If they're having fun, what's the problem?

Balance < fun.

Just introduce more challenges where their skills matter more and are more relevant than Break's.

You created this monster, now deal with it.

FUCK I LOVED MEDABOTS.

I ALWAYS WANTED A ROBOT THAT COULD SERIOUSLY FUCK SHIT UP AS A FRIEND.

>>6045241

I know you're right, and it's not that I don't want my players having fun (and believe me, I do; these guys are leagues above my old group), but ... I dunno.

I didn't really expect them to even want one of these things. I sort of threw it in there because it's something I like to do and I wanted to try something different, and they liked the concept a lot. I didn't feel I could be like "Well those were the only ones in the country, and you destroyed them. You'll never find any others ever. If you do, they'll be too expensive to buy. So drop it." They all really wanted one, and I wanted to oblige them.

But yeah, I'll have to look into encounters that make -them- fight instead of Break. Or maybe I'll have Break get kidnapped or something.

>>6045243
oh hi there mr. never contributes

>>6045306

You don't seem to have understood my post.

You are having fun. Your players are having fun.

They are having fun in a way you didn't expect or really plan for. Amazing! Awesome! I wish I had that kind of luck!

Don't mess it up. Work with it. Make encounters where Break matters, but the PCs have to matter too -- like a switch he has to hold up with the PCs fight, but without him, someone else would have had to have held it.

Hell, I'd introduce more of the things, and let other PCs have them and feel like they own them.

>>6045342

Oh. Oh.. I read that completely wrong. My apologies.

And yeah, I considered giving each of the party members one initially, but then considering the roleplaying aspect of that kinda made me worry about the game getting bogged down and confusing with who was roleplaying who. Even with the players RPing their own SG, the game may get too cluttered.

If there's one thing I really enjoy about all of this, though, it's that the paladin who initially didn't want to buy one now feels absolutely terrible that he killed the other Soul Guardians when they were helping their masters rob the church (he dealt killing blows to all three). He seem genuinely concerned about his future as a paladin, and so I want to pit more of these guys against him and see how it changes the way he fights; I can only hope he tries alternative methods other than "SMITE AND CLEAVE, CLEAVE AND SMITE".

LET'S GIVE KIDS ROBOTS WITH WEAPONRY CAPABLE OF LEVELLING BUILDINGS! Man, I want a Medabot so bad.

Just throwing out an idea here...
If they're relying on him too much, why not have him break down or something? Not ENTIRELY, mind you. I mean like one or two of his main uses or functions or whatever becomes weaker or stops working altogether. You could even have a quest to get the parts needed to fix it.

Still, I have to agree with the poster talking about fun. If the players enjoy it, and you enjoy it, then all is well, don't fuck with it.

Now excuse me I have to go about stealing your idea.

>>6045306

So, the players did something you didn't expect? That's no problem, in fact it can often be a good thing, as it makes the players feel that their actions actually do have an effect on your world, and they're not just being railroaded along a premade plot.

OK, they now have a fighting robot. Doesn't mean the players don't have to pull their weight in combat, as there's only so much a single robot can do. And you can give the enemies some little minions of their own for Break to square against without stealing the spotlight from the players.

But don't just overrule the players' actions and conspire to take the robot thingy away from them. You introduced it, now you have to deal with it. Just like I have to deal with the Bell/Yuki/Marisa witch trio the PC party seems to have adopted... they were meant as one-off joke characters, damnit!

The BBEG gets a hold of Break and corrupts him, forcing the players to kill their former buddy.

HOLY FUCK.

IDEA.

DO THIS, DO THIS, DO THIS!

>>6045503
That's a little harsh, but deliciously grimdark.

>>6045503
>>6045520

Why do you cry for him?

You are our hero.

>>6045520
You came here to avenge his death. You came here to save mankind. But you see now you cannot do both.

>>6045503

I dunno... with how much my players love Break, I don't think they could do it. They'd rather join up with the villain than kill their friend.

... brb I need to write this down in the event of this maybe happening.

>>6045503

That could work, especially if it's done as a reasonable consequence of the PCs's overreliance on it to fight all their battles for them. Actions should have consequences, and certainly not all of them are favorable to the PCs.

