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As topic. Mending works on constructs (once per day per individual construct)--but the constructed trait means that the android in question has to choose the worst of either "human" or "construct" while calculating effects. Does this also extend to mending, where the "worse effect" is not healing at all?
Good question.
I'd allow it to work.
No. Mending does not work on androids.
1. Constructed does not let them benefit from mending
The constructed trait essentially means androids get all of the downsides but none of the benefits of being targeted as a construct. At-will healing would definitely be considered a benefit. If you cast the spell on an android, the spell would treat them as humanoids since that is the least beneficial way for them to be affected. Therefore, mending does not work on them.
2. Mending has a 1 bulk limit and androids weigh more than 1 bulk.
An item has an estimated 1 bulk per 5-10 pounds and an additional 1 bulk per 10 pounds of weight (p. 167). An android has a minimum weight of 100 pounds (p. 41) and would count as 9 or 10 bulk. Even a Small android would likely weigh no less than 60 pounds.
3. Mending would make androids too strong of a race.
At-will healing has a big impact on the game and obviously not wanted by the designers. Even if you somehow munchkin a way to make it work, I would not recommend GMs allow it. It would eventually get errata'd as this is obviously not what the designers intended.
Ah. Forgot that Mending was a Cantrip. Yeah I'd disallow that.
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It's a cantrip, but limited to once per day on constructs, so not very broken. I wonder if it cuts both ways though. Can androids benefit from mystic cure because they count as constructs who can't benefit?
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It's a cantrip, but limited to once per day on constructs, so not very broken. I wonder if it cuts both ways though. Can androids benefit from mystic cure because they count as constructs who can't benefit?
lol now I'm back to allowing it XD
Androids can benefit from Mystic Cure since Constructed only applies to to effect that target type, Mystic Cure does not target type.
I'm not sure if there is anything that says androids are "living creatures"
Androids are not constructs. They're humanoids. Humanoids are living creatures. Androids can only be targeted as a construct if it would be detrimental to them, as per the Constructed trait.
No one seemed to worry about that "one object of up to 1 bulk" when discussing Mending as it relates to a Mechanic's drone.
The weird part is that Mending specifically says it targets objects, then later says that a construct can benefit from it once per day. Like, the flavor text says "objects and constructs," but the "targets" entry makes no mention of constructs. Blah. I'm expressing this poorly.
I'd allow it. If someone presents a situation in which a small piece of a larger object is broken, I'd let them use Mending to fix it. Why? Because the section they're fixing isn't more than 1 bulk. I know that isn't how it's worded. I think they should have worded it differently. Doesn't make a lot of sense that you can fix a hole in a metal plate with it, but once that place's attached to your armor, suddenly the spell's useless.
Androids are not constructs. They're humanoids. Humanoids are living creatures. Androids can only be targeted as a construct if it would be detrimental to them, as per the Constructed trait.Do we actually have anything that says they are humanoids? We just have text that they can count as both humanoids or constructs. Nothing seems to label them as any more of one than the other.
Page 42. Under the heading "Size and Type."
"Androids are Medium humanoids with the android subtype."
If I remember correctly, they are considered humanoids or constructs, whichever is worse. In this case, being a humanoid is worse, so they are affected by mending as if they are humanoids.
They take "whichever effect is worse" between the one for humanoid and the one for construct when targeted by a spell that targets by type.
Mending does not target by type, though it can't be used for targets of greater than 1 bulk, so it's kinda useless anyways, but if it wasn't limited by bulk, then it would heal androids, as there is no "worser" effect that mending causes when targeting humanoids, being healed IS the worst effect it.
Since it's only 1d4/day and it would a lot of fluff to the race, I would allow it.
Maybe even go this far and think about using engineering OR medicin to traet an androids wounds.
Androids are not constructs. They're humanoids. Humanoids are living creatures. Androids can only be targeted as a construct if it would be detrimental to them, as per the Constructed trait.Do we actually have anything that says they are humanoids? We just have text that they can count as both humanoids or constructs. Nothing seems to label them as any more of one than the other.Page 42. Under the heading "Size and Type."
"Androids are Medium humanoids with the android subtype."
The issue is that the they must choose the worst of construct or humanoid for effects. Would this apply with Mystic Cure? The worst would be that they were a construct, which are not living and thus not valid targets of Mystic Cure.
If it does not apply in the case of Mystic Cure, then why does it apply in the case of Mending?
Further, how much Bulk do characters take up? As far as I can tell, Bulk is not a measure of actual weight, but of difficulty to transport. How many full-on constructs would even be able to benefit from that - even in regards to the mechanic drones?
Even assuming Mending can't work because of Bulk, there are other spells that heal constructs and objects as well, besides just Mending - like Make Whole, which isn't all too different from a Mystic Cure spell of the same level (5d6 flat compared to 3d8 + however much the Mystic wants to give).
I'd definitely like to see some clarification here, officially. This isn't some minute rules-lawyer thing - I can see this coming up in a lot of games with a lot of different types of players, and can make or break class/race choice. Obviously Androids are meant to be affected by Cure - but why is that exception being made with no note, and why does the exception seem so specific? What other exceptions are there to this trait?
Androids are not constructs. They're humanoids. Humanoids are living creatures. Androids can only be targeted as a construct if it would be detrimental to them, as per the Constructed trait.Do we actually have anything that says they are humanoids? We just have text that they can count as both humanoids or constructs. Nothing seems to label them as any more of one than the other.Page 42. Under the heading "Size and Type."
"Androids are Medium humanoids with the android subtype."
The issue is that the they must choose the worst of construct or humanoid for effects. Would this apply with Mystic Cure? The worst would be that they were a construct, which are not living and thus not valid targets of Mystic Cure.
