Stone Golem 5e: Stats, Slow and How to Beat It

A stone golem is a CR 10 Large Construct with AC 17, 178 hit points and two slams that hit for 19 each in the 2014 rules. Its signature is Slow: a recharging effect that halves a character's speed, strips their reactions and limits them to one attack per turn. The 2024 version is tougher (AC 18, 220 hit points), adds a 120-foot Force Bolt, and casts the actual Slow spell as a bonus action while still attacking twice. It's also the only golem with no damage it absorbs and no Berserk trait, so it never loses control and never heals from your spells.

Table of Contents

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

Stone Golem Stat Block (2014)

The 2014 stone golem (SRD 5.1) is a wall that hits back.

The defenses are what make it a CR 10 problem:

• •Immune to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't adamantine. A party without magic weapons by level 9 or 10 can't hurt it with weapons at all.
• •Magic Resistance. Advantage on saves against spells.
• •Immutable Form. Immune to any spell or effect that would alter its form, so Polymorph and similar tricks fail.
• •Immune to poison and psychic damage, and to the charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified and poisoned conditions.

Its own attacks are simple: two slams at +10, 19 (3d8 + 6) bludgeoning each, and they count as magical. Slow (Recharge 5-6) is an action. Every creature it chooses within 10 feet makes a DC 17 Wisdom save or, for up to a minute, can't take reactions, moves at half speed, makes at most one attack on its turn, and takes either an action or a bonus action, not both. They repeat the save at the end of each turn.

Stone Golem in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 stone golem (SRD 5.2.1) keeps CR 10 and 5,900 XP but changes almost every number.

What changes in play:

• •Slow no longer costs it damage. In 2014, a Slow turn is a turn without slams. In 2024 it casts Slow as a bonus action and still makes two attacks.
• •Slow reaches the back line. The 2014 golem has to be within 10 feet of you. The 2024 golem can slow the wizard 120 feet away, along with five others in a 40-foot cube.
• •2024 Slow hits harder. The spell adds a −2 penalty to AC and Dexterity saves, and a slowed caster's spells with somatic components have a 25% chance to fail.
• •But it can be broken. The 2024 Slow is a Concentration spell. Damage can end it, and Dispel Magic can remove it from one creature. The 2014 Slow is a monster ability with no Concentration.
• •Mundane weapons work now. The 2024 golem has no weapon immunity, so a low-magic party can finally fight it with steel.

How the Stone Golem Fights

A stone golem has Intelligence 3. It follows orders and hits whatever is in front of it. Its tactics come from its stat block, not from cunning, and they're good tactics anyway.

Slow first, then pound. The golem's best opening is Slow on as many characters as possible. Against DC 17:

A slowed fighter with three attacks makes one. A slowed rogue can't Cunning Action and attack in the same turn. A slowed wizard can't cast Shield, and nobody slowed can make opportunity attacks. In 2024, add −2 AC to all of that.

Damage per round. Against AC 18 (plate, or a fighter with a shield):

Against a slowed 2024 target at AC 16, slams hit 75% of the time for about 36 a round. Slow recharges on a 5 or 6, a one-in-three chance each turn.

Hold the door. A stone golem is a Large guardian with a 30-foot speed and nothing to fear. Put it in a doorway, at the top of stairs, or on a bridge, where the party has to go through it. The 2014 golem's 10-foot Slow is far nastier in a corridor where everyone has to stand close.

It never retreats. Constructs don't flee unless ordered to. Play it to the last hit point, and play it literally: if its order was "let no one pass the door", it won't chase a character who runs the other way.

Running a Stone Golem Encounter

A stone golem is CR 10, worth 5,900 XP. Using the 2024 budget for four characters:

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines, used by our encounter calculator, rate one stone golem as Hard for four level 7 characters.

Run the 2014 golem a level or two higher if the party lacks magic weapons. Without them, it's an unkillable wall until someone finds a way around it.

How Players Beat a Stone Golem

• •Banish it. Its Charisma is 1. Against Banishment at DC 15, it fails on a 19 or lower, and even with Magic Resistance's Advantage it fails about 90% of the time. That's up to a minute with the golem gone, which is often long enough to finish its master or walk past.
• •Use Shatter. Shatter gives inorganic creatures like stone (2014) or any Construct (2024) Disadvantage on the save. Magic Resistance gives Advantage. They cancel, so the golem rolls its Constitution save normally.
• •Spread out against the 2014 golem. Its Slow only reaches 10 feet. Characters fighting it from range never have to save. Against the 2024 golem, stay more than 40 feet apart if you can, so its cube can't catch everyone.
• •Break the 2024 Slow. Hit the golem hard: a Concentration save is DC 10 or half the damage, whichever is higher, and it only has Constitution +5. Or cast Dispel Magic on a slowed ally.
• •Bring magic weapons to the 2014 fight. Its immunity covers bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't adamantine, so plain steel does nothing. Spells and magic items carry the fight.
• •Stop casting Polymorph and Hold Monster. Immutable Form stops Polymorph, and it's immune to the paralyzed condition. Force, fire, cold, lightning, thunder, acid, radiant and necrotic damage all work normally.

Stone Golem vs Other Golems

The SRD has four golems plus the related shield guardian. They aren't stat swaps; each has one gimmick you need to know before the fight.

The SRD's Manual of Golems also prices them. A stone golem takes 90 days and 80,000 gp to build, and only a 19 or 20 on the manual's d20 table produces one.

Stone Golem Encounter Ideas

The unfinished golem. A wizard is 70 days into building a stone golem from a Manual of Golems and must work without interruption, resting no more than 8 hours a day. A rival hires the party to stop the work. The wizard can't leave the workshop without losing months of effort, and the half-carved golem in the corner isn't animate yet. The twist: a finished one already guards the door, made from the last manual.

Orders from the dead. A stone golem stands in a dwarven hall whose last lord died a century ago. It understands his language and still obeys his last command: let no one take the axe from the throne. It won't stop the party from looting anything else. Someone who speaks the old tongue might find a loophole in the exact wording.

The slowing bridge. Bandits have made a fortified bridge their toll gate, and a stone golem bought from a desperate noble holds its middle. In 2014 its Slow catches anyone crossing in a line. The bandits shoot from the towers while slowed characters crawl. The bandit captain holds the command word. Track which NPC holds it in your campaign notes so it pays off later.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a stone golem in 5e?

A stone golem is CR 10 (5,900 XP) in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 17 and 178 hit points in 2014, and AC 18 and 220 hit points in 2024.

How does the stone golem's Slow work?

In 2014 it's an action (Recharge 5-6) that targets any creatures it chooses within 10 feet; each makes a DC 17 Wisdom save or loses reactions, moves at half speed, attacks once per turn, and takes an action or a bonus action, not both, for up to a minute. In 2024 the golem casts the Slow spell as a bonus action (DC 17), which also gives a −2 penalty to AC and Dexterity saves and can reach up to six creatures within 120 feet.

Is a stone golem immune to nonmagical weapons?

In 2014, yes: it's immune to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't adamantine. The 2024 stone golem has no such immunity, so any weapon damages it.

Can you Polymorph a stone golem?

No. Its Immutable Form makes it immune to effects that alter its form (2014) or prevents it from shape-shifting (2024), and Polymorph works by shape-shifting the target.

How much does it cost to make a stone golem?

According to the Manual of Golems in the SRD, a stone golem takes 90 days and 80,000 gp in supplies. The creator must be a spellcaster with at least two 5th-level spell slots to use the manual.

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.