Rolemaster Construct Companion, Podreczniki RPG, Rolemaster

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CONSTRUCT
COMPANION
™
Designers:
Nicholas HM Caldwell
Editors:
Heike A. Kubasch, Tim Dugger
ICE Staff:
President:
Heike A. Kubasch;
CEO:
Bruce Neidlinger;
Managing Editor:
Heike A. Kubasch
;
Editing, Development & Production Staff:
Heike A Kubasch,
Bruce Neidlinger, Tim Dugger, Lori Dugger, Monica Wilson;
Marketing & Webmistress:
Monica L. Wilson;
Corporate Mascot:
Gandalf T. Cat, Rajah T. Cat, Phoebe T.
Cat, Ember T. Cat;
Project Specific Contributions:
Proofreader:
THE Howard Huggins;
Cover Art:
Randy Gallegos (randygallegos.com
)
Interior Art:
Ilya Astrakhan, Liz Danforth, Anders Finer,
Craig Henderson, Jeff Lauberstein, Pat Ann Lewis,
Jennifer Meyer, Carissa Swenson, Colin Throm;
Art Direction:
Jeff Laubenstein;
Pagemaking:
Sherry Robinson;
ICE Cheering Section & Moral Support:
Karl & Helga Kubasch, John Seal, Claudia Aulum, Elke
Lübbert, Inge Bendfeldt, Judy & Hasmukh Shah, John
Ross, Gavin Bennet, Bjorn Boe, Brad Williams, Brent
Knorr, the Guild Companion, (www.guildcompanion.com)
and all ICE fans everywhere: Thanks for keeping the
faith!
Copyright 2003 by Aurigas Aldebaron LLC. All rights reserved. No reproductions without permission.
Produced and distibuted by Mjolnir LLC, dba Iron Crown Enterprises, 112 Goodman Streeet, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Stock #5815
ISBN 1-55806-601-2
Contents
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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
2
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1.0
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Introduction
Construct Companion
will reveal how members of the
existing
Rolemaster
professions can become masters of
creative magics, and explore their motivations and meth-
ods. 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 proportion-
ate impact on the setting –
Construct Companion
will
help gamemasters (GMs) to meld them into their stories,
as player-characters, as non-player-characters, and as
sources for adventure.
“Artificial beings are unnatural creatures constructed
by enchantments. Composed of virtually any ele-
ment or substance, they have no inherent soul. In-
stead, 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.”
From arcane workshops issue forth hulking golems,
roughly sculpted from stone, deadly humanoid con-
structs, formed from myriad metal scales, and animated
machines. In sorcerous laboratories, misshapen paro-
dies and soulless simulacra of living beasts and men are
shaped and molded. And in the secret places of the
world, the mightiest alchemists tamper with life itself to
create terrifying new monsters and savage races – abomi-
nations of the natural order, which will endanger the free
peoples for future millennia.
Your world may never be the same again.
1.2
USING CONSTRUCT
COMPANION
Construct Companion
is wholly compatible with
Rolemaster Fantasy Role-Playing
. Much of the material
in this book can also be used without modification with
earlier editions of
Rolemaster
.
Construct Companion
is also a modular sourcebook.
Gamemasters may choose to use some or all of the
material without fear of upsetting delicate game bal-
ances. In some campaigns, only certain types of artificial
beings may be created – each is an individual masterwork
of the art and the result of a lifetime (or more) of
dedicated magical research. In other worlds, creation
magic is black magic and the province of evil spell users;
heroes battle golems, constructs and abominations and
seek to rid the world of their blasphemous makers. In yet
other settings, automata and artificial entities may be
commonplace as non-human slaves, ever-vigilant guard-
ians, and utterly loyal warriors – with a magical “Indus-
trial Revolution” imminent in the most advanced societ-
ies. Whether artificial beings are peripheral or central to
the setting,
Construct Companion
has all the answers.
1.1
WHAT’S IN
CONSTRUCT COMPANION?
Construct Companion
is a fantasy role-playing
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 frag-
mented resources found in previous editions of
Rolemaster
.
The myths and fiction of our own Earth are populated
with uncanny creatures, created by forgotten alchemy
and lost magic. History is replete with instances of in-
triguing machines and toys devised by ingenious artifi-
cers or cunning tricksters to entertain the elite through-
out the centuries.
Construct Companion
will delve into
this treasure trove to reveal the most interesting beasts
and artifacts.
In addition to the perennial favorites of constructs
and golems,
Construct Companion
will introduce four
new categories of artificial entities and unnatural life-
forms, namely the automaton, the amalgam, the
simulacrum, and the changeling, and provide ready-
made examples of each.
Construct Companion
will
detail the spells, rituals and processes needed to create
artificial beings and automata of each type, and show
how the standard creations can be enhanced with me-
chanical contraptions and magical abilities. With these
rules, the boldest alchemists will be able to persuade or
compel eldritch beings to place shards of their souls
within newly animated entities, granting them intelli-
gence. Others will mimic or mock the divine by fashion-
ing whole new hybrid species.
1.3
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The author would like to thank Alison Mitchell for
undertaking much of the early research into historical
automata and literary monsters. Her efforts assisted
greatly in the writing of this book. Any errors introduced
into the text are my fault.
Construct Companion
has also benefited from the
suggestions and critiques of an elite and international
cadre of playtesters – David Bate, Andrew Ferguson,
Patrick Farley, Peter Mork, Marian Münch, and Dave
Prince. Many kudos to these heroes.
As always, thanks for keeping me sane in the face of the
word count go to my veteran group of gamers – David
“Demetrios” Bate, Quinton “Etain” Carroll, Andy “Sabas”
Davies, Matt “Uther” Fitzgerald, Keith “Markus” Grainge,
Sean “Bertran” Miller, Dave “Anna” Prince, and Stephen
“Leon” Watts.
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2.0
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Artificial Entities and
Automata in Myth, History and Fiction
True automata, in the sense of mechanical objects
which are relatively self-operating once set in motion,
appeared in profusion in the third and second centuries
B.C. Sand, mercury, and especially water were used by
the later Egyptians and the classical Greeks as the motive
forces for their devices. Hero of Alexandria, living in the
second century B.C., described the construction of appa-
ratus employing water, falling weights, and steam. As
one of the leading mechanicians of the era, his discover-
ies in hydraulic, pneumatic, and mechanical action helped
him to construct a series of automata from singing birds
and moving tableaux to a fully automatic miniature
theatre. Philo of Byzantium staged a full five-act play –
“The Tale of Nauplius” – including ships being launched,
“sailed”, and shipwrecked using one of these theatres.
Legend, literature and history are replete with ex-
amples of created and artificial entities. This chapter will
look at a sample of the most famous and interesting as a
prelude to implementing similar creations in
Rolemaster
.
2.1
AUTOMATA
2.1.1 ANCIENT AUTOMATA
As early as 2000 B.C., the ancient Egyptians possessed
figurines with movable limbs while puppets dangling on
strings or operated by sticks from beneath were made by
the Greeks in the first millennium B.C. “Talking statues”
(where a human priest hidden nearby spoke on the god’s
behalf) and “moving” idols (where the motion was
achieved by mechanical contrivances) have appeared in
many religions from antiquity onwards.
Even in Greco-Roman legend, automata are present.
Homer mentions Vulcan’s mobile tripods and the smith
god was assisted in his endeavors by a score of golden
4
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Rolemaster Construct Companion, Podreczniki RPG, Rolemaster

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