Construct Help

[Lev]

I'm playing a living construct race aka Exiled Modron (Wizard) and I'm fluffing it as a tinkerer.

How do constructs work? What's the limit to controlling them and such?

Any advice for a newbie constructist?

[FelixG]

craft homunculus is a good start to make some small constructs to help you out early game.

The pros of Constructs are that they are powerful (arguably) and the only limit on how many you can control is the amount of gold and xp you can spend on them.

[Lev]

Oh snap, seriously?

Which means as a 9th level exiled modron wizard I could technically purchase around 20-25 clockwork menders that repair 1D8/day?

[Fizban]

While the only limit on constructs is the money in your wallet, do note that anything worth building is going to be very expensive. In fact, you're only just starting to have enough cash to be able to build them and still have any other items at your level. I don't remember about buying clockwork menders, but the way you usually want to craft constructs is to find the biggest and baddest one you can craft, then buff it to the gills and guard it with your life. Literally. The price to raise dead your character is 5,000gp, but there's absolutely no way to raise dead a construct.

Another problem is prerequisites: almost all the interesting constructs, even if they're lower in CR and you can afford to craft them, have high level spells as prerequisites. Even with polymorph any object errata'd out of the game all the golems require geas/quest. The only constructs you can create reliably are effigies, from complete arcane. They don't get up to as many hit dice and don't have any fancy magic immunities or special abilities, but just being able to make them is a nice plus. I searched basically all the books and the best forms are either dragon, hydra, or rulkanyr, which feels quite sadly limiting, but I'm sure having a metal dragon will make you feel better.

[FelixG]

As i said also, the homonculus ones are wonderful, check out the Eberron setting books. There is one that can fly, its tiny, and it has a link to your mind, as they never tire and they make bad food stuffs you could just have it circling over head all day and use it as a spy satellite!

If i remember correctly there are some animated crossbows with wings that can be added as well so you have flying fire support.

If you wanted to set up a true golem factory what you want to make are dedicated wrights. They can reproduce one another if you order them to, they can pump out item after item if there are enough of them and make you money that you can re invest into new constructs.

One beautiful thing as well, as normally you have to cast the spells into the thing you are making every day of creation, you put the spells you need into the wright and it pumps them into the item its making every day automatically! this is particularly useful if the needed spell has components that are costly ~.^ They truly are the construct creators best friends!

[Lev]

Mm, I don't really care about having items for myself, I have one opt. item (mith twilight animated heavy shield), but only because I can make the shield look however I want, and I chose it to be an astrolabe that floats beside me.

Really I just enjoy the fact that my character is a tinkerer (this means clockwork, not fleshy stuff-- my character is basically a metal cube), he makes both works of art and friends to adventure with-- not real friends of course, but they do make him feel better about his own construct disjunction his mentality and that of the material plane's life.

One of the main goals of the character is to adventure for ancient technology, so it works pretty well.

Right now so far I have:
A lantern archon familiar (funny I didn't choose a construct huh?)
Ronk, my junk golem.
Jyian, my brass man. ((homebrew scimitars called Ball Scimitars, they have a large metal ball a little bit down from the striking balance point of the blade (yes I know Scimitars are slashing, but A&EG says scimitars == cutlas or saber which are actually chopping weapons) so for taking the damage of a small scimitar I can deal bludgeoning instead, which I'm quite happy with seeing as A) most of the damage is applied via +6 STR modifier and B) I can apply dual-wielded slash OR bludgeoning damage that crits on 18-20, this is very nice because of the Brass Man's (Ex), "Flatten" which whenever you crit they make a DC17Fort or Stun AND Prone. Tasty))
Iz the Mechanical Expeditious Messenger (by rounding it up to 2k I've homebrewed this little guy to be somewhat like a hover drone.)
Rest dumped into repair drones so far

Also, I've worked out with my DM to make a custom homebrew arcane domain for my domain wizard ability and have a few free repair spells per day, including a fair amount of regular poisonous cloud abilities and sickening conj. to make em run. Don't think my constructs are in too much danger, but I can always improve them as I level can't I?

[dsmiles]

Oh snap, seriously?

Which means as a 9th level exiled modron wizard I could technically purchase around 20-25 clockwork menders that repair 1D8/day?

Or you could make a Warjack.

EDIT: Also in the Iron Kingdoms book is the Mechanicka domain. Granted, it's a cleric domain, but you could probably adapt it to an arcane domain, without changing too much stuff around.

[Sir Swindle89]

(yes I know Scimitars are slashing, but A&EG says scimitars == cutlas or saber which are actually chopping weapons) so for taking the damage of a small scimitar I can deal bludgeoning instead,

Chopping wepons... like an ax.... which is slashing, just saying

Also have you looked into making some half golems? I'm pretty sure it's evil but it's all for science, right?

[Lev]

Chopping wepons... like an ax.... which is slashing, just saying

Also have you looked into making some half golems? I'm pretty sure it's evil but it's all for science, right?

Little metal box doesn't even understand fleshies let alone tinkers with squishy meat.

On a related note, I just realized that there was like 5 more pages of constructs I missed (roughly 50-70 more options to choose from) and lots are from obscure mags... this is going to take some time.

Where is Warjack located?

[dsmiles]

Where is Warjack located?

