That’s the title of the entry, but I’ll try to not to use it outside of the monster names since it’s a bit appropriative.

The Lore

As as far as D&D goes, these are our “top-tier” constructs, usually placed in guardian roles but sometimes found following their creator around and responding to direct commands from them. They’re made by binding an elemental into a physical shell made out of some material, as we saw in the Monster Manual/Vault reading.

Bone, clay, flesh and stone constructs are as common here as they are in other settings, but not even the wealthiest and most wasteful of Sorcerer Kings would make a construct out of iron, let alone other metals. Instead, Athasian wizards have developed other models made of more commonly available materials. This doesn’t mean the constructs themselves are common, as most of the rituals to make them are jealously guarded secrets, and even those who still know them don’t necessarily know the theory behind the recipe.

Mind you, metal constructs might still be found in the depths of some Green Age or Red Age ruins, and they remain exceedingly dangerous.

The Numbers

All of our specimens here are Large Natural Animates with the Construct tag. They’re immune to disease, poison, and sleep. Everything else varies per stat block.

Salt Golem

This is a construct made out of rock salt, which has some different properties from common stone. The most relevant here is that it’s surrounded by a haze of salt particles shed from its main body, which it can control. Salt is highly toxic at these concentrations and the creature can send it right into your bloodstream if you have any open wounds.

Salt constructs are Level 11 Elite Brutes with 278 HP, a ground speed of 5 (cannot shift), and Darkvision. They’re surrounded by a haze of Toxic Salt that acts as an aura (2), which inflicts -2 to the defenses of any enemy inside. If the enemy is bloodied, it also takes 5 poison damage when it starts its turn in the aura.

The creature attacks with the now-traditional Slam, which deals heavy damage and on a hit inflicts 5 ongoing poison damage and -2 to attacks (save ends both). Double Attack lets it slam twice in one action. Its special attack controls that salt cloud to cause Horrid Dehydration (close burst 3, enemies only, recharge 4+), which damages then weakens and slows for a turn. If the target is bloodied it the conditions become (save ends both) instead.

Dune Golem

This is a construct made out of loose sand bound together by air magic. It can hold a humanoid shape, but it’s diffuse instead of solid, making it particularly resistant to conventional attacks.

A dune construct is a Level 13 Elite Soldier with 184 HP. It has a ground speed of 5, and a burrow speed of 5 on loose earth. In addition to the standard immunities to disease, sleep, and poison, it also takes half damage from melee and ranged attacks. Unlike its solid cousins from this entry, it can shift.

The creature is surrounded by an aura (2) of Gusting Sands, which counts as difficult terrain for enemies inside. Whenever such an enemy tries to stand up from prone inside the aura, they must roll a save. If they fail, they stay prone and waste the action they spent trying to get up. We also see the Unhindered trait here, which lets the construct pull grabbed victims along when it moves.

The construct’s Slams deal the usual damage, and grab on a hit. It can have up to two grabbed victims, and can sustain the grabs for free. It has Double Attack, so it could grab two victims in the same action if it hits with both slams.

Grabbed victims are susceptible to Engulf, a minor action attack that deals light damage but starts inflicting ongoing 15 damage until the grab ends! And then you have Shifting Sands a move action power that lets the construct either shift its speed, or to shift half its speed and gain phasing during this movement. While shifting, it ignores difficult terrain and can move through enemy spaces, so this is a good escape hatch in addition to being a way to play keep-away with the suffocating grabbed victims and their allies. One special condition with the phasing here is that it only works if the surface in question has a hole wide enough to let a grain of sand through, which shouldn’t be a problem in most cases.

Obsidian Golem

Another construct made from a type of stone with specific properties. In this case, obsidian is more or less natural volcanic glass. Like the stone they’re made from, these constructs are very very sharp. They’re also deceptively fast.

They are Level 19 Elite Soldiers with 358 HP. Their speed is merely 4 and they cannot shift, but they’re Razor Sharp. This property is modeled as an aura (1). Any enemy inside the aura that moves to another square inside the aura takes 10 damage.

Instead of Double Attack, obsidian constructs have Inexorable Action, which lets them roll initiative twice and take two whole turns per round at those counts.

The construct’s Slams deal the usual brute-tier damage, push 1 square, knock prone, and inflict ongoing 5 damage (save ends) from the bits of obsidian that break off and get stuck in the wound. It can also use a Stunning Handclap (recharge 6+) which attacks all enemies in a Close Burst 5. On a hit it deals thunder damage and stuns for a turn!

A rechargeable multi-target stun is a terrifying prospect. A lucky recharge roll might let the creature use this twice in a round, which is a very bad thing for the PCs.

Encounters and Final Impressions

You’re gonna run into some of these things eventually in any D&D campaign that goes on for long enough, and these ones are reasonably interesting.

If guarding a site, they’ll either be accompanied by more constructs or by other long-lasting guardians such as undead, devils, or demons. If found as bodyguards, they’ll be accompanied by their masters and any other goons you care to add to the group.