The simulacrum revolution


Advice


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

So you've allowed the simulacrum ritual.

Now a player wants to create an army of them to craft things on their behalf.

How do you prevent possible abuses without preventing fun?


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The enemy now also has an army of simulacrum and are also crafting things.


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The simulacrum come together for a collective bargaining agreement


It's not hard to prevent abuse. Assuming the player is a high enough level to perform the ritual reliably they will be quite a bit above level 4, which is the level a simulacrum's stats are all set to be in the range of. The longer they wait the less possible crafting abuse they can have because eventually the DC to craft things will be too high for the simulacra to be able to hit.

I suppose there is some possible abuse with the simulacra crafting low level items in bulk, or each one using Earn Income to generate an infinite amount of gold, but enforcing the notion of supply and demand should be able to nip any potential abuse. Eventually the simulacra will fill the labor pool and there should be a cap on potential earnings.

Liberty's Edge

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The Craft Activity is Trained only. The NPCs created by it are not Trained in any skills whatsoever. If for whatever reason the GM decides to make the call that they SHOULD be allowed to use a Trained only Activity they're just flat out going to be completely unable to do so and even IF the GM who is in control of the game gives them a pass to allow it each of the copies are only EVER going to have a base +3 to the check to actually Craft anything which is going to fail the VAST majority of the time and waste time, money, and crafting components each time it does. Additionally, should the GM allow it the NPCs will only ever be able to Craft gear of level 4 or lower given that is the assigned level that they're each given.

One might argue that they "should" be able to Craft if the creature that is being copied is Trained but the thing is, these NPCs don't have any specific memories from the original creature which would, presumably and according to pretty much every definition of the word, include any Training the original NPC had given that it represents something that they learned.

Also, one can make the case that, as NPCs, they're not subject to the Trained only restriction which I would agree with, if only tenuously, and just "okay okay fine but" and point to the abysmally bad bonus they'd actually get to the Crafting that they're being directed to TRY and do.

On top of that, there are the questions revolving around how they act which seems to be pretty strictly stated as requiring more or less constant actions on the part of the PRIMARY Spellcaster of the Ritual in the form of either verbal commands "or by some other means" which I take to mean that at the VERY least they would need constantly updated written instructions that they can verify as being from said primary Spellcaster.

The plot holes in this one are numerous and any single one of them would cause this to plan if you pull on that thread leading to at best a sad and quickly aborted experiment and at worst the gradual enlightenment that they were made to serve the whims of an uncaring and unjust creator who they would either eventually or immediately work to murder.

As for ways in which to HANDLE this decision after discussing it with the hypothetical player who wants to enact the plan and they decided to go forward with it regardless... I'd let them make the Rituals one at a time and check the results, work to narrate exactly how the copies are going to be "stored" until you actually have a reasonably useful number which would be at LEAST a couple dozen of them, all of which would have to be separately housed and managed, again, by the primary Spellcaster on an almost constant basis directing them to do exactly as they're told (have fun commanding them while you sleep), and then after a few weeks of somehow the character getting truly miraculous luck on rolls, you'd compare the value generated by them and you'd find out that the character wasted 300 gp PER copy only in order to try and create the worst sweatshop in the universe chugging out Full Plate (since these NPCs have no way to access Feats or any other Special Abilities that would allow them to make any Magical or Alchemical Items). They'd fail almost all of their Craft Checks and the material components they're given and even those that succeed will end up creating a pile of equipment that can be sold for at best 15gp each after what will almost certainly be at LEAST a half dozen attempts per copy in order to start clawing back some of the 300gp investment it cost to make them, let alone the staff you need to assign to EACH of them in order to keep things running smoothly and have them imprisoned.


This spell is suuuuuper fun for a GM though. Have a caster with an extreme deception bonus make one and then get ready for a Total Recall situation when the DC is so high your players can't figure out how the guy they just killed is there with them and seemingly just as confused as they are.


