Sorry for the long post.
I've been looking at making a non-third party golemancer and hoped someone might have some ideas I haven't thought of, or even better, had actually played one.
I've been looking at classes pretty in-depth and this is what I've come up with so far:
Summoner - It seems like it would be relatively easy to give your eidolon a mechanical appearance and flavor. It's evolutions would represent upgrades and your spells could represent temporary enhancements. Other summons could be prototypes that grow from little seed-balls that you toss on the ground. I think this has good flavor, but you've not really made a golem.
Wizard - With Int as their primary stat, you can jack it up really high to benefit the craft check to make a golem. The big downside is that they only have three ways to heal their golem: Make Whole (which I've read has a ten minute casting time but can't find on d20pfsrd.) Rapid Repair gives them fast healing and they can be repaired with craft construct, but this is quite expensive. Some can also be healed by spells, but that is very situational based on the type of golem. Wizards get bonus feats you can spend on item creation and there is a discovery that can let you make a specific type of golem without the three prereq feats. Other than healing, Wizard seems the best class for making golems.
Sorcerer/Oracle - You have to split stats between Int and Cha which is a big negative. You have the same healing problems but at least don't have to memorize make whole when your golem doesn't get damaged.
Alchemist - Same stat benefits as the wizard and you are a little more melee centric so you can fight with the golem to provide flanks, etc. Make Whole is not on the alchemist's list however, so healing the golem is even harder. I think this is kind of disappointing as I'd imagine alchemists to be the perfect golem creators.
Cleric - You have to split stats like the sorcerer which is bad. This is the best class for healing golems however with the artifice domain and same spells that the wizard receives. You can fight beside your golem, which is good. I don't really like the flavor as I was hoping for a mad scientist feel rather than a Gondsman and this is kind of a big deal to me. Other than having to split stats and my not liking the flavor, clerics seem the second best class for making golems.
Bard/Witch/Magus/Druid/Inquisitor - I should imagine all of these classes can make golems but I don't really see any benefit to their doing so. They won't really be able to heal it and there doesn't seem to be any symmetry.
I'd love some advice on this concept. I'm very interested in it but it seems really inferior to necromancy and even more inferior to just summoning.
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Well it is not golems, way to dam expensive, but my wizard a while back made constructs and undead. Wizard is really the only way to go for making mechs since they get bonus feats/discoveries that allow them to do it and get spells to help keep them going. I will state the character was one of my best and most fun to play, cost was a bit much though. Also thanks to Improved Familiar you can have a Clockwork Familiar made by you. My dm allowed the familiar i made, since i was the one that actually made it, look like a dragon using the base clockwork familiar as a template for its design. All the stats, size, and what not stayed the same only difference was how it looked and the fact it got 2 claws and a bite which means very little.
I would also like to note that there are rules for creating your own spells. Using these rules you can research, like i did, the Repair spell chain from 3.5. The Repair spell are literally the Cure spell chain for construct types only.
I've got a magus that I want to build in that direction (not necessarily with golems, but with contructs). The DM is really encouraging us to go wild with magic (spell creation, item creation, constructs etc.) so I was hoping to add some flavor for my character. Then, I happened upon Ravingdorks marvelous character emporium and found obrist:
Obrist (all credit goes to ravingdork)
This character has a really cool way to use constructs as armor/distraction. Just thought I'd mention it. But yeah golems arent cheap so dont expect to get a lot. I'm looking for advice on how to use it myself.
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I agree with the others. It'd almost be better to go constructs over only golems. That being said, I'm a bit partial to the wizard. They get a discovery geared towards making the golems / constructs easier after all.
However, I do wish someone very adept in the construct field of Pathfinder would make an awesome guide on them.
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Actually, I've been thinking of making a construct guide myself. I have no experience, but there's a lot of chatter going around, and I'm hoping to test out some ideas in a campaign I'm playing. I'll start collecting some material and once I have something fleshed out, I'll start a thread.
The 10 minute casting time for Make Whole comes from Mending (as the spell refers to Mending).
If your GM allows spell research you could research healing spells for your constructs.
Sorcerer's can use the Sage Bloodline to cast with Int, avoiding the Cha/Int split.
