Confused wizard wants to make golems

[Mesmirel]

Hey guys, First post!

I'll cut to the chase. I a play a fairly Standard wizard (my first TRPG character, and i couldn't resist), he is very dexterous and charismatic. LOVES everything arcane (obviously), is after ancient knowledge, power, yadda yadda. More to the point, he absolutely loves the prospect of commanding his own golem army from inside a pocket, personal dimension.

Now, I have extensively researched information about golem creation, which is dispersed over several pages. I Feel like I am actually poring over construction books in place of my character hahah, this stuff is tough to comprehend for a beginner.

----------THE QUESTION:-----------
Why is an alchemical golem CL10, and a much weaker ice golem CL12?

When I get my hands on a alchemical golem manual, I am going to be able to create an alchemcal golem at level 8 (since the manual gives a +2 bonus to your CL for crafting). I checked that thing's stats, its crazy powerful! Why would I ever want to create something much less powerful later in the game?

[avr]

An alchemical golem is from a different & later book (bestiary 2 vs. the original bestiary) and is more worth the 18 000 gp you'd need to make it. I'm guessing they decided the ice golem was underpowered for the cost.

[SheepishEidolon]

The Ultimate Magic book revised prices for golems. Ice golem ended up with a construction cost of "just" 9,500 gold, while you need 18,000 gold for an alchemical one.

Mesmirel wrote:

Why would I ever want to create something much less powerful later in the game?

For flavor: You might want a certain type of golem, to fit your character concept. Or for balance: The stronger golem could be powerful enough to outshine the party's melee characters and annoy the GM - which will turn into your problem if people get p*ssed at you, up to an end of the campaign. Sometimes it's better to restrict yourself before being restricted.

[Mesmirel]

So I am not missing any hidden rules here right? I can grab the manual at level 8, pay the 3k gold for the body parts, spend around 40 days crafting, and just hit a meager DC 10 at the end of the process to create that monstrosity?

My party is all fun loving people :D they would love to see such a powerfull ally on our side

[Meirril]

Mesmirel wrote:

So I am not missing any hidden rules here right? I can grab the manual at level 8, pay the 3k gold for the body parts, spend around 40 days crafting, and just hit a meager DC 10 at the end of the process to create that monstrosity?

My party is all fun loving people :D they would love to see such a powerfull ally on our side

You need to make a DC 20 craft: alchemy check. The manual provides a +5 bonus.

The hard part is acquiring the manual, which has a market value of 10k.

[Mesmirel]

Thanks for the responses guys!