Animated Object

Animated objects come in all shapes and sizes. And while, say, suits of armour, weapons and doorways may be of more obvious value, sometimes smaller objects are the ones gifted with motion. Though maybe one can see how living bobbins and needles would be useful to an especially busy tailor.

These objects aren't technically alive, making it somewhat easy to maintain them. So long as one has the relevant skill (sewing, carpentry, metalworking...) keeping your animated servant going is relatively easy. The difficult part may be finding a spellcaster with the relevant magic ability for it. Or maybe you can come across the leavings of a ravid.

Animated objects generally aren't sentient, but faerie magic and children's wishes can alter that.

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Astral Construct (Agile Loper)

Psionics users (a.k.a. psychics) use a different type of power from traditional magic. Their powers are based on affecting their surroundings by exerting their mental powers to affect physical objects or other minds surrounding them. Generally, psionicists don't deal with the plethora of other planes that make up the universe. If they do, it'll be the Astral Plane, mind dimensions and dreams, and, on extremely rare instances, siphoning energy from the evil and good, and positive and negative planes.

Your tradional arcane and divine magic user is able to summon allies from other dimensions from other planes, pulling a physical creature out of their home plane onto the Material Plane. Psionicists can't do that.

But some psionicists achieve a close second. They can bring in ectoplasm from the astral plane and condense it to take on a solid, quasi-alive form for a few seconds or minutes. These are called astral constructs.

Some especially talented psionicists are able to make their astral constructs take on forms suited for specific tasks. The agile loper type of astral construct is made for speed and charges. The ectoplasm around the "head" is under great pressure, forming ultra-dense, very hard horns to knock down opponents so the construct can trample them underfoot.

Back to constructs!

This isn't a conscious choice, mind you. When I can't think of a creature I particularly feel like drawing, I use a system to randomly select one out of the monster manuals. I just happens that that same system sometimes gives me similar types several times in a row.

I really want to try out a game with psionics, but I've heard that they're notoriously unbalanced. Maybe if you run a game that only has psionics and no arcane / divine magic? I don't know.


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Iron Colossus

The forbidden palace-city of the Dread King Irek is an alluring quarry for treasure-hunters. Abruptly and mysteriously abandoned by both its master and its thousands of apparent denizens for hundreds of years, its halls remain a trove of wealth, technology and magical artifacts that few thieves could resist. As many have discovered, however, the city is not unattended.

It is assumed that the six building-sized iron golems, known affectionately as the Daughters of Irek, act as caretakers of the Dread King's earthly remnants in his absence. Nobody can be sure, of course, for they do not speak. The slow, relentless beat of their unimaginably heavy paces can be heard for miles around as they patrol the great streets, tricking some into thinking that they are docile, or even mindless. Despite appearing to lack any great sensory faculties, however, the moment any intruder crosses the threshold of the great city, the Daughters wordlessly break from their patrol and converge on the offending creature. Seeming to simply "sense" its presence, they continue to pursue it until they have the opportunity to destroy it, which they do invariably and without hesitation. Only once the intruder has been slain do they ponderously return once more to their mysterious pattern.

Happy 2017! Insert my usual platitudes about not posting enough here, etc etc. Here's an Iron Colossus! Predictably, all the Colossi listed in the Epic Level Handbook are of the colossal size category which is essentially the largest meaningful size category that is statted within the D&D system (everything larger is simply lumped under "colossal plus"), so they are some truly big boys. I probably should have put some stuff in there to show scale (a la my oversized Cadaver Collector from a couple of years ago) but honestly I just kind of went in guns blazing on this one and didn't think about it too much. I guess the stomps kind of suggest a very large size? I don't know. It's always a struggle for me to work out the amount of detail/effort/attention to put into large drawings (which I know sounds weirdly lazy - of course I should put effort into everything I do), but I find it very easy to overthink things, so sometimes I have to try and work against that and just do something that's a bit more relaxed. I'm mostly saying this to justify to myself why this drawing looks a bit crude compared to the Cadaver Collector despite that drawing being two years old. But it's ok.