Alchemists can make alchemical zombies. It might be possible to convince the GM to apply that to an alchemical golem instead.
You could use permanent Animate Object as a cheaper way to make Golems.
Many golems are healed by a certain energy type. You can "repair" those by simply blasting it with your elemental spells.
One more option I can think of is to take Leadership and take a cleric with the Artifice domain to heal your creation.
Other than that you have described the situation rather well. Golems are powerful but also expensive to make and to maintain. Best is that you talk with your GM and discuss what would make it feasible.
Thanks for the onfo psion psycho, I'll note it down for later.
I've been wondering, has anybody tried to make a small group of terra-cotta soldiers. The fact that they can learn feats, and they get bonuses for grouping together could be well used.
I haven't gotten to play it yet, but... Might I promote the Dwarven Wizard? Between Craftsman trait getting +2 bonus on any checks regarding metal or stone (many constructs), their wizard bonus decreasing the amount of time it takes to actually craft the chassis of the construct yourself, and the fact that a dwarf wizard would be a total novel sight (but that's my bias), it fits into quite a few of what the construct require to make, near as I can tell.
I've been doing a lot of reading up on this, since I will play a construct wizard if ever I get into a campaign using kingdom building rules... Lingshen won't be the only nation in the world utilizing constructs in it's armies.
But, no, I haven't gotten the chance to actually use them yet. The Clockwork and terra-cotta are two of the more appealing ones to me, though I'd be more inclined to craft Tophets and Taotieh.
The Clockwork and terra-cotta are two of the more appealing ones to me, though I'd be more inclined to craft Tophets and Taotieh.
Pretty much the same for me. The clockworks are easy to repair (thanks to the clockwwork servant) and the terracotas seem to have the highest cost-value ratio (CR 6 for just 10000). That would be awesome for kingmaker though. Mighty Wizard king with his clockwork army!
Mighty Wizard king with his clockwork army!
My very thought process exactly. Put an end to the revolution in Galt, oust Thrune from the throne, march into Numeria to obliterate the Technic League and steal their secrets for mine own.... Megalomaniacal Dwarf Golemancer.
Put an end to the revolution in Galt, oust Thrune from the throne, march into Numeria to obliterate the Technic League and steal their secrets for mine own.... Megalomaniacal Dwarf Golemancer.
YES YES! Then we turn Golarion into Eberron!
YES YES! Then we turn Golarion into Eberron!
Never was familiar with Eberron... Though it would be a good excuse to try out that Magic/Steam/Cyber/Clock/Bio-punk setting I've been wanting to design....
On topic though, Wizard is by far the best Golemancer, IMO. People forget one major thing about the Wizard.... True Name discovery. True Name an earth elemental, Shaitan, or something else in the Plane of Earth. Then, work with it to set up a major mining operation on the PoE, where your profit comes in materials to build your army of Mithril and Adamantine Golems.
Edit: I say your profit comes from the materials for your golems, so that you appeal to the outsider's ego and don't piss it off enough to turn on you. In turn for it's assistance with the materials, you help it out on the Material Plane, and with any problems your bound outsider may have on it's home plane. Typcial 'Deal with an Outsider' stuff... Except you can take True Name a few times, and Immortality at 20th....
The Dwarven Illuminati frown upon your shenanigans.
Man, I'd be interested in actually seeing a dwarven wizard. Or a dwarven SORCERER. That would be hard to play, but probably quite interesting. Still, good use of the true name. After playing Baldur's Gate, where a wish spell summons a Djinn that will do everything in his power to try to avoid giving you the wish you want (and screw you over), I avoid manipulating outsiders.
Manipulating is a serious revenge-bait to the outsider. Working out a deal with it like Planar Binding or what not, is less likely for you to suffer reprisals. Especially if they're in charge of the mining operation in the Plane of Earth, which could eventually equal to to roughly just outright ruling a territory. I imagine many egotistical outsiders would love to stake out their own kingdom. All they have to do is get you the materials, and you'll set up a vast trading empire in the Material world specializing in hard to find minerals and metals. Aspis Consortium can eat it's heart out.