Pathfinder Creature Feature: Constructs

[Music] foreign [Music] hi there I'm the mythkeeper welcome back to my channel the best place on the internet for Pathfinder lore and history if you like this kind of content be sure to like And subscribe and if there's anything specific that you'd like me to talk about let me know in the comments below I read all the comments and I love getting them this week we're going to do another video in my Creature Feature series and this has been a much requested video I'm talking about constructs and the timing is pretty good last week I talked about numeria and the next region Deep dive will be the city of alkenstar both of which are construct heavy places so hopefully I'm giving you all the tools you need to run adventure set in those parts of the world enjoy the video in the world of Pathfinder the word constructs is used to refer to a class of creatures that are fabricated or manufactured rather than being born biologically this word covers a broad range of sub-categories and individual creature types and because it's a living Game World intentionally leaving room for more space the subcategories of constructs are certainly not an exhaustive list but what I've tried to do here is identify both the most common subtypes of constructs as well as indicate the ones that are most relevant to the lore and history of the game world let's start by looking at three major factors that might differentiate one type of construct from another these factors are life force motility and intelligence when I refer to Life Force I'm referring to the presence or absence of quintessence or Soul stuff many constructs are definitively not alive and do not have any kind of Soul some constructs however do have souls such as Androids which acquire Souls during fabrication or automatons which have souls magically transferred into them from living hosts that wish to extend their lives indefinitely the presence or absence of life force from a construct is often a differentiating factor between construct subtypes motility refers to the mechanisms that allow a construct to move some constructs use complicated Clockwork gears and steamwork to move others use galvanic systems which is a fancy fantasy world way of saying they run on electricity others like animated statues have no natural motility of their own and rely entirely on transmutation magic to alter their superstructure and introduce flexible joints where previously they were inflexible and unmovable intelligence refers to a creature's ability to make decisions humanoids typically have a high degree of intelligence and have the capacity for both language and complex problem solving animals typically have a lower degree of intelligence able to make decisions in self-interest but lacking in both the language faculties and corresponding education to learn about abstract Concepts and ideas constructs with Souls often have human-like intelligence but constructs without Souls may also have some degree of intelligence they may rely on magic or even program software to inform their decision making although in living organisms all three of these things are intimately connected in the case of constructs they are not always a construct creature May rely on different methods to perform all three of these things and the differences in how these things work are mechanisms we can use to more easily understand the differences between the most common construct subtypes with that said I'm going to look at six different types of constructs today Androids animated objects automatons Clockwork Creations Golems robots and a bonus catch-all category I'll get to at the end that I'm just going to call other constructs Androids I have already discussed Androids at Great length in my numeria deep dive video so I'm going to try to avoid retreading too much ground here for more details on Androids please watch that video like robots Androids are not native to the world of galerian they came to gallerian on a spacecraft that landed in numeria around 9000 years before present time one of the oldest Androids the one which would become the goddess cassandale was at least 11 300 years old and possibly even older which means the androgans were already a technologically advanced people well in advance of our own tech level today when the atlante empire was getting established on galerian Androids are technological and not magical in nature they are a synthetic life form fabricated in mechanical wombs produced by the Androgen foundries some of which survived the crash of the Starship Divinity and began producing new Androids intermittently on gallerian Androids are very different from most other constructs I discuss here today much more similar to organic life forms after fabrication an Android is essentially inert lacking in life force motility and intelligence however the androgans figured out how to draw New Life energy into the inert synthetic form at the point of its fabricated conception that means Androids have souls and they respond to positive energy-based healing magic in the same way as most organic life forms do they are synthetic bodies and organ self-repair over time just like living tissue does however Androids do not degrade with age instead their self-repair nanites can keep them physically healthy indefinitely they also do not grow over the course of their lifespans they are born in adult shape and size but with more childlike minds and they will remain in this form under change throughout their life although theoretically Immortal Androids choose to self-terminate typically after about a hundred years of functioning after self-termination an Android undergoes a renewal in which the body is reset to factory conditions and a brand new Soul enters the