What Would You Load a Runic Guardian With?

[Skysaber]

A Runic Guardian, from MMII, is basically a Shield Guardian with a number of extra spell-like abilities chosen by its creator.

It can hold:
One 1st
Two 2nd
Two 3rd
One 5th

Each usable once per day. Or it can have one spell of sixth or seventh level in place of all of that.

Has anyone ever put any thought into what an optimized use for those spell slots would be?

[Nettlekid]

Very very very dependent on the creator/owner. Do you have a specific character in mind that this Runic Guardian is for?

[Xervous]

shadowcraft mage casting heightened earth spell silent images (effective 10th level) out of level 1 spell slots into each part. This shadowcraft mage knows miracle so...

There you go, 6x miracle+ a day.

[Skysaber]

Very very very dependent on the creator/owner. Do you have a specific character in mind that this Runic Guardian is for?

I was really hoping for a lot of people to chip in with what they would do with such a creature, if you could order it for free and specify its abilities. Because that would give me the ton of variety I seek.

Basically imagine an extremely high magic city that someone took out by mass-petrifying all of the inhabitants. Players must venture inside to complete the adventure, but run afoul of all of the leftovers of this society along the way.

Sleeping Beauty, in a way. Someone took out a near-Tippyverse city, and in order to restore it the party must venture inside to take out the villain who did it (fighting all of the way against the music of a ghostly bard who works for her - see my other thread about negative bardic music). Downside is they have to overcome the leftover defenses to even get to her.

Oh, and the evil witch has convinced all of the golems that the best way to protect their masters from the dangers of age and death, et al, is to help her by keeping them petrified for all of eternity.

So, lots of runic guardians are involved. Some would have been fashioned as lady's hairstylists for all I care. They'd run the complete gamut of everything a jaded and spoiled nobility could want them for. But I want some, at least, to present interesting challenges to my party of heavily optimized players.

[Mithril Leaf]

Well, every Tippyverse town worth it's salt would have a Runic Guardian with Extract Gift so that everyone can benefit from free permanent enhancement bonuses. Maybe even an awakened one with Supernatural Transformation so it can't be dispelled.

[Xervous]

What exactly do you mean by "near tippyverse"? Because you have presented a villain capable of disabling such a city, unless the party is VERY high level or its not quite so "near tippyverse" then you could end up with, well problems.

If it really is quite close to tippyverse, have fun with those 6x miracle golems.

[JaronK]

Extract Gift and Animate Dread Warrior seem like the best choices by far.

JaronK

[Skysaber]

What exactly do you mean by "near tippyverse"? Because you have presented a villain capable of disabling such a city, unless the party is VERY high level or its not quite so "near tippyverse" then you could end up with, well problems.

If it really is quite close to tippyverse, have fun with those 6x miracle golems.

Don't fear for my players. They have no difficulty surprising me with their competence sometimes, and their cheese is strong.

[unseenmage]

If it were me I'd use this (http://www.imarvintpa.com/dndlive/FindSpell.php) to find all of the spells with Instantaneous (read as not dispellable) durations.

Especially as Tippyverse is about the creation of permanent things using repeatable magics. Honestly I quite enjoy the idea of Runic Guardians replacing repeating traps some. :smallsmile:

Keep in mind that the strength of Runic Guardians creating things over repeating traps is that they're mobile.

PS. You could also sprinkle some Sacred Guardian templated Runic Guardians in there too for their Fast Healing and other assorted super powers.

Edit: Another option is replacing Spells with Psionic Powers. Just imagine how much Quintessence (http://www.imarvintpa.com/dndlive/FindSpell.php) one of your abandoned Runic Guardians could have made.
Master says, "Fill this bowl with Quintessence.", then the master is gone and the bowl tips over. But there it is, still filling the tipped bowl. If it does so behind closed doors then an entire chamber could be filled given enough time. Just sitting there waiting for the PCs to open the door, release a flood of Quintessence, and unlock one of the rooms from stasis.