One of the reasons I was trying to stay quite relaxed about this drawing was because I made a time-lapse video of me making it! This is something I've wanted to do for quite a while (people often ask me about my process and I'm wayy too shy an artist to livestream myself drawing or whatever so this seemed like the next best thing). I usually do a few more design ideas at the beginning and there are usually a lot of false starts - sometimes i'll literally get halfway through cleaning up an illustration and then abruptly decide I hate it and start again - with this one I tried to just start drawing and keep going until I got done. I'll definitely try and do this again in future - if only because I really enjoyed picking the music (which, if you're interested, is from Undertale).

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Ice Golem

The ice golem! Terrifying frozen construct of the cold wastes, servant of sorcerers of frost! These towering guardians wander the snowy surroundings of their masters' domains and can swiftly glide across or climb any icy surface. The power to animate this creature is held in the runes that have been carved into its body. For offensive capabilities, the golem is capable of shooting great shards of ice from its body, tearing surrounding intruders to shreds. Yowza!

Of course the ice golem can also be created by the wishes of children. Not quite as powerful or big as something made by a wizard or druid, and prone to free will, but still pretty impressive.

A somewhat belated Christmas / New Year's image for the blog. But it's still winter and the twelve days of Christmas are barely over so... eh?

Blanca’s Tumblr

Chain Golem

Chain golems are one of those golems found almost exclusively in Hell under the command of kytons -- devils which already have a morbid fascination with hooks and chains. If one is ever seen on the Martial Plane, it means that someone somewhere is about to have a very very bad day. The primary weapon of the chain golem is, of course, the chains, which come with all sorts of pointy things attached. When threatened, the chains whirl around it, creating an almost a protective wall where any incoming object or person will likely get sliced to pieces. Though neutral like all other golems, they are inherently servants of kytons and if its kyton master dies, it comes under the command of the nearest kyton or other kyton its previous master mentioned.

I should probably draw a kyton.

Blanca's Tumblr

Necrophidius

Though literally called a death-snake, the necrophidius is not an undead creature. It's actually a construct, made up of snake and human bones (most notably the skull), created as a guardian. The serpentine form is possible the second most popular shape for constructs (the first being humanoid). Like other snakey constructs, the necrophidius' main tasks are guardianship and assassination. Despite the lack of visible venom sacks, this creature's bite injects paralytic poison. Should it be spotted before it gets within biting distance, the necrophidius is able to perform an undulating dance which hypnotizes its target.

So this one was a tricky one to draw. If I'd been smart, I'd have gone for the much more simplified and bendy vertebrae that Joe used in his devourer image. Silly me, I decided to go with less flexible, much more numerous vertebrae (with disks!). That's my excuse for this late image, at any rate.

Homonculus

Homonculi are the messengers and spies of those who wish to remain unnoticed (or at least inconspicuous). Made by wizards either for their own purposes or else to be sold to others, the tiny artificial creatures can be made from any number of materials as required, and can vary wildly in their appearance depending on the task they have been built for. One thing, however, that unites construction of all homonculi is that they require a generous portion of the creator's blood.

"Homonculus" is a pretty broad term in pop culture, commonly used to mean a sort of golem or constructed servant but with plenty of flavourful variations. One particularly wacky take that comes to mind is in Full Metal Alchemist, where homonculi are near-immortal, super-powerful (but otherwise human-passing) created beings that fill out a good portion of the main cast. The D&D version is closer to the real-life history of the term (which is a pretty fascinating wikipedia read) and I think I prefer it.

Emerald Gemstone Golem

The gemstone golems are a set of constructs powered by an original magical jewel heart. Around this original gem the rest of the golem is shaped by the wizard into a humanoid shape. There are many types of golem and behave in an automated way, but gemstone golems will often ignore the orders of their creator to follow the innate magic of their gems. There are three known types of gemstone golem: diamond, ruby and emerald.

Emerald gemstone golems are curious, seeking to travel where they want. This innate desire towards freedom leads them to shirking the bodies that their wizard creators give them; all emerald gemstone golems for some reason will eventually become vaguely androgynous women.

