The Defiler of Hallows possession type is one of the cooler and most played possession types out there and allows for a good bit of creativity by allowing different bones to be created into different constructs and rped out. There are, however, two restrictions that have been put on the golem's that add little to nothing to the play-ability of the golem's and, in fact, do the opposite. 1. Talking Golem's as of now have been stated to not be able to talk at all. There is absolutely no reason why a magical bone golem shouldn't be able to talk. All it does is create mute characters who contribute little to nothing to rp aside from combat and sometimes stealth. Espionage is even limited because they can't relay that information without writing it down, which is tedious and not very cohesive to an rp. Having golem's not talk prevents rp situations from happening and makes it more difficult to give your character a proper personality. Defiler's don't want to leave their home and it is out of character for them to do this just to tell ally's that something is happening or what's on their mind. That's what their golem's are supposed to do and they can't do that if they can't talk. I honestly see no benefit for making golems not talk and don't understand whatever reasoning there is behind it. Pros: More interesting and dynamic characters. Proper interaction with others and more fun roleplay. Cons: ??? 2. Fleshy bits As of now, golems are not allowed to have any flesh or meat on them. I am not petitioning to allow golem's to be able to have fleshy parts that they can control, no but at the moment staff restrict players to only using bones in the golem's with no decorative flesh or meat. The reasoning I've gotten is "To keep down on the lovecraftian gore horror". While it's a reason and, perhaps, an understandable one, it doesn't seem fair to limit the creative potential for one of the cooler possessions just because some people may take it too far. There's no real in lore reason for why it couldn't be done and, personally, I don't see a problem with lovecraftian horrors, so long as they aren't extreme. Letting flesh be used in golems for decoration adds nothing to them in terms of physical strength or power. While they may be intimidating, a walking jigsaw puzzle of miss-matched skeletons is already that. In the end, allowing players to use meat in their golem's for purely aethstetic reasons would make the potential for creative golem's go through the roof and make them even more interesting. While maybe not wanting something super disturbing on the server, for one, it's minecraft and portraying something horrifying is quite difficult, or at least, making it visually disturbing is. Furthermore, vampires already have night horrors which would be just as disturbing. Pros: More creativity in golem creation. Cons: More gore horror and disturbing creatures. In the end I think adding these simple changes to the rules surrounding golem's would be quick and easy changes that would make the quality of life for golem players better as well as making Defiler of Hallows more appealing to play.
I especially agree with the talking part. I don't see why the Golem's couldn't have some blue flame tongue, similar to their blue flame eyes, which has no outside use other than talking. Talking leads to "writes on paper+" rp which isn't really all too much of a problem, but becomes annoying when you just have to continuously write on paper. Talking would give golems no form of power advantage or such, simply allow for a smoother flow of rp.
The Construct Magic Golems was powered by a Clocktick that took the negative personality of the Techmage and put it into another object. Perhaps a similar, optional, setup could be done with the Bone Golems.
Well the bone golem's are controlled by the individual who made them so that's kind of already a thing
I like the way this is headed, though it'd be hard to do something similar with bone gollems as clockticks weren't directly controlled by the mage. Bone gollems are, so anything that influenced their speech outside of what the possessed individual was saying could make things confusing. Though maybe some form of special bone-tongue that only the defiler could create to allow speech could work and only constructs with this bone could speak.
I disagree with the first point, because it makes a player of a defiler exclusively reliant on the golem to where they don't have to roleplay as their character themselves, they can just be the golem all the time. The golem allows you to have on aspect of roleplay while the important things are conducted with the character themselves, the talking and plotting and such as the person. It allows for more careful and well planned roleplay and makes an interesting dynamic of a body that can function and not cause you harm and having your actual self be weak and able to speak and reason and be vulnerable. I agree with the second point because I like gore. I made magic centipedes appear in peoples mouths.
Good points but the problem is that the defiler is a recluse and shuns away from any and all interaction already. It'd be very out of character for a defiler to talk to people and leave their home. Possible, but I think that the defiler's need to be less reclusive if they need to communicate in person.
I can agree with that, though I could also say why doesn't someone do that already with a defiler? I feel the wording of that all is in place so you don't go around like you're the almighty and essentially an edgelord. With the defiler as more reclusive they become more nuanced and flavorful, because to be honest, if they really need to communicate in person, they will do it. Simply as a means of survival. They may not enjoy it, but I feel you can attach a logical reasoning to why they would.
While I agree with most of this, as stated the Defiler becomes a shut-in who avoids outside contact. The whole point of a Defiler is to always be in skeletal form, as to avoid this contact on a face-to-face level. I'd say not full communication and talking, but golems should have some form of minor communication, be it a single word at a time. Similar to how necrothors could only say a word at a time. It'd give the need for fluent communication to drive the defiler out, while also being able to avoid total "thumbs up/down, head nod, scribbles on paper+" rp.
Rather then pure speech, I like the idea of being creative with communication. I've had some really wholesome Rp with not being able to speak, though I do admit sometimes Rp can be difficult without the mechanic. A middle ground I'd personally enjoy is limited speech a bit like the Mortis Kul, single phrases & short vocabularies as well with the addition or just by its self, being able to change the shape & color of the whisps in their eyes. Forming question marks when confused or flaring a dull red to hint to anger or danger.
