Monster Monday: Golem

[@lobokujo7825]

At this point saying "youve outdone yourself again" is now just a weekly practice. Dude. You're insanely talented. Not just as an artist, I get the feeling that you'd make a perfect narrator style DM just judging by the way you paint such a picture with your words. Your channel is an absolute treat for people like me.

[@ArcaneForge]

Lobo, this was so intensely lovely to read. Thank you so much. I'm sorry that it's taking me longer and longer to get back to comments now, but messages like this make my whole week. You're making me emotional about a video discussing people making meat monsters damn it! This is why ttrpg fans are the best. Thank you for your support and for watching.

[@SSG-mi3mq]

@@ArcaneForge I have always loved voice acting as a kid and so when I started playing dnd I fell in love with being the DM and just roleplaying so many characters. I am one of those dm who overdo themselves writing down every encounter, evry story, creating my own dungeons etc. And your monster mondays have helped me become a favourite among my friends

[@georgechapman287]

I think this Monster Monday art is better than the art in the book. It's just fantastic.

[@ArcaneForge]

Thank you so much, George! Comments like this make my week! Cheers for your lovely words and support.

[@CapnTholaf]

Well how about that, I was thinking about heading to the Surgeon's Hall again sometime soon!

[@theDMLair]

That's lots of different types of golems! 😂 Flesh golems are one of the more grotesque ones, so definitely very cool.

[@ArcaneForge]

Cheers Luke! Thanks for watching!

[@zuzumarc]

Your enthusiasm for this creature really shows in your dialogue and the artwork :)

[@ArcaneForge]

Thanks so much, zuzumarc! Cheers for watching and for your kind words!

[@jasondowd4685]

One of your best, Josh! I would listen to you talk about golems for quite awhile LOL! Well done!

[@ArcaneForge]

Haha! Thanks so much, Jason! I could go on and on, so prepare yourself! Cheers for watching!

[@InquisitorThomas]

Can you do the Molydeus (in the demon section of Mordenkainen’s) since they don’t have artwork in the book.

[@ArcaneForge]

Absolutely! I love the ones that don't have art yet! Thank you for the suggestion!

[@christopherrhodes3228]

I wonder if anything was developed so that one might play as a flesh golem. I find this twist on a quest for knowledge intriguing.

[@ArcaneForge]

Hey Christopher! So I'm not totally sure. But there are some rules coming out soon, both in Unearthed Arcana and eventually in the Eberon setting books that will release Warforged as a playable species. The warforged are mechanical golems of a kind, built for a specific war, so they may end up being a good creature to re-skin (no pun intended) to play a flesh golem. It depends how much reworking would be required, but I love the idea of this! Let me know if you end up finding a way to play them in game, and if you do use it, let me know about your character! I love hearing player stories. Cheers for watching!

[@christopherrhodes3228]

Arcane Forge Awesome! I'm still relatively new to D&D, and haven't had a fully fledged adventure yet. I'm intrigued in making characters that shouldn't work, work. For example, I want a Goliath Bard whose instrument is some kind of drum in which the pitch is changeable. I can imagine war chants and things of the like.

[@stevedowning3892]

Cracking picture chief. Must have taken a while. This channel is a real gem

[@ArcaneForge]

Thanks so much, Steve! This one was a real treat to draw. I tend to make sure that I don't go over 4-8 hours drawing for my videos on Mondays if I can help it, although my commission character drawings tend to go on for a decent bit longer. It's had to stop! Thank you so much for being a part of teh community and for enjoying my videos!

[@jeanrushmer8192]

Yay golems!

[@deusvult5737]

a character with a flesh golem background would be really cool. It would take a lot of working out, but it would be really cool

[@ArcaneForge]

Definitely! I love that idea! I wonder if it would be easier to do, using the stats for some warforged as a base, but re-skinning (sorry for the pun) it as a flesh golem? Let me know if you get a chance to use something like this! Cheers for watching!

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

fantastic pc idea there

[@ThetrueDrnastyflaps]

Love this drawing. Possibly my favourite so far. Bravo sir.

[@ArcaneForge]

Thanks so much, nastyflaps! Sorry it's taking me so long to get back to people now, but this is always amazing to read! Cheers for watching!