body renewal is treated in the same way as a new birth in Android Society Androids are in many ways the least constructive if I can use that word of all the constructs I discuss here significantly Androids are available as a rare player character ancestry in second edition as creatures with Souls they are capable of worship they have afterlives and they may have access to Divine spell casting classes and other magical class types although their constructed form makes them immune to Conventional diseases that affect most living organisms they are not immune to magical afflictions which means it is theoretically possible to Bear witness to an Android werewolf animated objects refers to a whole range of constructs that are animated by transmutation magic transmutation is considered one of the eight traditional Arcane schools and its practitioners are typically referred to as transmuters as the name suggests this type of magic deals with a transition of matter from one state to another examples include Turning Stone into mud or even turning a person into stone or into another type of creature transmutation is quite powerful and advanced users can use it to Grant non-living objects a semblance of life in my Undead Creature Feature I mentioned how the school of necromancy could be used to animate corpses and skeletons with negative energy serving as a facsimile for the animating force of a soul well to a lesser extent in its more advanced use cases transmutation magic can accomplish something similar mechanically in second edition this is accomplished through the animate object transmutation ritual which takes about a day to perform while in first edition this was accomplished through the sixth level animate object spell a fairly high level spell beyond the craft of most Junior transmuters the transmutation ritual will take what is essentially an inert object and Grant it motility and the ability to follow simple instructions but the object has no soul and no true intelligence while it can follow instructions it is not self-aware and is essentially being programmed by the transmutation magic to work in certain predictable ways in game terms such a construct typically has the Mindless trait a Mindless creature has either programmed or rudimentary mental attributes in second edition such creatures have an intelligent score of -5 and they lack an intelligent score altogether in first edition such creatures are naturally immune to all Mental effects they cannot be intimidated or experience fear or indeed any other type of emotion they also cannot be confused about their task or assignment a very common use case for such magic is the animation of a broom for example so that the broom can go about and sweep up the mage's workshop or wizard tower without the spellcaster having to go about performing the menial labor himself sort of like a Wizard's magical Roomba in farmlands it's not entirely uncommon for transmuters to animate scarecrows as a moving scarecrow is more effective than a still one and some scarecrows can sometimes even be put to use on the farm itself agricultural work is fairly complex to perform however and in such cases it is common for the Scarecrow to be Anointed with a drop of its Creator's blood into each of its eyes this will confer upon the Scarecrow some of the know-how and skill of the farmer if the farmer dies the Scarecrow will also collapse however if the Scarecrow is destroyed before the farmer dies then the blood will leak out of its eyes and the portion of the Creator's soul will never be returned to them another very common use case for this kind of magic is the animation of statues animating statues is common because they already possess the form and morphology of the living creature capable of wielding weapons and Performing more dexterous tasks such animated statues are frequently employed as Guardians for important places or even as tireless soldiers on the battlefield the atlante made use of such animated statues in their war effort against the serpent folk when they created the monoliths some of which are still active today and which I discuss in my Southern wangi Deep dive video it would be easy to confuse an animated statue for a Golem a construct type I discussed later in my video but a crucial distinction is that a Golem has been constructed specifically for animation whereas an animated statue is any run-of-the-mill statue brought to life through powerful magic another important distinction is that a Golem typically possesses a small portion of the soul of its creator to confer upon it somewhat greater intelligence and a little life force which an animated statue does not possess in this regard the Scarecrow example I discussed earlier could arguably be categorized as a primitive form of a Golem and not just a simple animated object finally sometimes objects or statues of truly enormous sizes are animated by spellcasters to serve as living Siege engines or to perform impossibly vast physical tasks that would otherwise only be in the purview of Giants or Titans such a construct is referred to as an animated Colossus and is typically a hundred feet tall dwarfing even the size of the great Quantum Golems of next which stand about 20 feet in height to give a sense of what such enormous constructs might be used for animated colossi are rumored to have been used by Thessalonians in the erection of the hanging Monastery of secular Valley a vast Stone Temple complex built upon a thick metal platform suspended over a mile deep Chasm by three immense chains attached to three nearby mountain peaks automatons are intelligent constructs that are used to house living Souls giving them true life force and making them fully intelligent and self-aware constructs like Androids these