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Okay so I have recently come into the possession of a Shield Guardian and have cast Awaken Construct (Spell Compendium)
Now I am unsure how to proceed with it.
I know that it gains a feat for every 3 levels (it's an advanced guardian with 19 HD, so that would mean 7 feats)
But what about it's advancement? What would it's character level be equivalent to?
I have a week to iron out the details, but using the method of calculating ECL in the MM is not the best idea because the Guardian would have an unrealistic ECL.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
edit: our party's average level is 15. Mine is a 15th level Wizard
You have stumbled into the fuzzy area between CR, ECL, and LA. As such, welcome to the most inhospitable region of the D&D rules. Tread carefully.
I'll see if I can give any advice. First, I pull up the Shield Guardian stats. 112 HP, +16 attack bonus. About in line with a 12th level barbarian, if he had an 18 strength and con. Saves at +5, well, the 12th level barbarian is beating those. +15 natural armor is very nice, and spped of 30 is standard. Definitely a better AC than your average barbarian. Fast healing 5 is nice, but with no DR, its not as powerful as you might think. Sure, the HP come back after combat, but a 12th level barbarian has DR 4/-, which is far better because of the HP it prevents going away during combat. Shield and guard require other creatures to be useful, and the spell storing is about as good as a +1 weapon enchantment. Ability wise, it has a +4 strength, and large size. Alrighty then. The barbaian has improved uncanny dodge, rage, and faster speed.
I see a +2 level adjustment for the size/strength combo (well, more like 1.5) The natural armor is worth another 1.5, and the fast healing feels like about a .5 to me. Construct type has some nice advantages, so a +1 there. Relatively bad saves though, so -1. Shield, guard, and spell storing are another .5, maybe +1 at worst. So lets tally it up. I'm getting a +4, or a +5 if being very conservative/paranoid. But here is where I step in and think about what is lost: class abilities. As a spellcaster, there would be very little room left for caster levels, and you wouldnt really be able to do much with them. Even a martial character, like a barbarian or fighter can't milk much out of it, and looses a lot with all those racial HD. I'd ascribe about a -3 to the level adjustment, from the class ability growth lost. So in the end, a +1 or +2 level adjustment, relative to a 12th level barbarian.
Now you have to make the call, and it all comes down to how "pure" you feel you run your game. Most would say running this as a 17th level character (mind you, im going off of the 15hd version, adjust accordingly) would be the most "pure". You could also run it as a 14th level character, with the +2 level adjustment being applied to the 12th level character used for comparison. Yes, that means it has more HD than its level. Its outside the normal rules to do that. But that doesnt mean it won't work either.
Consider the point buy/ability score average of your game. If its high power, increase the level adjustment a bit. Consider the versimiltude of your world. Would it be easy to get armor for this creature? Weapons? Magical gear? A magic-mart world makes it easier to exploit the power of odd races via gear. Is it starting with the money of a 14th level character? Or is it penniless, cobbling together gear from the handmedowns of the rest of the PCs?
Personally, for an "out of the box" awakened shield guardian that occured due to PC intervention, I would run it as a 14th level character. If the other 14th level melee types couldn't keep up with it, then I pity them. I would expect the PCs to do gear handmedowns and priority shifts to make the construct able to participate. (Example: until the construct can make some money and buy his own, the monk loans his amulet of mighty fists to it, as he already has ki strike. Or the wizard who prefers to put on a hand of glory with an extra ring on it may give the construct his amulet of natural armor.)
Thats all the advice I can give. It comes from the perspective of my own play group, and the comfort zone I have reached in regards to disregarding certain aspects of the rules in order to allow a cool/fun/interesting idea work better within the rest of the confines of the rules. Your mileage may vary. Hopefully some more Paizonians contribute to your effort.
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Thank you very much for taking the time to put together such a great response! I appreciate it and I'll definitely run your ideas by my DM.
Unfortunately the rest of the Awaken Construct spell is rather vague on how to handle things.
I DO agree with alot of the things you said. Most of the abilities it has could all be mimicked through spells or magic items (which a 15th level party should have no trouble finding)
Pretty much any class of comparable hit dice would be stronger than the guardian. And thats not even factoring magical gear.
I had considered running some mock fights against...say your 12th level Bbn.
I was hoping to have some designers insights as well.
ECL IS probably the most blurred area of the game.
Yeah, its terribly difficult to determine ECL, but I find it becomes easier the higher range your looking at.
The main thing to think about is how strong it is without any gear, and with standard gear. The defensive abilities of the shield guardian are nice, but consider how they stack up to a character of a certain level, same with offensive abilities, and that can help you pin down the right level.