There was only a moment's hesitation before he told me "nevermind," and that he would choose something else. This wasn't my player's lack of faith in my ability, but his want to have something presented for him at that moment, that led him to change his mind. I find this to be a (minor) failing on the system's part, as it caused disappointment in a player, if only briefly.
Though we've started play, I do like to give a more complete experience for my games, and thus I present to you....
Golem (Creature ···, Relic ·)
The original lore on this type of creature dates from the 17th century, in which three separate sources claimed that a contemporary (or close to it) Rabbi names Eliyahu had created a being of matter and form, and upon it scribed the word "emet" meaning "truth" or "reality." The text goes on to say that the golem served for a long time, performing hard work for the Rabbi until, fearing the growth (both physical and in power) of his creation, he struck the name "emet" from the golem, sending it to dust, but not before the golem struck him and scarred his face.
The most famous lore on the golem also comes from the 16th century and relates the narrative of Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel and his creation of a golem as the protector of Jews when the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II ordered the ostracization and attacks on the Jewish ghettoes of Prague. The Rabbi constructed his golem from the muddy banks of the river and sent it to protect the gentiles, but something went wrong and it began to attack those it was meant to protect and its creator. Rudolph called a cessation of hostilities if the Rabbi would end the reign of violence of the golem, and he made his golem inert by simply erasing the first character of "emet" so that it spelled "met" or "dead."
The Golem, for the purposes of Scion, is not strictly a Jewish creation, (though Scions of Yahweh seem to have a connection to this process,) but more a granting from one's patron the ability to create life.
Each golem is formed by the Scion character whom it will serve, until such time as they free it from service by altering the runes set upon it. All golems are made from base natural materials such as clay, mud, ash, or any similar material, as close as one can get to the matter used by his or her pantheon to create the first humans.
When creating a golem, a word must be scribed into the creature that can have a context of creation. This, and a single breath given (and 5 Legend points spent) gives the golem life. After that, the only thing that can deanimate the golem is for its creator to either fully erase the animating word (thus destroying the golem outright,) or manipulating the word through selective erasure, making it another word that has a context of inactiveness.
Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 1, Stamina 6, Charisma 1, Manipulation 0, Appearance 0, Perception 2, Intelligence 1, Wits 1
Virtues: None. Golems are never required to make Virtue rolls of any kind.
Abilities: Athletics 2, Awareness 1, Brawl 4
Join Battle: 3
Attacks:
Clinch: Accuracy 5, Damage 7B, Parry DV -, Speed 6, P
Unarmed, Heavy: Accuracy 4, Damage 10B, Parry DV 2, Speed 5
Unarmed, Light: Accuracy 6, Damage 7B, Parry DV 3, Speed 4
Soak: 6B/6L Hardness: Special
Health Levels: -0/-0/-0/-0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incap
Dodge DV: 3
Willpower: 3
Legend: 2 Legend Points: 4
Other Notes: Golems automatically fail all Social rolls other than Intimidation. When a golem initiates a Presence-based roll to intimidate someone, treat his relevant Social Attribute as 5. Also, golems suffer only bashing damage from firearms attacks and they ignore all wound penalties. They also soak Lethal damage with their full Stamina, and have Hardness equal to half their creator's Legend. Golems are immune to all mind-controlling effects and all effects that generate fear. Should one of these effects target a golem, it acts as if under the effects of Berserker Fury, the Courage Virture Extremity. This effect lasts until either the golem is either destroyed or rendered inert by any means.
Further, as the Scion with the Golem creature birthright gains points of Legend, so, too, does the golem become more powerful. Each additional dot of Legend gained by the Scion grants the golem one dot to both Strength and Stamina, one extra -0 Health Level, and one more dot in both Willpower and its own Legend, as well as a 10% increase in size (assume a golem is made originally 10% larger than an average human.)
A golem may only be controlled by his creator.
Notes on design: For those familiar with Scion, the Golem obviously uses the Zombie/Mummy as a template. As I was creating the unique abilities of the Golem, especially the growth/power expansion and the Hardness, I kept thinking that perhaps the abilities were too powerful, and then I reminded myself that I was designing for Scion.
I found this much more difficult than designing a creature for D&D, even the more crunchy 3.x (or Pathfinder, for that matter,) even with years of experience with the Storyteller system simply due to the amount of power present in even the most toned-down Scion campaign.
If anyone has any critiques, or perhaps finds a mistake in my math, please let me know!
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