Steel Golem (Basic Lore)

Steel Golem (Heavy; CR 18)
Neutral - Large - Construct
This creature possesses the Heavy role, and therefore counts as 2 monsters for purposes of encounter size, XP award, and treasure. This monster frequently has the Heavy role, but may be set to other roles if desired. Steel Golems are massive things, although usually not as bulky as an Iron Golem. It is very possible to confuse a Steel Golem with an Iron Golem by sight, although if you can get close enough to give one a tap with a hammer, Steel Golems produce a fine, clear tone, while Iron Golems produce more of a dull, muddier sound. Granted, getting close enough to tap a steel golem usually means its either guarding you, its decided your presence is okay according to its programming, or it is already trying to kill you.... Steel Golems are completely mindless, as are many constructs, but they have a very, very sophisticated set of instructions, befitting their higher standards of construction. Sadly, unlike basic Stone Golems, and Iron Golems, Steel Golems are often vanity projects, a statement of their Creator's skill and artistry. As a result, they are often quite ornate in decoration, and that same elaborate care is usually lavished on their instructions. This means that Steel Golems do not have much in the way of predictable actions, and are likely to switch from one course of actions to another with no easily predictable pattern. When used in households and the like, this makes Steel Golems very useful indeed. But in military situations, when a general needs a sturdy siege-breaker, he doesn't want it to suddenly hare off at a right angle to the battle plan and start a flanking maneuver. As a result, Steel Golems built for armies tend to be a lot more straightforward than ones built for the commercial market. Of course, there is no way of knowing how a Steel Golem is constructed, unless you're the owner, maker, or a survivor of its attack. Due to the complexity of their instructions, many Steel Golems have 'gone rogue', as they begin stringing together instructions in ways their maker never expected them to. Steel Golems are made of fine, clean, high-grade steel, and lots of it, as they weigh several tons. They are extremely durable, as you might expect, and while their form is widely variable (there have been steel golems in the shape of huge dogs, fanciful three-legged coal scuttles, horses and carts, and fake-clockwork maidens, just to name a few) they tend to have a few common powers. Their strikes are reputed to shatter weapons and armor with ease, they throw clouds of razor-sharp steel fragments, they ring when struck in a very distracting way, and there are reliable reports that they can infect you with tetanus.