Best Construct for Armor at 15th level


Advice

The Exchange

I'm playing a Magus at 15th level and I can't decided which Paizo golem would be best for my armor.

I would like to enchant it to at least a +4 and fully outfit my Magic items but I think keeping it about 100k would be optimal.

Any Ideas?

Grand Lodge

What size is the PC?

The Exchange

Medium, Elf

Grand Lodge

Okay, that means medium only.

What is your weapon of choice?

Are you playing an archetype?

The Exchange

Since it's relevant...

FAQ on Construct Armour:
Da FAQ wrote:

Construct Armor (page 114): How do attacks target the construct armor? Do I gain its resistances, immunities, and other defenses? What are the "benefits" and "hindrances" mentioned in this section? Does wearing it affect your speed?

The construct armor is treated as breastplate for the purpose of AC. If something targets you, it must first hit your AC. If it hits you, the attack has to get through the construct's DR or hardness and its hit points. In effect, the construct armor acts much like a pool of temporary hit points: you don't take any damage from attacks that target your AC until the construct is destroyed.

Attacks that bypass your AC bypass this protection and affects you normally (this includes most area effects). If the construct is resistant or immune to a particular attack, the attack bypasses this protection and affects you normally. Basically, the construct armor is good at mitigating damage from melee and ranged attacks, but doesn't protect you like you were the actual construct.

For example, a wood golem is immune to and healed by cold; if you're wearing wood golem armor, hitting you with a ray of frost doesn't harm the armor, heals the armor if the attack deals at least 3 points of cold damage, and deals 1d3 points of cold damage to you. Fortunately, you don't gain the construct's weaknesses; just because a wood golem has vulnerability to fire doesn't mean you take 150% fire damage when wearing wood golem armor.

The "benefits" in this section refer to the construct armor counting as breastplate and to its hit point buffer against melee and ranged attacks. The "penalties" in this section refer to the construct armor counting as breastplate.

Because the "counts as breastplate" section doesn't say it affects your speed (presumably because the construct is partially animate and able to help you move), it does not affect your speed.

Update: Page 114—In the Construct Armor modification, in the first paragraph, in the second sentence, change “first target the construct” to “damage the construct.” In the third sentence, change “regains all the hindrances” to “retains all the hindrances.”

—Sean K Reynolds, 11/17/11

Construct armour doesn't do much for you except grant you a buffer of Hit Points (in most circumstances). Attacks which hit you have to get through the construct's DR / Hardness, and whittle away its Hit Points, before getting you. A construct actually immune to any damage types is a penalty, not a bonus, here, 'cos then those damage types automatically bypass this buffer effect (because: a) game balance, and b) a wizard did it! ;) ).

So you want a construct with a good base DR / Hardness and good base Hit Points, but no immunities and (if you're planning on wearing it as armour all the time) no fancy powers you'd need to be paying extra for... 'cos you can't use 'em anyway...

Take a basic medium-sized Animated Object. Give it the 'metal - adamantine' ability so it has a Hardness of 20. This costs 6 construction points, or 4 over a medium Animated Object's base, to increases the thing's Challenge Rating from 3 to 5. You can boost the Hit Dice from 3 to 4, but no higher (as that would increase the thing's size and invalidate it as a candidate for Contruct Armour), for another bump in CR from 5 to 6.

A CR 6 construct costs a base of 6x6x500 = 18,000gp, so with the Craft Construct Feat you can make it for 9,000gp. Add in the 35,000gp for the construct armour modification and you've spent 44,000gp on a breastplate which, if your AC is beaten, applies it's 20 Hardness to the damage you'd take, then takes the remainder to it's own 44 Hit Points.

Unfortunately, although you can add magical armour qualities to a construct, nothing in the RAW indicates that those qualities help you when you're wearing that construct like armour. All you get is the normal +6 armour bonus to AC a breastplate gives you. Plus the buffer thing, plus no reduced movement. So expect to get hit a lot, and if your opponents are routinely inflicting more than the construct's 20 Hardness per hit, then expect your nifty construct armour to be a pile of useless parts pretty quickly...

... I could be missing something (I really hope I'm missing something...), but construct armour doesn't really seem worth the effort (compared with 'standard' magical armour - just see what you can buy for that same 44,000gp!).


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Clockwork soldier (Bestiary 3, pg. 57), construction cost 19,000 gp. Add Armor Modification (+4 enhancement bonus) for +8,000 gp and Construct Armor for +35,000 gp. Total construction cost is 54,000 gp. You may want to also consider adding energy resistance (electricity) for +9,000 gp, Hit Dice Modification (+4 HD, 12 HD total) for +9,000 gp, and Ability Score Modification (+2 Str, for 30 Str total) for +5,000 gp. If you want to get really wild, you can add a variant of the righteous armor ability that grants DR 5/adamantine instead of DR 5/evil (technically weaker/easier to overcome) for +13,500 gp construction cost.

@ProfPotts: It may not be the 100% most efficient use of resources, but it does provide some benefits. Most GMs will probably let you use the construct's Str while you are wearing it (although, I'd rule that belts of giant strength on the character wearing the construct do not increase the construct's Str). And the enhancement bonus and other abilities should also apply, since you are wearing the object with the bonus/abilities (although for special materials, I'd require that the construct be crafted as if wearing full plate, even if the wearer only benefits from a breastplate). Also, when not wearing the construct, you gain an additional combatant roughly on par with an animal companion (although you do have to pay for improvements).

Full disclosure: I was just recently designing a character with a wearable construct, so I've already put in most of the thought and development time.

Grand Lodge

I prefer the Construct Limb as it allows you to use the Construct's attacks and abilities.

The Exchange

@Dragonchess Player: I agree that construct armour could be great with those sorts of house rules... it's more what I, at least, was thinking when I first read the section in UM and tried to puzzle it out... but as it is (unless we get further clarification from Paizo) it doesn't look to be that way, RAW.

The construct armour modification seems more like something a Wizard with too much ca$h and time on his hands would add to his otherwise perfectly reasonable construct as an extra-special 'if all else fails' option when he's being beaten down ('Quick, my clanky minion - protect your Master!')...

When you can add a +5 enhancement bonus to 'regular' magical armour for a measly 25,000gp, the base cost of the construct armour modification being 35,000gp really comes into stark relief, IMHO...

@blackbloodtroll: Construct Limb is indeed better in what it allows you to use the thing for, but most of the time I still think a character who'd be using a heavy steel shield anyway would prefer a +5 shield under most circumstances... YMMV, of course...


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
ProfPotts wrote:
@Dragonchess Player: I agree that construct armour could be great with those sorts of house rules... it's more what I, at least, was thinking when I first read the section in UM and tried to puzzle it out... but as it is (unless we get further clarification from Paizo) it doesn't look to be that way, RAW.

Granted, it doesn't specifically say that the construct's Str or the armor enhancements/abilities apply, but "This modification allows the construct to be worn like armor... So long as the creator wears it, the construct performs no independent actions, remaining under the control of the creator..." sure sounds like the intent is there.

ProfPotts wrote:
When you can add a +5 enhancement bonus to 'regular' magical armour for a measly 25,000gp, the base cost of the construct armour modification being 35,000gp really comes into stark relief, IMHO...

Which is another reason to think that the intent was for more than just +6 AC and some extra hp against direct attacks. As I mentioned, even with the RAI argument, it's still not the 100% most efficient use of resources, but it does provide some benefits for the cost.

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