how to make animated object better?

[newguydude1]

im using a psion right now. with overchannel, midnight augmentation, and linked power + metapower combo i am getting astral constructs +3-5 levels higher than normal. but im getting my ass kicked.

my dm uses dispel magic and kills the construct.
my dm uses blasting spells and kills the construct.
my dm uses magic weapons or creatures who strike as magic weapons and kills the construct by ignoring its damage resistance.

on top of this my dm uses creatures with dr and my astral constructs damage output with extra attack and muscle isnt that great.

but because im using power point regeneration i can win the encounters just by sheer attrition. everytime my dm takes my astral construct down i just manifest a new one over and over and regenerate power points during and after battle to stay topped off. eventually my astral constructs 3 attacks per round chip enough hp away to kill my target.

and i completely enclosed myself in super thick bronzewood with a 1ftx1ft hatches opened and closed by my psicrystal whenever i need to link power an astral construct. and i have astral constructs carrying me around out of combat since i can regenerate more power points than it costs to manifest the astral construct.

these happened during levels 6-8.

i want to switch to my artificer build who uses personal weapon augmentation + the flying weapon special ability to turn huge weapons into huge animated objects because its a hell of a lot less book keeping. and i like long lasting constructs instead of one i have to summon 960 times every day. huge weapon because im using monkey grip and the expansion power to be able to throw huge weapons. also because my artificers thing comes online at level 2 while my psions pp regeneration comes online at level 6.

so the problem is, looking at how my astral construct faired in my dms games...

if my animated object is dispelled, it takes a whole minute to reanimate. and even if i cast personal weapon augmentation and hold the charge before the battle, i need to be exposed to my enemy's attacks for several rounds unlike my psion who is safe inside a huge block of bronzewood. so animated object is dispelled, i exit the object, i spend a full round throwing the object, then next round i climb back inside. i can die during this time. extremely likely i will since i didnt optimize my ac and such.

my astral construct with his 3 attacks and massive strength score had trouble killing monsters with dr. my animated object only has a single attack per round and a lower strength score. so hes gonna be nigh on useless against dr10 enemies.

my animated object has 8 hardness but crap ac so big hits like power attack or a strong blasting spell is gonna kill him. and once again its gonna take a few rounds to bring a new one back online where i can die.

my dm has a house rule where if someone tries to grapple them, the victim can make an aoo regardless of whether he can reach the creature or not (called attacking the hand). and since animated objects cant get any grapple feats and strong opponents can overcome hardness to deal at least 1 point, my animated object cant grapple anyone strong.

at level 9 my artificer is fine as he switches to planar binding and hes strong then. at low levels, animated objects are strong, especially my huge object at level 3. but once i hit level 6, i fear my huge animated object is gonna fail in my dms games so do you guys have any ideas to beef em up so they dont get their asses kicked until level 9?

[tyckspoon]

I have to say I suspect your problem is that your ongoing attempts to find stronger and stronger minions at earlier levels has made your DM respond in classic arms-race fashion. Have you considered talking to your DM about easing off the "I am an invulnerable unreachable puppet master" plan and seeing if they'll use less aggressive anti-you enemies? Your stuff shouldn't be that vulnerable to either blasting or dispelling with your overchannels/extra ML augmenting unless you are either experiencing significant confirmation bias about when this happened, or your DM is amping up his enemies/fudging his dice rolls specifically to counter them.

(I mean, there's ways to do what you want, but if you figure out how to make them dispel resistant your DM is probably just gonna start throwing Adamantine Horrors at you and Disintegrating and Disjuncting everything.)

[newguydude1]

I have to say I suspect your problem is that your ongoing attempts to find stronger and stronger minions at earlier levels has made your DM respond in classic arms-race fashion. Have you considered talking to your DM about easing off the "I am an invulnerable unreachable puppet master" plan and seeing if they'll use less aggressive anti-you enemies? Your stuff shouldn't be that vulnerable to either blasting or dispelling with your overchannels/extra ML augmenting unless you are either experiencing significant confirmation bias about when this happened, or your DM is amping up his enemies/fudging his dice rolls specifically to counter them.

