go-to class for this concept due to the free item creation feats at 5th and 10th.

[ferrinwulf]

Yeah as Turin says. I did a little research. Golems are not as easy to make as you first think. With the max level of the AP only reaching 14 you will be limited to what you can make. You're class will also limit you too.

Gnome Wizard is the best way to go I think but in order to make golems you need caster levels, spells and the relevent skills. Although it may say you can make a Flesh golem at 8th level you need to be able to cast geas/quest which you can't get until level 11 as its a 6th level spell.

the list of Golems you can create within the level framework are as follows:

Carrion Golem 8th level

Clay Golem 11th level but needs access to cleric spells.

Flesh Golem 11th level

Wood Golem 12th level

Alchemical golem 11th level

Bone golem 11th level

Glass golem 10th level but needs access to flame strike divine spell.

This means you cant really start building until the tail end of book 3. As im gming it i can tell you without spoiling things that you will not have 11 days spare to build even 1 carrion golem until later though. As I said earlier it will more than likely be towards the end of book 4/start of book 5.

Forget Golems. Think constructs, maybe some small clockworks and if you are going wonderous item creation think animated figurehead maybe instead if you want to go down this route.

Personaly as Shaun says something else might be more benefical.

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

Assiming you don't need them to be overly offensive,Just figure out a way to cast Animate Objects and Permamency. They're in two different lists, but there are any number of ways to accomplish this.

Then just carve a bunch of wooden (becuse they'll float) halflings or humans (size is a factor, but it'll be a matter of preference) and permanently animate them. Permanency will cost diamond dust, but significantly less than golem creation cost.

They won't be immune to magic as golems are, but they're a hell of a lot cheaper and do almost the same thing.

Edit: though you have I be able to cast permanency as a 14th level caster. You'll have to invest in feats/traits/items/Etc to increase your cl for that spell. Plus animate objects is a 6th level spell so at earliest you can cast that yourself at 11th. You can cast from a scroll/item/NPC earlier if you can meet the perm cl requirement.

[Lady Kestrahl]

Another idea could be the clockwork servants not sure how they match up in price to constructs but i'm almost sure they are in same price range as constructs maybe even cheaper.

[BzAli]

It's a diferent approach, but you could also staff the ship with undeads. Animate Dead is a Wizard 4/Cleric 3 spell. It doesn't require any feats, and is much cheaper.

You could use skeletons as daily crew, and have the constructs around for heavy duty.

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

BzAli wrote:

It's a diferent approach, but you could also staff the ship with undeads. Animate Dead is a Wizard 4/Cleric 3 spell. It doesn't require any feats, and is much cheaper.

You could use skeletons as daily crew, and have the constructs around for heavy duty.

ALso Skeleton crew.

[Franko a]

As a suggestion:
Take the hedge magician trait, and track time.....

Write scrolls and sell them going back and forth in the ports. A lot of time you are looking for ships to pirate.

Its a profitabel way to pass the time.

[Andrea1]

If you bump up your UMD, you could try scoring some scrolls for the required casting, or hire a spellcaster to do it(Adventure in itelf!)

As mentained, a Wood Golem is good for not losing your investment due to a tossing boat. Perhaps get the Swim skill enchanted into your carrien golem(plus somehting to kill the smell)