Armaturist

An Armaturist is an unusual sort of magic practitioner that combines the skillset of a hex mage and a more doctrinaire ectokineticist to animate special mannequins - known as armatures - in displays of telekinetic puppetry. Fairly uncommon even among hex mages, Armaturists represent a form of the control over others that an Imperious Agent can exact with much less of the moral baggage attendant to that dire specialization.

Career

Qualifications

Armaturists are rare, in part, because they require an unusual mix of experience from both mystic and mentalistic branches of paranormal studies as well as some artistic or craftsmanly talent. A prospective Armaturist must have some experience with the powers of a hex mage and the powers of an ectokineticist. Beyond their supernatural predilections, working the invisible strands of force that control an armature requries something of a puppeteer's art, while the construction of armatures that are more advanced that old suits of armor requires some knowledge of smithing, weaving, carpentry, or sculpture.

Career Progression

Armaturists grow in power through experience, as there is vanishingly little documentation of the profession's workings beyond accounts curated by outsiders to the profession. In general, the more lifelike, precise, or effective in combat the movement and craftsmanship of the armature is, the more powerful and respected the Armaturist who controls it.
Beyond the careers available to hex mages in general, Armaturists sometimes find themselves in the employ of masters who recognize the benefits of disposeable workers, guardians, or performers in the form of armatures. Armatures do not act independently of their creator and, thus, lack the distressing tendency of some golems to go berserk or misinterpret poorly phrased orders. Armatures, as non-living entities, are much less vulnerable to a wide variety of dangerous conditions, such as poison, contagion, deep water, or unstable terrain, that might otherwise preclude an employer from using flesh-and-blood human workers in good conscience. Specially-constructed armatures may be used for more difficult tasks, such as the construction of monuments and infrastructural projects, and the services of the rare Armaturists of sufficient power to use these armatures are in high demand. At the very least, an Armaturist is naturally a skilled puppeteer and can ply his or her trade as a performer in the hopes of acquiring patronage.

Other Benefits

In exchange for the narrow focus they place on their studies, Armaturists are rewarded with some of the most potent artificial companions possible aside from golems or the quasi-construct entities created by the gods themselves. The work of an Armaturist is also unusual enough that many outsiders fail to see its connection to the sometimes mistrusted powers of hex mages, meaning that Armaturists have a much better chance of being able to gain fame and respect through their exploits.

by Hero Forge

Why should an Armaturist dirty her hands when she has armatures to take care of things?

Type

Arcane

Other Associated professions

• Hex Mage

Armaturists in New Generica

Armaturists were uncommon before the New Generica Period, most often appearing in large cities and among the noble courts of the old empires as specialists in the employ of wealth patrons. Where Imperious Agents ruled and Hexbound Enforcers were the immediate bodyguards of the elite, Armaturists often constituted high-ranking members of the court guard or civic planning councils where their talents at creating expendable work forces were most useful. Some travelling performers were Armaturists, and, in the aftermath of the consecutive calamities that caused the collapse of Old Generican civilization, these Armaturist were the most likely of the specialist Hex Mages to have escaped death at the hands of civil unrest.

Game Statistics

Armaturists in D&D 3.5

Armaturists are theurges who combine psionic powers with hex mage abilities to create construct minions. Eventually, they gain the ability to control the body of enemies, but they can also use their abilities to bring downed allies out of danger for healing or resurrection. In terms of role within the adventuring party, the Armaturist can use her armatures to provide additional flankers and defensive muscle.
Prerequisites:
Feats: Cursed Materials
Skills: Craft (armorsmithing, metalworking, sculpting, woodworking, or weaving) 4 ranks, Perform (puppetry) 4 ranks
Psionic Powers: 1st level psionic powers including Control Object, Astral Construct, and/or Telekinetic Force.
Special: Must craft or acquire an articulated mannequin to serve as your first armature. This mannequin may be constructed of any material and may be up to medium in size. Treat the cost of this mannequin as being equivalent to a suit of masterwork heavy armor (usually full plate) of the appropriate size.
Class Features:
Base Attack Bonus:3/4 class level
Saves: Reflex, Will
Class Skills: Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Disguise, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (psionics), Knowledge (architecture & engineering), Perform, Psicraft, Spellcraft
Skill Points Per Level: 4 + int Hit Dice: d6

