Controlling A Necrophidius?

[Palanan]

I just came across the necrophidius in Bestiary 2, and this could be the perfect undead predator for a low-level campaign I've been working on. I'm thinking the party will be about third level, and this would be a major challenge for them, as the "pet" of a fourth-level necromancer.

The necromancer won't be nearly strong enough to have created the necrophidius himself, and ordinarily he'd need to rely on Command Undead--except the necrophidius isn't actually undead, rather a magical construct.

So, is there any way for a fourth-level necromancer to control a necrophidius? I'd love to include it in this part of the campaign, just not seeing how.

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[Honest Tiefling]

Well...Does it HAVE to be under his control for the encounter? I mean, maybe it escaped, leading to a bit of investigation as to why there's a necromancer chasing down an undead frantically.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by HonestTiefling
...maybe it escaped, leading to a bit of investigation as to why there's a necromancer chasing down an undead frantically.

I have to admit, that's a hilarious image. :smalltongue:



But yes, for this scenario the necrophidius should be under the necromancer's control. Ideally he would be able to send it out to terrorize little communities and settlements here and there, with the certainty it would return to him whenever he chose.

Looking at the creature's entry, I'm not sure how anyone actually controls it. Not being the construct's creator seems like a real obstacle here.

[Munchkin-Masher]

Really, as an NPC he doesn't have to be able to control it in the same way a PC would, if you think him having this thing around and under his control would make for a cooler game and a better story then boom, that's that.

If you're not cool with him being able control just "because", then you could make up some magical thingamawhatsit that he controls it with that the PCs could destroy or possibly pawn off.

I'm usually pretty cautious in recommending use of Rule 0, but in something like this it really shouldn't be an issue.

[Fouredged Sword]

Can the creator have ordered it to obey someone else? Maybe he just bought it from someone who CAN create it and it was sold and simply ordered to obey this particular necromancer.

This generates the plot hook of hunting down this more powerful necromancer who is enabling lesser necromancers. He is amassing money for some reason, but... why?

[Honest Tiefling]

Or maybe he doesn't bother? It isn't like he's having it do his grocery shopping. Simply park the thing in front of what you want protected. Or toss it into an inconvenient village and let it have at it. This will teach them to mock his fashion sense! Black is always in style! And it has an adventurer infestation anyway.

If we go with the higher level necromancer/construct builder (Who for a twist might not be evil--He could be from a society that treats the body as a vessel and of no worth after death. Giving it to a temple can be seen as a holy donation, as it isn't undead so no harm done to the soul, I think?), he could have given the lower level guy a staff of Control Construct. It has limited charges and needs a good UMD to get around. (Maybe slap on a race restriction to make it harder). The PC will then try to use it themselves. Except they can expect more and more of these things, so the charges get used up fast. I wonder if the item ONLY being able to be used on Necrophidius type things would be too cheesy?

[atemu1234]

Have him call it kitty for the lulz.

That way when he is shouting, "Here, kitty kitty" people don't give him weird looks. Until he's shouting it at the undead monstrosity.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Fouredged Sword
This generates the plot hook of hunting down this more powerful necromancer who is enabling lesser necromancers.

This was my first thought, but the campaign won't be focused on hunting necromancers, and I don't want a much higher-level nemesis lurking around when the party is still only third level.

Also, keep in mind that it's not necessarily a necromancer which creates the necrophidius. The entry is actually pretty vague about who exactly builds these things. (The requirements include Craft (sculpture), of all things.)


Originally Posted by Honest Tiefling
Or maybe he doesn't bother? It isn't like he's having it do his grocery shopping. Simply park the thing in front of what you want protected. Or toss it into an inconvenient village and let it have at it.

The low-level necromancer is happy for it to run amok, but he also needs it to obey his orders when something needs doing, and especially once a curious bunch of misfits starts closing in on him.

In fact, he'll need to rely on this as his last line of defense when it comes down to it--and since he's not its creator, the necrophidius won't have any reason to defend him unless compelled.

[Honest Tiefling]

The thing about adventurers is that it doesn't need to stalk them. They'll come right to it! Put a fake rhinestone in its head and they'll kill each other over it!

That thing has crappy perception to boot. So slap on some invisibility and dispel others doing the same. I imagine it'll only attack what it can perceive, so it'll chase after whoever isn't invisible.

[Asrrin]

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/a/apparent-master

The spell is a little high level, but perhaps the necromancer has a scroll or staff of the spell that enables him to use the construct.