FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-2
ARMOR CLASS: See below
MOVE: 9"
HIT DICE: 1 HD per foot of height
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: See below
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 per pair of forelimbs
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-8 or by weapon type
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below
INTELLIGENCE: Non-
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: 5% S, 75% M, 20% L
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: Variable
Automatons are robotlike constructs
similar to golems. They are usually
human-
oid in appearance, although other forms are
possible. Unlike golems, they must be con-
structed in such a way as to permit move-
ment; i.e., if an automaton is to be able to
walk, it must have legs with joints in the
appropriate places. Automatons may be
constructed of many things: normal objects
such as chains and thick ropes, suits of
armor, full skeletons, mechanical arms, and
so forth. Parts may be mixed and matched;
for instance, an automaton may have a
torso taken from a suit of plate mail, and
chains for arms. The only restriction is that
an automaton?s body (torso) and arms
(forelimbs) must both be composed of the
same substance, and that substance must be
generally classifiable as either bone, leather,
metal, or wood. An automaton made pri-
marily of bone has an armor class of 9; one
of leather or rope has AC 8, and one of
metal has AC 3.
An automaton made entirely or partly of
magical components will not retain any of
the magical characteristics of those compo-
nents; if a helm of brilliance is used as a
head, for instance, the helm will lose its
magical powers when the automaton is
enchanted.
Any cleric or magic-user of sufficiently
high level can create an automaton. First,
the creator must acquire the necessary
materials and have them assembled into the
desired form by a tinker, engineer, armorer,
or other such specialist. The cost for materi-
als and labor is 1,000 gp per hit point, and
it takes 1 day per hit point to acquire and
assemble the materials. When the construc-
tion is complete, the creator must cast a
sequence of spells upon it, in the order
given:
A cleric must use animate object, raise
dead (if organic components are involved),
prayer, bless, and quest.
A magic-user must cast geas, limited
wish, animate dead (if organic components
are involved), and enchant an item. In
either case, all spells must be cast personally
by the creator and not read from scrolls.
When the magicking process is complete,
the automaton can receive and act upon
commands issued by its creator, in the same
manner that a golem is controlled.
An automaton can be repaired by its
creator (assuming the availability of suitable
materials), regaining 5 hp per day spent in
repairs, up to the automaton?s original hit-
point total. However, if an automaton loses
more than one-third of its original hit
points, it cannot be repaired. Automatons
take damage from different attack forms
according to the primary substance from
which they were constructed:
| - | Bone | Leather | Metal | Rope |
| Acid | half | full | half | full |
| Blunt weapons | half | none | none | none |
| Cold | none | half | none | none |
| Edged weapons | half | full | none | double |
| Electricity | none | none | half | none |
| Fire | half | half | none | double |
All automatons are unaffected by poison,
mind-affecting magic, gases, normal mis-
siles, and magic missiles.
Certain spells will instantly kill an autom-
aton, depending upon its primary sub-
stance. If it is a mixture of substances, those
parts made of the material in question will
be affected. For example, an automaton
with a metal upper body and legs made of
bones will have its legs destroyed by a raise
dead spell. It would theoretically retain its
movement rate, but would have no means
of getting around, although it could still
attack with its arms if a target came within
reach. The spells that will destroy an au-
tomaton are as follows:
Bone ? animate dead, raise dead, rein-
carnate, resurrection
Leather ? blade barrier, Mordenkainen?s
sword
Metal — disintegrate, transmute metal to
wood
Rope ? blade barrier, fire storm, rope
trick
Any automaton can be destroyed by the
application of three dispel magic spells or
three hold monster spells, or any combina-
tion of the two types equalling three, if each
subsequent casting is made within 1 turn of
the previous casting. Each spell will lower
the movement rate of the automaton by 3"
for 1 turn thereafter, and if its movement
rate is brought to 0? the automaton be-
comes an inanimate heap of junk.
Any automaton has a strength of at least
16, with 1 extra point for each 2? of height
over 6? up to a maximum strength of 25.
Automatons of 10? or more in height will
do 1-10 hp damage per hit, or perhaps even
more for exceptionally large creations.
Damage figures do not include strength
bonuses.
| Dragon magazine | - | Monster Manual III | - | Dragon #101 |
Too expensive?
Dear Dragon,
I have a question about the automaton in
Creature Catalog III (issue #101). Why is the cost
for materials and labor so high? If you were
making one out of a suit of plate mail or the like,
and if you are using an armorer to assemble the
automaton, why would it take him 1 day per hit
point to assemble it?
Charles Bartz
Troy, Mich.
(Dragon #103)
The cost and construction time of an automaton
were set high to keep clerics and magic-users
from continually rooting around in garbage piles
and churning out these constructs every time they
replenish their spells. The figures -- 1,000 gp per
HP and 1 day per HP -- are not
outrageous when you compare them to the cost of
making a golem, either from scratch or with the
use of a manual of golems. It takes a lot less time
and gold to make an automaton that's 5 or 6 feet
tall, which would have an average of about 25 HP,
than it does to make most of the golems
in
the Monster Manual.
The only kind of golem a cleric can make from
scratch is one of clay It costs a minimum of
50,000 gp to construct and enchant the golem,
which will have 50 HP when it's done. That
comes out to 1,000 gp per HP (at least),
which is what any golem costs. It takes a minimum
of 3 weeks to make a clay golem, which is
less time than it takes to build our example
automaton that has only 25 HP. But a clay
golem can only be made by a cleric of at least
17th level, whereas a cleric only needs to be 12th
level to make an automaton. All things considered,
we think the cost in gold and time for an
automaton is a fair price to pay for the benefits
received. -- KM