The emerald gemstone golem is especially difficult to keep in one location. Twice a day, she will open up a gate that allows her to travel to near any location in the world. Even when the golem has stepped through, an emerald gate will remain behind from anywhere between a few seconds and a few hours

Cadaver Collector

She had been born an age ago, and she could no longer remember her original purpose. It had changed so often - she found it easier to concentrate on the present. Life was simple. Pick the bodies up. Put them in the baskets. When the baskets are full, take them to the Pit. Start again. Simple. 

She knew the Master appreciated her work, although she would have continued to do it even if he didn't - she had been given a Command, a single compelling instruction, to keep working. Years ago, she remembered, she had found time to wonder what someone would even want with so many bodies, or (come to think of it) why so many bodies were just scattered about among the fields in the first place. But she had lived for so long, and she knew that such complicated thoughts led nowhere. So she concentrated on her work: pick the bodies up. Put them in the baskets. When the baskets are full, take them to the Pit. Start again.

Another of my favourite constructs for y'all. The Cadaver Collector is one of those monsters that actually seems sort of sweet, despite its connections with, y'know, cadavers. Referenced Howl's Moving Castle a lot here, as well as the steampunky robots in the Dinotopia series. I'm not actually that keen on steampunk as a design aesthetic (out of pure snobbery really - a LOT of people like it and it can get a bit style over substance) but it was fun to do something that leans in that direction. Check out the detail shot below, too (the linework stuff I've been doing lately seems to benefit from this).

ALSO I ran the first session of my campaign yesterday, and it seemed to go great! The party enjoyed planning out a freeform route to the actual dungeon (I drew a big map of the region on the table and they basically sat round and planned out exactly how they wanted to get there). They ended up going a way I didn't expect, which was cool. They beat up a group of hobgoblins & bugbears on the way (which an online CR calculator ASSURED me would be a fair fight but the bugbears got stomped. I guess CR calculators don't account for tactics?) and we worked out that the group halfling (an Inquisitor* named Wislo) actually has less STR than Fitz's pet crow.

After they got inside the Keep via a secret passage they had a pretty tense stealth section with the party uncovering a secret armoury. Eventually they ran into a sentry on the upper battlements who was looking out the other way, so our half-orc (a fighter/ninja** named Sev) decided to sneak up on him to take him out silently. Unfortunately for Sev, he rolled a natural 1 on his stealth check*** - an automatic fail - stubbing his foot on a stone and yelping in pain.

At this point the party is pretty screwed, because this guard has a signal horn and there are a good 30 or so soldiers nearby who will come running, completely scuppering the stealth element of the mission. Nevertheless, I roll a cursory perception check*** for the guard, to see what he hears. To everyone's surprise, I also roll a natural 1, also an automatic fail! The guard is somehow completely distracted by something to the extent that he doesn't hear the shout of a disgruntled half-orc not two paces behind him. This works out in Sev's favour and he successfully stealths the rest of the way up to the guard, sneak attacking him with a greataxe. Success! It was pretty cool.

We have our next session in about a month, so stay tuned for more updates. Next time I will take pictures!

- Joe

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* Inquisitor is a base class in Pathfinder! They're sort of like paladins that don't mind getting their hands dirty. You can take it from level one, they get some pretty cool abilities in the cause of stomping HERESY.
** Ninja is an alternate class for Rogue in Pathfinder. They do a lot of the same stuff Rogues do but with a bigger focus on stealth plus some specific ninja-themed abilities (like creating clones to confuse the enemy).
*** One of the nicer little ways that Pathfinder streamlines the game process is by slightly simplifying skills. Spot and Listen are amalgamated into a single Perception check, and Hide and Move Silently are combined into Stealth. It's a small change, but one that really helps to untangle things.

Quarut

Some rare spells are of such power that they are legendary among spellcasters - spells that have the potential to alter the very structure of the universe, such as the infamous Wish.