Privateer Press' Iron Kingdoms Character Guide. Very little detail on creating them, so I think it could be easily be adapted to a standard DnD setting.

EDIT: Requires Craft Construct (for the body), and Craft Wonderous Item (for the cortex), IIRC.

[FelixG]

Warjacks might be an issue, they require alot of maintenance as they are more machine than magic... Not to mention the fueling requirements and how useless they are over long distances XD

If i remember they need troop carriers to move them to and from battlefields.

and the best ones cost somewhere around 35k GP IIRC

[dsmiles]

Arcane Mechanick gets a construct familiar. Mini-steamjack-monkey familiar, anyone?

Yes, steamjacks are high maintenance, and high fuel consumption, but that shouldn't bother a Mechano-mancer type of character. Those trees are being sacrificed for SCIENCE!

[FelixG]

Arcane Mechanick gets a construct familiar. Mini-steamjack-monkey familiar, anyone?

Yes, steamjacks are high maintenance, and high fuel consumption, but that shouldn't bother a Mechano-mancer type of character. Those trees are being sacrificed for SCIENCE!

Hmm now that you mention it the steamjacks would be easier for dedicated wrights to pump out, then assign some more independent homunculi to fuel and repair them and create a more traditional construct (even some animated wagons) to move them or create a mobile stronghold and you have a scary force that can be deployed many places without your direct involvement :D

[dsmiles]

Hmm now that you mention it the steamjacks would be easier for dedicated wrights to pump out, then assign some more independent homunculi to fuel and repair them and create a more traditional construct (even some animated wagons) to move them or create a mobile stronghold and you have a scary force that can be deployed many places without your direct involvement :D

Perhaps find a way to bind a Small Fire Elemental to their engine? Unlimited power source, just add water! And if it was a closed system, you wouldn't even have to do it that often, pretty much only when there was an over pressure and the pressure valve opens to let some out.

[FelixG]

Perhaps find a way to bind a Small Fire Elemental to their engine? Unlimited power source, just add water! And if it was a closed system, you wouldn't even have to do it that often, pretty much only when there was an over pressure and the pressure vvalve opens to let some out.

Well if you wanted to get fancy bind the fire elemental and add a decanter of endless water :P no more fuel needed ever

[the clumsy bard]

Recently made a cohort artificer who's main idea was to build gear for my character, but later on decided to have them pump out fun homunculus and such (read big constructs)

Here's a handy link for you if you plan on making constructs (including homunculus)

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boa...hp?topic=177.0

It should help (hopefully!)

[dsmiles]

Well if you wanted to get fancy bind the fire elemental and add a decanter of endless water :P no more fuel needed ever

Ooooo...I'm going to start dumping skill ranks into 'Jack Handling in the Ravenloft game I'm in. Warcaster, here I come!

[Lev]

Recently made a cohort artificer who's main idea was to build gear for my character, but later on decided to have them pump out fun homunculus and such (read big constructs)

Here's a handy link for you if you plan on making constructs (including homunculus)

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boa...hp?topic=177.0

It should help (hopefully!)

Perfect, thanks!

[Randel]

Instead of a Fire Elemental you could go with a permanent wall of fire, might be easier.

[dsmiles]

Instead of a Fire Elemental you could go with a permanent wall of fire, might be easier.

Think heat metal would work?

It's lower level, and, thus, cheaper than wall'o'fire.

[FelixG]

Think heat metal would work?

It's lower level, and, thus, cheaper than wall'o'fire.

Heat metal damages creatures using equipment with it so...very short lived construct? :P

plus im not sure how heat metal would work with its "over the course of 7 rounds" mechanic

[Crafty Cultist]

If it hasn't already been suggested, I'd suggest the effigy template from complete arcane. It allows you to make artificial versions of living creatures

[Dimers]

Cloakers also make good mid-level effigy creatures, if you want to be able to take your pet into town without people running away screaming. Sure, it weighs a hundred pounds, but it just looks like a cloak. And if you throw it onto an enemy caster, it'll seriously mess their day up.

See if your GM will let you adapt Complete Arcane's spellstitched template. It's meant to be applied to undead, but I personally see no reason it couldn't be adapted to constructs (maybe without access to Necro spells). It grants spells-per-day, helping you out with your desire for a few dozen Repair spells on call.

[FelixG]

Cloakers also make good mid-level effigy creatures, if you want to be able to take your pet into town without people running away screaming. Sure, it weighs a hundred pounds, but it just looks like a cloak. And if you throw it onto an enemy caster, it'll seriously mess their day up.

I just had the mental image of someone throwing their effigy cloaker off their shoulders at a gnome wizard, and it not only starts to maul them but crushes them under its weight.

[Endarire]

Psions (Shapers) get astral construct. It's shorter term, but costs PP instead of GP/XP.

Psion (Shaper) Optimization. I'm a Warforged!

How can we optimize astral construct?

PS: You can put an arbitrary number of templates on your effigy at no additional cost. How'zbout Half-Dragon 50 times?

[dsmiles]

Heat metal damages creatures using equipment with it so...very short lived construct? :P

plus im not sure how heat metal would work with its "over the course of 7 rounds" mechanic

So, wall'o'fire and decanter, it is, then. A little dash of bull's strength, and you have an unstoppable juggernaut!