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I noticed that there are no Ability Adjustments listed for Gearforged? Do they really get no ability adjustments, or should they get a floating +2 like a Human? Seems odd that they get none.

I would have expected some amount of natural armor (They are, after all, made of metal), but nothing is listed for that.

These are odd - you're right. As of the Advanced Race Guide, gearforged do receive the floating +2 that Ben mentions, as well as +1 natural armor.

Also, after much consideration in the development mines, gearforged do have a CON score. (Game) mechanics aside (har har), I think this is perfectly reasonable given the potential breadth of quality in GF construction.

Might be because I'm a little dense, but after reading this (great supplement by the way) I have a few nagging questions that I just can't shake: 1) does the Lay on Hands of a Faithforged heal GF only for the minimum amount?

2) what benefit does a GF receive for having a second soul gem? what happens if one of them is removed?
3) I believe it mentions in the Player's Guide that GF can wear armor but it has to be installed (same price and regular armor). is that still the case?
4) as a GF gets more experienced/older will their noggins have to be altered to make room for more memory gears? maybe put a bag of holding in there or something?

I know I typed up a response to these questions when they appeared, but must not have actually posted it. Sorry for that - here’s what I think I said last time:

1) I would call this an exception to the minimum healing decree and say that it works as the standard paladin ability, 1d6 / 2 levels.
2) This predates the GF book and I unfortunately can’t speak to the original author’s intentions or provide any kind of canonical answer. That said, perhaps a second soul gem acts as a something of a psychic backup drive, granting the GF a small additional bonus against mind-altering affects or something along those lines. As far as what happens when one is removed? You go after it and have an adventure!
3) Yes!
4) I would call this a non-issue if you don’t feel like worrying about it, though I do love the idea of some antediluvian GF villain in the mold of MODOC or the Leader. (GF aren’t especially old on Midgard, so maybe they’d have to be from the future or something. No biggie.) I love the bag of holding idea and might take it a step further to an entire demiplane. I think that would be pretty cool. I mean, who’s to say Midgard’s Plane of Gears isn’t actually Rava’s brain?

Thanks for your reply to my question, and I have follow-up: How many racial points are Gearforged worth under the Advance Race Guide race builder rules?

Apologies for the late reply - Ben McFarland cheerfully schooled me on Race Building, so it's his fine work that I'm sharing here:

Gearforged = 12 RP (in the neighborhood of Aasimar, Darakhul, Drow, Fetchlings, and Tengu):

00RP Humanoid
00RP Medium
00RP Normal Speed
00RP Human Heritage (+2 to one)
00RP Standard Language

Racial Traits
04RP Resistant (twice)
01RP Natural Armor
01RP Craftsman (+2 Craft)
02RP Skill Bonus (Intimitdate)
-2RP Underwater Penalty (Swim and paralysis)
01RP No Sleep unless it helps
-3RP Can't heal naturally
02RP Autostabilize/New Body
-3RP Can't Raise/Resurrect
03RP Immune to Death/Necro Effects
03RP Immune to Sleep/poison/Disease
01RP Low-light Vision
02RP Darkvision

It doesn't seem like I'm going to get around to building this out myself, so I humbly offer to the jokesters:

Battle Axe Body Spray

Spoiler:

Also, it wasn't really spelled out clearly in Midnight Isles... but Nocticula actually KILLS Baphomet when she stops him at the end of "Midnight Isles," which means he is resurrected in his Abyssal Realm but gets really timid about further risks... which is why the PCs are able to invade his realm in the next adventure without him immediately trying to stop them.

I think a Skald with some kind of necromantic portfolio would be pretty cool. He could buff allies with rage powers akin to undead anatomy and, at high levels, animate and enrage his own undead minions.

hi Wes - I'm looking forward to listening to your Lovecraft discussion on Know Direction. In the meantime: Necropants!

