Rules for custom constructs?

[flamewolf393]

I am playing a gnome artificer that wishes to specialize in constructs. Are there any rules/systems on making custom effects for them? Or even building them from the ground up? Like adding mechanical wings, or mounting weapons on them, or giving my iron defender three heads and a breath weapon. Or just flat out custom building a giant mechanical spider like in wild wild west.

[GoblinArchmage]

I happen to have third party book that has a whole section on custom construct making. Now, I am very far from an expert on rules and game balance, and I have no idea how good this book actually is in that regard, so keep that in mind. It's called Spells and Spellcraft (http://www.amazon.com/Spells-Spellcraft-Compendium-Mystic-Legends/dp/1589940253), by Fantasy Flight Games.

Unfortunately, I don't have the book with me at the moment. The only thing I remember off the top of my head about the Construct section is that it, among other things, introduces a Golem template. That is, it's a template that turns non Golem constructs into Golems. The section has more than just that, though.

Edit: I think it might also have some stuff about custom attachments, but I don't remember for sure.

[visigani]

The real question is why no one rides around in constructs like tanks. Why can't PCs do this?

[FrznTear]

I have dabbled in this a little bit. Aside from the

I assume you know of the various homunculus in Players Guide to Ebberron and Magic of Eberron? There are also various golems found throughout the monster manuals that can be constructed.

Homunculus can be customized with the options provided with the improved homunculus feat (Magic of Eberron)

A compilation of constructs that can be crafted can be found here
http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=177.0

What you may be most interested in however are effigies. Found in Complete Arcane this template can be applied to most creatures. The cost to construct an effigy is based on its HD and size. With the vast array of creatures eligible to be an effigy you have a lot of options.

I am not aware of any detailed handbook but it is pretty straightforward to learn how it works. Rhinoceros Effigies are pretty scary. A carousel at an amusement park with effigies is a cute idea too.

As for answering the questions you actually asked...

I am not aware of rules for creating custom effects, for flight, multiple heads and breath weapons it could be reasonable to add options to the Improved Homunculus feat. For a more powerful option it could take up a greater count of Total Special abilities. This would require coordination with your DM.

For a large enough effigy I think it would be reasonable to buy a ballistae and mount it on, that is actually pretty awesome.

A mechanical spider is completely doable with an effigy template.

[Psyren]

Can you add grafts to constructs? That might be the easiest way to simulate "components" like that. Jut fluff them as being chrome rather than squishy.

[asnys]

I happen to have third party book that has a whole section on custom construct making. Now, I am very far from an expert on rules and game balance, and I have no idea how good this book actually is in that regard, so keep that in mind. It's called Spells and Spellcraft (http://www.amazon.com/Spells-Spellcraft-Compendium-Mystic-Legends/dp/1589940253), by Fantasy Flight Games.

Unfortunately, I don't have the book with me at the moment. The only thing I remember off the top of my head about the Construct section is that it, among other things, introduces a Golem template. That is, it's a template that turns non Golem constructs into Golems. The section has more than just that, though.

Edit: I think it might also have some stuff about custom attachments, but I don't remember for sure.

There's also Mongoose Publishing's Encyclopedia Arcane: Constructs. I remember it has detailed rules for custom constructs of a wide variety, but I don't know if they're any good.

[Yogibear41]

Picked up the spells and spellcraft book earlier on drive through rpg, and been reading the constructs section, seems to me like some of these things can be down right amazing for very cheap, probably too cheap.

I might be adding things up wrong, but according to these rules you could make a large 8 hit die, intelligent construct, with a Hardness of 20 for 4400 gold. That seems pretty darn broken to me, you can reduce the price even more for a lower hit die non intelligent version as well.

The book also seems to not give the constructs the bonus health for being constructs, so they all have pretty low health, but that maybe just a typo.

[Ruethgar]

Picked up the spells and spellcraft book earlier on drive through rpg, and been reading the constructs section, seems to me like some of these things can be down right amazing for very cheap, probably too cheap.

I might be adding things up wrong, but according to these rules you could make a large 8 hit die, intelligent construct, with a Hardness of 20 for 4400 gold. That seems pretty darn broken to me, you can reduce the price even more for a lower hit die non intelligent version as well.

The book also seems to not give the constructs the bonus health for being constructs, so they all have pretty low health, but that maybe just a typo.

It is 640,000 gold for a large HD4 Hardness 20 unintelligent construct. Base price for a large construct is 400 multiplied by the hardness cost of 80*hardness(1,280,000 for 8HD, 2,560,000 if you want to add intelligence as well). That hardness is where it kills your coin, but you need some hardness to have any strength.

However if you just make it glass(hardness 1), then you can easily make in intelligent and give it weapon finesse which would benefit more from a smaller construct lowering the price from 400 for a large to let's say 100 for a small so we aren't wasting strength. So a small, sentient, 2HD, +4 Dex, with an extra attack would be 100+100+200+300=700. The Spells and Spellcraft system works for making traditional constructs that are supposed to be big beefy tanks, but if you want to go outside that norm, it doesn't work as well.

The biggest problem with the Spells and Spellcrft constructs is the special powers section. It needs to be watched very carefully by any DM that allows it in game. The biggest reason I found was for the fact that you could add an Elemental Weird's Prescience ability to your little machine. My DM ruled that I had to get the hearts of four weirds to put in the construct to get the ability(a near impossible task considering their prescience ability).

The bonus health is from being a construct and is not taken away by virtue of it not being listed. If it is a construct, it gets bonus health.

Edit: The Effigy template will get you a lot of options, but not a lot of customization unless you can finagle grafts as part of the base creature.

[Yogibear41]

No, this is wrong you take the base cost and ADD it to the Hardness cost times the hardness, so for a large construct with 4hd and no other abilities it is 400gp + 80GP times the Hardness.

• A construct’s base price is affected by its
hardness as shown in Table 4-5. You multiply
the hardness of the material by the
hardness cost to find out how much to add
to the construct’s base price.

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