creatures can be healed by positive energy which interacts with their soul stuff however unlike Androids whose fabricated body is taken newly released Souls from the Wellspring of the positive energy plane automatons are actually host bodies designed to have a soul transferred into it from an already living subject therefore automatons already have a lived experience when they are created like necromancy and other similar Arts the automatons were created to extend Life For The Individual beyond their natural lifespan further differentiating them from Androids the creators of the first automatons never figured out what the androgans did which is how to give the automatons a mechanism to release their bound Soul or undergo anything like a renewal many are thousands of years old and the passage of time has revealed one of the automaton's greatest weaknesses their mortal psyches Only the strongest willed of these ancient automatons have managed to retain their memories sense of self and lucidity after all this time the First automatons on gallerian date back to the era of the now long disappeared jiska Imperium a topic I discuss in much more detail in my cheliac's deep dive video and a little in myosyrian video as well after the fall of Aslan the jiske Imperium were the next greatest human civilization in the Inner Sea region and they were master artificers the jiska imperium's expansionist Tendencies and lack of diplomacy earned the Imperium many enemies over the course of its existence the most notable of these foes was the Empire of ancient Assyrian this conflict with Assyrian ultimately sealed the imperium's Fate as assyrian's Mastery of divination and necromancy proved more than a match for Jessica's legendary transmuters and conjurers in a desperate attempt to fight back against the internal corruption and external pressures a cabal of concerned jiskins formed the artificial conclave to develop new technologies to Stave off the imperium's collapse and return giska to its former glory the most successful of these developments were automatons which the conclave believed to be the Pinnacle of giscon constructs or at least the Last Hope for jiska's salvation conclave creators transplanted the Mind life force and soul of justkin individuals into these constructs creating magical and technological Marvels powered by the Life Energy of the greatest warriors and Scholars the organization could recruit unfortunately despite the conclave's best efforts the automaton's arrival happened too late to save the already doomed Imperium the Empire collapsed leaving the automatons as the immortal survivors of a long failed purpose automatons share a common construction a blend of magically treated metal and stone this design allowed automatons to withstand the rigors of direct combat and made them particularly Hardy their heavy bodies can move just as quickly as other combatants making them powerful foes the design of an automaton varies depending on the needs of its role most automatons have a basic humanoid shape though some have more unusual constructions the majority of automatons were built with a single eye that glows with a dim magical light each also contained a powerful artifact that both housed its individual soul and used a combination of life and planar energy for power these automaton cores are marvels of magical engineering as constructs automatons don't eat or sleep they don't age and the design of their cores grant them a seemingly endless power source many automatons that exist today are thousands of years old their bodies as efficient as the day of their creation even if their minds might have deteriorated with the strain of Ages automatons lost over time typically met violent ends on automaton's body is just as vulnerable to destruction as any other construct though destroying an automaton core is more difficult as such an automaton Soul might remain trapped within its core for years after the destruction of its body this was the intent of its original creators who hope to provide functional immortality there have been a few rare reported cases of an automaton learning how to influence its core these automatons discover how to release their souls from their core as an Android would allowing their soul to move on once they felt they have achieved a satisfying life without a renewal ritual this act leaves the automaton as a Mindless construct typically still active but no longer capable of anything but aimless wandering and the occasional instinctive Act of self-defense in Pathfinder second edition automatons are a rare player character ancestry although many automatons are between eight and nine thousand years old dating back to the original jiska Imperium the craft of building automatons was not completely lost in the 8 000 years since the fall of the Imperium notably the Lost Omens Monsters of myth compendium describes a famous jiskin artificer named ulistul who became an automaton herself and went on to create thousands if not tens of thousands of new automatons since the fall of the jiske Imperium but these automatons lacked purpose and may have been constructed unwillingly the reason for this is ulistul herself might have gone mad over the ages explorers mapping garen's barrier wall mountains have uncovered at least a half dozen caves decorated with jiskin mathematical graffiti most also often containing forgotten jiskin apparatus associated with smithing or Advanced inorganic Alchemy collectively if they can be attributed to her these suggest ulistul wandered the Inner Sea region for Millennia vacillating between learning from each ages greatest minds and retreating to perform forgotten experiments as such a player character automaton may be an abducted person experimented on and released