Quaruts are Inevitables - mechanised beings from the lawful plane of Mechanus which are tasked with the upholding of natural order - and are among the most powerful even of these. Within their custody lie all such magicks that might meddle with space and time - their objective is to hunt down such spellcasters that use them and restore a relative balance to the universe.

Quaruts are some heavy stuff, clocking in at CR 17 - meaning you're getting close to epic level in order to take them on. And with good reason - despite their desire to eradicate all manipulators of space and time, they themselves have no qualms about chucking about spell-like-abilities like Time Stop and Limited Wish. The former allows it to literally stop time locally for a few turns (giving it ample room to imprison you safely in a pocket dimension) and the latter allows it access to literally any spell of up to 6th caster level. The lesson here is: don't mess with spacetime, kids!

We always like to put up holiday-themed monsters, but some of them are pretty hard to figure out an appropriate creature for. Blanca made a big list of potential "New Yearsy" beasts, and then we picked two that we liked and did those. I haven't drawn an Inevitable in ages, which is surprising because I really like 'em. The clock motifs in this one are a little hammy and I nicked the eyes from Sahaquiel of Evangelion and Senketsu from Kill La Kill. Man, I enjoy Kill La Kill! Literal guilty pleasure but there are very few animes around with such artistic class to them (outside of the boob's 'n' butts).

Also this being almost two weeks into the new year is my fault.

Zodar

Beedle had been ready to run the moment he saw it move. Seasoned treasure-hunter or no, a gnome is wise to observe discretion over valour when, in the act of raiding some dead god's temple, he sees what appears to be a broad statue of bolted black metal shift its weight and come alive! Legging it out of the temple with a small sack-full of gold, he nevertheless considered the day well-spent.

It was the following night that he realised things would not go so smoothly. Awoken by an odd sound on the wind, he peered from his tent to note - with horror - that the statue had followed him! Rather than attacking him it simply stood, observing him with an unfaltering gaze.

At first, Beedle had made the obvious assumption that it was some avenging demon, set in place by its masters to protect their treasure. But the thing did not seem the least bit interested in the gold. It seemed rather to simply appreciate his company, and it followed him wherever he went. Whatever it was, it certainly had the gnomish spirit of adventure! It wasn't the slightest bit afraid of trespassing in ancient tombs and temples. And it was handy in a fight, too - the thing could pop a goblin's head off like a corked bottle! 

The hat and cape were Beedle's idea, but he had a feeling the golem didn't mind. This would be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Zodars are pretty cool! A construct of unknown origin (no cop-out "a-wizard-made-it" backstory here; it's completely open), basically a shell of black metal filled with weird muscle-goo that can puff up to become strength 50 for a turn. For a medium-sized humanoid this is pretty crazy - but the interesting stuff is in the additional details.

 Firstly, Zodars are actually capable of altering reality with a Wish spell once per year (although, the book tells us, they rarely deign to do so). Also, despite not having an intelligence score, they are capable of speech, although a Zodar is not likely to speak more than a sentence in a human's lifetime. And get this - when they do speak, every creature that hears it understands it regardless of what languages they know. Weird, huh? Also the armour Zodars are clad in is presumably some mysterious dimension X material because they are literally invulnerable to all damage except by bludgeoning weapons.

They sound sort of eccentric, too - apparently they occasionally travel around with adventuring groups on an enigmatic whim. The book sets it up that they're moved to do so by strange profound force but I like the idea that they just find adventuring fun.

SHINY BLACK THINGS AGAIN WOO HOO

- Joe

Retriever

Though classified as a demon, the Retriever only fits that category loosely, in that its a thing created by demons for the purpose of hunting down and bringing back certain targets that the boss demon doesn't feel like chasing. This may be other demons, troublesome mortals or those who are trying to skip out of their end of the Faustian pact.

Retriever demon also comes with eyebeams which can be set to heat, electricity, frost or petrify. Available now for the tender heart of a newborn babe.

Nimblewright

Most golems are, by and large, not constructions of great finesse. The materials usually available to the artificer - wood, stone, metal - lend themselves to sturdy, simple designs, which perfectly suit the usual role of constructs as gatekeepers and bodyguards; difficult to damage, and with considerable stopping power. As with all magical engineering, however, there is always somebody willing to take matters a step further.

