An elemental construct is an artificially constructed creature made of natu- ral materials such as wood and stone, and relies on mystical powers imbued into its materials for its animation. Elemental constructs are a subtype of Construct and have the following traits in addition to Construct traits:
• No Intelligence score.
• Elemental constructs are always mindless and never gain skill points or feats.
• Cannot heal damage on its own, and can only be repaired by a class special ability or through the use of the Craft Elemental Construct feat. • Cannot run or swim.
• Elemental constructs have a vulnerability to fire, which means it takes half again as much (+50%) damage as normal from fire, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed or if the save is a success or failure.
• Elemental constructs are immune to all spells of the Animal and Plant domains. They are also immune to all spells that directly affect plants, trees, or wood, as well as all shapechanging spells. Some Elemental con- structs gain other spell immunities. • Elemental constructs can pass through
non-enchanted vegetation completely unhindered and unharmed. They also leave no trail in such an environment and cannot be tracked by normal means.
Combat
Woldwatchers defend sacred groves and entry points into Circle territories. Their natural construction and command of plants allows them to hide in the wilderness disguised as vine-entangled piles of stones. Some wold- watchers attack any who trespass while others simply watch intruders and call for the more powerful woldwardens to intercept. Woldwatchers usu- ally appear in Stone Form and hiding before combat, giving them the element of surprise. They use the surprise round to call wardens, use plant growth to hinder opponents, and use elemental strikes from a safe distance.
170
Call Wardens (Su): As a free action, a woldwatcher may
send a telepathic message to all nearby woldwardens or to its creator. This message travels instantaneously up to 10 miles from the woldwatcher. The woldwatcher’s creator establishes the content of the message and the conditions which trigger it. For example, the creator may instruct it to call nearby wold- wardens its location if attacked. A woldwatcher may have one conditional call per hit die.
Elemental Strike (Sp): The woldwatcher may call a bolt
of green lightning-like magical force that surges up from the ground and targets a single square up to 80 feet from the woldwatcher, and extends in a 40 foot vertical line of effect. Anyone in the square or in the 40-foot line suffers 8d6 points of force damage, Reflex save (DC 13) for half damage.
Fertilize (Su): The germinative power of the woldwatcher
prompts plants to spring forth from the flesh of those it kills, utilizing their blood and tissues as fertilizer. When a wold- watcher kills a living corporeal creature with a slam attack or
an elemental strike, it may use its plant growth ability as a free action in the area where the creature died.
Plant Growth (Sp): A woldwatcher may create overgrowth
effect of the plant growth spell as an 8th-level caster.
Skills: Woldwatchers have a Hide skill of +11 and a +4
competency bonus to Spot and Listen checks.
Stone Armor (Ex): Woldwatcher forearms carry large
pieces of stone that provide additional protection like shields (hardness 8, hit points 90; each shield grants +2 AC shield bonus). These enchantments grant a +15 competence bonus to the woldwatcher’s Hide checks (greater shadow ability). Creators of woldwatchers may imbue additional magical effects to a woldwatcher’s arms during creation using the rules for magical shields.
Stone Form (Ex): By giving up all attacks and not moving,
the woldwatcher may combine his stone shields to gain total cover. This does not provide cover against targeted spells; a spell caster can cast a spell by targeting the stone shields.
171
Treasure
Should they survive combat intact and still enchanted (15% chance for one, 5% for both), the largest stone armor pieces utilized as woldwatcher forearms can be crafted into a shield. Unfortunately such items are extremely heavy and unwieldy, making for dubious equipment even for an ogrun. If crafted to remove extraneous stone and set with straps treat as +2 tower shields with a market value of 5,000 gp. There is no demand for these items as each stone shield weighs in excess of 100 lbs and impose a -12 armor check penalty.
Legends & Lore
Common: None.
Uncommon: Woldwatchers are smaller versions of the druidic
woldwarden construct. They are often set to guard sites sacred to the blackclads.
Rare: Druids create woldwatchers using a ritual that requires
fresh blood from a sacrificed victim to animate them.
Obscure: Woldwatcher can become as firm and immovable
as the earth. Moreover those slain at its hands feed the earth with their blood and create wildly growing vegetation where they fall.
Hooks
An overly inquisitive naturalist seeks to investigate a unique for- mation of low standing stones inside a druidic circle he recently uncovered east of Merywyn. No fool, the naturalist desires a group of able-bodied adventurers to act as bodyguards while he researches the elaborate carvings. The stones are, of course, inac- tive woldwatchers guarding the circle from interlopers.
An Illuminated agent traveling far from the order’s headquarters in Caspia requires a party of wilderness trackers and witch hunt- ers to help him discover the dark secrets behind the druids’ con- struction of woldwatchers and woldwardens.