when they had served their purpose dating back to any time in galerian's history ulistul herself isn't receding in her Madness but rather becoming Bolder with each century she has been particularly active in the last 300 years where locals of the hilllands that sit in the Border regions between thuvia and rahadum have invented various names for the rarely glimpsed construct artificer the Widow of the wastes the envious Effigy the Steel muse and even safu sayik the last one blending her Legend with that of a different bedtime story Boogeyman known for its asymmetrical appearance and for abducting disobedient children for every true automaton ulistul has created since Jessica's fall at least a dozen more were utter failures perhaps were still are the near misses automaton cores that captured only a fragment of the mortal's Mind resulting in a physically powerful construct with gaping holes in their memories reasoning or ethics haunted by the certainty that something isn't right each of these constructs responds to its predicament in different ways those craving purpose often work with the ulistul or wander off in search of some other Mentor sometimes Scavenging materials to rebuild themselves into some more complete idealized version of what they were meant to be others spiral into the delusion that reality itself is an illusion testing this hypothesis repeatedly through atrocities in a vain attempt to validate their own existence a few simply lose faith in their own self-awareness gradually acting more mindlessly until inspired back to Lucidity by some extraordinary act or person in addition to the original automatons created at the height of the jiske imperium's war with Assyrian and subsequent automatons crafted by surviving giscon artificers there are examples of other people in galerian leaning on Ancient jisk in texts developing their own slightly lesser versions of these constructs the best known example of this are the alums of katapesh alums are powerful metal and stone constructs originally created by The Pact Masters to maintain order in katipesh just like a jiskin automaton an Alum contains a crystalline Focus which houses a human soul although this focus is not quite as indestructible as the automaton core retired Zephyr guards the elite combat enforcers of The Pact Masters are the most common sold owners bound within an alum's crystalline Focus these individuals typically agree to become a soul donor early in their career in exchange for a higher salary it may seem strange to Outsiders that immortality is something that is offered to a zephyr guard in exchange for more pay until one learns that alums themselves are essentially slaves to The Pact Masters the construction of each Alum includes the creation of an Alum charm a brass pendant set with a blue crystal designed to control that particular construct despite having living souls in them alums cannot disobey the bearer of the Alum charm making them powerful intelligent and yet completely obedient constructs whereas most alums are animated by The Souls of volunteers loyal to katapesh The Pact Masters have also created a small number of alums powered by The Souls of dangerous condemned criminals these spirit-bound alums are rarely used as peacekeepers instead serving as Elite Warriors riot control constructs or even as assassins naturally despite the use of the Alum charms it does come to pass that charms are lost or destroyed over time although pact Masters will stop at nothing to detain and Destroy Rogue alums several such Renegade spirit-bound alums remain at large today although not explicitly stated in the rule books there's no reason the automaton player character race presented in the guns and gear Source book couldn't serve just as well for a rogue Alum as I could for a giscon automaton or indeed for any other construct with a bound Soul a similar but related construction to both the automatons of jiska and the alums of catapesh are the dalums of NEX during the height of the Legendary nextgeb War the arklords of next grew increasingly creative in the development of force multipliers for their armies one such effort involved the construction of mechanical soldiers powered by Arcane engines but directed by transplanted mines this process generally involved willing donors who were eager to give up their dying bodies to live on in constructed frames today thousands of years after that war ended hundreds of dalum still function these beings have in large part fully Embrace their new lives and very few remember their previous existences day looms can be found throughout the Mana wastes surveying as guides Porters Mine Workers and Mercenaries one crucial difference between day looms and the other two construct types that I have outlined in this section is that they are soulless whatever process was used by the nexian arc Lords transferred the Mind Over giving the dalum a human-like intelligence but did not transfer the soul which moved on to the river of souls for judgment in farasma's Boneyard the dalums are effectively a copy of a human-like mind in a mechanical chassis but lacking the original Spirit as intelligent but soulless construct daylims typically have an intelligence score and are not treated as mindless creatures but positive and negative energy has no effect on them Clockwork Creations Clockworks are intricate complex constructs that can be programmed to perform specific functions typically it's in the category of motility that A Clockwork creation is unique unlike robots and Androids whose motility uses more advanced technology like the galvanic Sciences most Clockwork constructs are articulated with various hinges attached to numerous linked cogs and wheels that give the construct its full range of motion unlike