GURPSよろず

CORPSE GOLEM

Not everything that looks like a zombie is a zombie. Corpse golems are an excellent example. These constructs are made of rotting bits of destroyed undead, stitched together and reanimated . . . again. The result is about as effective as any other golem, but fouler.
Corpse golems are mostly fodder in the legions of Evil, where they’re sometimes favored over zombies because they’re not susceptible to the abilities of annoying clerics and holy warriors. A side benefit is that adventurers often waste precious time trying to use sacred powers on the things, which sure do look undead. The telltale clues are sickles in lieu of hands and the way their evil master cackles when they use this weaponry to cut a cleric’s high holy symbol in half.

ST: 15 HP: 18 Speed: 6.00
DX: 12 Will: 8 Move: 6
IQ: 8 Per: 8
HT: 12 FP: N/A SM: 0
Dodge: 9 Parry: 10 (\2) DR: 0

Hook (14): Sickles can “grapple” by hooking at Reach C, 1.
This does 1d-1 cutting initially and for free every turn after that until victim escapes.

Sickles (14): 2d+1 cutting or 2d+1 impaling. Reach 1. Swung to impale, a sickle may become stuck; see p. B405.

Traits: Automaton; Bad Smell; Cannot Learn; Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink; Doesn’t Sleep; Fragile (Unnatural); High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Indomitable; Injury Tolerance (No Blood, Unliving); No Fine Manipulators; Reprogrammable; Single-Minded; Unfazeable; Unhealing (Total).

Skills: Axe/Mace-14; Stealth-12.

Class: Construct.

Notes: RollHidden Lore (Undead) or Thaumatology at -5 to realize that a corpse golem is a construct and not some zombie variant; see Recognition (Dungeons, p. 9). Has a sickle affixed to eachwrist in place of a hand; thesemight be poisoned,magical, or both (see box below). Often clad in armor, with DR 2 tanned corpse-leather being typical. No golem will negotiate or reveal useful information.

Not-Quite-Life Is Cheap

Despite looking scary, corpse golems are easy opponents for well-prepared delvers. If they could feel pain or surrender, they’d be “fodder” as described on p. 27 of Dungeons. Their main defensive traits are that they’re Unliving (no bonus injury fromimpaling attacks) and – like most unliving things – they don’t have to worry about poison, suffocation, lice, taxes, etc. Otherwise, they’re simply fighters with decent ST and sharp weapons. The GMmay wish to use lots . . . the legions of Evil get a discount for buying in bulk.

That’s Just Sickle!

The legions of Evilmight armsome corpse golems better:

Big: The sickle is as large (and costly) as a sword. Add +1 to cutting damage. Remove the impaling option.

Fine: A keen sickle gets +1 to damage. Worth $400 – or $1,800, if big.

Magical: Crackling, Flaming, Icy, Mighty, Penetrating, etc.; for effects and costs, see Adventurers, p. 30.

Meteoric: Ignores magic! Worth $800 – or $9,000, if big.

Poisoned: Monster drool (roll HT to avoid 2 points of injury), bladeblack (roll HT-5 to avoid 6d injury), or anything in between. See Adventurers, pp. 28-29.

Delvers will doubtless sell or keep nice sickles. Sickles require the Axe/Mace skill, and have these stats: That’s Just Sickle!

Weapon	Damage	Reach	Parry	Cost	Weight	ST	Notes
Big Sickle	sw+1 cut	1	0U	$450	3	10
or	thr-2 cut	1	0U	–	–	10	Hook. [1]
Sickle	sw cut	1	0	$40	2	8
or	sw imp	1	0U	–	–	8	[2]
or	thr-2 cut	1	0U	–	–	8	Hook. [1]

[1] Counts as a grapple. Inflicts thrust-2 cutting on hitting, and again every turn until victim breaks free.
[2] May get stuck; see Picks (p. B405).