Themetricsystem wrote:

The Craft Activity is Trained only. The NPCs created by it are not Trained in any skills whatsoever. If for whatever reason the GM decides to make the call that they SHOULD be allowed to use a Trained only Activity they're just flat out going to be completely unable to do so and even IF the GM who is in control of the game gives them a pass to allow it each of the copies are only EVER going to have a base +3 to the check to actually Craft anything which is going to fail the VAST majority of the time and waste time, money, and crafting components each time it does. Additionally, should the GM allow it the NPCs will only ever be able to Craft gear of level 4 or lower given that is the assigned level that they're each given.

One might argue that they "should" be able to Craft if the creature that is being copied is Trained but the thing is, these NPCs don't have any specific memories from the original creature which would, presumably and according to pretty much every definition of the word, include any Training the original NPC had given that it represents something that they learned.

Also, one can make the case that, as NPCs, they're not subject to the Trained only restriction which I would agree with, if only tenuously, and just "okay okay fine but" and point to the abysmally bad bonus they'd actually get to the Crafting that they're being directed to TRY and do.

I will make that argument that creatures are not subject to the trained-only restriction. No monster is trained in anything. For example, kobolds are known for making traps and Kobold Warrior has "Crafting +2 (+4 traps)" because of this, but has no mention of being trained in Crafting nor a special ability to make traps. The Morlock Engineer has "Crafting +10," though it also has special abilities for crafting. Likewise, if a humanoid creature, such as a Lizardfolk Defender, was armed with a flail and had reasonable Athletics bonus, I would roleplay it was willing to take a Disarm action with the flail, despite Disarm being Athletics Trained Action only.

The Simulacrum is a 4th-level creature with "the moderate number for a monster" for its rolls, so by Table 2-3: Skills of the Gamemastery Guide it has a +10 to Crafting. That is a pretty good number.

However, I see no reason why the simulacrum would have Magical Crafting or Alchemical Crafting. Those are feats. Thus, the simulacrum would be limited to mundane crafting.

Themetricsystem wrote:
On top of that, there are the questions revolving around how they act which seems to be pretty strictly stated as requiring more or less constant actions on the part of the PRIMARY Spellcaster of the Ritual in the form of either verbal commands "or by some other means" which I take to mean that at the VERY least they would need constantly updated written instructions that they can verify as being from said primary Spellcaster.

That is the definitive argument. Simulacrums have the minion trait. During encounter mode they gain two actions when their master takes an action to command them. Crafting is conducted during downtime mode, but I still assume that they need direct supervision. In combat, a master could command at most three minions, so I will assume that this is the upper limit on minions supervised during downtime, too. And that would take 100% of the master's time. A more sensible craftsman would like to do some crafting on his or her own, since that person is 7th level or higher, so reduce that to two simulacrum minions working beside the craftsman in the workshop.

Then we get into economics. Simulacrums don't need to eat, so they don't need food or pay. Thus, we don't have to worry about daily expenses. According to Table 4-2: Income Earned from the Core Rulebook a simulacrum would produce 7sp of product a day. But making a simulacrum costs 300gp in raw materials, plus fees paid to the three secondary casters. Earning 3000sp at 7sp per day would take 428 and a half days to break even. And two simulacrum minions would add an extra 14sp per day to the crafter's wealth, 511gp per year. The craftsman earns 912.5gp a year on his or her own, so the minions would increase a 7th-level craftsman's income by 56%. Modern machine tools, such as drill presses and sewing machines, accomplish similar increases.

Adventuring, on the other hand, pays much better.

Themetricsystem wrote:
The plot holes in this one are numerous ...

I have run into a similar plot hole. An adventure path I am converting to Pathfinder 2nd Edition had a 9th-level simulacrum of an evil wizard left in the wizard's place to fool her servants (spoilery details here). A PF2 simulacrum, in addition to being too weak at 4th level for the encounter, would not be capable of maintaining the ruse for an entire year. I replaced the simulacrum with an extraplanar protean able to shape-change to impersonate the wizard, summoned through a 6th-level Planar Binding ritual. And the chaotic protean actor had taken some liberties with its instructions from the wizard, heh heh, and was training her servants as dancers, musicians, and writers to the bewilderment of my players.

The PF2 simulacrum is not up to the tricks pulled in PF1 modules.

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