One of my players is a dwarf magus with the ability to craft constructs.
He decided to craft himself a suit of animated full plate to wear into battle. He figured that it would be easier to don and to remove, since the armor itself could act as a second assistant. He could also make two identical suits to take into battle, to act as additional combat support and to confuse his enemies (who don't know which suit contains the magus).
This was all well and good, but I'm starting to wonder about other things the player might try to do once he realizes that they might be doable. I wanted your input on how to deal with it should they arise.
If you wouldn't allow animated personal gear in the first place, or have a strong urge to call it cheese (or anything similar). DO NOT BOTHER POSTING. It won't be constructive.
Some of the ideas that I've had:
1) The armor is a separate creature that can be worn and used as armor. Among other things that means that it has its own initiative and set of actions. Could the player take his own set of actions; charging and killing an enemy, for example, then have the armor move over to a new enemy and attack (dragging the magus along for the ride), and then have the magus in a position to make a full attack on his turn?
2) Can he command the armor to remove itself from him, allowing him to don or remove the armor essentially as a free action, or would it still take time like mundane armor?
3) Seeing as the armor is a separate creature, it can benefit from spells and other effects. Would a mage armor spell, shield spell, or similar effect cast on the armor itself protect both the armor AND the dwarf?
4) The armor readies an action to attempt to disarm any enemies that come within reach, or to sunder incoming arrows and other projectiles out of the air. ;)
5) Would you maybe treat this as similar to mounted combat; having the armor move on the magus' initiative, limiting full attacks after moving more than 5 feet, having separate actions, etc.?
I know there aren't any/many real rules covering this kind of thing, which is why I put it in the Advice forum and not the Rules forum. If it helps, just imagine that you are my GM, and that I am a player proposing these ideas to you for use in play. What would your response be? How would you handle them in your games?
Also, if you can think of other possible tricks, combos, or abuses using animated armor (or any other animated gear, as I'm sure he will make more) please post those as well. I want to be ready should my player think up some of these things himself.
EDIT: Animated swords that make their own attack routine in addition to yours when swung at an enemy. Animated arrows that "home in" on the enemy when fired. Animated crossbows that reload themselves. Animated tower shields that grant total cover when it is not the PCs turn. Animated bottles that run along the battlefield pouring alchemist's fire onto foes. An economical "flying carpet" for the entire party.
It seems that there is no limit to the imagination.
Check out Construct Armor found here. It's from UM.
I'm quite familiar, thanks. That doesn't really apply here as it isn't needed. Animated objects can still function as the original object. Applying construct armor in this case would be redundant, as animated armor can already be worn and utilized.
It might serve as a basis for some rulings though, as it clearly denotes the designers' intent.
Ah well then.
This is probably better suited for Homebrew, as this is a grey area and we're already blasting past the intent of the rules.
1)
If a player came up to me asking about this, I would say "If you want to use a construct as armor, then use the construct armor option."
If he insisted on not using those rules (probably because of the hefty price tag), and I for some reason relented, I would impose some fairly hefty penalties for attacking or moving in the armor, since he would have to deal with the inherent resistance that moving about in an animated object would entail. The animated object doesn't know where you plan to move every single muscle (and thus eventually the armor), so there would be resistance to it. Possibly quite a bit.
If he wanted to get around that, he would have to temporarily deactivate the animated object so that there would be no resistance.
He would also need some sort of feat to become proficient in it. Probably Exotic Armor Proficiency (Animated Suit of Armor). Due to the above reasons, it is barely whatever armor it used to be and the ability to move about in that armor without restriction would not carry over to moving around in an animated creature.
2) I'd say that the animated object would count as assisting him put the armor on.
3) No, it would not. One or the other. If the dwarf wants to benefit from the armor's armor bonuses, he cannot gain cover from it. He would never have full cover either.
4) That seems somewhat reasonable at first thought.
Sorry, Cheapy, I edited the above post and added a new number. For #4 were you referring to treating it like mounted combat or the suit readying actions?