Questions about an Awakened object

[Greenfield]

My campaign is currently on hold, so this is purely hypothetical.

I'm considering using the Awaken Sand spell to create/prepare what will be in essence a cohort.

Our campaign is right at the edge of 13th level, and the Awaken Sand spell creates what is essentially a CR4 creature, AC 14, 59 hit points, Large in size.

Our group has agreed that sand has an effective hardness of 5, not because it's hard to push through but because it's hard to actually damage. That gives the sand creature a DR of 5.

Now said creature is pretty much amorphous, capable of assuming a number of forms but not naturally tied to any single one.

That means that if it has any item slots, they're temporary at best and may not actually exist at all.

So my first question would be, can it gain class levels? Monster levels? And if so, how?

And the second question would be, what sort of items would you suggest for it to make it less of a speed-bump in battle?

My third question would be, how would one go about healing such a creature, if/when it gets injured?

(For the record, I'm thinking of naming it either Lysander or Cassandra. )

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I Brought This Up A Little While Back- Ankhus, The Living Sand. That thread and my ideas within were, coincedently, inspired by you in the first place.

As per the RAW, it's a Huge sized creature, as an Animated Object it should be a CR 5, AC 13, 84 HP. If you are using a modification of the stats, all good, but that's the RAW.

My solution to healing and diverse abilities was to give a single level in Artificer for Repair infusions as well as scribe low level utility scrolls (I justify the use of Shapesand in place of fingers for manipulating the pen and such and the the Surrogate Spellcasting feat from Savage Species to justify any other complications). I've not found the need to give it any more levels because that grants it 9HD total and it's pretty gosh darn effective.

You can see the equipment list and our discussion on equipment there, but a few items worth noting here- Bags of holding, a few small boulders he carries within himself for hurling, Shapesand for creating a variety of mundane tools, Ioun stones don't require body lots, and Blacksand.

Blacksand is an incredible item for an intelligent Construct. He carries it deep within himself so the effects are blocked. Pulling Blacksand up to his surface I do as a move action. Magical Darkness and negative energy damage are very useful. Dying opponents are converted to more Blacksand upon hitting 0 hp.

I (well, my DM) use him as an NPC who is an archeology research assistant to an Archivist who is the mentor of my Factotum PC. This makes them colleagues, Ankhus has joined us in an adventure once.

Enjoy!!

 

[Samloyal23]

If you wanted a cohort with conventional slots for magic items, just animate a statue and awaken it. An awakened statue makes a great trojan horse, just have it pretend to be non-magical and give it to your enemy as a "gift". He puts it in his impregnable castle, it slits his throat in his sleep and opens the castle gates...

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

If you wanted a cohort with conventional slots for magic items, just animate a statue and awaken it. An awakened statue makes a great trojan horse, just have it pretend to be non-magical and give it to your enemy as a "gift". He puts it in his impregnable castle, it slits his throat in his sleep and opens the castle gates...

Awaken Construct is a level 9 spell. Awaken Sand is a 6th level spell. Both are nifty. One is usable by aventurers on the verge of achiving 13th level.

 

[Samloyal23]

Awaken Construct is a level 9 spell. Awaken Sand is a 6th level spell. Both are nifty. One is usable by aventurers on the verge of achiving 13th level.

So if you use Animate Object on a statue it is considered a Construct? I am not talking about a Golem, this is not nearly as powerful...

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

So if you use Animate Object on a statue it is considered a Construct? I am not talking about a Golem, this is not nearly as powerful...

Wait, perhaps I'm confused. you can definitely animate a statue with Animate Objects, and you can make it permanent. But you end up with an INT - construct, not viable for a cohort, but definitely a useful tool, as all constructs can be.

How do you Awaken it from there? The Awaken Sand spell is very specific to apply to sand itself, not any and all animated objects. This spell grants a 3d6 INT, WIS and CHA score to the construct, making it essentially alive and free willed.

The level 9 Awaken Construct spell, which is very poorly worded, I'd assume granted the same stat changing effects as the Awaken spell.

 

[Greenfield]

So if you use Animate Object on a statue it is considered a Construct? I am not talking about a Golem, this is not nearly as powerful...

Look in the Monster Manual or the SRD at "Animated Objects".

Yes, they're constructs.

 

[Samloyal23]

So why is Awaken Sand three levels lower than Awaken Construct? I do not get that. It should be even harder to awaken material that is not even animated. Okay, the spell has a narrower focus, it only applies to a certain type of target, but THREE levels lower?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

HarrisonVal
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No soup for you!

(Reported)

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

So why is Awaken Sand three levels lower than Awaken Construct? I do not get that. It should be even harder to awaken material that is not even animated. Okay, the spell has a narrower focus, it only applies to a certain type of target, but THREE levels lower?

Excellent question.

I dunno. It just is.

It is, interesting enough, one level above Awakening animals and plants. What a spell it is! It turns out to be a very versatile construct. Huge sized, but can pas through a key hole.

Perhaps Awaken Construct is a 9th level spell because it can be used on ANY construct. Like The One Discussed Here.