golems and animated objects no magic is required to provide further motility many Clockwork creatures must be wound regularly to function although some others might use a steam engine or other type of primitive motor as a source of power instead Clockwork Creations are intricate complex machines built by masterful artificers they lack a soul and therefore cannot be healed through the use of positive energy and must instead be painstakingly repaired by hand or by using mending magic specifically designed to repair objects and artifacts because they lack a soul most Clockwork Creations are also unintelligent and need to be programmed by Specialists although some rare Clockworks may be enhanced with Arcane magic particularly of the enchantment rather than transmutation School such hybrid creatures are still soulless unless they have some kind of Soul receptacle in which case they are effectively A Clockwork automaton more similar to my previous construct type discussed but they may possess more sophisticated decision-making capabilities and as such have a correspondingly higher intelligence score such a creature however would not be truly self-aware functioning not unlike the generative AI software in popular use today able to make spontaneous and sometimes complex decisions but not truly having sentience or self-awareness very rarely such an enchanted Clockwork May acquire true self-awareness this can occur with other Enchanted constructs too such as puppets which I'll get to later and in those circumstances the spark of life means that they can thereafter be healed by positive energy and harmed by negative energy as normal in the Inner Sea region Clockwork Creations are most common in and around the city of alkenstar which is really embraced and pioneered this kind of Technology alkenstar makes use of clockwork the way that Geb has long made use of the Mindless Dead performing menial labor and automating much of their Workforce consequently Clockwork laborers are very common including Clockwork agricultural workers Clockwork Builders Clockwork cleaners and even Clockwork garbage disposers particularly entertaining is the Clockwork Brewer The Bar Keeper's best friend autonomously pouring fresh brewed ale to alkenstar's many Tavern patrons there are even Clockworks used to maintain other Clockworks a common morphology for A Clockwork servant of this nature is a five foot tall four-armed three-legged Clockwork construct with tools specialized in the repair and maintenance of other Clockwork constructs as described earlier some Clockwork servants are magically imparted with intelligence equivalent to humans and serve in more complex roles than normal repair workers Clockworks building Clockworks is part of the reason that alkenstar a relatively Young Nation was able to automate so quickly and efficiently in addition to Clockwork servants another common creation is the Clockwork spy a tiny spider-like construct capable of recording and playing back audio to surreptitiously surveil their enemies or steal secrets from competitors their spindly bodies and delicate components make them unsuitable for combat in fact most Builders construct Clockwork spies with a self-destruct mechanism to ensure the spy's meddling can't be traced back to them naturally another use case is for security or combat in general Clockwork soldiers are diligent machines that guard their assigned posts tirelessly a typical Clockwork Soldier stands six feet tall and consists of 500 pounds of brass and steel finally Clockworks have been used to emulate various animal-like forms Cavaliers May Ride A Clockwork Steed into battle Clockwork horses can also be found autonomously pulling carriages in the city meaning such carriages may not have a driver at all human or otherwise the city of alconstar has also constructed several dozen Clockwork hounds for the purposes of keeping sewer tunnels free of vermin their hound-like appearance mimics Humanity's trustiest hunting companions with a few Choice modifications of course as hunting dogs generally don't sport sturdy metal plating and an integrated crossbow bolt launcher larger more dangerous constructs also exist emulating the form of sphinxes or dragons finally some enterprising individuals have even figured out how to use Clockworks to automate magical Services Clockwork Mages are imbued with an Arcane stone that power spells through the wand embedded in its chest the Clockwork priest instead is a Clockwork construct with a Sanctified Divine Focus that allows it to replicate Divine magic with a reservoir of divine energy unlike other kinds of Clockworks once the Divine focus is in place it is not programmed directly by its fabricator but rather it awakens as a completely loyal servant of the deity to which the focus belonged to though we typically obeys the commands of the deities followers without question Golems a Golem is a magically created construct animated by a combination of magics typically including transmutation and enchantment but also typically conjuration as it necessitates The Binding of some kind of spirit to the construct most often Golems are animated by infusing in an elemental Spirit using quintessence drawn from the elemental planes but other times a Golem is animated using a portion of the spirit of the Golem's own Creator creators of Golems are known as Golem rites or Golem crafters and in galarian this is a much older and more widely understood craft than Clockwork Creations so Golems can be found all across the Inner Sea region and Beyond despite possessing some spiritual material to serve to awaken the Golem it's typically a fraction of a soul and not a full Soul like the Scarecrow example given earlier and so a Golem is generally mindless and serves at its