For every mundane thing you throw in, roll a d6 and look up the result below:
1: utter failure. Regardless of what you've tossed in, the golemblin goes insane and rages, starting with you
2-3: yay, the item's positive side-effect kicks in
4: both positive and negative side-effect (if any) kicks in
5-6: yikes, only the negative side-effect of this item kicks in
Golemblins speak ghargel - a mixed dialect that sounds like stew cooking. If a golemblin gets into a heaty discussion, it may start to leak some of its gooey inside through whatever cracks in the barrel it speaks through (some golemblins have thus talked themselves to death by dehydration).
You may put in some other stuff as well to give additional properties. Be inspired by this nice table compiled by the folks over at Google+:
# | Item | Positive effect | Negative effect |
1 | Copper wires | Electrical attack | Chance of getting electrified and stunned when hit by metal |
2 | Hot coals | Smoke attack | Gets a heart of burning coal that needs to be kept burning by feeding it hot embers. One hot ember keeps the heart burning for 24 hours. There is also a chance the Golemblin creates a small flame around it whenever it takes damage. |
3 | Raptor claws | Extra claw attack | Gains an extra arm and claw but develops physical dysphoria and gets -1d6 on all attacks |
4 | Crystal ball | Clairvoyance | Makes a sound of crushing glass when walking that can be heard about 20 feet away |
5 | Elf ears | Sharp senses | Elf ears |
6 | Crushed butterflies | Flight | Addiction to pollen |
7 | Duckling | More obedient to its creator | Won't shut up |
8 | Beef shank | More HP | Is lazy and sleepy all the time |
9 | Jug of moonshine | Bonus to morale, immune to fear | Sings, stumbles, is drunk all the time |
10 | Bowl of curdled milk | Fireproof | Stinks |
11 | Sulfur and saltpetre | Shoots fire blasts | Explodes when reduced to 0 hp |
12 | Hangman's noose | Has +3 to all saving throws | Everyone in 10' radius has -3 to all saving throws |
13 | Big diamond | AC as full plate | Kleptomaniac |
14 | Viper skins | Poison bite | Always lies |
15 | Turtle shell | Plus 1 to AC | Moves at half speed |
16 | Troll skull | 19 Strength | 2 Intelligence |
17 | Rabbit's foot | Reroll 1s | Always limping |
18 | Tree branch | Bark skin | Stiff like a tree: -1d6 to Dexterity/Agility/Flexibility |
19 | Spotted dog | trip attack and good sense of smell | Prone to chasing small animals |
20 | Eye of a flesh demon of Choom | Cone of Disintegration | disassociative flesh tends to collapse on a failed Con save every round, pulling itself together slowly |
21 | Big rock | Slam and knockdown attack | |
22 | Little rock | Slingshot attack | |
23 | Dirty shoe | Stinking cloud attack | |
24 | Floppy hat | Circle of comfortable shade (protects goblins from sunlight) | |
25 | Eyepatch | Blindness attack | |
26 | Coil of rope | Entangling lasso attack | |
27 | Ingot of iron | Cold iron attack | |
28 | Shiver of silver | Silver attack | |
29 | Lump of gold | Detect richest target | |
30 | Clod of clay | Slowing attack | |
31 | Shard of pottery | Banish attack (ostrakha) | |
32 | Axehead | Slashing attack | |
33 | Bundle of bolts | Shoots bolts of goblin juju | |
34 | Stack of paper | Administrative red tape aura increases zone of control | Extremely good at administrative tasks but is not very likely to follow any order unless it is administrative. Has a fondness for complicated tasks that takes long time to complete. |
35 | Coiled spring | Jump attack | |
36 | Toy or real clown | Fear attack | |
37 | Snail | Slime attack | Any movement is at half speed |
38 | Puppy dog's tail | Aura of cuteness | |
39 | Cat eyes | Sees in the dark | Get an own agenda (only known to the Golemblin) to serve itself and wont hesitate to use others to fulfill it. |
40 | Frog legs | Leap and swimming | Gets slimy mucous coverd skin that is glue like |
41 | Fish tails | Faster swimming | Very short memory |
42 | Seven snakes | Constriction attack with intestines in barrel | Petrifying gaze. |
43 | Sword and stone | True king detection | Chance of havinging attacks returned on self. |
44 | Crypt Cup | -1d6 to highest ability, -1d6 to lowest ability | If the same character drings from the cup twice, it turns to dust. -1d6 on ALL abilites |
45 | Molted snake skin | Oily skin making it difficult to grapple | Get blind and only sense vibrations (not that sensitive though) |
46 | Handful of candy | Moves faster and is permanently excited (will not retreat) | Huge deficit of attention - Easy to distract |
47 | Marbles | Impossible to trip and make fall prone | Clattering noise (no surprise) |
48 | Watercolour palette | Can open passages through walls by painting a door | Becomes mute and socially awkward |
(Contributors in no particular order: Luka Rejec, Liban Issa, Simon Forster, Łukasz Krupiński, Cody Mazza, Jean-François Lebreton, and that Swedish bloke.)
Some nice illustrations by some very talented people to get your imagination going:
Matthew Adams ("A barrel Golem, made with predominately with snails and spiders. I suspect an apple with a maggot was thrown in too.") |
Henrik Rosenborg |
Scrap Princess |
Scrap Princess |
Luka Rejec |
Actual footage of an actual golemblin. Taken in Sweden yesterday by yours truly. |