Converting monsters from Dragon magazine

[freyar]

Armory works for me (arsenal sounds like weapons for some reason).

Advancement sounds ok.

 

[Cleon]

Armory works for me (arsenal sounds like weapons for some reason).

Yes, I prefer armoury too.

 

[Shade]

Updated.

Are we ready for Construction?

Gu’armori (singular: gu’armoru) are animated suits of armor constructed through the combined efforts of a magicuser of at least 16th level and a cleric of at least 11th level. The creation of a single gu’armoru requires the fabrication of a suit of adamantite-alloyed armor, the life energy of a fallen fighter of at least 12th level, and the casting of the following spells: animate dead, animate object, enchant an item, geas, magic jar, and raise dead. The exact procedure is performed according to a jealously guarded arcane ritual-only three written copies of the instructions are known to exist. The process takes at least four months to complete, at a cost of 35,000 gp for each gu’armoru.

So CL 16th, animate dead, animate object, geas/quest, magic jar, and raise dead? Should we require Craft (armorsmithing) check, or simply require a suit of already-completed armor?

 

[freyar]

Are we requiring both arcane and divine casters? If we're dropping that, I think we should get rid of magic jar and just go for cleric (like the rest of the spells). I'd go with preconstructed armor, I think. Let's not forget the cost of that, since it's adamantine (I guess full plate).

 

[Cleon]

Are we requiring both arcane and divine casters? If we're dropping that, I think we should get rid of magic jar and just go for cleric (like the rest of the spells). I'd go with preconstructed armor, I think. Let's not forget the cost of that, since it's adamantine (I guess full plate).

Agree to dropping the magic jar spell but I'd rather include X pounds of fine steel and adamantine with a total material cost of 15,000 gp (same as the item cost modifier for a heavy suit of adamantine armour), plus an armorsmithing check.

A regular suit of adamantine full plate costs 16,500 gp if you want to go that way.

 

[Shade]

CR 8 golems have a cost to create around 17,500 and a total price of 25,000 gp. If we tack on "1,000 gp worth of rare tinctures and admixtures" we'll be set.

Alternately, we could require "special inks" and require a Craft (calligraphy) check to draw runes upon the armor.

So something like...

A gu'armoru's body is created from a suit of adamantine full plate armor costing 16,500 gp. Magical runes must be drawn upon the armor from special inks costing 1,000 gp. Etching these runes requires a DC 20 Craft (calligraphy) check.

CL 16th; Craft Construct, animate dead, animate object, geas/quest, raise dead, caster must be at least 16th level; Price x,000 gp; Cost 16,500 gp + x XP.

 

[Cleon]

CR 8 golems have a cost to create around 17,500 and a total price of 25,000 gp. If we tack on "1,000 gp worth of rare tinctures and admixtures" we'll be set.

Alternately, we could require "special inks" and require a Craft (calligraphy) check to draw runes upon the armor.

So something like...

A gu'armoru's body is created from a suit of adamantine full plate armor costing 16,500 gp. Magical runes must be drawn upon the armor from special inks costing 1,000 gp. Etching these runes requires a DC 20 Craft (calligraphy) check.

CL 16th; Craft Construct, animate dead, animate object, geas/quest, raise dead, caster must be at least 16th level; Price x,000 gp; Cost 16,500 gp + x XP.

17,500 gp of materials for a 25,000 gp Construct? That's 70% of the value, which seems awfully high. Perhaps we should just make it masterwork full plate (1650 gp) and note the enchantment requires special inks and powdered adamantine costing an additional 750 gp, which would make 2400 gp in total. That seems a more reasonable proportion to the market price:

e.g.:

A gu'armoru's body is created from a suit of masterwork full plate armor costing 16,50 gp. The enchantment process requires powdered adamantine and special inks which are used to draw magical runes upon the armor, these materials cost an additional 750 gp. Etching these runes requires a DC 20 Craft (calligraphy) check.

CL 16th; Craft Construct, animate dead, animate object, geas/quest, raise dead, caster must be at least 16th level; Price 25,000 gp; Cost 13,700 gp + 904 XP.

 

[Shade]

That works much better.

Updated. Done?

 

[Cleon]

That works much better.

Updated. Done?

Oops! I forgot to move the comma when I cut the last zero off the full plate's cost, it should be "a suit of masterwork full plate armor costing 1,650 gp", not "16,50 gp".

Apart from that the only modification I would suggest is changing the first sentence of the description to "Gu’armori (singular Gu’armoru) are animated suits of plate armor, to which has been bound the spirit of a high-level fighter."

It doesn't need the "adamantine", and explains the use of gu'armori/gu'armoru in the rest of the text.

 

[Shade]

Fixed.

We've got a request for the shadow panther from Dragon #251, but apparently that's one of the few gaps in my collection.