Tankiest Constructs?

[RoboEmperor]

I want a massive humanoid construct slowly floating around and blasting everything to nothing. Some like Disintegrate but without the save. I got the blasting covered with spell turrets. Just gonna embed as many of them as I can in the construct's palm and have him simply point his palm at his targets.

Since I got flying and damage covered with magic items, I just need defense. Now I can beef up any construct's defense with magic items as well, but a tanky construct with magic items is tankier than a non-tanky construct with magic items.

So which construct is the tankiest within reason?

"Max HD Iron Colossus" is not practical.

I am looking for pre-epic constructs, but I'd still like to know the epic options as well.

Tankiest can mean anything, from astounding AC, hitpoints, or Damage resistance, to whatever you can think of. The point of this construct is to simply stand there and point his palm at his enemies.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Astral constructs. They're disposable. Just put the spell turrets on pairs of gauntlets and have the constructs wear them. Either go constructor with Extend Power for constructs that last 2 minutes/level or take the Durable Construct feat with Extend Power for constructs that last a total of 20 minutes.

Add in Persistent Power or homebrew it into the incarnate power to make them last for 24 hours or Permanent, respectively.

[edit] You could also use any number of tricks to make them otherwise permanent, such as placing what they're guarding on a demiplane that's timeless with regards to magic/psionics (or using the astral plane directly), planting an oak tree on such a plane and casting acorn of far travel and giving the acorn to an astral construct, etc.

[Coidzor]

In Pathfinder it would probably be a Trompe L'oeil of an Adamantine Golem that has been awakened or otherwise granted an Intelligence Score.

Adamantine Golem can't be killed without Wish or Miracle or decapitation with an Adamantine weapon while they're at 0 hp. They have Fast Healing 10, decent AC, DR 15/Epic, and have 30 HD which can be increased up to 44 or 45 before a size increase, so they have a fair amount of HP.

Trompe L'oeil makes it so that even if the unthinkable happens and someone manages to decapitate it or cast a 9th level spell on it before its fast healing brings it back into positive hp, you don't actually lose it, you just have to wait 2d4 days for it to rejuvenate. It also increases the Adamantine Golem's AC by 4, 7 if it's drawn with a buckler on it. The only real downside is that one of the special qualities it gains makes the creature's HP based upon the Charisma score, so it'll cost 25,000 gp to raise an Adamantine Golem's base Charisma of 1 to the point where there's no penalty to its HP if a method to give it an Int score was used that didn't raise Charisma. I believe without modifying the Charisma score, the HP would go down from 205 to 55 HP.

If it was something like Awaken Construct, then it'd only cost 5,000 gp to raise its Charisma from 8 to 10 and have no penalty, if the average of 2d6 was rolled. A Maximized or Empowered Awaken Construct would naturally modify things further or make it unnecessary to increase the Charisma, except to add more HP to it.

Since even as a Trompe L'oeil it is a construct, you can also further modify it, such as by increasing its HD from 30 to 45 max if an unmodified Adamantine Golem was used as the base, or from 44 to 66(45 to 67?) if the Adamantine Golem was beefed up. Additionally, as a Trompe L'oeil, additional HD cost a mere 500 gp per HD to add on to the construct, whereas each additional HD costs 5000 gp to add onto any golem.

[Zaq]

Is it cheating to say "warforged with a really kickin' 20th level build"? That's probably cheating.

[noob]

It is not cheating since you can make a trompe l'oeuil of it for approx 8000 gp.

[RoboEmperor]

@MaxiDuRaritry
If I wanted disposable constructs I'd go animated objects. I want ultimate unit, not expendable unit, at least not this time.

@Coidzor
This is for a 3.5 game :)

@Zaq
Not what I'm looking for

[Coidzor]

If Rudimentary Intelligence in on the table, all you need is a construct with Wis 13 (or high enough that you can boost it up with an item or the like), BAB +9, and two feats so it can take Combat Focus and Combat Vigor to get Fast Healing 2 added onto its chassis.

One issue with this fast healing is that it's for 11 to 15 rounds after making a successful attack. Another is that it's only once per encounter that Combat Focus state can be entered into, though I didn't read all of the feats in that family tree, so one may have granted additional uses.