[@clockworkkirlia7475]

This is actually phenomenal!!! Plus, I love that sort of story, an intelligent flesh golem.

[@InquisitorThomas]

Can you cover the Duergar and Draw a Duergar Despot since there’s no official artwork for the Duergar Tyrant, just the stat block and a brief mention that they replace part of their body with “chanical devices”.

[@ArcaneForge]

Oh definitely! This sounds extremely exciting, Thomas! Even better t get the chance to come up with something with no prior references. I get to flex my creative muscle. Thanks so much for your suggestion, and for watching!

[@craven99]

One of my favourite KZbin channels.

[@ArcaneForge]

Thank you so much, Peter! Its always so lovely to read comments like this. Thank you for being here.

[@craven99]

I'm a lifetime D&D fan and have to say - your take on things blows almost all others out of the water. Love the narration and background you do on your videos. The fact you are a damn fine artist too just makes me a little bit sick with envy!

[@mitchellharder7670]

Once upon a time in a Curse of Strahd campaign: One of our players (a bard) had died and we we all pretty sad. But his soul was trapped in a ring. When we came to a vampire castle, we found a room that was full of dismembered limbs. So, when the rest of the party delved deeper, two of us stayed behind and started assembling a full body. We placed the ring on the body and surrounded it with gems we found, and all the 7's from a deck of cards. We then used Lightning spells on the body in hopes we could re-animate our dead friend. (Meanwhile he had made new character and didn't even want to come back) The body sputtered and screamed out the bard poetry for a few seconds and then died. We didn't know about golems back then, but I feel like we were close.

[@WhiteRabbit-jn4gp]

I would love to see homunculus.

[@ArcaneForge]

Nice one, White Rabbit! I'll definitely pop your suggestion on the "to draw" list. Thanks so much for watching.

[@gracenblackwelder7727]

I love the cultural commentary you put in this videos! I also like the idea of "Adam" instead of "Frankenstein's monster"

[@dinowookie3659]

Great video as always Josh! Congrats on becoming a partner!!!

[@ArcaneForge]

Thanks so much, DinoWookie!

[@williamozier918]

Random adventure idea: The characters travel to meet a powerful NPC. But when they get there turns out the flesh golem killed its master, and has a brain in a jar for a head. It has a Mind Flayer copanion who helps it remove brains. It has created Mongrelmen as minions. Flesh golems as soldiers. Also the castle would have ghouls, carrion crawlers, and rot grubs on the random encounter charts, because they are vermin trying to sneak in and eat the flesh of the corpses. It has lots of chaotic evil books and scrolls written on flesh.

[@Jardo]

Amazing stuff with the lore and drawing, really got the mind thinking for DM ideas! Would love to see you draw an Aarakokra! I play a witch doctor Toucan Aarakocra with a Bloodborne aesthetic and a two handed slender-headed knightkiller hammer, would love to see him or other Aarakocra come to life. I love Aarakocra, it's awesome seeing them take loads of different shapes based on real life birds.

[@ArcaneForge]

Your character sounds amazing! I love the idea of that grim setting and something so colourful and vibrant as a Toucan in the mix! That's very original. Thank you so much for your kind words and for your suggestion! Cheers for watching.

[@TheaterTech43]

Love your drawings as always. I'm interested to see your take on an Elemental Myrmidon (element of your choice)

[@ArcaneForge]

That sounds like a really cool challenge! Thanks so much for the awesome suggestion and for watching! I'll add Myrmidons of one kind or another to the list and see what element inspires me when I come to draw them. Cheers!

[@gamingundammusic9243]

When I first saw this video and the work shown, I thought, "What the f*** and how the f*** is he so talented?". Keep up the great work!

[@TheDarthHater]

Super Dope Drawing!

[@Autumnvicky]

**claps** Amazing art, great story to go with the flesh golem

[@bigmcam]

You grew your channel REALLY fast. Good job! - Mac TheDM

[@ArcaneForge]

Cheers Mac! I can barely believe it! I don't know what I've done to deserve it, but I'm not going to prod and question it! Cheers for watching and for being here, man!

[@jacquescelliers1491]

Fantastic video Josh, you always find the most interesting ways to portray these monsters from D&D that I prefer the look of way more than some of the Monster Manual drawings. Say, would it be possible to make a golem from maple syrup, and then maybe defeating it in combat by eating it? Or are you on a low-sugar no magic diet? I heard eating magic goes straight to the hips.

