Bodyguard Uh Oh!

[DM Ray]

PCs are a High Level group .... Wizard got an Iron Golem bodyguard with my approval. Not unbalanced (just bodyguard work -- too slow to charge in anyway).

The PCs get Banished back to the Prime Material Plane for the crime of walking into my villain's parlor, Mwahahaha!

The Iron Golem is *Immune* to that.

He's back in Galisemni with the villain and other NPCs.

RAW: What does the Iron Golem do? Can the Wizard Plane Shift back and get him, I dunno, by stuffing him in a Portable Hole?

And in the future,... How do I get a 'welcomed-in-the-game' Golem not be Immune to Teleport, Plane Shift, and such like that?

[Taja the Barbarian]

With its immunities, how did the Golem get to the 'parlor' in the first place?

• If it came through an open portal, it could reasonably head back to the portal to reunite with its master.
• If it arrived by spell with its master, it probably never got into the parlor in the first place...

[DM Ray]

A Gate -- but I couldn't make it a Permanent Gate, you know, the PCs get too broken too quickly, it kills the campaign.

EDIT: Hmm, that gets me thinking: The PCs can't cast Gate but they can buy a Scroll with their money. Plane Shift back to Room 1 and when they find the Iron Golem use the Scroll to get everyone back. (Or just buy a Portable Hole. (It’s actually turning out not nearly as bad as I feared when it hit me in the face unexpectedly. Sometimes, coming here to articulate 'DM-worries' just helps.)

[Diego Rossi]

An iron golem is 12' tall and probably has a 6' or a little less shoulder width. Maybe it could fit into a Portable Hole, but we must remember that the Hole interior is a 10' deep and 6 'diameter cylindrical space. I am not completely sure that the golem could kneel or sit well enough to fit all of itself in it.

[Pizza Lord]

DM Ray wrote:

RAW: What does the Iron Golem do? Can the Wizard Plane Shift back and get him, I dunno, by stuffing him in a Portable Hole?

It probably does nothing (unless it goes berserk or something). By that, I mean it likely follows the last orders it received from its master. If that was 'Attack that guy.' it would keep doing that reasonably; until he was dead or vanished from its perception for a short time. Running through a door or around a corner, no. Leaving the area or staying out its perception for 10 or so minutes might make the golem stop actively searching, but will probably resume attacking if it sees the target.

Otherwise it likely just stands there. If the order was basically 'Follow me' and its master vanished with no logical direction or obvious trail, it's not really gonna make a judgement call. They don't generally have Intelligence. It will almost certainly defend itself if attacked (by the bad guy because its standing in his parlor) unless it was ordered not to.

Putting it in a portable hole probably is the most straightforward solution. As Diego Rossi pointed out, an iron golem is 12 feet (usually, some are customized or just a bit different), but I, personally, think it's reasonable that a humanoid design could crouch or hunker or hunch down at least enough to be in the 10-foot limit of the portable hole. Then you can fold it closed and carry it around. I would likely rule that any items inside if it did are likely destroyed and crushed by a 5,000 lb. iron boot stepping on them.

As for plane shift, that will typically get you to within 5 to 500 miles of your intended destination, so shifting back into the entrance or parlor to the villain's home is highly unlikely unless it's a small demiplane or something and that's where all such travelers arrive. Nothing stopping a plane shift and then a teleport to the actual location, of course (depending on your familiarity).

DM Ray wrote:

And in the future,... How do I get a 'welcomed-in-the-game' Golem not be Immune to Teleport, Plane Shift, and such like that?

Only likely through custom building, it probably wouldn't really cost anything, or very little, to make your iron golem be susceptible to plane shift effects, either plane shift specifically or just any similar effect. If the ability or 'limitation' is clearly more of a benefit, then there should be a cost, but that amount is arbitrary and subjective. Obviously giving it the ability to plane shift itself is not what I mean, just making it have no inherent resistance. This might make it vulnerable to traps or unwanted effects (it would still get a save), so I don't think it would really cost more, but that falls into GM territory, so your call.

[DM Ray]

Pizza Lord wrote:

I personally, think it's reasonable that a humanoid design could crouch or hunker or hunch down at least enough to be....

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Yes, the rules for "Squeezing" into smaller places tell us this pretty well. Okay, it's a Full Rd Action, or maybe two rounds for the Iron Golem to 'squeeze' into the Portable Hole. This would just be segued in my style/atmosphere of a game -- after any combat.

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Everyone, THANKS!
This has been a huge help