construct questions and concerns

[VesperDragon]

greetings salutations and hello,

i get the pleasure of creating a new character for a pathfinder game i'm playing. we're at level 8 (so the character would be starting there) and, tying this into the title, I've decided to make a wizard construct maker. now i'm not going into the area's of weather or not this is a good idea, but i need to know some things about constructs that i am a little confused about so lets get right down to it:

lets start with homunculus,

starting off, what is/how do i find out the caster level of the homunculus's spell like ability?

i'm pretty sure you can use it multiple times but, if you say, put 20 potions of cure light wounds on it, will it get 2 uses of it a day or not?

the improvement states that for every 1000 gold you spend on improvements the DC to craft it goes up by 1, does this apply to adding hit die?

how many times can i add hit die? if i have 36000 gold can i make a 20 HD homunculus? (not that i would, but a 10d6 20 DC reflex sace acid breath would be pretty cool)

last thing i can think of, can i add hit die to a homunculus after it is created? as it never really says

past the homunculus i have a few moreso advice questions if that's okay to ask

mainly i want to ask, how much money does anyone think i should sink into one construct, say like a graven guardian, before it because to much of a risk? i can spend like 15000 on improving it's hit die (if i understand that right) i can drop upwords of like 8000 (for me) on getting a good weapon for it, bring it's NAT armor up to a +3 at level 9 and infinitely increase its str and dex, giving it better to hit and ac. but it all cost's money and if it dies most of that is not coming back to me. so where do people think i should draw the line for this thing? and/or should i draw that line at all?

in addition, what are the ways of bringing a construct back to life, i realise that resurection does not work but like wish or something? is there ways and what are they? (i'm sorry if some of these are dumb questions)

i thank you very much for you're time and patience

[Eridan]

VesperDragon wrote:

starting off, what is/how do i find out the caster level of the homunculus's spell like ability?

Universal Monster Rules - Spell Like abilities wrote:

If no caster level is specified, the caster level is equal to the creature's Hit Dice. The saving throw (if any) against a spell-like ability is 10 + the level of the spell the ability resembles or duplicates + the creature's Charisma modifier.

VesperDragon wrote:

i'm pretty sure you can use it multiple times but, if you say, put 20 potions of cure light wounds on it, will it get 2 uses of it a day or not?

I dont understand your question.

VesperDragon wrote:

the improvement states that for every 1000 gold you spend on improvements the DC to craft it goes up by 1, does this apply to adding hit die?

I would say yes but i dont have any RAW for this question.

VesperDragon wrote:

how many times can i add hit die? if i have 36000 gold can i make a 20 HD homunculus? (not that i would, but a 10d6 20 DC reflex sace acid breath would be pretty cool)

Ultimate Magic - Building and Modifying Constructs wrote:

Therefore Hit Dice modification can never increase the base construct's Hit Dice beyond 50% of its total HD.

VesperDragon wrote:

last thing i can think of, can i add hit die to a homunculus after it is created? as it never really says

Quote:

A modification can only be performed while the construct is inanimate or nonfunctioning.

VesperDragon wrote:

in addition, what are the ways of bringing a construct back to life, i realise that resurection does not work but like wish or something? is there ways and what are they? (i'm sorry if some of these are...

Quote:

A construct that has been completely destroyed cannot be repaired, though at the GM's option some of the materials may be usable in the construction of a new construct.

I would recommend that you read the rules found in Ultimate Magic - Building and Modifying Constructs. At last .. please ask questions in a list so that we can easily answer question 1 , 2 or 21.

[VesperDragon]

Eridan wrote:

I dont understand your question.

can i put 2 or more uses of the same spell as a spell like ability on one homunculus?

Eridan wrote:

I would say yes but i dont have any RAW for this question.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/constructs/homunculus

this is where I'm getting my data from, a couple of these questions exist because there is a separation from the text that says you can add hit die and the text that says that " For every 1,000 gp worth of additional abilities to be granted to the homunculus, the DC of the Craft check to create the homunculus increases by 1 (minimum +1)." it also says aditional abilities and not just adition cost or what not

Eridan wrote:

Therefore Hit Dice modification can never increase the base construct's Hit Dice beyond 50% of its total HD.

see i read that one and i understand it but it doesn't make sense here. my biggest problem is, why would they word the acid breath in a way that makes it seem like it can scale with it's hit dice but you can't even bring it up a single d6, why would they word it like that unless you could at least bring it up a little bit?

Eridan wrote:

A construct that has been completely destroyed cannot be repaired, though at the GM's option some of the materials may be usable in the construction of a new construct.

so... if i used the material from the "destroyed" construct to bring it back, would it have all of the improvements that it had when it died? and how much would that cost? i'm not talking about making a new one, i'm talking about getting the one i spent upwards of 25K on back

Eridan wrote:

I would recommend that you read the rules found in Ultimate Magic - Building and Modifying Constructs. At last .. please ask questions in a list so that we can easily answer question 1 , 2 or 21.

i have read some if not most of those rules, i apologize for any inconvenience that my post might have caused. i appreciate all the help that you gave me, the SLA ruling alone is what i wanted to know most, tyvm

[Cevah]

SRD on Constructs

VesperDragon wrote:

i'm pretty sure you can use it multiple times but, if you say, put 20 potions of cure light wounds on it, will it get 2 uses of it a day or not?

General rule is have something paid for twice, get to use it twice. Elsewhere in the construct rules, it works this way. No indication you cannot gain the effect multiple times.

I would say you get it twice.

VesperDragon wrote:

the improvement states that for every 1000 gold you spend on improvements the DC to craft it goes up by 1, does this apply to adding hit die?

This rule applies to Improved Homunculi. HD improvements are not listed here, but under the regular Homunculus Construction. I would say no change to DC due to increased HD.

VesperDragon wrote:

how many times can i add hit die? if i have 36000 gold can i make a 20 HD homunculus? (not that i would, but a 10d6 20 DC reflex sace acid breath would be pretty cool)

last thing i can think of, can i add hit die to a homunculus after it is created? as it never really says

Rule sais 2000 gp/extra HD. Don't see an issue here. There is a limit of +50% HD from the original construct, but I don't see a limit to initial HD for the Homunculus. Later, you are limited.

You can improve the construct as often as you want.

Repairing-Constructs
Repair in this way can only be performed while the construct is inanimate or nonfunctioning. At any time, a construct’s creator can deactivate a construct under his control with a touch and a standard action.

Bestiay sais "The crafter can also add new abilities to an existing homunculus by performing a brief surgical procedure." The repairing item above tells you how to do the procedure.

Check out williamoak's guide to construct crafting and its discussion.

/cevah