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Has anyone used the lifespark template from Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary? I'm curious as to any recommendations on CR adjustment or Level Adjustments. The template itself doesn't specify anything for CR, and since constructs in general don't have a listed level adjustment, its kind of left up in the air. The example is a bit confusing to me in that regard, as they've added the template and 7 levels of sorcerer to an iron golem, and the CR has gone from 13 to 18. I would have guessed 16-17, based on adding 7 levels of what I consider a non-associated class (adding 1/2 CR per level, as per the monster advancement section of the SRD, equaling 3-4 depending on how you round it). That leads me to believe +1 CR for the template, and +4 for the class levels. I feel like I've missed something or that I'm making this more complicated than it should be. Perhaps the original stats they used for the iron golem are incorrect, as I noticed the golem's bonus hit points aren't added in either.
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Has anyone used the lifespark template from Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary? I'm curious as to any recommendations on CR adjustment or Level Adjustments.
Really tough to quantify easily. Suddenly the construct gains skills and many feats where before it had none. That alone is worth at least a +1 CR adjustment.
Many of the templates in the Advanced Bestiary are wonderful, but are difficult to give a universal adjustment to CR/LA.
For the example given, I would say that the template gives the creature a +2 to CR and +3 due to non-associated class levels. Having a golem with cleave, power attack and improved initiative significantly adds to the difficulty of the creature. (And that doesn't even include all the feats to help its spell-casting.)
I don't know why the bonus hit points weren't added in as I can't find anything about it in the description of the template. It was probably an oversight.
If you want another example of a lifespark construct, Pathfinder #2 has a lifespark flesh golem you might be interested in checking out.
Hope that all helps.
I allowed a PC to play a lifespark construct in an experimental game, and he dominated the table. He was immune to so very much stuff, particularly since as a clockwork creature he had natural armour and hardness. Constructs are immune to mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects), poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, necromancy effects, critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, energy drain, and anything that allows a Fortitude save.
It's a very strong template.
Hope that all helps.
That it does! I'm also pretty sure that the missing hit points is just an oversight, but I only have ready access to 3.5 stats and sometimes you find weird bits of 3.0 make their way through (like stats blocks that still reference Face instead of Space). I realize some amount of judgment is required here, but I've never been very good at CR comparison. To that end, it is always helpful to get someone else's opinion on the matter.
I checked out the lifespark flesh golem in Pathfinder #2, but that just added a bit more confusion for me, as its CR is adjusted by 1, which might just as well come from the elite stats used for it. I suppose I'll just have to stat something up, throw it at my players a few times, and see how it turns out (sometimes PCs are like the D&D version of crash test dummies).
As for playing as a golem, were any of my players to ask for such a thing, I would probably use the Savage Species progressions setup, perhaps with the lifespark template added to compensate for the lack of a class. I've found those rules useful in the past for de-advancing creatures, to make a slightly weaker version, or younger version, of something tough.