If it does not apply in the case of Mystic Cure, then why does it apply in the case of Mending?
Further, how much Bulk do characters take up? As far as I can tell, Bulk is not a measure of actual weight, but of difficulty to transport. How many full-on constructs would even be able to benefit from that - even in regards to the mechanic drones?
Even assuming Mending can't work because of Bulk, there are other spells that heal constructs and objects as well, besides just Mending - like Make Whole, which isn't all too different from a Mystic Cure spell of the same level (5d6 flat compared to 3d8 + however much the Mystic wants to give).
I'd definitely like to see some clarification here, officially. This isn't some minute rules-lawyer thing - I can see this coming up in a lot of games with a lot of different types of players, and can make or break class/race choice. Obviously Androids are meant to be affected by Cure - but why is that exception being made with no note, and why does the exception seem so specific? What other exceptions are there to this trait?
Mystic cure doesn't target creatures by type. Just living (*not a type) creatures, which android qualifies. If it states it only targets humanoids in a beneficial manner, then it wouldn't work on androids, just like how make whole wouldn't beneficially affect androids since it doesn't also beneficially affect humanoids.
Constructs by bulk isn't applicable to mending. Mending affecting constructs is a special exception to the normal target line.
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Mystic cure doesn't targeting creatures by type. Just living (*not a type) creatures, which android qualifies....Androids are not constructs. They're humanoids. Humanoids are living creatures. Androids can only be targeted as a construct if it would be detrimental to them, as per the Constructed trait.Do we actually have anything that says they are humanoids? We just have text that they can count as both humanoids or constructs. Nothing seems to label them as any more of one than the other.Page 42. Under the heading "Size and Type."
"Androids are Medium humanoids with the android subtype."
The issue is that the they must choose the worst of construct or humanoid for effects. Would this apply with Mystic Cure? The worst would be that they were a construct, which are not living and thus not valid targets of Mystic Cure.
If it does not apply in the case of Mystic Cure, then why does it apply in the case of Mending?
Further, how much Bulk do characters take up? As far as I can tell, Bulk is not a measure of actual weight, but of difficulty to transport. How many full-on constructs would even be able to benefit from that - even in regards to the mechanic drones?
Even assuming Mending can't work because of Bulk, there are other spells that heal constructs and objects as well, besides just Mending - like Make Whole, which isn't all too different from a Mystic Cure spell of the same level (5d6 flat compared to 3d8 + however much the Mystic wants to give).
I'd definitely like to see some clarification here, officially. This isn't some minute rules-lawyer thing - I can see this coming up in a lot of games with a lot of different types of players, and can make or break class/race choice. Obviously Androids are meant to be affected by Cure - but why is that exception being made with no note, and why does the exception seem so specific? What other exceptions are there to this trait?
But Android counts as a humanoid or a construct - the worse of the two - for the sake of targeting. If constructs are nonliving, then no, they're not a living creature, and thus not a valid target for the sake of that spell, since it would be worse for them to not be targeted for it.
If the "take the worse effect" is supposed to be for things like dealing more damage or stunning certain specific creatures, and not for buff spells, then why wouldn't things like Mending or Make Whole then work, considering Make Whole in particular specifies it can target any construct creature?
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But Android counts as a humanoid or a construct - the worse of the two - for the sake of targeting. If constructs are nonliving, then no, they're not a living creature, and thus not a valid target for the sake of that spell, since it would be worse for them to not be targeted for it.
If the "take the worse effect" is supposed to be for things like dealing more damage or stunning certain specific creatures, and not for buff spells, then why wouldn't things like Mending or Make Whole then work, considering Make Whole in particular specifies it can target any construct creature?
"For the sake of targeting" the spell would need to specify it's targeting a creature type or that it affects a creature type before Android's Constructed comes into consideration:
For effects targeting creatures by type, androids count as both humanoids and constructs (whichever effect is worse).
Other spells allow you to target other categories of creatures or items, such as construct, corpse, or object
Mystic Cure doesn't target by creature type, but by if a creature is living or not (also with the specific case of level 4 Mystic Cure affecting creatures that died, no longer living but specific exception stated by spell). So Constructed trait doesn't come into play. But androids would still benefit from Mystic Cure because they count as living creatures.
Many spells affect “living creatures,” which means all creatures other than constructs and undead artificially created beings that are not undead or constructs are considered living for this purpose).
Reincarnate would work for androids also in this case for the same reasons.
Mending, specifies it can affect a construct. That's a creature type, so we can then consider Constructed trait. Androids then get counted as construct and humanoid, whichever effect is worst. In this case, humanoid is worse as humanoids don't benefit from Mending, then androids don't get affected by Mending.
Make Whole and Rapid Repair says it targets a construct. Same case with Mending, Androids get counted as construct and humanoid, where humanoid is worse (humanoids don't benefit from these spells) and so androids don't get affected by those spells.
A spell like Charm Person, Dominate Person, Daze, Hold Person all specify they target humanoids. Androids would then again get counted as construct and humanoid, in these cases humanoid is worse so then the androids gets affected by all those negative spells.
Deep Slumber targets living creatures, which androids qualify. It specifies construct types are immune to it, so we look at Constructed and we see androids counting as humanoid is worse and they're still affected by Deep Slumber, but at least they get +2 racial bonus to saving throws against it.
Entropic Grasp says it would work "against a manufactured creature (generally constructs, but not undead), this attack deals 6d12 damage. In this case, android's Constructed the construct type is worse, and they'd suffer the damage.
Raise Dead is iffy. It targets living creatures that died, which androids count. It also says constructs can't be raised by the spell (page 371), so being a construct is worse for androids in this case and they can't be raised. However, Owen K. Stephens states in the forums that androids are a special case and that they can be raised like any other living creature.