Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying
Construct Companion
Author: Nicholas Caldwell
Stock #: 5815
ISBN: 1-55806-602-0
Published 2003 by Iron Crown Enterpises
Cover Price: $20.00
Page Count: 128
Cover/Jacket Text:
CONSTRUCT COMPANION
Build a
Better Bad Guy!
Artificial beings are unnatural creatures constructed by enchantments. Composed
of virtually any element or substance, they have no inherent soul. Instead,
their spirit is a gift or a temporary lodger. Their bodies would not "live" but
for the incantations that unite them with a wandering soul or part of the maker's
own spirit.
Construct Companion is a fantasy roleplaying sourcebook on artificial entities
and magical machines of every kind. It expands on the material available in
Creatures & Monsters and Treasure Companion, and represents a total revision
and unification of the fragmented resources found in previous editions of Rolemaster.
Construct Companion will reveal how members of the existing Rolemaster professions
can become masters of creative magics, and explore their motivations and methods.
From a handful of individual entities crafted by isolated sages to vast artificial
armies produced by mage guilds, creators and created alike will have a proportionate
impact on the setting. Construct Companion will help game-masters (GMs) to
meld them into their stories as player-characters (PCs), nonplayer-characters
(NPCs), and as sources for adventure.
Included in Construct Companion are:
. Rules for creating Golems, Automata, Constructs and Simulacra;
. Spell Lists;
. A special section on incorporating Constructs into your campaign and more!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction .......................................................3
1.1 What's in Construct Companion?
...................................3
1.2 Using Construct Companion ........................................3
1.3 Author's Note ....................................................3
2.0 Artificial Entities and Automata in Myth, History and Fiction ......4
2.1 Automata .........................................................4
2.1.1 Ancient Automata .............................................4
2.1.2 Arab and Medieval Automata ...................................5
2.1.3 Renaissance and Enlightenment Automata
.......................5
2.1.4 Oriental Automata ............................................6
2.2 The Golem ........................................................7
2.2.1 Making a Golem ...............................................7
2.2.2 Controlling the Golem ........................................8
2.2.3 Strengths and Weaknesses .....................................8
2.2.4 The Golem's Role .............................................8
2.2.5 Unmaking the Golem ...........................................9
2.3 The Homunculus ...................................................9
2.4 The Monsters of Doctors Frankenstein and Moreau .................10
2.5 A Medley of
Magic and Monsters
from Fantasy Literature ..........11
3.0 Definitions .......................................................13
3.1 Animated Objects ................................................13
3.2 Automata ........................................................13
3.3 Golems ..........................................................13
3.4 Constructs ......................................................14
3.5 Amalgams ........................................................14
3.6 Simulacra .......................................................14
3.7 Changelings .....................................................15
4.0 The Creators ......................................................16
4.1 Types of Creators and Creation Magic ............................16
4.2 Availability of
Creation Magic ..................................16
4.2.1 Restricted
(Alchemists Only) ................................16
4.2.2 Controlled
(Training Packages) ..............................17
4.2.3 Unrestricted (Additional Base Lists) ........................17
4.3 New Training Packages ...........................................17
4.3.1 Adept (L) ...................................................17
4.3.2 Artificer (L) ...............................................18
4.3.3 Creator (L) .................................................19
4.3.4 Dark Creator (L) ............................................20
4.3.5 Elemental Creator (L) .......................................21
4.3.6 Entity Hunter (L) ...........................................21
4.3.7 Reanimator (L) ..............................................22
4.3.8 Religious Creator (L) .......................................23
4.3.9 Transformer (L) .............................................24
5.0 Creating Automata .................................................25
5.1 The Time of the Machine .........................................25
5.2 The Forms of Power ..............................................26
5.2.1 Water Power .................................................26
5.2.2 Wind Power ..................................................26
5.2.3 Clockwork Power .............................................26
5.2.4 Steam Power .................................................26
5.2.5 Electricity .................................................27
5.3 Building Automata ...............................................28
5.3.1 The Creative Process ........................................28
5.3.2 Enchantments and Empowerments ...............................31
5.3.3
Materials, Money, and Time ..................................34
5.3.4 Malfunctions and Repairs ....................................35
5.4 Combining Automata with Constructs and Amalgams .................37
5.5 Specific Automata ...............................................37
5.5.1 Devices .....................................................37
5.5.2 Machines ....................................................38
5.5.3 Vehicles ....................................................41
6.0 Creating Golems and Constructs ....................................45
6.1 The Creative Process ............................................45
6.1.1 Designing a Golem or Construct ..............................45
6.1.2 Initial Design Steps for Golems .............................45
6.1.3 Initial Design Steps for
Constructs .........................46
6.1.4 Remaining Design Steps ......................................46