(I mean, there's ways to do what you want, but if you figure out how to make them dispel resistant your DM is probably just gonna start throwing Adamantine Horrors at you and Disintegrating and Disjuncting everything.)

we are running that strahd campaign with vampires and stuff. we had a bone devil who had high dr. amber golem with high dr, high damage, and strikes as a magic weapon. vampires all have dr. blasting spells dont one shot my construct but 2 rounds of focus firing does. every spellcaster we faced had at least one dispel magic.

so i dont think he is doing anti-you to me. i think normal d&d is too strong for my artificer unless i figure out a way to make my animated object stronger at level 6-8. 1 attack per round at +9 is bad at those levels isnt it?

[magicalmagicman]

The problem here is your DM's house rule. Animated Objects are supposed to be grapple happy and use the grapple rules for multiple grapple actions per round to scale their damage. That's why you're struggling.

[ShurikVch]

Just make undispellable Animated Object - you know, like those which you may encounter in-game; because I'm pretty sure - CR 10 (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/animatedObject.htm) encounter shouldn't be destroyed by a single cast of the 3rd-level spell (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/dispelMagic.htm)

[newguydude1]

Just make undispellable Animated Object - you know, like those which you may encounter in-game; because I'm pretty sure - CR 10 (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/animatedObject.htm) encounter shouldn't be destroyed by a single cast of the 3rd-level spell (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/dispelMagic.htm)

doesn't solve problem of my animated object dying to damage easily. 16hp is too low even with 8 hardness and i can't get it bigger because weapon hp is too puny in this game.

[ShurikVch]

doesn't solve problem of my animated object dying to damage easily. 16hp is too low even with 8 hardness and i can't get it bigger because weapon hp is too puny in this game.Hardening spell (Spell Compendium) gives 1 hardness for every 2 CL - permanently

[newguydude1]

Hardening spell (Spell Compendium) gives 1 hardness for every 2 CL - permanently

i forgot about this. its awesome but too high level. if i can cast 6th level spells i wont be using animated objects.

i did find dwarvencraft which is one level above masterwork which gives additional hardness too.

i get girallon's blessing at level 8 with concurrent infusions so that helps with damage.

but level 6-7 i still worried.

[ShurikVch]

i forgot about this. its awesome but too high level. if i can cast 6th level spells i wont be using animated objects.What's you mean - "too high level"?
Animate Objects is 6th-level spell - the very same level as Hardening

[newguydude1]

What's you mean - "too high level"?
Animate Objects is 6th-level spell - the very same level as Hardening

i use personal weapon augmentation to bestow flying weapon enchantment on huge sized weapon. 1st level infusion. i do this at level 2 because my first level is psychic warrior.

[Noxangelo]

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?285801-Tippy-s-Terrifically-Terrible-Trial/page25&p=15474863#post15474863

this post has a warforged monk who amongst other things boosts its hardness 89, maybe you can steal a few ideas.

[newguydude1]

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?285801-Tippy-s-Terrifically-Terrible-Trial/page25&p=15474863#post15474863

this post has a warforged monk who amongst other things boosts its hardness 89, maybe you can steal a few ideas.

i cant read that post. too big and complicated. could you give me the list of things that boosted hardness?

[Noxangelo]

Magic Armor, Shields, and Weapons
Each +1 of enhancement bonus adds 2 to the hardness of armor, a weapon, or a shield and +10 to the item’s hit points.
which can be achieved through spells like magic vestment.

also there are spells like hardening.

and special materials like adamantine and rivierine which is basically armor made of force, which as far as i can tell means it can only destroyed by a rod of cancellation, sphere of annihilation and Mordenkainen's disjunction