Thus, we have the Nimblewright. The Nimblewright is unique among constructs in a number of ways. It is humanoid and of medium size, built more for agility than physical presence, and notably capable of impersonating a humanoid creature in appearance with a few add-ons and a spell or two. More than this, the thing that truly distinguishes the Nimblewright is its intelligence: golems are normally nonintelligent machines, capable only of understanding a few simple commands from their controller. The Nimblewright is animated by an elemental spirit of water, imbuing it with human intelligence and a unique personality, allowing for intuitive thinking in any situation. For this reason, Nimblewrights are often used as assassins and spies.

Robot form is sort of inspired by the aesthetics of that robot girl from the more recent Tekken games, she has some great moves where she sort of casually pops her head off. I'd love to revisit this and animate a transformation, I imagine it'd be horrifying in a Ghost-in-the-Shell way to see it happen. Blanca says the robot form looks like Samus. :(

Blanca's been working this weekend, so her post will be up later in the week!

Rogue Eidolon

A Rogue Eidolon usually begins as a statue or idol to a deity in a temple or place of power. Whether by the intent of its deity or merely an unintended result of proximity to divine rituals, the statue is imbued with or accrues a spark of divine power from the god it was built to venerate.

In some rare cases, however, this strange power causes them to spontaneously experience a degree of sentience. The result is often catastrophic. The shock of awakening sends the unprepared golem utterly insane, spelling death for its unsuspecting worshippers. Should a Rogue Eidolon escape, there is no telling what it might do, as its movements are frantic and random - it will attack any and all creatures it finds in a mad rage.

Not only does a Rogue Eidolon have all the benefits of being a construct (huge strength, immunity from many forms of damage) but its corrupted divine power gives it some terrifying abilities - its touch sends men mad (and we're not talking 1d4 rounds here, we're talking a permanent Confusion spell that can only be removed with a Wish) and, horribly, it weeps a sort of blood from the divine symbols on its body, which it can regurgitate in a spray at foes. This blood also has a maddening effect that causes its victims to attack their allies.

Those of you who've read the entry for Rogue Eidolons probably realise that I've been a little liberal in my interpretation of the text - technically they only count evil gods as patrons. However, I really like the Rogue Eidolon with an emphasis on Rogue - as in, something that starts out good but "goes rogue". The idea of an evil statue coming alive and doing bad things seems pretty straightforward. But what if the same was possible of a statue dedicated to someone like Pelor? I really like the idea that divine power - even the divine power that comes directly from a good-aligned god - can at some point become perverted, corrupting. It makes the idea of the Rogue Eidolon seem like a really nasty aberration that needs to be stamped out.

The illustration above is actually of a Rogue Eidolon of Pelor who's the villain in a campaign I'm writing. Not only is he murderously crazy, but his Evil Plan actually involves trying to kill Pelor, who he (understandably?) resents.

Trying to develop my style of digital painting some more. Particularly inspired by the art style of Dota 2, which I've been playing a bunch.

Please view the full-size version!

Bogun

Bogun are the homunculi of the druidic world. Where a wizard uses clay and alchemical ingredients to construct a homunculus, the bogun is created using woodland refuse including leaves, feathers, sticks, mud, animal skeletons, insect carapaces, slime... meaning that each bogun vary wildly in their physical appearance according to the materials used. Creation of both things require some blood of its master before being infused with life.

It's not a creature meant for combat, but can carry out small tasks for its master (fetch that, watch this...). It does have a weak poison that can cause some pretty bad rashes and cramps, so that's useful for annoying low-level adventurers intruding in a sacred grove.

Zelekhut

There are numerous extradimensional creatures, Inevitables, from that deal with those that break the Law. Not little things, like thievery or such, but the Laws of Justice, Promise, Death, Space and Time. Zelekhuts are the ones who pursue those who broke Justice by escaping punishment. These gold and white robots chase after that person and capture them. If said fleeing miscreant happens to be executed by him arm spiked chains or any other reason, well, that's just too bad. Zelekhuts are also the weakest of the Inevitables, so it only gets stronger from here.

