Animated Objects -Adamantium Redundancy question

[thecrimsondawn]

Real simple question with a maybe real simple answer.

You must provide the object to animate yourself. We know this
You gain CP based on the size of the object as well as any additional CP you add via raising the cost. This is simple too.
however...

Lets say I want to animate an adamantium full plate armor. It is already adamantium. However under the CP options, there is a 2.4. or 6 cost to give a boost to the construct by making it out of a new metal. I can only see this working in one of two ways

1: Since the armor is already made of adamantium. it gets the 6cp upgrade for free
OR
2: You get really cheap iron armor or whatever and pay the CP cost to upgrade it to adamantium


Anyone run into this issue before? What do you think should be the proper solution here?

[Kallimakus]

This might be very unhelpful (and I've run into this debates as a GM), but it depends on how you go about making your animated object.

It was my opinion that Animate Objects+permanency animates the object as it is. That means that if it is an adamantine armour with a sword, it is made of adamantine, and has a slashing attack. On the downside, you don't get to customize it beyond that (unless you actually have CP to spare after the compulsory attributes).

Equally, going through Craft Construct route would allow free customization of the object, but it gets stupid (imo)
A medium-sized adamantine armour could be priced in several ways by the formula (cost of object + [(animated object’s HD + CP) × 1,000])
Full plate (1500) + (3 HD + 6 CP)x1000 for 10500gp, or cheaper than just the adamantine plate
Adamantine full plate (16500) + (3 HD + 6 CP)x1000 for 25500gp
Adamantine Full plate (16500 + (3 HD + 0 CP (as the armour is Adamantine))x1000 for 19500gp

In my opinion, you do need to pay the extra cost of animating an adamantine plate rather than an iron one. And also that the animation magic cannot switch material of the object in question. (I suppose it could if you paid the cost of the base object made of the new material).

As I alluded at the start. I'm not sure if the rules provide the right way here at all.
To me, it looks like a tool for GM's to make balanced (CR-wise) custom animated objects, rather than a tool for players to make super-powered constructs. For each their own.

I'm sorry that this isn't probably all that helpful.

[stack]

My understanding is that construct points and options are intended to be used to reflect the object you are animating (materials, attacks, movement) rather than a pool to add fun upgrades to the object. Six armed statue? Pay for the extra attacks and/or sturdier materials. Not enough cp to do both? Grab what you can and the rest is fluff.

[thecrimsondawn]

This might be very unhelpful (and I've run into this debates as a GM), but it depends on how you go about making your animated object.

It was my opinion that Animate Objects+permanency animates the object as it is. That means that if it is an adamantine armour with a sword, it is made of adamantine, and has a slashing attack. On the downside, you don't get to customize it beyond that (unless you actually have CP to spare after the compulsory attributes).

Equally, going through Craft Construct route would allow free customization of the object, but it gets stupid (imo)
A medium-sized adamantine armour could be priced in several ways by the formula (cost of object + [(animated object’s HD + CP) × 1,000])
Full plate (1500) + (3 HD + 6 CP)x1000 for 10500gp, or cheaper than just the adamantine plate
Adamantine full plate (16500) + (3 HD + 6 CP)x1000 for 25500gp
Adamantine Full plate (16500 + (3 HD + 0 CP (as the armour is Adamantine))x1000 for 19500gp

In my opinion, you do need to pay the extra cost of animating an adamantine plate rather than an iron one. And also that the animation magic cannot switch material of the object in question. (I suppose it could if you paid the cost of the base object made of the new material).

As I alluded at the start. I'm not sure if the rules provide the right way here at all.
To me, it looks like a tool for GM's to make balanced (CR-wise) custom animated objects, rather than a tool for players to make super-powered constructs. For each their own.

I'm sorry that this isn't probably all that helpful.

You did cause an idea to pop into my head tho. You are right that in that if you are crafting the animated object, then the cost you are paying will always be more then the base itself as you are crafting this object for the reason of being animated. As such, if I am crafting my addy full plate to be animated, then the CP that I use is part of the result of what I make. If I stop looking at it as "providing" the object to animate, and more along the lines of "creating " the object to animate, it makes WAYYY more sense.