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