What small animated objects would an alchemist have in his cellar / lab?

[Jay R]

My party of five 2nd-level players is on its way home through the woods. They will (probably) find the old lab pf an alchemist. It has a little treasure, but I also want to include a little danger. But it's been sealed for hundreds of years, and only recently broken open by an earthquake (caused by a meteor strike).

So any threat should be something that would survive for hundreds of years (unless it moved in in the last two days). I'm thinking two small animated objects. These items only exist to attack the PCs when they loot the lab. But they weren't built to be defenders. It should be something that would be a convenient servant for an alchemist.

One will almost undoubtedly be a small wagon; he used it to bring his stuff when working. Any ideas for the other item?

This is supposed a minor threat and interesting flavor, not one of the major threats of this session. But it should have some ability to hurt them. Note that the cellar has been revealed by a newly opened fissure. These constructs could possibly push a PC over the edge.

The party comprises a wizard, a rogue, a druid, a gnome bard and a halfling ranger, if it matters.

Any ideas?

[Also, is there any way that 2nd levels could actually get these things to serve them?]

[pabelfly]

Why not the alchemists cauldron?

[InvisibleBison]

My first thought was some sort of alchemical tool or implement. My second thought, which I think is better, would be a cleaning device of some sort. Perhaps an animated broom or mop, though I'm not sure how well that sort of thing would last over the time scale you've described.

[Palanan]

When my party found an alchemist's basement, I used a pickled punk (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/undead/pickled-punk/) to great effect.

Maybe not for everyone, but my players were just disturbed enough to enjoy the encounter...once it was over.

[Jack_Simth]

Humanoid statue, of stone or metal.

"Hold this"
"Bring me that"
"Raise it one inch"
"Work the bellows"

General all around utility because HANDS.

[Phhase]

Honestly, the Sorcerer's Apprentice package of mops, buckets, and brooms works perfectly - they'd be perfect for helping prevent, contain, and manage spills and alchemical accidents.

[Troacctid]

A mortar and pestle is one of the most important parts of an alchemist's toolkit. It requires extended periods of repetitive pounding and grinding, which makes it a prime candidate for automation, and its durable construction should allow it to easily survive centuries of disuse.


[Also, is there any way that 2nd levels could actually get these things to serve them?]
The only thing I can think of would be a cleric with the Warforged domain. Small animated objects only have 1 HD, so they're susceptible to being commanded by Rebuke Constructs. But your party doesn't seem to have one of those, so you should be fine.


Humanoid statue, of stone or metal.

"Hold this"
"Bring me that"
"Raise it one inch"
"Work the bellows"

General all around utility because HANDS.
That would normally be the job of a familiar, homunculus, or Gondsman, not an animated object.

[Jack_Simth]

That would normally be the job of a familiar, homunculus, or Gondsman, not an animated object.Those are harder to replace if something goes wrong, and don't come with Hardness.

[Jay R]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Some of them may get used later.

My wife pointed out how much time I spend moving my chair to here I want it, so the second object was a chair.

For the record, I decided not to make a human-shaped object because a permanency spell is way more expensive than a servant.

In the game on Sunday, the PCs chopped up the chair. They shoved the wheeled table out of the destroyed wall into a fissure caused by a meteor strike.

Somewhere at the bottom of a deep fissure is a wheeled table, trying to protect the alchemist's lab.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Jay R
In the game on Sunday, the PCs chopped up the chair. They shoved the wheeled table out of the destroyed wall into a fissure caused by a meteor strike.

Somewhere at the bottom of a deep fissure is a wheeled table, trying to protect the alchemist's lab.

Do you have a campaign journal going? This sounds like a fun campaign to follow along with.

Also, I had a PC attack a hearth once. Wasn’t even animated. It was just a hearth.

[Jay R]

Do you have a campaign journal going? This sounds like a fun campaign to follow along with.

Thank you for the compliment. No, I don't have an online journal, although I send a game description out to the players by email the day after each session.


Also, I had a PC attack a hearth once. Wasn’t even animated. It was just a hearth.

Oh, I approve. I was once in a party who faced a large shapechanger. When we first saw it, it was hiding in the shape of ... a gazebo. I suspect that was enable it to ambush us, but it failed spectacularly – we attacked the gazebo on sight.

We killed it, and learned what the creature was. But we have never, then or since, referred to it as anything other than a gazebo.

gazebo.]

[MaxiDuRaritry]

For future games, an animated / awakened vacuum cleaner. Yes, a modern-day piece of technology, clearly different from the tech present in your world. Maybe have other such things that the players will recognize as modern tech, some of it quite dangerous to people who don't know what they're doing. The things run off of electricity, with a magically-run (animated, or via a permanencied wall of fire) generator in the basement.

How did this modern tech get there? Where did it come from? Is there a portal hidden in another lab elsewhere that connects past the known multiverse, or was the previous owner (along with his house) isekai'd in a D&D world and managed to learn some of the local magic and alchemy?

Several bits of tech were animated and awakened to keep the alchemist company, but most of them are dead. But the vacuum and several other appliances (https://resizing.flixster.com/kEDJ5Fvuc_V-wJT2nH04hjXov94=/300x300/v2/https://flxt.tmsimg.com/assets/p10155_i_h9_aa.jpg) have survived, waiting on their friend to come back.

And, of course, the vacuum has a few spell-likes and/or psi-likes it can use to help clean the house. Maybe control air (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/controlAir.htm) so it can use its Hoover Maneuver to keep the place livable.

[Alcore]

I know you picked and those are great choices (for you) but not all alchemists are the same. So I'll throw this out there;

a lectern.

It's that wooden skeletal thing that reminds you of a podium. I like to walk, to move, and a chair wouldn't cut it. Perhaps I'll disagree with myself in the upcoming decades. Permanently animating an object is still a highly expensive project so it wouldn't be a normal lectern... whether I did it myself in a woodshop or paid a 100 gold extra for a professional wood worker...


a shoter pole and compensate with longer legs. As apposed to the typical legs just big enough to keep him upright. Not only would this give him a bigger stride but he might be able to navigate stairs and certainly rough terrain.

Arms long enough to serve as a coat rack (or bucket rack). Perhaps claw like fingers allowing him to hold a candle or two. Combined with legs it would enable him for those rare out of the lab adventures as he would be better at cross country movement than a wagon with ( :smallsigh: ) wheels. Which is like giving a robot treads...

Lastly give him resist acid and fire 5. Pathfinder has rules for that. It'll protect him from accidents as he retreats to a designated safe zone with a book.


The second item I would have would be a mop (a literal homage to the sorcerer's apprentice). I would keep it out of sight of my actual apprentice who would do its job at the beginning. This mop would have similar protections as the lecturn (perhaps a much higher acid resistance). Buckets too (never know what I might need one for)

These guys would be likely to survive me.