6.2 Making a basic Golem ............................................47
6.2.1 Material ....................................................47
6.2.2 Shape .......................................................50
6.2.3 Size ........................................................51
6.3 Making a basic Construct ........................................52
6.3.1 Shape .......................................................52
6.3.2 Material ....................................................53
6.3.3 Size ........................................................53
6.4 Modifications ...................................................54
6.5 Mechanical Abilities (Constructs only) ..........................59
6.6 Magical Abilities ...............................................61
6.7 Glyphs of Control ...............................................61
6.8 Building a Golem ................................................62
6.9 Building a Construct ............................................63
6.10 Magical Enhancements ...........................................64
6.11 Obedience and Intelligence Enhancements ........................65
6.12 Time, Materials, and Money .....................................65
6.12.1 Time Cost ..................................................65
6.12.2 Materials and Money ........................................66
6.13 Repairing Golems and
Constructs ................................68
6.14 A Bestiary of Golems and
Constructs ............................69
6.14.1 Golems .......................................................69
6.14.2 Constructs ...................................................70
6.14.3 The Colossus .................................................71
7.0 Intelligent Entities ..............................................72
7.1 Thinking Creations ..............................................72
7.1.1 Advantages and Disadvantages ................................72
7.1.2 The Ethics of Imbedding Intelligence ........................72
7.2 Endowing Sentience ..............................................73
7.2.1 Self Empowerment ............................................73
7.2.2 Spirit Empowerment ..........................................73
7.2.3 Elemental Empowerment .......................................76
7.2.4 Demonic Empowerment .........................................78
7.2.5 Life Empowerment ............................................81
7.2.6 Spontaneous Empowerment .....................................82
7.3 Empowered Abilities .............................................84
7.3.1 Demonic Powers ..............................................84
7.3.2 Elemental Powers ............................................86
8.0 Creating Amalgams, Simulacra & Changelings ........................89
8.1 Amalgams ........................................................89
8.1.1 The Assembly Process ........................................89
8.1.2 The Spark of Life ...........................................90
8.1.3 Recalled to Life ............................................91
8.1.4 Living Amalgams .............................................92
8.1.5 Materials, Money, and Time ..................................93
8.1.6 Amalgams and Healing ........................................93
8.2 Simulacra .......................................................93
8.2.1 Obtaining Matrices ..........................................93
8.2.2 Building the Vat ............................................93
8.2.3 Growing the Matrix ..........................................94
8.2.4 Warping the Matrix ..........................................94
8.2.5 Special Simulacra ...........................................95
8.2.6 Materials, Money, and Time ..................................97
8.2.7 Simulacra and Healing .......................................97
8.3 Changelings .....................................................97
8.3.1 Gathering the Patterns ......................................98
8.3.2 Creating a Changeling .......................................98
8.3.3 Creating an Abomination .....................................98
8.3.4 Biological Changes ..........................................98
8.3.5 Sample Changelings and
Abominations .........................99
9.0 Campaigns ........................................................100
9.1 Creation Magic, Artificial Entities, and the Campaign
Setting ..100
9.1.1 Which Types of
Creation Magic? .............................100
9.1.2 Creation Magic versus Good and Evil ........................101
9.1.3 Creation Magic and Society .................................101
9.2 Artificial Entities as
PCs and NPCs ............................102
9.3 Adventure and
Campaign Seeds ...................................104
10.0 Spell Lists .....................................................106
10.1 Creation Lists ................................................106
10.1.1 Amalgam Law ...............................................106
10.1.2 Automata ..................................................107
10.1.3 Changeling Mastery ........................................108
10.1.4 Construct Mastery .........................................109
10.1.5 Golem Mastery .............................................110
10.1.6 Simulacra .................................................111
10.2 Enhancement Lists .............................................112
10.2.1 Construct Magic ...........................................112
10.2.2 Golem Magic ...............................................113
10.2.3 Sentience .................................................114
10.3 Intelligence Imbedding Lists ..................................116
10.3.1 Demonic Empowerment .......................................116
10.3.2 Elemental Empowerment .....................................117
10.3.3 Life Empowerment ..........................................119
10.3.4 Spirit Empowerment ........................................120
10.4 Miscellaneous Lists ...........................................121
10.4.1 Abomination Lore ..........................................121
10.4.2 Entity Control ............................................122
11.0 Bibliography ....................................................124
11.1 History, Myth, and Legend ...................................124
11.2 Fiction .....................................................124