Does anyone know of any already designed low-powered constructs of roughly humanoid build? Or non-humanoid for that matter. What I'm searching for is constructs of CR 1 or maybe 2, that can be constructed by mages of level <6. I'm going to use them in an E6 game, as servants of powerful magi - mostly for manual labor, but partly also for defense. More like undead servants than shield guardians, so to speak.
If there aren't any, I'm looking for advice on how to create them, and especially how to price them right. I'm thinking of using craft wondrous items as the base feat instead of craft construct (actually I'm thinking about putting together all crafting feats into "craft single use item", "craft charged item" and "craft permanent item", with levels 1, 3, and 5 as prerequisities respectively).
Does anyone know of any already designed low-powered constructs of roughly humanoid build? Or non-humanoid for that matter. What I'm searching for is constructs of CR 1 or maybe 2, that can be constructed by mages of level <6. I'm going to use them in an E6 game, as servants of powerful magi - mostly for manual labor, but partly also for defense. More like undead servants than shield guardians, so to speak.
If there aren't any, I'm looking for advice on how to create them, and especially how to price them right. I'm thinking of using craft wondrous items as the base feat instead of craft construct (actually I'm thinking about putting together all crafting feats into "craft single use item", "craft charged item" and "craft permanent item", with levels 1, 3, and 5 as prerequisites respectively).
You'll need CRAFT CONSTRUCT first, and unfortunately it requires CL 5th, CRAFT WONDROUS ITEM, and CRAFT MAGIC ARMS AND ARMOR. That means you can't craft constructs of any kind until 7th level, short of playing a wizard (who can potentially do it as early as 5th level).
As for weak constructs, I would look into the IRON COBRA or HOMUNCULUS. One is humanoid and one is made for combat (and can utilize poison or alchemical items, or be given damage reduction).
One of the things I was disappointed about when the rules were re-written was that there weren't expanded construct creation rules, sure it says you can increase their hit dice, but there are no specific guidelines on all the possible changes to each type of golem. Shield Guardian, Homonculus, etc.
You'll need CRAFT CONSTRUCT first, and unfortunately it requires CL 5th, CRAFT WONDROUS ITEM, and CRAFT MAGIC ARMS AND ARMOR. That means you can't craft constructs of any kind until 7th level, short of playing a wizard (who can potentially do it as early as 5th level).
As for weak constructs, I would look into the IRON COBRA or HOMUNCULUS. One is humanoid and one is made for combat (and can utilize poison or alchemical items, or be given damage reduction).
Oh, I think you misunderstood me. I'm the DM, and know the RAW on this :3 Neither homunculi or iron cobras are suited to my needs here, as I'm looking for constructs more suited for heavy labor. I'm going to run an E6 game, which basically means max level = 6 (after that, you only gain feats). This makes the power curve more flat, and keeps the really powerful effects in place. However, I still want more or less "golems" as servants - though not a CR6 wood golem, which is stronger than a Troll.
The notion on feats were more of an irrelevant side track, but I'm basically regrouping item creation into three simple feats for the game.
EDIT: I've started designing my own monster now, an "iron servant", basically a golemlike creature of several materials. Two HD, Str 14, Dex 6, no con or int, wis 6 and cha 1.
However, something that hit me is that it's hard to balance the hit points; a CR1 medium sized construct have a fat 31 hit points. So by that, you'd really need to increase the CR. However, to have SOMEWHAT decent ratio you'd have to have is CR4, for a total of 47 hit points to the guideline of 40. If I do that, his other stats will be far too bad - unless I raise them, so that it becomes a combat monster. But that's not what I'm looking for, and removes the "manual labor-robot" from it. Is it okay to have a HP double the recommended fo the CR, if the creature has AC 8 instead of 12, and average damage 5.5 instead of 7? If they get into fighting it, it'll probably be several of them at a higher level though.
Well, so this is my first write-up on the constructs. Critique would be nice, both on balance and pricing/construction requirements. My thought is that even though it has too high hit points for it's CR, the offensive capabilities are extremely limited, especially taking the speed into consideration.
If there aren't any, I'm looking for advice on how to create them, and especially how to price them right. I'm thinking of using craft wondrous items as the base feat instead of craft construct (actually I'm thinking about putting together all crafting feats into "craft single use item", "craft charged item" and "craft permanent item", with levels 1, 3, and 5 as prerequisities respectively).
In our campaign we have an 'automaton' template that's easily applied to almost any creature, so you can have 'automaton dog' or 'automaton horse' or whatnot.
Mind you, ours requires secret knowledge to build (i.e. not a feat, but something you have to figure out in-game), and has some swinging-high DR which makes it unsuitable for most games. But it should be fairly easy to make 'wood automaton' templates (DR5), 'stone automaton' (DR8), and 'iron automaton' (DR10).
