Vanguard Construct Companion

The vanguard’s construct companion is their most notable class ability, a powerful and versatile ally on the field of battle. Depending on the base form and augmentations chosen it can be a front line fighter, a spellcaster or flanking buddy, in addition to buffing nearby allies using its resonances.
A construct companion has an Intelligence score, and as such has access to feats and skill points.
All companions have the following skills as class skills: Craft (Int), Disable Device (Dex), Knowledge (engineering) (Int), and Perception (Wis).

Every companion is build from one of three base forms, the base form determines the base stats, additional class skills and gives a scaling bonus to two primary ability scores and a third secondary ability score.
The Combat Form is intended for front line combat, with a +4 armor bonus to AC and Strength and Dexterity as the highest ability scores, with Wisdom secondary. It does have only four class skills however: Climb (Str),Intimidate (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), and Swim (Str).
The Eldritch Form is intended for use with the various eldritch augmentations that give spellcasting ability. Intelligence and Charisma are its primary abilities, with Dexterity secondary. Knowledge
(arcana) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Spellcraft (Int) and Use Magic Device (Cha) are the class skills.
The Scouting Form has a 40 ft. movement speed, and a +2 armor bonus. Dexterity and Intelligence are the primary ability scores with Charisma being secondary. With Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis) as class skills it is the most mobile base form.

The construct companion is not animated like a normal construct, instead it is in many ways similar to a wizard’s familiar. The vanguard shares a portion of his own magic and soul with the companion he builds. This creates a bond that allows communication and the sharing off spells in the same way as a familiar, as well as endowing the construct with intelligence.
This link does force the vanguard and companion to stay close together to keep the companion functioning, and the construct’s intelligence makes it vulnerable to mind-affecting effects.

The various augmentations that the vanguard can add range from ability score improvements, to temporary hit points to spellcasting and adding energy damage to attacks, and those are just the first two pages of four. I will be going over these in later posts.


When the party search the remains of a destroyed golem they find a strange apparatus. Closer examination reveals that it is a mechanical treasure map. As they follow the map’s trail they find instructions on the operation of the map, which in turn reveals clues and hints on the obstacles and riddles in their path.

In the Jiengian religion the handling of humanoid corpses is considered impure, as such bone golems are used to collect and bury the deceased. The bones for the golems are athered from those who directed the burial golems in life.

The players come across a temple of foreign design deep within the woods. A Knowledge (geography) check reveals that the temple is made of a kind of stone not found in the area. When they investigate inside the disassembled pieces of thousands of different constructs are found to litter the inside of the structure.

Path of Iron, 26