A Shield Guardian with Rudimentary Intelligence and a +4 Wisdom item would qualify for Combat Focus > Combat Vigor just on its base HD. An Iron Golem would also qualify with its base HD but only need a +2 Wis item, while a Stone Golem would need the Wis item and to be created with 1 more HD than normal. Flesh and Clay Golems have the whole berserk chance issue, but can also be advanced to qualify by HD and get a +2 Wis item.

Those are all Large but can be advanced to become Huge as I recall.


The Bronze Serpent with Rudimentary Intelligence has the necessary HD and Wisdom score to qualify out of the box, as does the Juggernaut. They're both Huge out of the box and can become Gargantuan.

The Juggernaut also is already sort of a mobile building.

Runic Guardians are Large and have the HD out of the box, but need +2 to their Wisdom. They also don't have a listed advancement scheme so they're kinda stuck at their 17 HD without some form of alteration.

The Alchemical Golem has the HD to qualify and starts Large, becomes Huge. Needs Wis to be increased though. The Gloom Golem has to be advanced from Large to Huge in order to have the HD to qualify, needs less Wis buffing but still needs some. Bonus points for being literally made out of Evil.

The Hangman Golem has sufficient HD and just needs a bit of Wis in its base Large size and can become Huge. Ditto for the Mud Golem, Prismatic Golem, and Web Golem.

Shadesteel Golems are a classic, and can go from Medium all the way up to Huge. They start out with enough HD to qualify and only need minor buffing of their Wisdom. IIRC they have a few other nifty defensive abilities that has made them a classic for Tippyverse shenanigans and the like.

The Grisgol is locked at Large size and needs a Lich to make it, but it has the necessary HD despite having no listed advancement. All it needs is a bit of extra Wis.

The Slaughterstone Behemoth starts out Huge with sufficient HD and only needs some Wis buffing. It also can squeeze without penalty, so it can take up a Large-sized profile as necessary. The Slaughterstone Eviscerator starts out Large and with just enough HD to qualify and needs a bit of Wis buffing and can become Huge, in either size category, it can count as one size category smaller by squeezing without penalty.

The Topiary Guardian template allows one to create Medium, Large, or Huge Animals in plant-construct form. They need a +4 Wis item regardless and whether they have the HD to qualify depends upon the base animal.

The Fang Golem starts Large and needs HD advancement to qualify along with +2 Wis. Can become Huge.

The Scouring Slinger and Scouring Stanchion both start Huge and can become Gargantuan and can be advanced to have a lot of HD. They both start with way more HD than the requisite number to get Combat Vigor and need Wisdom buffing, but it does require some investment to get their Wisdom up to snuff, especially that of the Scouring Slinger.

The Scouring Slinger is able to make minion constructs by taking HP damage, so that's a potentially interesting quality.

The Siege Golem comes out with enough HD in its base Gargantuan form to qualify, it just needs a moderate amount of Wis buffing. It can become Colossal with further advancement.


The Drakestone Golem and Ironwyrm Golem are both Large, have enough HD and Wis, and can become Huge.

The Dragonbone Golem has the HD and is Large and can become Huge, but it needs a bit of extra Wis.

The Psion-Killer has just enough HD, only needs a bit of Wis, and starts out Large with the option to become Huge.

The Blood Golem of Hextor starts Large and can become Huge, and needs HD advancement and Wis to qualify for Combat Vigor.

The Wickerman is Huge and becomes Gargantuan. It needs HD advancement and some Wis buffing to qualify.

The Hellfire Engine has ample HD, starts out Huge and becomes Gargantuan. Needs a moderate amount of Wis buffing.

The Ice Golem needs HD advancement to meet that requirement and the usual +2 Wisdom for a Golem. Starts out Large but can eventually become Cold.

The Brass Steed has a listed HD advancement to qualify and a creation cost, but no cost per additional HD during creation without DM intervention. It starts out Large and can become Huge, and would require both HD advancement and Wis buffing to qualify. On the other hand, it has its own eye lasers.

The Gravedirt Golem is Large, can become Huge, and can qualify with HD advancement and Wis buffing. It has that pesky permanent berserk chance, though.

The Tombestone Golem is basically just a Stone Golem with an SLA.



Without Rudimentary Intelligence, that limits you to ones that already have intelligence but can be made and have sufficient HD to qualify. So at least 12 HD to qualify for BAB +9, 15 HD to account for both feats.



A Dread Guard advanced to the HD cap just barely has enough HD to qualify and has sufficient Wisdom by default. Nimblewrights can be advanced to be able to qualify by HD without needing to increase their size category from Medium. Both of the aforementioned are Medium to start with and have Large as their maximum size normally.