Creator's discretion they are also not typically affected by positive or negative energy a notable feature of Golems a result of the complex process by which they are animated is that they are generally resistant to or even completely immune in some cases to most Magic this makes them useful Guardians for locations that spellcasters might seek to ponder as both Arcane and divine spellcasters have little in their Arsenal that will prove effective against them unlike Androids and automatons Golems are not available as a player character race golems come in a wide array of types typically based on the materials used in their composition clay Golems are a type of Golem created from soft clay usually by powerful Divine spellcasters they are generally eight feet in height and 600 pounds in weight traditionally clay Golems are crafted in the image of a deity and used as guardians of tombs or sacred crypts flesh Golems are made of real flesh bone muscle and Skin So a flesh Golem is a grotesque parody of Life flesh Golems frequently guard the Laboratories and Charnel houses of Flesh warpers and necromancers who feel no compunction about desecrating corpses for their own ends despite often being found in use by necromancers a flesh Golem is not an undead creature and no necromancy is used in its creation nor can it be healed by negative energy it is a construct using the same creation process as for other golems but using flesh and bone as its raw Building Materials in rare isolated cases Echoes of an old personality might arise in a flesh Golem but such tragic instances are mercifully very rare glass Golems are often purchased by wealthy Aristocrats as living works of art they also often protect Grand Cathedrals or opulent palaces they are constructed of hardened glass and held together by magically treated lead once spurred into action by the commands of their creators glass Golems are quicker and more agile than most other golems their sharp blade-like limbs can easily sever veins and arteries creating wounds that bleed profusely Iron Golems are traditionally crafted into the forms of giant suits of armor or powerful animals their articulated joints and sturdy armored bodies require great care and mathematical Precision to craft and regular cleaning and oiling ensure they don't rust over the ages with proper care Iron Golems can remain in good shape for thousands of years being passed down for Generations as a Golem type typically constructed for their combat utility in addition to their Incredible strength Iron Golems are usually built to produce a potent toxic breath weapon that is often more than enough to to dispatch entire groups of opponents stone golems are slow in steady constructs often carved from Marble or Granite they're often made to serve as works of art when at rest built by Master sculptors to the specifications of their wealthy buyers because of their durability they may survive long after their masters are dead older stone golems might be weathered with scuffed or cracked surfaces or missing noses and digits but this weathering on Ancient Golems is largely cosmetic and rarely adversely impacts the Golem's functionality wood Golems by contrast often have only vaguely humanoid shapes as if cobbled together from scraps of firewood and discarded burls while wealthy patrons have been known to commission wood gallons to be painstakingly carved to resemble themselves of their ancestors most would Golem Crafters construct these creations haphazardly since wood is a cheaper and more easily worked material than stone or metal Druids and creatures who protect Woodlands typically see wood Golems as an affront or an Abomination akin to the horror humanoids often feel when facing a carry in her flesh Golem the quantum Golems crafted by the wizard King next ages ago after a devastating attack by Gibbs Undead forces the quantium Golems were famously meant to protect the capital in the case of Nexus absence which he has been for over four thousand years twenty feet tall and crafted from supernaturally smooth Metals the two Guardians are a match set one of crimson and one of emerald wielding swords the size of giants the Guardians relent honestly destroy anything that threatens their City robots robots are technological constructs like Androids they came to next from a more technologically advanced Planet but unlike Androids they are soulless however they are not necessarily completely unintelligent because they run unsophisticated Computing systems that run Advanced software they are therefore capable of advanced decision making some run natural language processing algorithms and are able to understand spoken language and relay their experiences and even display preferences or Personalities in this way they are like the enchanted more intelligent Clockworks I discussed in my earlier Clockwork section intelligent but not necessarily self-aware or truly alive and lacking in any kind of spirit or Soul robots are non-magical in nature using batteries electricity and onboard Computing systems executing programmable software experts with the right tools can reprogram robots to potentially serve them or otherwise alter their base programming sometimes access to this software requires a direct physical connection to the robot but in other circumstances robots have been designed to communicate with each other wirelessly and sometimes their systems can be accessed wirelessly as well providing one has the correct access credentials the endrofen robots like the Androids either survive the crash of the Divinity or were later manufactured on gallerian by still functional foundries still executing their emergency protocols they come in a wide variety of common forms varying based on the original intended function