Flesh Golem 5e: Berserk, Lightning and Fire

A flesh golem is a CR 5 Medium Construct with AC 9, 93 hit points and two slams for 13 each in the 2014 rules. Three traits decide every flesh golem fight. Lightning Absorption heals it from lightning damage. Aversion to Fire gives it Disadvantage on attacks after it takes any fire damage. Berserk can make it lose control once it's badly hurt and attack whatever is nearest, including its own side. The 2024 version has 127 hit points, adds lightning damage to its slams, goes berserk at half health, and loses its immunity to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't adamantine.

Table of Contents

• •Flesh Golem Stat Block (2014)
• •Flesh Golem in the 2024 Rules
• •How the Flesh Golem Fights
• •Running a Flesh Golem Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Flesh Golem
• •Flesh Golem Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Flesh Golem Stat Block (2014)

The 2014 flesh golem (SRD 5.1) is the cheapest, weakest and least stable of the four golems.

AC 9 is the lowest of any golem; almost every attack hits it. What keeps it alive at CR 5 is immunity to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't adamantine, plus Magic Resistance. A level 5 party without a magic weapon has to win with spells, and those spells are rolled against a creature with Advantage on its saves.

Each trait in plain terms:

• •Berserk. At the start of each of its turns with 40 hit points or fewer, roll a d6. On a 6, it goes berserk and attacks the nearest creature it can see, friend or foe, or an object if nothing is close enough. It stays berserk until destroyed or fully healed. Its creator, within 60 feet and audible, can spend an action on a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check to calm it. If it takes damage while still at 40 or fewer, it can go berserk again.
• •Aversion of Fire. Taking fire damage gives it Disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the end of its next turn.
• •Lightning Absorption. Lightning damage heals it instead of hurting it.
• •Immutable Form and Magic Resistance, like every SRD golem.

It's also the only golem that isn't immune to psychic damage. Its mind is weak (Intelligence 6, Charisma 5), but it's there.

Flesh Golem in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 flesh golem (SRD 5.2.1) stays CR 5 and gets meaner up close.

What the changes mean:

• •More hit points, less protection. 34 extra hit points, but any weapon now hurts it. For a low-magic party the 2024 golem is easier. For a party with magic weapons it's harder.
• •It goes berserk sooner. 40 of 93 hit points is 43% of its health; 2024 uses Bloodied, which is 50%. And healing it to just above half stops the rampage in 2024, where 2014 required full health.
• •The creator matters less. A 2014 creator who calms the golem stops the rampage for good unless it takes more damage. A 2024 creator buys one turn.

How the Flesh Golem Fights

A flesh golem doesn't plan. It obeys its creator's orders, and when the orders run out it slams whatever is closest. The fight's shape comes from how the party uses fire and lightning, and from when Berserk kicks in.

Damage per round. Two slams at +7 against AC 16 hit 60% of the time:

Disadvantage drops its hit chance from 60% to 36%. One fire cantrip a round cuts its damage by 40%.

Berserk is a coin you flip at half health. Each turn it starts below the threshold, it has a 1-in-6 chance to snap. Over three turns that's about 42%. When it snaps, move it toward the nearest creature by distance, not by threat. If its creator's guards or the creator herself are closest, they take the hits. A smart creator stays out of its reach but within 60 feet, where the calming check is allowed, and spends her action on it.

It fits where other golems don't. The flesh golem is the only Medium golem. It fits through a normal door, down a 5-foot corridor and up a narrow stair. Use it inside crypts, laboratories and cellars where a Large golem would be stuck.

Order it to protect a room, not a person. Because Berserk makes it attack the nearest creature, a flesh golem guarding a person is a liability. Guarding a laboratory door, a vault or an empty corridor is safer for the creator. A DM can show this in play: the creator's notes say "never let it near the children".