>>6045606
>PCs's

What's wrong with my spelling today?

*gollum* *gollum*

>>6045585
This is a good idea. When he goes out on one of his tasks make it look as if he got ambushed and killed by minions of the BBEG. In reality the BBEG has gotten a hold of him and over the course of the campaign breaks (no pun intended) him by convincing him that the PCs have used and abandoned him. Add in a little magical persuasion and tinkering and he becomes the BBEG's newest lieutenant, who the group then has to fight and maybe even kill if they can't redeem him. Make sure to include a suitably dramatic unmasking when he finally confronts the PCs.

>>6045606
>Actions should have consequences

They rely on him too much and--what's that? Break felt unappreciated by his so-called friends and "ran away from home"? What else? Oh, the BBEG found him and gave him a new paintjob and augmented him with new spells and weapons? And HE'S Break's best buddy now, NOT you guys? Oooooo.

Step 1: An encounter in which, if the PCs don't pull their weight, Break will get permanently damaged, despite winning.

Step 2: Punish them for their insolence with Break crawling behind them missing his legs or with a spike through his chest or some shit that just stops him from being quite such an effective fighter.

Step 3: Once you think you've made your point, they can find an artificer who can fix up some of what is ailing break, but due to the inferior quality of the repairs you can bring him back in line with whatever power level you think break should be at. If you truly think its neccessary, then, voila! Repairs worked perfectly!

Would having Break get kidnapped by a group of other Soul Guardians be an option? A little group of them that firmly believe that they should not view humans as masters, and are trying to free Break from his "slavery" at the hands of the players.

>>6045622
This would be awesome if the paladin ends up killing him on top of the guilt he already has

If he's too powerful for your liking, all you have to do is have him advance more slowly than the rest of the party does. Or perhaps not advance at all unless they spend money. One thing you don't want is for him to become so fragile that they can't bring him into combat, however; as others have said, your PCs like him and you should work with that.

My take would actually be to make him a rugged little motherfucker with DR and object-like energy resistance but not a lot of offense (who can therefor be relied on to consistently step up to the front line and be useful, if not to win the day alone). But I digress, you probably already have established combat stats for him.

A possible repercussion that you want to think about before you get too far along is, "If these guys are so godamn useful and so perfectly loyal to their owners then why the hell doesn't everyone have one?"

You may say "Because they're very rare". That's fine, but very rare, very useful things are INCREDIBLY expensive. Especially if we're talking intelligent constructs. Look at the price tag for something like an apparatus of the crab, which isn't even a creature, just a device that turns a pair of hirelings into a moderately-effective combatant.

How much did they pay for this guy again?

You may eventually end up stealth-retconing a plot explanation for how/why the shopkeeper got one of these and sold it for so cheap; start thinking about that now.

Also, even if they are rare they still need to be common enough (if only among the very lucky/wealthy) to justify the existence of such a shop in the first place, so maybe think about having a few more appear in the future, as antagonists or otherwise.

>>6045622

Don't be stupid, no D&D player will assume that their favorite NPC is dead without seeing the body.

What you can do, though, is have him physically dismantled and apparently killed. Make this emotional- make it really seem like a decent NPC death.

The PCs leave him, not realizing that SGs can just, you know, be put back together.

Two words: Rust Monsters.

HOLY FUCK GET BREAK OUTTA HERE ILL HOLD THEM OFF OHSHIT ONE GOT PAST ME OH CRAP DON'T LET HIM GET TO BREAK

>>6045663
this. fucking this.

>>6045862
>>6045862
>>6045862
>>6045862
THIIIIIIS. Rust Monsters are every little living metal thing's worst nightmare.

>>6045921

Especially if the little fellow has no idea what a rust monster is (other than another hostile beastie) and doesn't understand the gravity of the situation.

/tg/ - Rat-Bastard Gamemastering

>>6046091

"Hey guys! What's this? Looks like a giant bug! Big feelers on it, too! Really gross looking!"

"YOU GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM THAT RIGHT NOW."

>>6046091
I could totally bacronym that if I could think of some obscenity that begins with "t".

For some reason I totally can't.

Situation: need to remove robot.

Problem: Kidnapping robot for any reason tired.