Spellcasting Progression (Ex): An Armaturist continues to advance in the potency of her Hex Mage abilities. See the note on prestige classes under the hex mage class features for details on Hex Mage progression.
Psionics Progression: An Armaturist continues to advance in manifester level, power points gained, and powers known as though she had advanced in a psionic class with which she qualified for this class. She does not, however, gain any other benefits of that other class (such as extra mantles). If the Armaturist has levels in more than one psionic class to which this class feature applies, she must choose which class to advance in this manner.
Animate Armature (Psi): An Armaturist's most iconic ability is her ability to animate and control otherwise inert mannequins - known as armatures - by manipulating invisibile threads of telekinetic force anchored into said mannequins through carefully prepared hex glyphs. Starting at first level, the Armaturist gains the ability to apply a special hex glyph to an object to grant that object to a semblance of life. This ability functions like the Animate Objects spell except as follows.
An Armaturist may only have a single animated object - hereafter known as an armature - active at a given time as a result of her Animate Armature class feature. An armature is a suit of heavy armor (usually full plate) of a size equal to the object that the Armaturist wishes to animate for the purposes of animated object size, hardness, cost of construction, and general body plan (i.e. limbs).
The Armaturist prepares an armature for animation by applying a hex glyph to it; this hex glyph must contain at least as many hex points as the caster level required to animate the object and must remain applied (and un-triggered) to the construct for as long as the armature remains animated and counts against the Armaturist's total number of hex points across all active hex glyphs as normal. Initially animating the armature is a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Maintaining control over an armature requires concentration; the Armaturist makes broadly puppeteer-like motions with both hands while controlling the armature, though she is not subject to spell failure as such when using this ability. The duration of this effect is permanent until the armature is destroyed or the armaturist chooses to relinquish control over it (a free action that does not provoke an opportunity). If the armaturist chooses to relinquish control of an armature, the hex glyph dissipates harmlessly (but see below). The armature also ceases to be animated if it moves beyond medium range (100' + 10' per effective hex mage level) or moves out of the Armaturist's line of effect, but the Armaturist can reanimate it as a standard action without having to apply a new hex glyph should it once again become a valid target for this ability.
Telekinetic Puppeteer (Psi): The Armaturist's unique talents require a similarly unique set of psionic abilities to function. The Armaturist adds the powers Control Object, Telekinetic Force, Telekinetic Thrust, and Telekinetic Maneuver to her list of psionic powers known if she does not already possess them. She must still possess a high enough manifester level and sufficient power points to manifest these powers. The Armaturist also gains the ability to expend hex points on a target equal to the number of power points required to manifest any one of these powers to use that power against the target as psi-like abilities. Additional hex points expended above and beyond the minimum serve to augment the power on a one-for-one basis. Otherwise, when hex points are used to manifest one of these powers, calculate the save DCs, manifester level, and other numeric effects based on her charisma and hex mage level rather than her level in her usual manifesting class. Again, the Armaturist must be of a sufficient hex mage level and be able to expend enough hex points to use these powers.
Draw Upon the Self (Psi): Starting at 2nd level, an Armaturist's armature gains benefits as though it were a psicrystal for as long as it remains animated. Treat the the Armaturist's character level as two lower and the armature's base intelligence score as 6 for the purposes of the benefits granted by this ability. The Armaturist chooses the armature's personality upon animating it and may make a different choice for each armature, but, once chosen, the personality of a given armature cannot be changed. Despite the statistical intelligence of the armature, it remains an extension of the Armaturist's own mind and acts only in accordance with the direct wishes of its master.
If the Armaturist armature or psicrystal is of sufficient level that it could deliver touch powers, then it can also deliver hex points through its attacks as though the target were struck by the Armaturist's own Hexing Strike ability. Treat the Armaturist as the source of these hex points for all purposes (damage, saves, hex mage abilities, etc.).
Enhanced Armature (Psi): Starting at 3rd level, an Armaturist's armature may gain a special enhancement as a result of its mystic bond to the Armaturist. This takes the form of a single astral construct special ability from Menu A. It may gain an ability from Menu B at 6th level and an ability from Menu C at 9th level. When applying the animating hex glyph, the Armaturist must include within it a number of hex points beyond the base number required to animate it. This amount is equal to the number of power points required to unlock these abilities as though she were augmenting the Astral Construct power with a similar number of power points, which works out to 6 additional hex points for a Menu B ability and 12 additional hex points for a Menu C ability. Her usual limit on the number of hex points applied across all active hex glyphs also applies to this cost.
Telekinetic Ambidexterity (Psi): An Armaturist eventually develops the ability to split her attention between multiple armatures simultaneously, as though manipulating puppets separately with each hand rather than a single puppet with both hands. At 4th level, the Armaturist can control two armatures simultaneously. At 8th level, if the Armaturist has psicrystal affinity, she can choose to use the part of her mind normally reserved for the control of a psicrystal to instead gain the services of a third armature simultaneously.
Each armature must be imbued with a hex glyph separately as appropriate to the caster level required to animate it (see above). For the purpose of the determining armatures' psicrystal abilities, treat the Armaturist's effective character level as two lower for each armature simultaneously active. Thus, two armatures would gain benefits as the psicrystals of a character four levels lower, and three armatures would gain benefits as the psicrystals of a character six levels lower.
Guiding Hands (Psi): Starting at 5th level, an Armaturist may use her abilities to puppet the body of an incapacitated creature - whether friend or foe - as though it were just another armature. The creature puppeted acts on the mental commands of the Armaturist as a normal armature would. This is often used to take downed enemies into custody or rescue downed allies from dangerous situations.
The Guiding Hands ability only works against a creature that is helpless, paralyzed, unconscious, or otherwise unable to physically resist manipulation and only functions for so long as the creature remains in this state. Treat a creature animated in this way as though they have been polymorphed into an animated object of their general size and shape for the duration of this effect, though they retain their type and constitution score and do not gain psicrystal benefits as such. Hit points recovered as a result of this process are treated as temporary hit points (see the Polymorph spell for details).
As usual for armatures, animating the body of a creature requires applying a hex glyph (not normal hex points) to them. If conscious, the creature is entitled to a will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the Armaturist's effective hex mage level + charisma) to resist this effect. A successful save means the hex glyph applied to their body is expended harmlessly and must be reapplied to assert control over them.
Master Puppeteer (Psi): At 7th level, the Armaturist increases the bonuses provided by her armature when aiding another or flanking by 2, including to benefit herself. She also gains a +2 insight bonus on all Perform and Craft checks related to puppetry or armatures. Her armature also gains the benefits of this skill bonus despite the normal wording of psicrystal abilities (see above).
Death Throes (Su or Sp): At 10th level, the Armaturist gains the ability to cause the the hex glyph used to animate an armature to detonate rather than dissipating harmlessly upon the creature's destruction or release from her control. The Armaturist sets the conditions under which this may occur at the time of placement, as normal for hex glyphs, but may also alter these conditions as a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity so long as her control over the armature lasts. The glyph may treat either the armature or a single target within melee range of the armature as the target of the hex glyph's effects upon detonation.