| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
Hello all, I'm going to be running Iron Gods soon for my group and I have a character who is interested in being a construct maker.
What he wants to know is if there is anything preventing him from using the "corpse" of a robot as the base of an Animated Object. Of course the robot won't keep it's special abilities or anything, he just thinks it's more cool and flavorful than using chairs and dining tables.
As the GM I'm down with the idea of this but I was wondering if there were any rules I don't know about that might conflict with this working?
To rephrase more succinctly (and bump),
Are there any rules or considerations beyond the nom that need to be taken into account when using a deactivated robot or construct as the base for an Animated Object?
Okay, I'll bump this one last time and if I get no replies I'll just roll with it.
Also, who marked this as an FAQ candidate? Doesn't seem like a question that deserves it.
As the GM I'm down with the idea of this but I was wondering if there were any rules I don't know about that might conflict with this working?
Nope
Are there any rules or considerations beyond the nom that need to be taken into account when using a deactivated robot or construct as the base for an Animated Object?
Nope
I've been using some construct crafting in my homebrew, I don't see there being an issue with this. From the player side the cost is so prohibitive it may not work out very well in the longrun. I have a few feats I offered my players. The game is much more tech based and highly house ruled but you could reskin these a little if you like them:
Mechanical Secrets
The character is such a skilled mechanik.. that he can build a construct more quickly and more cheaply than others.
Prerequisite: Craft (Any Technology) 9 rank, Knowledge (Engineering) 5 ranks, Craft Wondrous Item, Craft Construct.
Benefit: Due to his extensive research in mechanikal construction and thorough understanding of the principles of mechanika, the character can reduce the base cost to create any mechanika construct by 25%.
Rugged Mechanika
The character knows how to build constructs that are sturdier and better able to withstand damage.
Prerequisite: Craft (alchemy) 7 ranks, Craft (any tech) 11 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 11 ranks, Craft Wondrous Item.
Benefit: Any construct or vehicle built by the character gains an additional +2 bonus to its natural armor, +2 hit Dice, and 10 extra hit points regardless of type.
Nothing game breaking(at least that I've found yet), and gives a little more bang for your buck since constructs are so expensive. I also removed the craft magic arms and armor prerequisite, which I think is pretty legit.
Nothing conflicting as far as I know, you would just need enough construct points to take the metal ability. Without the metal ability you would need to make an animated object out of wood.
This means that it would need to be medium sized or larger.
The other workaround is craft: clockwork skill, craft construct and technologist feats. At which point you are just making the robots magically powered rather than technology driven.
When a construct hits 0 hit points it is destroyed. There is nothing left to use.
If the robot(construct) has not been reduced to 0 hit points then I might need to ask why it is inactive.
However you are the GM, and the idea of this is not game breaking, but constructs are expensive, and if outfitted well can be useful so I would not lower the prices. If you do, the don't drop it by more than 25%.
When a construct hits 0 hit points it is destroyed. There is nothing left to use.
If the robot(construct) has not been reduced to 0 hit points then I might need to ask why it is inactive.However you are the GM, and the idea of this is not game breaking, but constructs are expensive, and if outfitted well can be useful so I would not lower the prices. If you do, the don't drop it by more than 25%.
Duh, that was obivous. By RAW can't do it, but I still think its flavorful and not game breaking.
When a construct hits 0 hit points it is destroyed. There is nothing left to use.
If the robot(construct) has not been reduced to 0 hit points then I might need to ask why it is inactive.
The way I look at it when a construct is dropped to 0 hp (specifically a robot) you're still left with some broken heap of something, even if it no longer functions in any meaningful way.
By casting Animate Object on an "dead" robot he's doing something similar to casting Animate Dead on a corpse. What's created is a new mindless creature that happens to look like the old one but doesn't retain any of the original's abilities.
