I didn't think this would come up but a PC is going to attempt to proxy the next encounter through his animated object construct made out of stone with a small group of earth elementals. He has already figured that they would view it as one of their own but I'm not so sure about it. It just occurred to me that animate object is basically the transmutation version of animate dead.
What do you guys think?
Golems, not all constructs use the lifeforce of elementals.
If you want to force the issue, you could go with crysmals instead. They are sufficiently insane about this stuff to work out.
A crysmal is basically a small crystal scorpion elemental. They reproduce with crystals- they pile some gems together (about 1,000 gp worth), and then they go all frankenstein on it by giving the pile a 'spark of life'. The boom- baby crysmal.
And because any gem could be turned into "their BABBIES", you could easily set up your situation by putting some crystals in the middle of the golem as a core. They will go crazy and treat it like a madman who animated a baby stroller to run around like crazy.
Anyway- what makes crysmals interesting in a fight? Well, besides their sting, they have a ranged attack shooting out crystals, and they have a suite of spell like abilities like at will ghost sound and silent image, plus dimensional door. So you can play around with things.
Sounds like clever problem solving. I would normally try to reward that kind of thinking, but I can see how a problem could arise here. Maybe an earth elemental tries to inhabit theory of the construct?
The elemental force is trapped and enslaved... but not dead or perverted. They would more see it as a form of slavery.
This is where things get difficult. Elementals at least have communication and a sort of culture, but a construct is just a robot for lack of a better term. Sure they're made of the same stuff but it would be like how humans view flesh golems?
I imagine the elementals might say something in terran, the construct won't be able to respond and then will smash it to bits; or as you say 'liberate' it?
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The elemental force is trapped and enslaved... but not dead or perverted. They would more see it as a form of slavery.This is where things get difficult. Elementals at least have communication and a sort of culture, but a construct is just a robot for lack of a better term. Sure they're made of the same stuff but it would be like how humans view flesh golems?
I imagine the elementals might say something in terran, the construct won't be able to respond and then will smash it to bits; or as you say 'liberate' it?
Flesh golems are made of just empty dead flesh sewn together and then given life. A golem in general has the flesh and essence(these two things are one for outsiders) of an elemental fused into it to give it life. You literally steal the soul(for lack of a better word) of an elemental and use it like an engine and force it to obey your commands.
These things are very different than how a human would view a flesh golem(dead flesh, but no soul) and an elemental would view a golem in general(enslaved living soul).
A quick note... It is possible for a flesh golem to remember its brain's original life and thus gain sentience and freedom. But this is not the norm nor does it have anything to do with the original soul. It's an interesting thing none-the-less.
I think the advice given above is predicated greatly on the elementals in question having morality or at the very least a human like thought process. Despite their intelligence or "culture" I see nothing in the rules text that suggests that this is so. I've always though of elementals having very direct motives when not directed otherwise. Earth Elementals in particular are not very smart; ranging from Int 4 to Int 10. With far more of them being at 4. They are also Neutral in alignment. I just don't see them caring about a construct either way unless it was interfering with their goals.
I think the advice given above is predicated greatly on the elementals in question having morality or at the very least a human like thought process. Despite their intelligence or "culture" I see nothing in the rules text that suggests that this is so. I've always though of elementals having very direct motives when not directed otherwise. Earth Elementals in particular are not very smart; ranging from Int 4 to Int 10. With far more of them being at 4. They are also Neutral in alignment. I just don't see them caring about a construct either way unless it was interfering with their goals.
I'm fairly certain the elementals don't vary in intelligence across element.
But an easy way to make it a 'goal' thing- their cave system has gems that are used as magic reagents. Wizards have tried to come in before to mine the place, using golems suited for mining. Once they met with the earth elementals, it quickly became a territorial thing, and the wizards sent the golems as foot soldiers. The wizards lost, and the remains of the mining golems can be seen throughout the tunnels.
Obviously, when they see someone walking in with a golem, they think 'round two'.
I think the idea is a good one, but flawed. If I were GMing, I wouldn't have the elementals thinking the construct was another elemental and let the encounter run from there. It sounds like in your game world elementals resent being bound to another's bidding (not unreasonably) and the encounter is likely to lead to the destruction of the construct. Afterwards, I would award the PC with a token amount of XP (e.g. 5% of the encounter or 2.5% of the amount needed for the next level)for the novel attempt and explain OOC what his character learned about the nature of elementals from the encounter.