Abandoned ArmoryThis aggregation of weapons, armor, and other tools of war
looms like a slow avalanche of twisted iron and eldritch sparks.Abandoned Armory CR 13Source Pathfinder #142: Gardens of Gallowspire pg. 82
XP 25,600
NE Huge construct
Init +1; Senses blindsense 120 ft., darkvision 60 ft., low-light
vision; Perception +0DefenseAC 29, touch 8, flat-footed 28 (+20 armor, +1 Dex, –2 size)
hp 139 (18d10+40)
Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +6
Defensive Abilities leaden weariness, reflect spell; DR 10/—; Immune construct traits; SR 24OffenseSpeed 20 ft.
Melee 2 slams +28 (2d10+18/19–20)
Ranged ballista +17/+12/+7/+2 (3d8/19–20)
Space 15 ft., Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks perimeter defense, powerful blowsStatisticsStr 34, Dex 13, Con —, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 1
Base Atk +18; CMB +32; CMD 43
SQ tide of metalEcologyEnvironment any plain or battlefield
Organization solitary
Treasure doubleSpecial AbilitiesLeaden Weariness (Su) Any creature that strikes an
abandoned armory with a melee weapon or natural attack
must succeed at a DC 19 Will save or be affected by slow
for 1d4 rounds. Whether or not it succeeds at the saving
throw, a creature cannot be affected again by this ability for
1 minute. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Perimeter Defense (Su) Once per minute as a standard
action, an abandoned armory can fire a barrage of energy
in a 60-foot cone. The barrage deals 14d6 points of
damage, half of which is fire damage and half of which is
electricity damage. A successful DC 20 Reflex save halves
this damage. The save DC is Dexterity-based.
Powerful Blows (Ex) An abandoned armory applies 1–1/2
its Strength modifier and threatens a critical hit on a roll of
19–20 with its slam attacks.
Reflect Spell (Su) Once per day as an immediate action, an
abandoned armory can turn back a spell targeting it as spell
turning. An abandoned armory can turn up to seven spell
levels with this ability. If an abandoned armory attempts to
reflect an ineligible spell, this ability fails and is wasted.
Tide of Metal (Su) An abandoned armory can switch
between its ebb-tide and rip-tide battle modes as a swift
action. An abandoned armory begins combat in ebb-tide
mode (reflected in the above statistics). In rip-tide mode,
an abandoned armory undergoes several changes, as
noted below.
- The abandoned armory’s AC decreases from 29 to 24.
- The abandoned armory’s speed increases from 20 to 50 feet.
- The abandoned armory applies twice its Strength modifier to its slam attacks and threatens a critical hit on a roll of 18–20.
- The abandoned armory’s reach increases from 15 to 25 feet.
- The abandoned armory gains the trip ability with its slam attacks.
- The abandoned armory loses its leaden weariness, perimeter defense, and reflect spells abilities.
DescriptionAn abandoned armory is an animated mass of weapons
and armor, both magic and mundane, as well as
spell-imbued items of offensive utility. Moving with
uncanny locomotion, these constructs scour battlefields
seeking objects of war that once held special significance
to previous owners who were slain in combat. Due to
the faint psychic imprints of the slain combatants from
which they collect these artifacts, abandoned armories
make it their mission to reunite the items with their past
owners or find new owners worthy of wielding their finds.
This process proves to be fatal, however, as the constant
psychic echoes cause an abandoned armory to believe
everyone is unworthy and slay them in hopes of finding
a new suitable owner for that individual’s equipment.
This behavior has led abandoned armories to become
something to be feared on the battlefield as they tear
through an area, slaying every combatant they encounter.
An abandoned armory is roughly 15 feet wide, cresting
up to 20 feet tall, and weighs about 15 tons.EcologyAbandoned armories are rare, as their creation requires
an unlikely confluence of environmental conditions and
historical circumstances, along with a fair bit of luck.
Across Golarion, only a handful of battlefields and other
sites of mass death and suffering contain sufficient psychic
echoes of terror and pain, as well as buried or hidden
implements of war—magic weapons, armor, and other
trinkets—to give rise to an abandoned armory. In addition
to the psychic imprints that serve as the foundation for the
constructs, the genesis of abandoned armories hinges on
the application of additional, formidable arcane or divine
power, often as an unintended consequence of unrelated
events. A leaking seal on a long-forgotten eldritch prison,
a thinning of the veil between planes, or a potent ritual
to summon a demon may provide the energy needed for
an abandoned armory to lurch into animation. When
the psychic imprints and magical energy mix at a perfect
balance, it can form a small abandoned armory. Once
animated, the abandoned armory is quick to grow into
the massive terror that is the bane of all battlefields.
The magic binding that binds armories together
does eventually fade away, causing the constructs’
various collected items to become open for the taking.
These mounds of equipment, typically overgrown with
vegetation and hidden by the passage of years, contain
treasure troves of items that are prized by fortune
hunters. The process for an abandoned armory’s collapse
usually happens in one of two ways. The more common
method is through the destruction of the construct.
This usually damages many of the constituent items and
makes the process of salvaging this equipment tedious at
best. On the other hand, abandoned armories naturally
collapse and dissipate when the magic that fuels them
is exhausted. This usually happens to “longer-lived”
abandoned armories that consume the innate magical
energies after countless battles. The energy required to
activate an abandoned armory’s various abilities slowly
saps these magical energies until the abandoned armory
lacks enough energy to maintain its form.Habitat and SocietyThe abandoned armory is solitary, lacking the
intelligence or empathy required to create
bonds with other entities. No one claims to
know what would happen if two or more
abandoned armories happened to meet on
some devastated ancient battlefield. Perhaps
the constructs would sense an alignment of
purpose, and fuse together to create a larger,
even more formidable tide of metal destruction.
Alternatively, the abandoned armories might
simply clash mindlessly against one another until
their constituent metal melted to slag and their
magic power was spent.
Certain creatures have taken an interest
in abandoned armories, almost
to the extent of representing
a symbiotic relationship.
Scavenging tribes of
goblins who forage at
the edges of legendary
battlefields have developed a
near-religious awe of the constructs,
and they regard the appearance of an
abandoned armory both as a good
omen and a prime opportunity to comb
the destruction left by its passage for
interesting new tools and trinkets. To attract
an abandoned armory, the goblins erect crude
fetishes at the edges of their territory, making
offerings of assorted “magic” items in the hope of
drawing the attention of the construct. The rare occasions
when an abandoned armory does indeed appear are just as
likely to result in the hopeful goblins being destroyed by a
tide of unstoppable metal and magic as they are to fulfill
the goblins’ greed for treasure.
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