How do Shield Guardians get made? Or for that matter, Animated Armor and Flying Sword

[Glarnog]

I've always thought a Shield Guardian was pretty cool. As I've never ever played a full caster in 22 or more years of DnD I always thought having some sort of artificer making all sorts of constructs would be cool too.

How do Shield Guardians get made? By a character? Or for that matter, Animated Armor and Flying Swords, and Helmed Horrors. I can actually see those grouped as some sort of scaling advancement. Perhaps a unique upgrade to a familiar.

First I was thinking some sort of special use of the Spell Animate Object with a Permanency spell. However the former doesn't seem to cover them and the later has been removed. Then I remembered the real constructs, Golems. And their oh so lovely Manuals. Surely there must be far less involved and expensive manuals for creating the "lesser" constructs. Ones my character could perhaps have a chance of creating. Sadly the manuals only cover the Golems and odd while the Golems are of varying power besides the time and gp cost the only requirement is to basically be a 10th level caster. I would think the more powerful Golems would need to be created by more powerful casters.

tldr:
How do Shield Guardians get made? Or for that matter, Animated Armor and Flying Swords, and Helmed Horrors. .

[GiantOctopodes]

I've always thought a Shield Guardian was pretty cool. As I've never ever played a full caster in 22 or more years of DnD I always thought having some sort of artificer making all sorts of constructs would be cool too.

How do Shield Guardians get made? By a character? Or for that matter, Animated Armor and Flying Swords, and Helmed Horrors. I can actually see those grouped as some sort of scaling advancement. Perhaps a unique upgrade to a familiar.

First I was thinking some sort of special use of the Spell Animate Object with a Permanency spell. However the former doesn't seem to cover them and the later has been removed. Then I remembered the real constructs, Golems. And their oh so lovely Manuals. Surely there must be far less involved and expensive manuals for creating the "lesser" constructs. Ones my character could perhaps have a chance of creating. Sadly the manuals only cover the Golems and odd while the Golems are of varying power besides the time and gp cost the only requirement is to basically be a 10th level caster. I would think the more powerful Golems would need to be created by more powerful casters.

tldr:
How do Shield Guardians get made? Or for that matter, Animated Armor and Flying Swords, and Helmed Horrors. .

by RAW they don't. If you want to do that, just reskin the necromancer wizard and animate dead to work on those kinds of objects, that's your best bet.

Older versions of D&D had the golems potentially running amok, and having a higher level caster helped prevent that from occurring. I think they got rid of that because it just wasn't fun to have invested all this effort then have it randomly ruined. The concept now being that once you have the requisite knowledge, anyone can do it, it's just a matter of having the resources. One thing you could do for high level casters that might work well is giving discounts on the creation costs depending on the number of levels above the prerequisites. Just a thought.

[Alucard2099]

For Golems...
MANUAL OF GOLEMS
Wondrous item, very rare
This tome contains information and incantations
necessary to make a particular type of golem. The DM
chooses the type or determines it randomly. To deciph
and use the manual, you must be a spellcaster with at
least two 5th-level spell slots. A creature that can't use
a manual of golems and attempts to read it takes 6d6
psychic damage.
d20 Golem Time Cost
1-5 Clay 30 days 65 ,000 gp
6-17 Flesh 60 days 50,000 gp
18 Iron 120 days 100,000 gp
19-20 Stone 90 days 80,000 gp
To create a golem, you must spend the time shown on
the table, working without interruption with the manual
at hand and resting no more than 8 hours per day. You
must also pay the specified cost to purchase supplies.
Once you finish creating the golem, the book is
consumed in eldritch flames. The golem becomes
animate when the ashes of the manual are sprinkled on
it. It is under your control, and it understands and obeys
your spoken commands. See the Monster Manual for its
game statistics.



For flying swords and animated armor can be created by casting the animate objects spell. However they cannot change control from NPC to PC.
The Helmed horror would just be a very high level cast of Animate Object. If the creator becomes incapacitated, so does the Horror.


When it comes to a Shield Guardian...

"SHIELD GUARDIAN
Wizards and other spell casters create shield guardians
for protection. A shield guardian treads beside its
master, absorbing damage to keep its master alive as
long as possible.
Master's Amulet. Every shield guardian has an
amulet magically linked to it. A shield guardian can
have only one corresponding amulet, and if that amulet
is destroyed, the shield guardian is incapacitated until
a replacement amulet is created. A shield guardian's
amulet is subject to direct attack if it isn't being worn
or carried. It has AC 10, 10 hit points, and immunity to
poison and psychic damage. Crafting an amulet requires
1 week and costs 1,000 gp in components."

[Inevitability]

True Polymorph a pebble into whatever construct you would like to have.

[Alucard2099]

True Polymorph a pebble into whatever construct you would like to have.

That would just give it physical form though.

[Slipperychicken]

It's a long, involved process requiring top secret formulas bestowed by the DM himself. That's why so few people can make golems.