of the robot arachnid robots also nicknamed spider bots by numerous Khalid natives are a type of dog-sized scorpion-like robot they typically come equipped with a plasma wielding torch that resembles the Scorpion's tail they make use of their forward-facing claws as an additional pair of Limbs when climbing annihilators are of similar design to spider bots but are much larger more devastating war machines that attack whole Villages destroying buildings slaughtering its inhabitants and yet carefully collecting some of the dying before retreating to an unknown player in the feldales the goals and motivations of the annihilators remain a mystery a fixer robot is a round robot small enough to fit in a pack that moves on a pair of rolling Treads and with four spindly arms ending in three-fingered grips its form grants its surprising dexterity even in rough terrain although its small size limits its speed this robot makes use of a natural language processing software so it can better Aid engineers in Battlefield repairs but the only language it knows is typically androfen the gearmen are a class of humanoid-shaped robots who were brought out of the Silver Mount by the Technic League who use them as guards and enforcers they generally followed the League's commands with Precision yet occasionally disobeyed orders if they contradicted with their original and still unknown directives since the League's dissolution many gear men have been decommissioned but kevoth cool has also tried to identify some trusted parties that might be able to make use of some of these recovered constructs the black Sovereign has to be careful with who he trusts though lest he sees the Resurgence of some new Elite faction of technologists in his country mannequin robots wear an androfen precursor to the Android designed to look and behave like humans but lacking the unique set of technologies that attracted new Souls during manufacture thus mannequins look superficially human but are in fact soulless technological artifacts functioning based on very sophisticated algorithms meant to mimic human behavior myrmidons are highly mobile robots programmed to patrol the skies above important locations they react with swift violence interpret anomalous sensory input as proof of hostile intent and Rain destruction on the offending targets immediately and without Mercy although like many other androthan robots they do have the ability to communicate in natural language their violent instincts predispose them to shooting first and asking questions later torture robots also nicknamed murder Balls by enemies of the Technic League are robots built for the purpose of extracting information via torture a torture robot is a hovering metallic sphere studded with spinning blades long needles and Crystal tipped rods surrounded by a protective force field torture robots administer pain with their nanites and lasers while repeating questions their heuristic programming analyzing the truth and completeness of responses as their job requires knowledge of human anatomy and the capacity to revive a dying patient they have also been used used as field Medics and surgeons Warden robots are hulking metal constructs with squat bodies on two flexible legs and with two long arms ending in six dexterous fingers they are massive guardians of important sites that zealously execute their programming by ruthlessly killing Intruders often without warning they are highly intelligent constructs that coordinate attacks when acting in groups using Wireless Communications that allow them to signal each other to action without alerting their targets as to their intent wardens can be found across numeria but most known wardens defend the Silver Mount where the Technic League had only some success in subverting them for their own use other constructs as I've already hinted in various previous sections in this video as constructs are manufactured creatures they come in many different types and the inclination of artificers and Engineers towards Innovation means that new types of constructs are constantly being developed because artificers will blend different Arts as they develop their craft some constructs May blur the lines between various distinctions I mentioned already how animated scarecrows possess some qualities of animated objects while also possessing some qualities of Golems I also mentioned how some Clockworks make use of Enchantment magic and how day limbs have some properties consistent with other automatons and yet are still different in some fundamental ways other strange hybrid magical and engineered constructs have existed over the long ages of galerian's history in the time of the ancient jiska Imperium jisken Golem rites produced a number of fiendish Golems which is to say that instead of sparking the Golem with elemental quintessence they would bind The Souls of demons or Devils to the Golem instead similar early the infamous machine mage of the red readout learned to produce Arcane robots which is to say they were technological constructs in the vein of the Androgen robots of numeria but which possessed Arcane enchantments what I'm saying is that while I've tried to broadly categorize types of constructs the lines between Android automaton Golem and so on can blur significantly plus there are more crafts and approaches to construct fabrication than I've outlined here so in this section I'm going to just highlight a few other prominent constructs that can be found throughout the Pathfinder Multiverse extra planar constructs are construct types that are not native to the material world but native to the great Beyond in the outer Plains numerous construct types exist of various levels of intelligence and of various otherworldly Origins most possess some