Animate Armor (3.5e Monster)

''The two suits of plate mail, still inside the glass display cases that hold them, now struggle against their bonds, moving seemingly of their own accord. Their weapons are apparently not as ceremonial as you initially surmised, as one uses a massive flail to crush the glass display. Wordlessly moving into a formation, the pair begin to attack.''

In some martial and magical cultures where skilled warriors are particularly treasured, their souls are sometimes embedded into the armor that they wore in life. In other cases, their service is less willful, and they are trapped inside the suit of armor in a fate worse than death. Whatever the reason, the transformation into an animate armor allows them to serve as long as the armor is maintained, potentially forever.

Although the above stat block is for an animate armor made of full plate and wielding a bastard sword and a heavy shield, the animate armor can be made of whatever weapons and armor the DM desires.

Combat
The nice thing about animate armors is how easy it is to make them scale later in the game. Although they are set for CR 2, making them of a higher Challenge Rating is a fairly simple task.

Although the above stat block is for an animate armor made of full plate and wielding a bastard sword and a heavy shield, the helmed horror can be made of whatever weapons and armor the DM desires. An animate armor is considered proficient with any weapon and/or armor it is able to wield on account of its size, regardless of other normal proficiency restrictions. This makes it easier for the DM to outfit the animate armor however they choose.

 : The weapon(s) and armor that make up an animate armor are appropriately ensorcelled, gaining flat enhancement bonuses equal to the animate armor’s Challenge Rating divided by 3 (maximum +6). In addition, the animate armor gains an additional +1 enhancement bonus that for each weapon or armor it has equipped for every 5 points of Challenge Rating it possesses. These additional enhancements cannot be flat enhancement bonuses. As a full-round action, the animate armor can dismiss these enhancements and re-choose them as it wishes.

 : If an animate armor hits an opponent with a manufactured weapon attack, it may take a swift action to make another attack with that same weapon against any opponent within its melee reach.

If using Tome rules, these bonus feats are Combat feats, for which it gains benefits based on this increased BAB (the example stat block uses the Shieldbearer and Stand Still feats).

An animate armor also adds its Base Attack Bonus (+2 by default) to damage with any manufactured weapon attacks; this damage bonus is factored into its above stat block.

Construction
An animate armor only grants the armor and weapons that it uses as treasure, which are valued at their normal monetary rate.