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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

All Archetypes
Artifact | Class | Combat Style | Core | Faction | Multiclass | Mystical | Profession | Undead

Clockwork Reanimator

Legacy Content

Source Pathfinder #180: The Smoking Gun pg. 78
You have unlocked the secret connections between necromancy and clockwork locomotion, giving you the unholy power to reanimate corpses. These minions shuffle forth with the mindless motions of the unliving and are little more than puppets under your control. Similarly, via careful tinkering and anatomical study, you learned how to make a powerful necromechanical ally. Finally, your technological prowess is such that you can use your innovations to force even powerful, free-willed undead to obey you.

The secret to your success is a combination of alchemy and clockwork, machines and magic, science and spellcasting. Of course, crafting the shell of a wind-up zombie is one matter—your primary focus is on the craftwork necessary to make the whole thing work together. To you, the magic involved is only a means to an end, a way to make science more efficient through necromancy and potentially a little bit of evocation for some electric power.

While some think your creations are vile, you see beauty in utility and believe animated corpses are tools that can be used for good or ill. For better or worse, when it comes to results, the science you've cobbled together fulfills the most important criterium for any new innovation: it works, plain and simple. Your reanimated clockwork corpses are stable, effective, and, more importantly, they don't rampage or crave the flesh of the living in the same way an undead would. Plus, they aren't vulnerable to positive energy, making them easier to use around good clerics and their ilk without your minions taking friendly fire. (Except Pharasmins, always so inconveniently up in arms about the whole “desecrating the bodies of the dead” thing. They can't learn the difference between the stench of undeath and the smell of progress.)

Clockwork Reanimator Dedication Feat 2

This Feat may contain spoilers from the Outlaws of Alkenstar Adventure Path

Legacy Content

Rare Archetype Dedication 
Source Pathfinder #180: The Smoking Gun pg. 78
Archetype Clockwork Reanimator
Prerequisites trained in Crafting
You can animate corpses through cunning engineering. You gain a prototype construct companion to serve as a minion. Unlike normal construct companions, yours is a corpse animated by clockwork gears and technological prowess.

Special You can't select another dedication feat until you've gained two other feats from the clockwork reanimator archetype. If you retrain out of this feat, you lose the rituals learned from it.

Advanced Reanimated Companion Feat 4

Legacy Content

Archetype 
Source Pathfinder #180: The Smoking Gun pg. 78
Archetype Clockwork Reanimator
Prerequisites Clockwork Reanimator Dedication
Your corpselike construct companion becomes much more powerful and can act with limited autonomy to follow your greater directives. It becomes an advanced construct companion. During an encounter, even if you don't use the Command a Minion action, your construct companion can still use 1 action on your turn that round to Stride or Strike.

Hijack Undead [three-actions] Feat 4

Legacy Content

Archetype 
Source Pathfinder #180: The Smoking Gun pg. 79
Archetype Clockwork Reanimator
Frequency once per hour
Prerequisites Clockwork Reanimator Dedication
Your clockwork devices can commandeer the bodies of undead, bending them to your will. Make a melee Strike against an adjacent undead creature. On a success, instead of taking damage, the target becomes controlled by you if its level is equal to or lower than your level – 3. It can attempt a Will saving throw against the higher of your class DC or spell DC to resist being controlled by you. If the target is already under someone else's command, the controlling creature also rolls a saving throw, and the undead uses the better result.

Critical Success The target is unaffected and temporarily immune for 24 hours.
Success The target is unaffected.
Failure The undead creature becomes a minion under your control for 1 minute. The control ends if you or an ally attacks the minion undead.
Critical Failure As failure, but the duration is 1 hour.

It's Alive! Feat 6

Legacy Content

Archetype 
Source Pathfinder #180: The Smoking Gun pg. 79
Archetype Clockwork Reanimator
Prerequisites Clockwork Reanimator Dedication
You've mastered the use of electrical energy to power your clockwork creations. Whenever your construct companion takes electricity damage, it gains temporary Hit Points equal to either half the electricity damage it took or your level, whichever is lower. These temporary Hit Points last for up to 1 minute.

Incredible Reanimated Companion Feat 8

Legacy Content

Archetype 
Source Pathfinder #180: The Smoking Gun pg. 79
Archetype Clockwork Reanimator
Prerequisites Advanced Reanimated Companion
You imbue the necrotized flesh of your reanimated construct companion with strange chemicals and fine-tune the clockwork within, enhancing all its capabilities. It becomes an incredible construct companion.

Self-Destruct [reaction] Feat 12

Legacy Content

Archetype 
Source Pathfinder #180: The Smoking Gun pg. 79
Archetype Clockwork Reanimator
Prerequisites Clockwork Reanimator Dedication
Trigger Your reanimated clockwork companion is reduced to 0 Hit Points.
Requirements You're within 60 feet of your reanimated clockwork companion.
You've installed a self-destruct device within your construct companion, which you can trigger with a special device from up to 60 feet away. When you activate the device, your reanimated construct companion explodes, dealing 2d6 fire damage per level to all creatures in a 30-foot radius. Creatures caught in the blast can attempt a basic Reflex save, with a DC equal to the higher of your class DC or spell DC.

Improved Hijack Undead Feat 14

Legacy Content

Archetype 
Source Pathfinder #180: The Smoking Gun pg. 79
Archetype Clockwork Reanimator
Prerequisites Clockwork Reanimator Dedication; Hijack Undead
Undead creatures find it all but impossible to resist your commands. When you use Hijack Undead, if the undead fails its save, it becomes your minion for 10 minutes. If it critically fails, it becomes your minion for 24 hours.

Paragon Reanimated Companion Feat 14

Legacy Content

Archetype 
Source Pathfinder #180: The Smoking Gun pg. 79
Archetype Clockwork Reanimator
Prerequisites Incredible Reanimated Companion
You have reached the pinnacle of necromantic science, creating a mechanical zombie unlike any the world has seen before. Your reanimated construct companion becomes a paragon construct companion.

Unwind Death [three-actions] Feat 16

Legacy Content

Archetype 
Source Pathfinder #180: The Smoking Gun pg. 79
Archetype Clockwork Reanimator
Prerequisites Clockwork Reanimator Dedication
Requirements The target's body must be mostly intact.
Combining necromancy with the mysterious temporal powers of clockwork, you wind a creature backward from the moment of its death. Attempt a DC 40 Crafting check to revive a dead creature that has been dead for no more than 3 rounds. If you succeed, the target returns to life with the effects of raise dead, except it still has the wounded condition it had before dying, increased by 1 (or wounded 1 if it wasn't wounded before dying). Whether you succeed or fail, the target is then temporarily immune to Unwind Death for 1 day.

Zombie Horde [three-actions] Feat 20

Legacy Content

Archetype 
Source Pathfinder #180: The Smoking Gun pg. 79
Archetype Clockwork Reanimator
Prerequisites Clockwork Reanimator Dedication
You built your reanimated construct companion of modular components from various corpses. Its unique makeup enables your companion to split into dozens or even hundreds of much smaller corpse constructs. Acting as one, this shambling swarm can overwhelm your enemies.

You Command your reanimated construct companion. Instead of its normal actions, the companion splits into a horde of Small and Tiny construct companions within a 30-foot emanation from its original space. The horde makes a Strike against each foe within the emanation with a +2 circumstance bonus to its attack rolls. The multiple attack penalty doesn't increase until after the companion makes all the attacks. The miniature companions recombine into a single companion of their original size at any location within the emanation.