level of quintessence or Soul stuff native to the plane they hail from and function as postmortal entities like Angels and Demons do but yet they lack anything approaching biological organs or functions examples of such creatures include the leverlocks or warmonger Devils leveloxer fearsome Giants of jagged iron that serve in the armies of hell as potent Warriors and tenacious Hunters they are creatures of absolute discipline unquestioningly obedient to Hell's diabolical tyrants such constructs are not unique to Hell either in heaven the holy mountains armies of angels and archons are supported by Argent wardens these silver armored night looking constructs move with precision and Poise but gaps within their armor reveal nothing inside but glowing Golden Light in Heaven's war against hell the Argent wardens are almost always present each is a suit of armor given life in Celestial forges constructed to oppose diabolism wherever it is to be found if an Argent Warden falls in the material plane its Argent armor can be worn by humanoid creatures functioning as a suit of magical full plate other planes of the great beyond also have native construct types spellcasters who harness the power of the dimension of dreams may use it to fuel vicious servitors known as Terror guards hulking Terrors adorned with frames made of abyssium alloy in the plane of axis the inevitables can be found living machine form eons first created by the axiomites Millennia ago in their Eternal war against the forces of chaos as the first inevitables are now machine demigods known as the prime inevitables I will do an entire video on the inevitables in the future in my ongoing series on the demigods of the outer Plains these are just some of the many examples of extra planar constructs that can be found throughout galerion a homunculus is a tiny servature construct created by a crafter to serve as an assistant or messenger when a crafter first begins to study the art of creating constructs she often crafts a homunculus first since the creation process is simple and inexpensive homunculi are created from a mixture of clay Ash mandrake root spring water and a point of the Creator's own blood this forges a link between the homunculus and its Master causing the homunculus to gain a spark of the Creator's intellect homunculi left to their own devices never stray far from their masters and rarely survive the death of their Master for long puppets and soul-bound dolls are example of constructs like the intelligent Clockworks described earlier unlike animated objects which use magic of the conjuration School small lightweight fully articulated dolls can often be animated with magic from the enchantment school instead the distinction between poppets and soul-bound Dolls is that puppets are given a small piece of the Creator's Spirit much like a homunculus whereas in the case of a soul-bound doll they have been imbued with a small piece of a deceased mortal Soul most commonly made of cloth wicker and wood puppets and dolls are among the simplest of constructs puppets typically serve as helpers to fetch tools clean dishes tidy rooms or perform other light tasks whereas soul-bound dolls are typically put to task for more Sinister purposes both types typically appear essentially humanoid in shape and typically stand between one and three feet tall just as in the Clockwork example earlier very rarely a common puppet Spa spontaneously manifests a true spark of Life giving them more Spirit than that which was necessitated in their creation and becoming a thinking independent creature a poppet might Manifest this life Essence through a magical fluke in its construction a brush with f-maryal Spirits or even the fervent wish of a loving child they might consider their creators or former owners to be friends but they acknowledge no one as their master and often leave comfortable homes or workshops to seek their place in the world such puppets are available as a rare player character ancestry in Pathfinder second edition and as a consequence of having a real Soul they can be healed by positive energy as living creatures can naturally this ancestry could equally well be used by a player wishing to play a soul-bound doll instead finally the last construct I'll touch on today are the weirwoods weirwoods are small Sapient living constructs crafted of wood and powered with an eon stone or a similar magical stone originally created for use as magical servants weirwoods reclaim the means to make more of their kind from their oppressive Originators so now they form a distinct culture and they fiercely defend their freedom and autonomy these small Nimble living constructs rely on their wits and speed to evade foes and gather information most weird Woods are precise in calculating to the point that many Outsiders perceive them as unfeeling but they're also highly curious and passionate about matters that pique their interest regardless of Personal Agenda weirwoods prioritize the survival of their people above all else they are most populous in sagada a coastal city on the continent of Arcadia which lies to the west of avastan and Garand Across The Arcadian ocean a weirwood is a construct with a soul and therefore it heals through positive energy as other such constructs do their soul is tied to the magical stone that serves as their heart which sometimes survives even when their construct body perishes another weirwood might take the surviving heart from a close companion and incorporate it into their own body in this way in some cases multiple weirwoods might live on in a single body foreign [Music]

Channel: MythKeeper

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Length: 45min 5sec (2705 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 11 2023