However you are the GM, and the idea of this is not game breaking, but constructs are expensive, and if outfitted well can be useful so I would not lower the prices. If you do, the don't drop it by more than 25%.
As to pricing, the original cost to make an animate object is listed at
Price varies (cost of object + [(animated object’s HD + CP) × 1,000])
So the only cost he'll be circumventing is the "cost of object" which is generally the cheapest thing you can find that will do the job when dealing with animated objects anyway.
On a related note to my "Animate Object on a dead construct is like Animate Dead on a corpse" comment, could you technically cast Animate Object on a corpse? I mean they are treated as objects right?
When a construct hits 0 hit points it is destroyed. There is nothing left to use.
If the robot(construct) has not been reduced to 0 hit points then I might need to ask why it is inactive.
The way I look at it when a construct is dropped to 0 hp (specifically a robot) you're still left with some broken heap of something, even if it no longer functions in any meaningful way.
By casting Animate Object on an "dead" robot he's doing something similar to casting Animate Dead on a corpse. What's created is a new mindless creature that happens to look like the old one but doesn't retain any of the original's abilities.
However you are the GM, and the idea of this is not game breaking, but constructs are expensive, and if outfitted well can be useful so I would not lower the prices. If you do, the don't drop it by more than 25%.As to pricing, the original cost to make an animate object is listed at
Price varies (cost of object + [(animated object’s HD + CP) × 1,000])So the only cost he'll be circumventing is the "cost of object" which is generally the cheapest thing you can find that will do the job when dealing with animated objects anyway.
If you are just using animate object I guess any debris would do. For some reason I was thinking about a construct that was not an animated object. As long as the animate object rules are in place it could work per RAW. If he wants an actual construct:
By the rules you need raw materials worth ____ for many of them. A destroyed creature does not fit within the rules. Basically you will have to use GM Fiat to allow this. There is nothing wrong with that. You can just say he has to pay ____ to restore the "corpse" to a usable condition. ____ should be equal to what he would have had to pay anyway.
Duh, that was obivous. By RAW can't do it, but I still think its flavorful and not game breaking.When a construct hits 0 hit points it is destroyed. There is nothing left to use.
If the robot(construct) has not been reduced to 0 hit points then I might need to ask why it is inactive.However you are the GM, and the idea of this is not game breaking, but constructs are expensive, and if outfitted well can be useful so I would not lower the prices. If you do, the don't drop it by more than 25%.
He is still trying to ask about it by RAW, so I guess to him it is not all that obvious. :)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The duh was more for myself for missing it earlier up there:) Sometimes tone doesn't convey properly on posts!
I remember just recently going over few recently released books pertaining Numeria and remember that I saw some stats for magically reanimated Robot.
Technic League uses them sometimes.
There was similar stats for creating them just like golems have.
Don't remember which book it was though.
I know it wasn't in Technology Guide as I don't yet have that.
The Robot Golem is in Numeria - Land of Fallen Stars.
And it goes to show that a destroyed robot does not turn to dust, but leaves a robot corpse, which can be turned into a magical construct.
So I see no reason why a robot corpse should be unfit as a target for animate object.
The Robot Golem is in Numeria - Land of Fallen Stars.
Thank you KutuluKultis. I knew I saw it.
And it goes to show that a destroyed robot does not turn to dust, but leaves a robot corpse, which can be turned into a magical construct.
So I see no reason why a robot corpse should be unfit as a target for animate object.
Unless you happened to use Disintegrate on it but that is another story.
A potential issue is that a robot is many complex mechanical parts instead of one solid mass, ("It is an animated object! Singular" says Derpy the Dick-move DM) but that's getting ridiculously pedantic with flavor text and item descriptions. Not to mention it contradicts example animated objects.
Indeed, by that reasoning, a cupboard would be out...
Also, I disagree that the broken robot needs to be mended first. If the spell can animate a table, which has not moving joints, than it can animate a wrecked, semi-humanoid piece of scrap-metal.