The Brass Golem has the HD and Wisdom by default as a Large creature and can become Huge. Ditto for the Dragonflesh Golem. The Stained Glass Golem starts Medium with Wis 13 and needs to be advanced in HD to qualify, and eventually can become Large.

The Force Golem can just barely reach the required HD by advancing it to its HD cap and making it Huge. Needs some Wisdom buffing, though.

Shardsoul Slayers are created in trios and have a listed advancement to have the necessary HD after becoming Large-sized. The main issue is that there's no listed cost for advancing them up that far, followed by the expensive issue of needing a fairly significant investment to raise Wisdom to 13+.

The humble Psicrystal can be made very, very tanky with the right build.

The Brain Golem starts Large and can become Huge. Requires HD advancement and Wis buffing to qualify for Combat Vigor. The Demonflesh Golem starts Huge and with enough HD and can become Gargantuan. Only needs 1 additional point of Wisdom. The Hellfire Golem starts Large and with the HD and Wisdom to qualify, and can become Huge.

The Blackstone Gigant has the HD and is Gargantuan to start with, it just needs some moderate Wis buffing. It can be advanced to become Colossal, and has a bit of minionmancy abilities in that it can turn creatures into Statues and then those Statues into Animated Objects.

The Caryatid Column has to be advanced to Large to have the HD, and requires significant investment to get its Wisdom up from 1 to 13+,
but it can do it.

The Cadaver Golem starts out Large and becomes Huge. It needs HD advancement and some minor wisdom advancement. A bigger issue is the lack of native control, but if you just want it to go on a killing spree...

[thethird]

I would recommend the scouring stanchion from MMV, Coidzor listed it in his post but didn't really go into detail. They are really tough and cool.

[Coidzor]

I would recommend the scouring stanchion from MMV, Coidzor listed it in his post but didn't really go into detail. They are really tough and cool.

It costs 88,500 gp total to make an 84 HD, Gargantuan Scouring Slinger. You also need to sacrifice 3 Shambling Mounds. You'd get 11 ability score boosts from increasing HD, and one size increase modification to its ability scores.

It costs 72,500 gp total to make a 60 HD, Gargantuan Scouring Stanchion. You also need to sacrifice a willing Treant. You'd get 8 ability score boosts from increasing HD, and one size increase modification to its ability scores.

I can't recall the physical ability scores, as I only recorded the mental ones for a semi-abandoned intelligent construct project.

There's also something about secret druidic rituals that are required to make them, IIRC.

[ksbsnowowl]

It is not cheating since you can make a trompe l'oeuil of it for approx 8000 gp.

I've seen this pop up a handful of times the last few days. Is this some new Pathfinder template or something? Dragon Mag template?

[unseenmage]

I've seen this pop up a handful of times the last few days. Is this some new Pathfinder template or something? Dragon Mag template?
Pathfinder. It's a template that lets you animate a painting of any creature as a Construct version of that creature and the painting is like its very own lich's phylactery.
Oh, and if the depicted creature has armor or weapons they are automatically magic.

[ksbsnowowl]

Pathfinder. It's a template that lets you animate a painting of any creature as a Construct version of that creature and the painting is like its very own lich's phylactery.
Oh, and if the depicted creature has armor or weapons they are automatically magic.

Cool. I'll have to keep that in mind for some future campaign.

[Coidzor]

Cool. I'll have to keep that in mind for some future campaign.

Alter Egos and Trompe L'oeil are both great ways to have mirror matches for the party without doubling their wealth.

It also lacks the risk of the party collecting the stuff and keeping it away from sunlight like with the oldschool Drow solution to the problem.

[RoboEmperor]

Thanks for your help everyone. Unfortunately Scouring Stanchion is not what I'm looking for. It's a tree and I hate trees.

I am combing through Coidzor's list (I thank you for your effort!) but it's taking a while!

Fast Healing is not a concern seeing how Spell Turrets can easily spam cure serious damage on the construct. I intend to pour 100% of my wealth into this construct.

I was looking at more in terms of special qualities like Immunity to Magic and Damage Resistance, or other properties that make the construct an awesome tank. So far nothing seems to beat Iron Golems as they can get up to 54hd, 15/adamantine DR, and immunity to magic. The magic immunity is huge in my opinion.

I'll finish combing through Coidzor's list and if nothing in there seems superior to the Iron Golem, I guess I have my answer.