[@ArcaneForge]

Thank you so much Jacques! That's so wonderful to read! I daresay that you could make a maple syrup golem, but you'd need a pancake golem to soak it up I think! I'd definitely go from a medium sized humanoid to a gargantuan aberration if I finished the whole golem myself! Thanks so much for watching!

[@MrIzzy5466]

These are better than the illustrations in the official books!

[@taigerus4418]

I recommend Psoglav, D&d twisted him a bit so I'd like to see your take on him

[@ArcaneForge]

I'm definitely excited about getting to this one, taigerus! I'll get a chance to blend some real world lore and some D&D flair. Thanks so much for your suggestion and for watching!

[@smugmidoriya8924]

I want to know more about the Obsidian golem

[@blackleight]

Nice video. Could you do one on Bloodhulks. There so wierd but I'd love to see how you would drop one. I also don't know much about their lore.

[@blackleight]

Also you said you like drawing monsterous things. It doesn't get much more monsterous than a Bloodhulk.

[@ArcaneForge]

Yikes! That's an awesome idea, Dylan! Also, you're totally right. Monstrous hulks of meat, definitely a preference of mine to draw! I'll pop that on the "to draw list" for you. Thanks so much for the suggestion and for watching!

[@GreenLanternCorps2814]

Beautiful art! Number of joints on his fingers notwithstanding. ;P

[@Trooperfrog]

Would you ever do an adventure zone-esque podcast of you and your buddies playing a dnd campaign? That would be awesome c:

[@ArcaneForge]

I would intensely love that! The only problem is running a campaign without music (which I tend to do a lot for atmosphere) and my partner is a little phobic of being recorded and she's a big part of my regular games group, so it would be something we'd need to work around. Maybe I'll film some throwaway games or something. But it's definitely something I think about a lot, Trooperthefrog! So maybe? Thanks so much for your suggestion and for watching!

[@ReyaitheShadowWolf]

Aaaugh! I love this one! :D You just gave me an idea for the story I'm writing! ^3^

[@Kara_and_her_cat]

Wow I love your version of the flesh Gollum! The steampunk thing is awesome!! :D I had no idea they came from Jewish mythology either~ pretty cool! I’d be interested if you did a Minotaur episode! I’m playing as a Minotaur in one of my games but there really isn’t much known about them in the D&D universe Also driders are cool! I’d love to know more about them as well! :D

[@ArcaneForge]

Hey Lullaby! Thanks so much for your kind words, and for some great suggestions! I've actually made a video on Minotaurs not too long ago (It's just here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4uUZYuIr9aZfpI ). I've not yet done Dryders though and I'm so excited about giving them a go so I'll pop them on my "to draw" list for you! Cheers!

[@kevingriffith6011]

I actually feel like the "Bound elemental essence" idea works all well and good for a high magic fantasy setting, but if you want to turn up the gothic or Lovecraftian horror element of it then I think a different approach is required. I like to imagine the whole experience to be something akin to the gate from Fullmetal Alchemist, the idea that you've learned something that mortals were never meant to learn. In creating such a golem your character literally fabricates the creature's soul, and as such are effectively your golem's god... assuming just the faintest glimpse of said knowledge didn't cause you to black out, drive you mad or outright kill you. Naturally this approach doesn't mean anything if your players aren't really the heavy RP sort that are willing to play out dramatic mental changes to their player characters... but it could be fun if you're looking for that sort of mood in your game and your players are willing to play along.

[@ArcaneForge]

Anything that allows me to cram more FMA into my D&D makes me happy, Kevin! Thanks so much for your insight!

[@davidlarson242]

I managed to wind up with a flesh golem bouncer for my old PC/new NPC's tavern. We call him Terry and he wears a velvet tuxedo pimp suit with great falls of green lace. My party will be meeting Terry and the rest of the bar staff at our next session.

[@SherlockHolmesGamin]

101 likes, 0 dislikes. Amazing

[@ArcaneForge]

I'm continuously surprised by how lovely and positive all of my viewers are! I'd really expected to be facing a torrent of hatred when I first started making videos, because of the "don;t read the comments" warnings that everyone posts, but I've found the opposite so far! Thank you for being a part of that, Sherlock!

