Animated Weapon (3.5e Template)
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Animated Weapon
This template turns an ordinary weapon into a menacing foe.
Animated weapons are mundane or magical weapons that have been animated through spells.
Creating an Animated Weapon
Animated Weapon is unique in that it is a template that must be applied to a melee weapon instead of a creature. The template is acquired through any of various magical effects.
Size and Type
Base weapon becomes a creature of the Construct type.
An animated weapon gains base attack and base save bonuses as a construct, and has a racial bonus to saving throws equal to its magical enhancement bonus.
Animated weapons have no skill points, unless they are intelligent.
A one-handed weapon is two size categories smaller than any creature it is intended for. For a particular size creature, a light weapon is one size category smaller than a one-handed weapon, and a two-handed weapon is one size category larger than a one-handed weapon. For example, for a Medium creature, a light weapon is Diminutive, a one-handed weapon is Tiny, and a two-handed weapon is Small.
Hit Dice
An animated weapon has a number of Hit Dice depending on its quality and the magical enhancement bonus it has (if any), as per Table: Animated Weapon Statistics.
Speed
An animated weapon has a fly speed (in feet) of 40 + ten times its magical enhancement bonus, with perfect maneuverability.
Armor Class
An animated weapon has a natural armor bonus to AC equal to the hardness of its base material - 5 (minimum +0), as well as a shield bonus and a deflection bonus, both equal to its magical enhancement bonus (if any). It also gains a size bonus or penalty to AC (if any), depending on its effective size.
Attack
An animated weapon performs attacks like a weapon of its type does in the hands of a creature proficient in its use. The base damage of an attack by an animated weapon is equal to the base damage of the base weapon.
The attacks of an animated weapon are treated as attacks made with a manufactured weapon. Attacks by an animated weapon are considered magical (if the base weapon has an enhancement bonus of at least +1) or epic (if the base weapon has an enhancement bonus of +6). If the base weapon is made out of a material with special properties that bypass specific forms of damage reduction, such as adamantine, alchemical silver or cold iron, the animated weapon is also considered to have that quality.
If the base weapon has any sort of special enhancement that changes the effect of its attacks, the animated weapon has this quality as well. Examples are special enhancements that increase its damage (such as flaming, shock, collision, etc.) and effects that bypass certain types of defenses (such as holy or brilliant energy).
An animated weapon has the same space and reach that an appropriately sized creature would have when wielding the weapon. For example, an animated longsword occupies a 5-foot square, and has a 5-foot reach, even though it is effectively Tiny.
Full Attack
An animated weapon may make iterative attacks on a full attack action, provided it has a high enough base attack bonus. If the base weapon has a special enhancement that influences its behaviour on a full attack, such as speed, the animated weapon has this quality on a full action as well.
Special Attacks
An animated weapon has no extraordinary or supernatural abilities, except for those the base weapon has gained from special weapon enhancements or weapon crystalsMIC.
Special Qualities
An animated weapon has the usual construct traits, and furthermore gains the following:
- Blindsight out to 30 feet, plus an additional 30 feet for every 2 points of magical enhancement bonus the base weapon has.
- Damage reduction/- equal to twice its magical enhancement bonus plus half the hardness of its base material.
- Freedom of Movement: As the spell.
- Spell resistance equal to 10 + its Hit Dice. Animated weapons that are mundane have no spell resistance. Animated weapons with an enhancement bonus of +6 or higher are instead immune to spells that allow spell resistance.
- Resistance to all energy types equal to 5 plus 5 times its magical enhancement bonus (5 if mundane or masterwork, 10 at +1, 15 at +2, etc.). Animated weapons with an enhancement bonus of +6 or higher instead have complete immunity to all energy types.
Abilities
Strength and Dexterity equal to the value in Table: Animated Weapon Statistics, modified by the weapon's effective size.
Being a construct, an animated weapon has no Constitution or Intelligence score.
An animated weapon has a Wisdom score equal to 10 + twice its magical enhancement bonus, and a Charisma of 1.
Animated weapons that are intelligent items retain the mental ability scores of the base weapon.
Feats
An animated weapon has no feats (unless it is intelligent), except for the following;
An animated weapon gains the following bonus feats when it meets the prerequisite base attack bonus (in parentheses): Weapon Focus (+1), Weapon Specialization (+4), Greater Weapon Focus (+8), Greater Weapon Specialization (+12). These feats are with respect to the base weapon.
Environment
Any.
Organization
Any.
Challenge Rating
1 (mundane), 2 (masterwork), 3 (+1), 5 (+2), 7 (+3), 10 (+4), 13 (+5) or 16 (+6). This is subject to change or rebalance.
Treasure
The base weapon.
Alignment
Always neutral.
Animated Weapon Table
| Quality | Hit Dice1 (hit points2) | Base Str/Dex3 |
|---|---|---|
| Mundane, normal | 1d10 (5 hp) | 10 |
| Mundane, mwk | 3d10 (16 hp) | 12 |
| Magical, +1 | 5d10+5 (32 hp) | 14 |
| Magical, +2 | 8d10+16 (60 hp) | 16 |
| Magical, +3 | 11d10+33 (93 hp) | 18 |
| Magical, +4 | 14d10+56 (133 hp) | 20 |
| Magical, +5 | 17d10+85 (178 hp) | 22 |
| Magical, +6 | 20d10+120 (230 hp) | 24 |
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