Making a construct familiar a magic item?

[Kiracat]

Ummmm . . . . the wizard in the campaign wants to enchant his familiar as a magic item, which can then use its new abilities as a magic item to cast spells and/or have higher AC, etc.

I would ordinarily say this is impossible, but the wizard did spend a feat to make his familiar a construct. Since his familiar is essentially an object, he feels he should be able to enchant him. So far, I've told him that he can create, say, a collar to allow his familiar to cast a particular spell (or have improved AC, or whatnot), or he can use a feat to gain "improved familiar" which I will let him use to "improve" his construct in a number of ways without having to dismiss it (I gave him a list of things which I would allow after application of "improved familiar" and told him the list was negotiatable, as long as what he wanted stayed in the same power range). He feels that requiring him to spend a feat is unfair, given the construct's nature. He has pointed out that a Mongoose book about constructs allows them to be enchanted as magical items, but I haven't been able to review the book, to see if that's also true if the construct is being used as a familiar, and I think some Mongoose stuff is unbalanced, anyway.

Anyway, I feel very uncomfortable making having him just use his "create wondrous item" ability to imbue the familiar with any magic powers he can think of (even assuming I make him do it with command-word activation or continuous effect prices, instead of spell-trigger). It seems like that power only comes with "permanency," and then it's still very limited. He, OTOH, feels that I am abusing my power and by not allowing him to improve his construct. Am I being unreasonable in requiring him to spend a feat to make his construct inherently more magic-y?

 

[Crothian]

I suggest getting a book like Arcane Encyclopedia: Constructs that has rules for improving constructs. I would not allow Create Wondrous Item feat be applied to constructs, since according to the Monster Manual one needs the Craft Construct Feat (page 303).

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Is there any benefit (other than his desire to enchant the thing) to having his familiar be a construct, or was the feat taken for flavor? If the latter, I'd be inclined to allow one minor enchantment to be added to it, since he did spend a feat. If he wants to do more, though, I support your idea that he needs the Improved Familiar feat or Crothian's idea of the Craft Construct feat.

Wichever way you go with this, the player needs to understand that you can't allow the familiar to overshadow either his character or the other party members. Just remind him that what he's really talking about is an intelligent magic item that can act as a secondary character - a very powerful item for any character to have.

 

[dcollins]

Anyway, I feel very uncomfortable making having him just use his "create wondrous item" ability to imbue the familiar with any magic powers he can think of...

You, the DM, are under absolutely no obligation to provide the player with new powers other than the ones as detailed in the rulebook. New content (new races, classes, feats, spells, magic items, monsters, etc.) is always a matter of House Rules and always the sole province of the DM. Your player won't find anything in the rules that says he gets to make up a new magic item (or monster or construct) whenever he feels like it: www.superdan.net/dndfaq3.html

 

[Saeviomagy]

Anyway, I feel very uncomfortable making having him just use his "create wondrous item" ability to imbue the familiar with any magic powers he can think of (even assuming I make him do it with command-word activation or continuous effect prices, instead of spell-trigger). It seems like that power only comes with "permanency," and then it's still very limited. He, OTOH, feels that I am abusing my power and by not allowing him to improve his construct. Am I being unreasonable in requiring him to spend a feat to make his construct inherently more magic-y?

Let him use 'craft wondrous item' (if he has that feat) to create slotless magical items that he can embed in his familiar. Only allow effects from items already in the DMG. Note that making most of them slotless will make them twice the usual price.

Note that he LOSES from this - he could just make magical items sized for the familiar...

 

[Shallown]

I would also require that he have both Craft wonderous and Craft construct. Since both are needed to imbue abilities into a construct. Also as someone noted these abilities are slotless now. The only real benefit he gets is the construct being able to operate magic items for him instead of just him. Leadership would also give the same advantage. Also remember when the familiar cast fireball it becomse a target real fast.

later

 

[herald]

I'd let him have it if he had both feats.

 

[Stormborn]

I would say that once a construct is created it is impossible to "upgrade" it later with special abilities. Any special abilites of a construct must be added during creation, I think that the aforementioned book from Mongoose backs me up on that, w/o it being explicitly stated. If you need an "in game" explination tell him that his research shows that adding spells or altering the form of a construct once created will disrupt the matrix that binds the animating force to the object which would rended it inert.

If the wizard had all the requisite feats and was willing to both dismiss the current familiar and spend the time and money needed to build a new one with a few established abilities I would probablly allow him to do so. However, even with the Improved Familiar Feat I would still be careful about level adjustments for the familiar, depending on what he did. You might refer to CW p. 118 for Guardian Familiars to get an idea of how such familiars would work.

I think the best solution is the one you already came up with, allow him to craft an item the construct can wear. That way you don't feel odd about allowing something that, eventually, could be overwhelming and he gets some of the special powers he wants.

 

[Kiracat]

Thanks, guys! All the input has been very helpful. I'll be speaking with my player tonight. He doesn't have any construct-oriented feats, and the fact that his familiar is a construct has already been very helpful to him in terms of damage the construct has taken and in terms of the ease for him in maintaining and transporting it. I also improved slightly upon its venom, based upon its construct-i-ness (it's a clockwork spider).

So I won't be permitting him to upgrade it as a magic item, but I will allow him to make magic items for it. We'll see how that works out. Thanks again!

 

[Nik_the_Pig]

I also improved slightly upon its venom, based upon its construct-i-ness (it's a clockwork spider).

Just an idea but allow him to alter the types of vemon in the constuct by making it have a certain number of doses which then have to be refilled with poisions either bought or created (Craft Alchemy)