Robots are intelligent (they have feats'n skills) but they have the construct subtype too, so I was wondering if "Control construct" works or not on them.
My humble opinion is that a robot should be haked not enchanted but by RAW you apply all the subtype traits present on the creature sheet ( and a robot has the construct subtype).
What's your opinion? takes a mage or an engineer to take over control of a robot?
I would draw inspiration from the fact control undead is almost entirely used for mindless undead, but is still valid to use on intelligent undead. That being said, robot rules are not my strong suit.
I would draw inspiration from the fact control undead is almost entirely used for mindless undead, but is still valid to use on intelligent undead. That being said, robot rules are not my strong suit.
Absolutely true and "Control construct" is a transmutation and not an enchantment spell and this gets your point of view stronger but maybe it's me (too much sci fi movies) and I can't stop thinking that a robot is driven by its AI and you must mess with it to change its behavior and in my mind this is a job for a technician or at least for a mage with specific haking spells.
I would draw inspiration from the fact control undead is almost entirely used for mindless undead, but is still valid to use on intelligent undead. That being said, robot rules are not my strong suit.Absolutely true and "Control construct" is a transmutation and not an enchantment spell and this gets your point of view stronger but maybe it's me (too much sci fi movies) and I can't stop thinking that a robot is driven by its AI and you must mess with it to change its behavior and in my mind this is a job for a technician or at least for a mage with specific haking spells.
A construct is a magic product and it's easy to understand that you can fight fire with fire....but when magic and tech come into play it's harder to make them interact in consistent way.
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Security Mannequin CR 3Aggregate security AI mannequin robot
LN Medium construct (robot)Security Mannequin
plus
The Robot Subtype
"Robot" is a special subtype that can be applied to any construct without changing its CR. Robots share some features with clockwork constructs, and as with clockworks, you can simply remove the robot subtype and its traits to transform it into a typical construct animated by magic. A construct cannot possess both the robot and the clockwork subtypes. All robots gain the following traits, unless noted otherwise.
Intelligent: Robots are intelligent, and thus have skills and feats as appropriate for their Hit Dice. Unless otherwise indicated for a specific robot, all robots have Intelligence scores of 10. The following are class skills for robots: Climb, Disable Device, Fly, Knowledge (all), Linguistics, Perception, and Sense Motive.
Vulnerable to Critical Hits: Whenever a robot takes extra damage from a critical hit, it must make a DC 15 Fortitude save to avoid being stunned for 1 round. If it makes a successful saving throw, it is staggered for 1 round. The robot remains immune to other sources of the stunned condition.
Vulnerable to Electricity: Robots take 150% as much damage as normal from electricity attacks, unless they are immune to electricity via other special defenses.
Difficult to Create: Robots are crafted via complex methods hidden and well guarded in ruins or other technological bastions.
No immunity to spell targeting constructs here.
So, by RAW, they work.
About your objection, it all depend on what the control spell do.
Control Construct
School transmutation; Level sorcerer/wizard 7
...
Duration concentration
Saving Throw none (see text); Spell Resistance noYou wrest the control of a construct from its master. For as long as you concentrate, you can control the construct as if you were its master. You must make a Spellcraft check each round to maintain control. The DC of the Spellcraft check is (10 + the construct's HD). If the construct's creator or master is present and trying to control the construct, you both must make opposed Spellcraft checks each round to control the construct.
The spell seem to rewrite some of the construct ability to recognize his master.
As I see it you don't need to know what you are doing, you are simply overriding and rewriting the signals that the construct is getting from the outside.It is a transmutation spell, not a illusion spell, so you don't change how his brain interpret things or create a phantasm, you are actually changing the signal that is traveling from its sensor to the processing system. It is hard to do, so you need to make a spellcraft check every round.
Seem reasonable even against robots.
Magicians manage to successfully Dominate humans without having an advanced degree in neuropsychology. And understanding of how the thing functions is not necessary for magic to work on it.
That's true but my concern about a spell like "control construct" was if it was designed only to work on something created by magic(even a clockwork have a spark of magic in them). I agree that you don't need to be a neurologist but just because spells do the dirty work for you( you don't need to know how to start a camp fire to cast a fireball). Just to be clear, I think the spell works on robots too but, at the same time, I hope I made my self clear about my doubts on this specific spell and the way it should work.
Security Mannequin CR 3Aggregate security AI mannequin robot
LN Medium construct (robot)Security Mannequin
plus
The Robot Subtype
"Robot" is a special subtype that can be applied to any construct without changing its CR. Robots share some features with clockwork constructs, and as with clockworks, you can simply remove the robot subtype and its traits to transform it into a typical construct animated by magic. A construct cannot possess both the robot and the clockwork subtypes. All robots gain the following traits, unless noted otherwise.
Intelligent: Robots are intelligent, and thus have skills and feats as appropriate for their Hit Dice. Unless otherwise indicated for a specific robot, all robots have Intelligence scores of 10. The following are class skills for robots: Climb, Disable Device, Fly, Knowledge (all), Linguistics, Perception, and Sense Motive.
Vulnerable to Critical Hits: Whenever a robot takes extra damage from a critical hit, it must make a DC 15 Fortitude save to avoid being stunned for 1 round. If it makes a successful saving throw, it is staggered for 1 round. The robot remains immune to other sources of the stunned condition.
Vulnerable to Electricity: Robots take 150% as much damage as normal from electricity attacks, unless they are immune to electricity via other special defenses.
Difficult to Create: Robots are crafted via complex methods hidden and well guarded in ruins or other technological bastions.
No immunity to spell targeting constructs here.
So, by RAW, they work.
About your objection, it all depend on what the control spell do.
...
Control Construct
School transmutation; Level sorcerer/wizard 7
...
Duration concentration
Saving Throw none (see text); Spell Resistance noYou wrest the control of a construct from its master. For as long as you concentrate, you can control the construct as if you were its master. You must make a Spellcraft check each round to
Absolutely! but no doubt the link between a construct and his master is a magic link (as stated in the spell) and in order to take over control of a construct you need to override the master magic.
Again: I will allow this spell on robots but no wonder if I point out that a pell designed to work and transmute magic may not work on something that is using electronics and maybe radio frequencies to take orders.that's it
Heterodyne's Law: Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science.