[Thurbane]

Runic Guardian (MM2 p.182; CR 10) can be very solid, depending on the spells it has access to. It starts at 17HD, and can be advanced up to 51HD.

1x1st, 2x 2nd, 2x 3rd and 1x 5th level spell (or alternatively, a single 6th or 7th level spell) as 1/day SLAs.

Stunning strike, fast healing, find master, guard (+4 deflection to master's AC), shield master (transfer damage from master to construct), and Teleport Without Error 1/day.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Emperor Tippy likes awakening armies of shadesteel golems. He also transplants his mind and soul into Large animated obdurium/riverine mecha-puppets.

[One Step Two]

If you don't mind 3.0 content, there was a Construct I cam across in a Forgotten Realms Module called City of the Spider Queen, The Spiderstone Golem, and it's pretty tough in my opinion. Creating it has some requirements, such as Access to the Drow Domain, and Divine spells.

It has the usual Construct traits, and has a chance of going berserk like a flesh golem, but it has the following unique abilities: Spit web (ranged touch attack entangle, DC32 to break free), Webwalking (Freedom of Movement to any webs), Spider Climb, 4 arms for a full attack consisting of 4 Slams dealing 1d8+7

However it's the next two qualities which are awesome for its power:
First, like all Golems, they Immune to any spell that allows SR, and, like other golems, there's exceptions, but they're amazing. It can be affected by Divine Spells cast by Drow Divine casters, and Evocation spells, but in both cases still has an SR of 22 that needs to be overcome. With a caster around to drop buffs on it it's able to get pretty deadly.
Secondly: A spiderstone golem gains feats as a humanoid with the fighter class.

The Golem comes packed with 18HD and can be advanced to 36 HD. The sheer number of feats this provides, even fighter ones is insane. Granting it Maneuvers, stances, or even proficiency in Armor to make it more tanky, or for a ball of HP improved toughness as many times as you wish.

The only work it needs is converting some of it's 3.0 traits to 3.5, but in all, this thing is pretty nuts.

[Coidzor]

Sorta left off midway through there, sorry.



The Elder Eidolon is a template like Effigy Creature. It even has the same basic material cost based upon the size of the creature you make it based upon. I think it has a slightly broader range of different types of creature that it can be based upon, though. 3K cost per HD and highly variable.

One big advantage they have is the Fast Repair (Ex) quality which heals them so long as they have more than 0 hp. They also had fairly decent DR/Adamantine based upon their number of HD and increase the natural armor of the base creature instead of replacing it. Also, you can explore template stacking shenanigans with them for the base creature.

They also have a short range aura that causes Confusion effects. It also has golem-style Immunity to magic. Needs its Wisdom raised by 2 for Combat Focus, et al. But it doesn't actually *need* Combat Vigor with its inherent Fast Healing.


Incarnum Golems start at 11 HD and Large and cap at 31 HD and Huge. They need +2 Wis to qualify. I believe they have a couple of neat tricks with Incarnum, but I don't recall any that do more than boost AC that would be relevant to your purposes here.



Sand Golems start at 18 HD and Huge and cap at 54 HD and Gargantuan. Standard Golem Wisdom means they need +2 Wisdom to qualify.

Has a slight potential complication with Walkers in the Waste trying to keep its creation as hidden knowledge.



Coral Golems start at 16 HD and Huge and cap at 32 HD and Gargantuan. Standard Golem Wisdom of 11 means they need +2 Wis to qualify.

If I'm reading my notes correctly, they have both a material cost and a construction cost per additional HD, making them somewhat more expensive to advance, IIRC.



Effigy Creature is a template that lets you make a construct version of a bunch of different types of living, corporeal creatures. They have a 1K cost per HD, the HD of the creature is the minimum CL in order to craft it, and there is a PrC dedicated to making them tougher.

Requite Wis +2 to qualify for Combat Vigor and have decent DR/Adamantine as one builds ones with more HD.



Blade Guardians start at 8 HD and Medium and cap at Large and 24 HD. They need to boost their 10 Wisdom up to 13 in order to get Combat Vigor.

I don't recall much to write home about with these ones, as they lack much in the way of special abilities or superior defenses or immunity to magic.



The Calzone Golem starts at Medium and 6 HD, but caps at Large and 18 HD.

It's mostly a novelty, especially with the permanent berserk chance.



The Arcane Ballista starts Large and with 6 HD and caps at 18 HD and Huge.