That said, there's no reason we can't discuss how to incorporate them into Golarion here on the Paizo boards. The simplest option is to rename them as Numerian automatons (in particular, the gearsmen mentioned in the Inner Sea guide and City of the Fallen Sky) and call it good.

I hope that works for you, but if not, there are other ways to introduce them to Golarion.

And I think they might depend on where you decide gearforged come from. If you'd like to treat them as truly artificial life, constructs animated by magic and mechanics, then I would second Wolfgang's suggestion above.

On the other hand: in Midgard canon, all gearforged were once truly alive, their minds and souls ported into new mechanical bodies. This is certainly the more complicated option, but easily more interesting in terms of roleplaying and backstory.

Who on Golarion would be doing such a thing and why?

- Numerian automaton/android cults ("one of us...one of us...")
- Karamoss decided to "immortalize" the last of his flesh&blood minions at some point, turning them into the first gearforged. Since his disappearance they hide out in the Red Redoubt, using the souls of captured intruders to slowly increase their numbers.
- Cults dedicated to the worship of the primal inevitables created and became gearforged in an attempt to take on forms with which their lost gods would find favor.
- Maybe gearforged really are "junior inevitables" of some kind, made from mortal souls and fulfilling some role in Axis. Those insufficiently dedicated to order are banished to Golarion for another spin at life and subsequent judgement.

This points at the broader question of the role that you want them to have in your campaign world (and your appetite for Golarion canon-juggling if they are especially numerous and/or commonplace anywhere other than Numenera). Lots of possibilities. Fun stuff.

Sorry, overdue reply here.

I have a quick question are the new Gearforged Stats going to replace the ones in the Midgard Campaign Setting Book.

I believe the short answer here would be yes, though if you prefer the MCS version then I would totally encourage you to play that one!

Also do the Gearforged with the new stats lose Con it is not mentioned(unless I missed it).

Being living constructs of varying mechanical quality, the new book's GF do have a Con score.

I must admit I was not really a fan of the whole 'automated-race, warforged-type race' thing, BUT the more I read through this, the more I found myself thinking "huh, that's pretty cool, actually.' By the time I had really read through this, I'd pretty much come around to thinking I'd love to play a gearforged at some point!

Glad it brought you around, Marc! I like to think that my having basically missed warforged entirely (aside from admiring Wayne Reynold's cool depictions of them) was some kind of weird plus on this project.

And I'll third that beautiful layout. It continues to be a total pleasure to page through. Many many thanks for the fantastic work.

Thanks Morgan! The archetypes were my favorite part - especially glad to hear you're digging those. I've got some weird half-finished outtakes that may find their way to your inbox for Yggdrasill.

If Heavy Gauntlet Witch were the name of a band I'm fairly sure that I would absolutely love them.

The word "clockwork" makes me a LOT happier than, say, "golem", "construct," "automaton" or even "robot". YMMV on naming, which is always a matter of taste.

Yes. Alternately, replace "clockwork" with the unwieldy but flexible "mecha-fantastical" and go with your favorite interpretation of whatever that means.

There are a couple of references like DR 2/Fire or DR 5/Acid.

These abilities don't actually make any sense. From context I think they meant Fire Resistance 5 and Acid Resistance 5. It's a niggling issue but could cause confusion for a new player.

You're exactly correct. That's a dumb mistake on my part. I've started going through it very closely after many months away - hopefully we can fix a few things up soon.

Magic of the Celestial Sea Pt. 2 - Rune Magic of Temperos

Arcane markings harnessing the powers of the yellow planet's oppressed bestial godlings, using the Kobold Press rune magic mechanics.

Thanks, Wolfgang!

Writing these articles was a fun opportunity to explore Midgard's night sky through the lens of some useful magical crunch. The next two installments visit a pair of planets, Asaph and Temperos, with a bard achetype and some diabolical rune magic, respectively. The series will close with two entries on Midgard's living stars, including a dip into the new Mythic rules.

There's some weird stuff out there, to say the least. Send help!