I tried to be alter the design into something a bit weirder. In Mechanus (where these things come from), I don't imagine they have the empathy to give their Terminator the somewhat comforting features of a humanoid creature. There's also no reason to have them look like a horse, but work with me here. So I tried to make the Zelekhut more aberrant, like something you really, really wouldn't want chasing after you.

Also replaced the wings with jet engines going on the sides. Because you don't need no stinkin' wings in Mechanus. Jets! If you're gonna catch criminals, you do it with a eyeless, hand-footed, cage-bodied golden centaur with JETS.

In other news, a viewer was so enamoured with my partner's Grisgol that they went and did a spectacular figurine out of it.

Clockwork Mender

Required raw materials: gold, silver, copper, rhodium, earth, amber, glass, ichor (earth elemental), blood (bird), blood (hornet), blood (own).

Being a bit late with these. I was working on last week's one and hoping to get it out on time, but it looks like it's gonna require a little bit more time.

Clockwork Menders are cat-sized vaguely insectoid machines that exist to repair other constucts. They can be individuals, but are commonly found in swarms, though the swarm doesn't last very long as Clockwork Menders will use up their own life force in the repair of another construct. Their main form of defence is a numbing poison.

With the Improved Familiar feat, some ranks in Craft (blacksmithing) and an open-minded GM, you too can have one of these little creatures as a companion. That or you can try to steal one from the plane of Mechanus.

Trying out pixel-stuff a little bit, because its fun in a way. I'm not sure if I could do this consistently, but it's still fun.

I was actually originally trying to do this with pen and ink, but found that I'm still to inexperienced with it to have the steady hand required for perfect circles.

GUEST WEEK: Blackstone Gigant by Charlie Hamill

The Blackstone Gigant is a gargantuan guardian of unholy temples. Created from massive blocks of dark stone by evil priests, they are usually carved in the shape of many-armed female demons. They're unlike other golems in that Blackstone Gigants have basic malignant intelligence. Her touch can turn her victims to stone, allowing her to cruelly shatter their petrified bodies to make into morbid jewellery. Should she choose not to shatter them, she can bring them back to life later on, completely under her control. Despite their massive size and cumbersome bodies, Blackstone Gigants are capable of effortless flight.

This image is brought to you by Charlie Ray Hamill. He's also an excellent photographer and a huge fan of glamorous and dangerous ladies.

Sorry about the late double-post (this was supposed to be up yesterday), but we're currently enjoying a short holiday in Spain and wifi-equipped cafés are a little harder to come by than we anticipated. Oh well!

Alchemical Golem

Alchemical golems are constructs created by wizards with a special talent for potions. They made of several expensive and rare alchemical liquids contained within a tough membrane. These liquids, along with a trapped elemental spirit, are what makes this giant creature lumber forward. It's touch is acidic and piercing its membrane results in the corrosive liquids within spilling out, before the membrane repairs itself. An alchemical golem must cosume vats of alchemical liquids to replace those lost to physical damage.

Guest week soon, fellow watchers.

Grisgol

A Grisgol is a strange construct, made haphazardly but nonetheless dangerous. Its body is comprised of a tattered mass of various magical items, loosely held together by mummy-like bandages of spell scrolls and wards. Its arm might be a sword or staff; its head an enchanted helm, or its insides a clinking stack of alchemical potions - their highly chaotic, magical nature makes them immune to most magical effects. In addition to this, the enchantments usually used to power an ordinary golem are simply too weak to bring Grisgols to life; they are usually powered by a Lich's phylactery - a small trinket such as a jewel or phial containing the soul of a dead sorcerer. This makes them doubly dangerous - not only are their physical bodies corrosive and unstable, their souls are ancient and malicious.

Our second guest week begins tomorrow! As with last time, we'll be updating with a new image every day for a whole week, involving a bunch of different artists with different styles. Check back each day for some new artsy goodness.