[RPG] Are Golems “Humanoid” for UA Ranger

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Our game 5e game includes a ranger using the Unearthed Arcana rules. The ranger has chosen Humanoids for their favored enemy, and we are trying to determine if a Forest Golem (or any other Golem) counts as “humanoid” for the purposes of the favored enemy damage bonus. Golems are typically described as “generally humanoid” but do not appear in the Monster Manual list of humanoids, I assume, because they are constructs. Any insight is appreciated, as we anticipate folding this Forest Golem NPC into our campaign as a regularly appearing character.

Best Answer

Golems are not humanoid

Page 6 of the Monster Manual introduces the concept of creature type:

A monster's type speaks to its fundamental nature. Certain spells, magic items, class features, and other effects in the game interact in special ways with creatures of a particular type. For example, an arrow of dragon slaying deals extra damage not only to dragons but also other creatures of the dragon type, such as dragon turtles and wyverns.

Every creature belongs to one (or occasionally two) of the fourteen types: aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, humanoids, monstrosities, oozes, plants, and undead.

There are many game mechanics that interact with creature type: spells, weapons, abilities and more. In this case, the Ranger class has a Favored Enemy feature whose bonus damage is limited to targets of a specific creature type (or if you pick humanoid, is limited to two sub-groups within that type).

Looking at the entries for the various Golems in the Monster Manual, it is clear that Golems always belong to the type construct, never humanoid. This is the case in all official published versions of golems. Looking further at the Monster Manual, I can see three places where Golems are compared to humans or humanoids.

Clay Golem (MM, 168):

Sculpted from clay, this bulky golem stands head and shoulders taller than most human-sized creatures. It is human shaped, but its proportions are off.

Flesh Golem (MM, 169):

A flesh golem is a grisly assortment of humanoid body parts stitched and bolted together into a muscled brute imbued with formidable strength.

Stone Golem (MM, 170):

Though most bear humanoid features, stone golems can be carved in any form the sculptor can imagine.

But these are descriptions to give you the narrative flavour, so that you and your players can better imagine these relentless creatures. At the top of each stat block, it is clear that while they may have two arms, two legs and a head and walk upright, mechanically, they are clearly constructs.

On a side note, when a player picks a Ranger's Favored Enemy, if they select humanoids, this is limited to two races/lineages of humanoids (e.g. elf, halfling, orc, dwarf, etc.) and does not apply generally to all humanoids.

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