<gets out soapbox>
For the record, Craft Construct is totally unfair as a feat. The costs of constructs pretty much guarantees you'll never make one or two, making the feat a total waste. Craft Construct should never, EVER have been a feat!!
<puts soapbox away>
Does anyone know of any already designed low-powered constructs of roughly humanoid build? Or non-humanoid for that matter. What I'm searching for is constructs of CR 1 or maybe 2, that can be constructed by mages of level <6. I'm going to use them in an E6 game, as servants of powerful magi - mostly for manual labor, but partly also for defense. More like undead servants than shield guardians, so to speak.
If there aren't any, I'm looking for advice on how to create them, and especially how to price them right. I'm thinking of using craft wondrous items as the base feat instead of craft construct (actually I'm thinking about putting together all crafting feats into "craft single use item", "craft charged item" and "craft permanent item", with levels 1, 3, and 5 as prerequisities respectively).
... um, warforged? Failing those, there are some other low-level constructs in the Eberron Campaign Setting that could be adapted to Pathfinder.
I have a couple of these sitting around someplace...maybe I'll update them to Pathfinder and send them to Wayfinder.
Dwarf.
All you need is a papa dwarf and a mama dwarf.
A Druid can construct a Bogun which is only a couple of HD if memory serves. This could possibly give you a starting point.
I know I'm probably not answering your question but...if you're the DM...make something up :)
I've considered a variant on the animate dead spell, where you target inanimate objects instead of corpses, creating animated objects that follow the rules as shown in the monster entry. The tweaks included changing the material component to diamond dust instead of onyx gems (same value), making it a wizard/sorcerer only spell, limiting the HD animated with a single casting to be equal to your caster level rather than double your caster level, and having animated objects share the same pool of HD as your undead limit (preventing wizards from having that many more minions).
In our campaign we have an 'automaton' template that's easily applied to almost any creature, so you can have 'automaton dog' or 'automaton horse' or whatnot.Mind you, ours requires secret knowledge to build (i.e. not a feat, but something you have to figure out in-game), and has some swinging-high DR which makes it unsuitable for most games. But it should be fairly easy to make 'wood automaton' templates (DR5), 'stone automaton' (DR8), and 'iron automaton' (DR10).
That's a good idea! Personally though, I think those DR can be halved or even totally skipped, due to the construct having weak spots, open clockwork mechanics, thinner joints and the like. On the other hand, by that token I could probably skip the "increased HP for construct" part of the RAW as well. Hum...
... um, warforged? Failing those, there are some other low-level constructs in the Eberron Campaign Setting that could be adapted to Pathfinder.
Well, the problem with warforged are that they are far too much alive. I could of course modify them, but I think I'd end up with something similiar to this anyway. They're a good reference point in terms of power, though.
I have a couple of these sitting around someplace...maybe I'll update them to Pathfinder and send them to Wayfinder.
Looking forward to it!
Dwarf.
All you need is a papa dwarf and a mama dwarf.
Maybe the Effigy rules from Complete Arcane would work? Not sure as I haven't looked too much into them.
Effigies are interesting, but they are more for building combat monsters.
A Druid can construct a Bogun which is only a couple of HD if memory serves. This could possibly give you a starting point.
Yeah, but bogun are more like "natural" homunculi made out of plant material. They are really cool, and several of my NPC druids keeps a few, but they aren't really what I'm looking for here.
I know I'm probably not answering your question but...if you're the DM...make something up :)
That's the current plan! :)
I've considered a variant on the animate dead spell, where you target inanimate objects instead of corpses, creating animated objects that follow the rules as shown in the monster entry.
Dang, that's a good idea. But then comes the queston: Can you use a corpse as an inanimate object? (a)
How about Dreadguards? MM2 they are basically walking suits of armor that are armed. I think they were CR2-ish.
Actually your version seems pretty close to them, not bad but I worry that CR1 is too low.....maybe not with the low AC though...
Nah, dreadguards are 5hd combat monsters.
Don't see why you couldn't use it on a human corpse or something, it would just be a Medium size bipedal animated object with no hardness. Using animated objects is certainly easier, since you only check for available locomotion and hardness, rather than applying an entire template to whatever stats a corpse had for regular animate dead.
Animated objects is an idea, though there's still some problems with using them with RAW.
- Requires an 11th level caster, when there will be only at most 8th level (I'll run it as E8 instead of E6, I've decided) casters in the world. Granted, there will be means of casting it anyway, but they involve multiple casters and such. Due to that, I'll have to have construction rules anyway.
- A medium-sized one is still CR3 RAW. That's far too high.
Using a homebrew spell like Virgil suggested makes the idea better, but it seems it would still remove the actual crafting process to much. Just casting a spell feels less dramatic than having to put together the bodies, and using a series of spells to animate it.
EDIT: I think I'll just go with my homebrew posted above (and now updated). Do you people think it's decently balanced, both stat-wise and price-wise?