Running a Flesh Golem Encounter

A flesh golem is CR 5, worth 1,800 XP. It's at its best as a bodyguard for a spellcaster, which also makes Berserk a story beat. Using the 2024 budget for four characters:

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines, which our encounter calculator uses, rate one flesh golem as Hard for four level 4 characters.

If the creator is present, decide her goal before the fight. A creator who wants to escape uses the golem as a door. A creator who wants revenge stays close, which risks a berserk golem turning on her. Both are good scenes.

How Players Beat a Flesh Golem

• •Fire, every round. Any fire damage works: Fire Bolt, Produce Flame, Burning Hands, a flaming sphere, alchemist's fire. The golem has Disadvantage on attacks until the end of its next turn, so one character tagging it each round keeps it permanently impaired.
• •Never use lightning. Lightning Bolt (8d6, about 28) heals it up to 28 hit points, or about 14 if it makes the save, which Magic Resistance makes likely. Call Lightning and Shocking Grasp do the same. Tell a sorcerer whose favorite spell is Lightning Bolt before the fight, or let them learn.
• •Use psychic damage. It isn't immune. Vicious Mockery targets its Wisdom save (+0) and gives it Disadvantage on its next attack, which stacks nicely with fire.
• •Watch its Charisma. With Charisma 5, it fails a DC 15 Banishment save on a 17 or lower, about 72% of the time even with Advantage.
• •Shatter is still a gamble. In 2014, flesh isn't inorganic, so Shatter doesn't give it Disadvantage and Magic Resistance gives it Advantage. In 2024, Shatter gives every Construct Disadvantage, which cancels out.
• •Keep away when it's low. Once it's near half health, a berserk golem attacks the nearest creature. Spread out and let it waste turns walking.
• •Remember the 2014 weapon immunity. No magic weapon, no weapon damage. Silvered weapons don't count; only adamantine does.

Flesh Golem Encounter Ideas

The apprentice who can calm it. A necromancer's tower has fallen to a rival, and the only survivor is a 16-year-old apprentice who helped stitch the golem. The SRD lets only the golem's creator calm it; DM ruling: count her as a co-creator, so she can try the DC 15 Persuasion check. The party needs her alive and within 60 feet of a rampaging golem, which is a different problem from killing it.

The arena act. A showman runs a pit fight where a "giant from the north" beats all challengers. Between rounds his assistant touches it with a wand that crackles blue. The wand deals lightning damage, and the golem walks out of each round at full health. Players who watch closely can spot the trick.

The graveyard shift. Bodies are vanishing from a city's paupers' field. The Manual of Golems lists a flesh golem at 60 days and 50,000 gp of supplies, and someone is buying a lot of supplies. The party traces the purchases to a respectable physician. When they arrive, the golem is complete and its creator is the first creature it sees. Log the physician's ledgers in your campaign notes; the buyers' names lead somewhere.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a flesh golem in 5e?

A flesh golem is CR 5 (1,800 XP) in both editions. It has AC 9 and 93 hit points in 2014, or AC 9 and 127 hit points in 2024.

How does a flesh golem's Berserk work?

At the start of each turn while hurt (40 HP or fewer in 2014, Bloodied in 2024), roll a d6. On a 6 it goes berserk and attacks the nearest creature it can see each turn, or an object if none is close. Its creator can calm it with an action and a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check from within 60 feet.

Does lightning heal a flesh golem?

Yes. Lightning Absorption means lightning damage restores hit points equal to the damage instead of hurting it. That applies in both editions.

What does fire do to a flesh golem?

Fire damage hurts it normally and triggers Aversion to Fire: Disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the end of its next turn.

Which golem is weakest in 5e?

The flesh golem, at CR 5. The clay golem is CR 9, the stone golem CR 10 and the iron golem CR 16. The shield guardian, a related construct, is CR 7.

Is a flesh golem undead?

No. It's a Construct in both editions, even though it's built from corpses. Spells and features that affect Undead, like Turn Undead, don't work on it.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.