2 construct companion construct companion

BHBHBHBHBHBHBHBHBHBHBHBHBHBHHB
creatures, including normal and “unearthly” animals,
sentient plants, monsters of land, sea, and air, and members
of any of the sentient races (e.g. Men, Dwarves,
Elves, Giants, etc.). It cannot be employed against Demons
or other extra-planar entities, Elementals, Spirits,
natural Shapechangers (such as Doppelgangers) or
Undead.
Transferring a Life Essence
The process of transferring and imbedding a life essence
(the combination of soul and mind) from a creature
is somewhat complex. The caster should first select
the creature or being whose life essence is desired, perhaps
using the Identify Attribute spell to assess the nature
and potency of its skills and abilities. Next, the caster
must have a suitable receptacle prepared to contain the
life essence – this can either be the intended Golem or
Construct or a special jar known as a Life Essence Vessel.
Then the alchemist must successfully cast Transfer Life
Essence twice and the target must fail the Resistance Rolls
twice.
The first casting of Transfer Life Essence weakens the
bonds between the life essence and its body. If the spell is
successfully cast and the target fails its RR, the victim will
experience a momentary wrenching sensation and feel
light-headed, but will not suffer any other adverse effects
as the life essence remains within the body. Unless the life
essence is transferred to another body, the bonds will
automatically reform after two minutes.
The second casting of Transfer Life Essence actually
moves the life essence from one body to either another
body or a “Life Essence Vessel”. The original body (if
organic) falls into a coma (see below). Attempts to move
a life essence into a random object (such as a pebble) will
immediately and instantaneously cause the life essence
to return and rebond with its original body.
If the life essence has been placed in a Life Essence
Vessel as an intermediate step, a third casting of Transfer
Life Essence will be required. If this casting fails or the
target successfully resists, the life essence will immediately
return to its original body, if it still survives.
Once a life essence has been removed from a living
body, the physical body lapses immediately into a coma.
If the body was healthy prior to this, then it will remain
“alive” for two hours per level of the being. After this
period, the body will “die” and the normal Rolemaster
rules for stat deterioration should be applied. If the target
was injured or dying when his life essence was removed,
then physical death may occur much sooner as a direct
consequence of those wounds. Likewise if the unattended
body is harmed, death may happen earlier.
The Body Stasis # spells can be used to preserve an
organic body. These spells prevent the body’s vital functions
from failing and supply it with the necessary nutrition
for their duration. They do not protect the body
from physical harm caused by the environment (fire,
cold, etc.) or attackers.
Once moved into a new host body, the life essence
must be imbedded within one minute per level of the
caster (of Transfer Life Essence) – unless Preserve Life
Essence is cast. Imbedding requires the use of the correct
Imbed Animal Essence #, Imbed Being Essence #, Imbed
Beast Essence #, or Imbed Life Essence True spell. If the
casting is successful and the life essence fails its RR, then
the Golem or Construct will be animated by the spirit. If
imbedding is not completed within the time limit, then
the life essence “dissipates”.
“Dissipation” represents the life essence escaping from
its current host. If its original organic body is still alive,
then the life essence will return to it immediately and the
rejoined creature will regain full consciousness in one
round (halting any stat deterioration which may be
taking place). If the body is dead, then the GM must
choose an appropriate destination for the life essence.
The soul might be permitted to travel to the after-life or
it might become some form of incorporeal Undead such
as a Ghost and seek revenge on its foes. If the artificial
entity’s body is destroyed, dissipation of the life essence
will also occur. Likewise if a Purge Construct or a Purge
Golem spell expels the life essence, it will also dissipate.
Purge Construct and Purge Construct spells may be used
in this way to restore a life essence to its original body;
alternatively two Transfer Life Essence spells can be cast –
the first to weaken the imbedding, the second to perform
the transfer. In this situation, it isn’t necessary to “imbed”
the life essence in its own body – the bond between
body and soul will reform naturally.
Assuming the imbedding is successful, the body of the
Golem or Construct will now be directed by the life
essence. If the caster has not used a Glyph of Control spell
to bind the entity to obedience, then the entity will not be
controlled by the caster. How the entity chooses to
exercise that independence will depend on its attitudes
to imbedding and the imbedder, and level of intelligence.
Pets and trained animals may be confused but still
sympathetic to the imbedder; wild beasts are more likely
to be hostile. Sentient beings will range the entire gamut
from cheerful acceptance to bitter hostility. Most creators
who utilize Life Empowerment employ Glyphs of
Control to forestall immediate rebellions.
Alchemists should cast Body Acclimatization to enable
the life essence to integrate its instincts and learned
behavior with its new artificial body. Otherwise the
entity will require time to adjust and will suffer the
following penalties to all actions (-30 for the first week,
-20 for the second week, and –10 for the third week) until
it is comfortable with its new host.
The entity has the personality and mental stats of the
imbedded creature. In terms of other capabilities, it may
use all of the abilities of the Construct or Golem form.
Additionally casters may choose to restore the individual
capabilities, skills, and spells of the original being so that
it can make use of them in its new body. This requires the
use of the relevant Manifest Ability, Manifest Skill, or
Manifest Spell enchantment as the talents must be integrated
with the existing body and its magic. Thus a Wolf
essence imbedded in a Wolf Construct could have its
scent ability restored, a human soldier imbedded into a
war Golem could have his Tactics and Military Organization
skills returned, or a sorceress could regain access
to one of her spell lists. Manifest Ability may be used to
restore speech capabilities to a sentient life essence. Each
CONSTRUCT COMPANION
81