Ruby golem

Ruby golems were beautiful gemstone golems made from rubies.

Description
A typical ruby golem stood tall and could easily weigh over. They resembled dark red glossy human statues, with some appearing such a deep red that they were nearly black. They were often crafted with intimidating appearances such as armor or the head of a dragon, gargoyle, lion, or other monster. Their surface was smooth and slick.

Combat
Ruby golems were formidable opponents in battle. The easiest way to combat them was to disrupt the circle of wizards that controlled them. Any disruption to the circle caused the ruby golem to wander aimlessly.

They struck with each of their fists during combat which, when combined with their considerable strength, caused significant damage.

Magical weapons were needed to strike ruby golems. They were resistant to many divine spell spheres and attacks from witches of Rashemen. They were completely immune to any heat or electric-based attacks but were more susceptible to sound-based attacks than other gemstone golems. They could also regenerate damaged parts of themselves surprisingly rapidly.

A rock to mud spell would immobilize a ruby golem for several minutes. The crystalbrittle spell allowed normal weapons to harm them and eliminated their immunity to heat and electricity. The shatter spell caused significant harm to a ruby golem. A ruby golem would be completely healed if a wizard used a mending spell on them.

A ruby golem was liable to interpret all orders to attack as orders to wrestle a foe into the ground. They were very likely to continue to attack downed foes long after those had fallen.

Society
Ruby golems were used by the Red Wizards of Thay. A circle of at least a dozen wizards, led by a superior, was needed to control them. As of, ruby golems were more common without such direct control; those golems were likely to ignore orders and start acting on their own initiative.

Creating a ruby golem did not require enough ruby to craft the entire construct, but rather a ruby of no less than ten thousand gold pieces which served as the golem's "heart." The rest of the body could be made of other materials, predominantly semi-precious stones, totaling at least fifty-five thousand gold pieces. The magic of the golem's creation would transform these stones into ruby.

Ecology
Ruby golems had the ability to slowly burrow underground, and favored this mode of movement even where walking was more efficient.

A ruby golem would collapse into a pile of rough cut rubies and powder when slain. The gems were quite valuable, and the powder could be used by wizards for spell components although it was otherwise worthless, with most of the golem's creation material having been destroyed. The golem's "heart" would also be left behind.

History
Like all gemstone golems, the secret to creating ruby golems was devised by practitioners of gem magic in ancient Mulhorand. The secret was rediscovered by the Red Wizard Aznar Thrul in 1368 DR, who sought to use the golems to conquer Rashemen. However, by 1372 DR he had lost control of his golems, who went rogue and spread out across the continent to pursue misremembered or gargled directives.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * The Runes of Chaos
 * Novels
 * The Crimson Gold
 * Video Games
 * Neverwinter Nights: Tyrants of the Moonsea