It is actually a siege weapon, being based upon a +3 Flaming Burst Ballista, so that's an interesting supplement to the spell turrets, possibly. I believe it can be further enchanted as a magic weapon, as well. Its Wisdom starts at 1, though, so it's a bit annoying to get it up high enough for Combat Vigor.



Spiderstone Golem starts Large and 18 HD, caps at 36 HD and still Large. Standard golem Wisdom of 11, so needs +2 Wis, which HD advancement can easily handle.

As was mentioned, it gets feats as a humanoid with fighter levels. Unfortunately a bit picky about who the creator must be and has a Berserk chance, albeit a non-permanent one.

The Jade Spider starts as Gargantuan with 24 HD and caps out at Colossal with 72 HD. Wis of 11 is easily raised to 13. Can't recall anything standout about it, other than its size and the number of HD it can have.



Scaladar start out 7 HD and Large and cap at Huge with 21 HD. Base Wis of 11. Require an attuned magic ring in order to control them, but multiple ones can be attuned to the same ring. Other than that, giant metal scorpions.



Serpentflesh Golems are Large and 11 HD to start with and cap at Huge and 33 HD. They have a good baseline ratio of gp spent to HD of construct and they lack the berserk chance of a regular old Flesh Golem.

They can also have a large number of additional arms added to them for as many natural attacks as you care to spend the money to add.




Sickstone Goelms start Large with 24 HD and cap at Gargantuan with 72 HD. Standard Golem wisdom of 11. Fairly expensive, and they destroy metal and stone over time just by being in contact with such substances, so they can slowly Kool-Aid Man their way through stone castles and the like.

This may provide a potential complication to festooning one with Spell Turrets.



The Coal Golem starts Large with 11 HD and caps at 33 HD and Huge sized. Standard golem Wisdom score. Has a berserk chance, but not a permanent one, and is always hot.

The Razor Golem starts Large with 16 HD and caps at 48 HD and Huge sized. Standard golem Wis. Will definitely ruin your upholstery.



Gold Golems start Large with 10 HD and cap at Huge with 50 HD. They have standard golem Wis and are super expensive for what you actually get.

I would recommend against one, but it does bring the bling.



Sardorian Golems start Large with 30 HD and cap at Gargantuan with 90 HD.

Their method of creation is supposed to be a guarded secret, but their baselin Wisdom of 13 meets the requirement without buffing.

Psi-Guardians are like Psionic Shield Guardians, and it is reflected with their baseline of 15 HD and Large size. They then cap out at 45 HD and Huge.



Silvereye Marauders start 9 HD and Medium and cap at 16 HD. Their 11 Wis needs to be bumped up by 2 to qualify. They're fairly expensive for their number of HD, and they're mostly geared towards tracking and guard dog duties, IIRC.




Walking Statues of Waterdeep start out Gargantuan with 32 HD and cap out at Colossal with 64 HD. They start with Wis 13, so they have the Wisdom, Intelligence, and HD to grab Combat Vigor right out of the box.

They are fairly expensive and in a kind of awkward position of being both free-willed and super loyal, so may not be suitable. They can phase between the Material and Etheral planes at will, though.



Helmed Horrors start at 13 HD and Medium and cap at 19 HD. They also have more than sufficient base Wisdom to qualify for Combat Vigor. They have limited free-will, but simple orders will almost never be questioned. They also have some ability to self-heal, though I can't recall what that was just now.

Battle Horrors start at 20 HD and Medium and cap at 30 HD. They're essentially Helmed Horror Deluxe, so same 16 Wisdom score, but they also have some SLAs in the mix.



Emerald Golems start as Large, 12 HD constructs and cap at 36 HD and Huge. They're 12 Wisdom golems, though, so really easy to get up to 13.

Diamond Golems start Large with 14 HD and cap at 42 HD and Huge. They also only need a single point of Wisdom increase.

Ruby Golems also start Large and end Huge, with 10 HD as the base and 30 HD as the cap. They also have 12 Wis to start with.


I also tried to tweak how I was listing them to be somewhat more helpful.

The big finds, to me, were the Elder Eidolon template and its Fast Repair quality amounting to Fast Healing, and the Gemstone Golems for combining Golem Immunities with innate intellect.

Certainly are a few that you can add a buttload of extra HD to.

Several of the later sources for the normally mindless constructs were taken from the Web Archive on WOTC's site.