A gingerbread witch concocts her familiar out of gingerbread, sugar, and other confections.
It has the shape of the original animal or vermin, but its type changes to construct. As a construct, it gains 60-foot darkvision and construct immunities, it loses any special abilities the animal or vermin has other than movement speed, and it doesn’t provide the usual familiar benefit (for instance, a gingerbread toad doesn’t provide 3 bonus hit points). With a supply of flour and sugar at hand, the gingerbread witch can spend 8 hours and use her cauldron to restore her familiar to full health at no cost, unless the familiar is destroyed, in which case she must follow the usual rules for replacing her familiar.
A gingerbread witch can never gain an improved familiar.
With this in mind, should it possible to alter gingerbread familiars with Craft Construct? If so, what would type would the construct be considered, and how would the Gingerbread Witch's abilities alter the crafting requirements?
It's a construct under your control; this should work. The type is construct as stated in your quote. The other special abilities of the gingerbread witch look entirely irrelevant here.
Just to clarify, we're talking about these modifications, right?
It's a construct under your control; this should work. The type is construct as stated in your quote. The other special abilities of the gingerbread witch look entirely irrelevant here.
Just to clarify, we're talking about these modifications, right?
Yeah. As well as this
Specifically making the construct larger and augmenting it with stuff like armor and organs.
So the part talking about being able to use sugar is irrelevant? Could you not use it to repair the familiar. What type of construct would it be considered as?
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It's a construct under your control; this should work. The type is construct as stated in your quote. The other special abilities of the gingerbread witch look entirely irrelevant here.
Just to clarify, we're talking about these modifications, right?
It is a familiar, it is created with the rules to call a familiar, it even says that in the gingerbread familiar descrption:
unless the familiar is destroyed, in which case she must follow the usual rules for replacing her familiar.
Where in the rules for replacing familiar or calling then the first time you get to apply modifications to them?
As they come from different books, some of the options have a CP cost, other a money cost, other an increase in CR, how any of that applies to a familiar?
Previosu discussion about gingerbread familiar.
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You apply the construct modifications after the gingerbread familiar is baked/called. Some time when you have a few weeks to spare, probably; it will take money and time. Anything with a CP cost is for animated objects specifically and does not apply, anything which messes with stats which can't be modified on a familiar (HD mostly) can't apply, I don't see any reason you'd care what the CR of a familiar is so ignore that.
Adding an enhancement bonus to armor should be doable. The bioconstruct modifications which allow adding a heart or brain are for golems specifically which your familiar isn't. I can't see an option of a size increase anywhere tho'.
I can't see an option of a size increase anywhere tho'.
Well if we extrapolate these rules for Complex Constructs
These modifications represent more complex changes to the structure and function of the construct. The cost is equivalent to the minimum level to cast the spell × the spell level × 250 gp.
Could we use a spell, like Giant Form, to create a bigger construct?
'course then. I suppose we would be veering into homebrew territory.
Yes, that's homebrew. Also a witches familiar is fragile, be careful about making it a big obvious target.
so... you can have your gingerbread familiar gain the spell like ability mod?
so a level 18 witch with the fate patron can get a 2/day wish granting gingerbread familiar for 54,000 gp. (3,000 per spell level and up to spell level per hd).
say cheese!
so... you can have your gingerbread familiar gain the spell like ability mod?
so a level 18 witch with the fate patron can get a 2/day wish granting gingerbread familiar for 54,000 gp. (3,000 per spell level and up to spell level per hd).say cheese!
Yeah, so? High-level characters can do that, that's not "cheese". There's even an alternate capstone granting a similar ability to all classes with a familiar:
Arch-Familiar (Su)
At 20th level, the character’s familiar is smarter and savvier than plenty of adventurers—and also more dangerous! The familiar’s Intelligence increases by 5, and it gains 12 spells levels’ worth of spell-like abilities (for example, three daily castings of greater invisibility), drawn from spells its master can cast and using its master’s caster levels, DCs, and so forth. This capstone is available to any class with a familiar.
p.s.: Actual cheese is using Sacred Geometry (Heightened Spell) to counterspell Wish with the Prestidigation cantrip. ;-)
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Someone pointed this out in a thread about wyrwood enhancing themselves:
Construct Modifications
Source Ultimate Magic pg. 113
Standard constructs can be modified to enhance their base abilities, alter their appearance or function, or perform a variety of tasks beyond the intentions of their basic designs. Performing a modification provides a construct's creator with a simple way to create a unique construct. A modification can only be performed while the construct is inanimate or nonfunctioning.
How do you go around making a witch familiar "inanimate or nonfunctional"?
It will retain the spell it knows?To me "inanimate or nonfunctional" sounds like "dead or broken".
There are rules for reviving familiars?
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How do you go around making a witch familiar "inanimate or nonfunctional"?You turn it off, like you would a regular construct for construct modifications. The flavor of doing so doesn't matter, what's important is that the construct is unavailable while modifications are being added to it (1 day per 1000 gp), depriving the witch of their familiar during that time period (and thus their ability to prepare spells).
Remember, a dead construct is destroyed, thus construct modifications would be impossible if the construct was dead for them.
The problem is that the gingerbread construct is both a familiar and a construct. So it needs to abide by the rules of both creatures.
To modify a construct you need Craft construct and you need to be the construct creator:
Construct Modifications
Source Ultimate Magic pg. 113
Standard constructs can be modified to enhance their base abilities, alter their appearance or function, or perform a variety of tasks beyond the intentions of their basic designs. Performing a modification provides a construct's creator with a simple way to create a unique construct. A modification can only be performed while the construct is inanimate or nonfunctioning.
Performing modifications on one's own construct requires the Craft Construct feat, and the creator must pay any additional crafting requirements and/or costs associated with the modification. Completing a modification requires 1 day per 1,000 gp of the modification's base price (minimum 1 day).
So the gingerbread witch needs 3 feats to do that:
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item, Craft construct.All useful, but taking them all is constricting.
And if the familiar is killed, the witch will have to call a new familiar with no modification.
All included it seems very feat and cost intensive.
BTW, I think it is possible to increase the gingerbread construct HD, but the creature will not get extra hp, as its hp are half those of the witch. The advantage is that, as it is intelligent, it will get skills points and feats to spend. If it spends skill points in skills the witch lacks it will get the skills benefits.