[@mosselliadelt]

Look up Adam the dread lord from Ravenloft. He's an intelligent flesh golem

[@ArcaneForge]

Nice one, Mossellia! I'll definitely do that. Thank you.

[@starspawn507]

How accurate to a living being can a flesh golem look? How complicated of commands can they follow? Because it could be that a person has flesh golems that resemble humans/other humanoid races extremely closely in appearance and mannerisms, although they would follow the orders completely. I think that’s be interesting, since they’d basically be extremely durable, completely loyal servants. Heck, you might be able to make a plot involving someone trying to bring a person back in the body of a flesh golem, hence their experimentation into “human” golems.

[@ArcaneForge]

I think, as always it's up to the DM/Player to decide between them, but I see no reason why they couldn't essentially be just a fairly scarred looking human if needs be! The rules definitely arent specific about what sorts of things a golem myght be capable of, just that they'll follow orders to the best of their ability...so, potentially they could become PCs! Cheers for watching!

[@andreasmuller4172]

Frankenstein's monster (and flesh golems in general) are one of the few rare cases where monsters are uglified instead of being made prettier in relation to their original depiction, in Mary Shelley's book Adam is described to be a very handsome and well built (pun not intended) dude, with the exception of his eyes being supernaturaly freaky to look at (in a terryfingly beatiful way).

[@jhfh3112]

Just fought a bunch of these at the weekend, it what seemed like an attempt by the DM to finally kill everyone. Managed to get myself into MVP territory with a well-placed Hypnotic Pattern, they all stood there staring at the pretty colours while the up front people took them on one by one. Bard up bitches

[@ArcaneForge]

Haha! I like to think that that was the name of the song that you sang to cast Hypnotic Pattern. Everyone always underestimates the bard! cheers for watching!

[@Professor_Creep]

How have you not done the classic dragon yet?

[@ArcaneForge]

I don't know! I try to draw the monsters in the order that I was suggested them, but I feel like "dragon" of one kind or another should have come up by now! One of these days, Chris! We'll see some spicy sky lizards on this channel! Cheers for watching!

[@dustinsmith2021]

Sir, draw that drolem

[@ArcaneForge]

I'm on it, Mr Smith! Thanks so much for your suggestion and for watching!

[@dustinsmith2021]

Aww yiss

[@fireballloadout]

Is a golem still a golem if you decide to not to use a essence from a elemental but instead uses energy from a soul to empower it?

[@shadowhunter240]

Hmm, i wonder what would happen if a god made a golem race, with the intelligence of a human, yet he obedience of a dog. Would it, in later generations, overthrow their god? Would they be good, evil, or neutral?

[@ArcaneForge]

That's a really interesting question! For some reason it brought up the image of a sort of Dark Souls-esque world in my imagination! Definitely a really cool campaign setting! Cheers for watching, Shadow!

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

I hate go-lem being pronounced gollum, thank you for your clear speech

[@miguelbu883]

Pleas make a flesh golem video

[@Magic__7]

Would love to see the outher golem But what i would really like to see is the most deadly monster.....I The game marster

[@ArcaneForge]

Haha! I'll definitely have to give this a go, Magic 7! I'm not sure how I'll go about it, but I'll definitely give it a try! Cheers for the suggestion and for watching!

[@exltus1]

Mooooooore

[@ArcaneForge]

Yuuuuuuusss!

[@jenniferphipps2012]

Sarcogolm phippsii

[@damianstruiken2728]

Draw orces

[@InquisitorThomas]

Damian Struiken Are you asking him to draw the Species, Orcs or the Demon Lord, Orcus?

[@ArcaneForge]

Hey Damian! I'm so behind on getting back to commenters that I've actually had time to make this video I think! I'll post it just here for you: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXyrkKmEbr9nh7c Thanks so much for the suggestion and for watching!

[@damianstruiken2728]

Arcane Forge i ment orcus the demon lord

[@InquisitorThomas]

Yeah Seeing Orcus would be pretty cool since he’s probably tied with Grazz’t for my favorite Demon Lord.

[@damianstruiken2728]

Inquisitor Thomas its hun and dagon for my favorite