Solution: Kidnap players.

These robots are extremely rare, and stupendously expensive. Rare enough, in fact, that major crime syndicates are lucky to ever get their hands on even one. When they do, they do not hesistate to spend millions on fortifying them further with the best technology and experts dirty money can buy. Needless to say, they become less than amused when their investments are trifled with.

The shopkeeper was one of a small coalition of criminals who sought to make it by stealing this particularly powerful example of the robot and selling it to a massive arms manufacturer for tens of millions of dollars and the assistance of the government in vanishing. The heist goes wrong, though, and half the gang is killed and the rest discovered. The shopkeeper is caught in the shop as he's gathering his gear to vanis hin the night, and as he's the only one not identifiable in the heist, gets rid of the robot by selling it for a bargain price to the guys who walk in the door as he's packing. The syndicate 'talks' to the others, and eventually gets his name after several weeks of hutnign down all the others and elicitng their information. They find him, and they find out he sold the robot. After communicating their displeasure to the shopkeeper in a very direct manner, they immediately seek out the party. It isn't hard to find them; they just need to follow the few dozen agents of other major players who are on its trail. Disposing of them quickly, they move on to the party.

The party itself starts noticing that their robot seems to have a surprising number of hidden abilities that are quite powerful they were not aware of, and suspect that it is a hell of a lot more powerful than they have been led to believe. They also find people dying around them, that they vaguely remember seeing, in extremely violent ways as the syndicate clears its path. They get paranoid, especially as the murders all have at least one piece of evidence left to indicate they were spyign on the players. Their injuries are reasonably consistent with the firepower of this robot, to try and get them not to trust it and seperate them. When that doesn't work, they find a means to get the players and the robot seperated voluntarily, for which you'll have to find a way because you'll never be able to predict their reactions. The moment the seperation is arranged, the syndicate moves. The players are rendered helpless by whatever means is most expedient and preferably in a way that demonstrates massive resources. They are then immediately taken to the secure location where they are kept rom leaving and the figure responsible for the retrieval operation explains exactly what it is that happened, how he regrets having to involve them, and all that in the polite sort of tone that tells you they are going to kill you as soon as their work is done and nobody will ever find the body, but it's just business.

Then, sounds of combat. The figure says that this is probably their robot arriving to rescue them, knowingly charging into their trap because that is just the way they are. He explains their defenses in enormous detail, describing the resistance the robot is facing at each level, and every the robot has overcome one, expresses only mild surprise before explaining that he cannot possibly survive the next one.

>>6046107
Twat. Maybe not terribly obscene, but you're welcome regardless.

Finally, the fighting is right outside the door, and the figures expresses displeasure and leaves to deal with the matter himself. A moment later the door is blasted open, and the robot appears.

Some of it, anyway.

It is now a badly-battered head and arm with gunbarrels glowing red with heat, attached to a tiny fragment of torso, hauling itself along the ground towards them, clearly trying to say something but no longer capable of speech. Just as it gets to the bars of the cage they're locked in, the figure comes back with several gunshot wounds, and expresses distaste that the robot can no longer be used, but that the remaining parts will likely go some way to remediating their losses. He shoots it in the head repeatedly, and its last act before it dies and its eyes go dim is to aim at the lock holding the players in their prison, and blow it out.

Robot dies in a satisfyingly awesome way that appeals directly to the players without being too cliched, and they now have the obvious narrative thread to follow, of trying to hunt down the guy that killed their robot. Being proactive will make the game play differently too, and the amount of satisfaction they get from killing the guy horrendously will give them no end of grim satisfaction. If you execute this well they will remember this game for a long time.

Oh, also, most of what the players killed were the equivalents of the N-Korean knockoffs of the chinese knockoffs of the real deal, that are glorified crapsocks that do less good than a gun and body armour. The ones that were a bit better are the chinese knockoffs of the real deal that do much less of a job but at such a price reduction you can do the same job forthe same money anyway. A real one is a big fucking deal that gets governments and militaries to sit up and pay attention.

>>6045862
>>6045921
>>6046091
>>6046105

Made for this thread.

>>6046120

/tg/ - Twatwaffle Gamemastering

>>6046179

In b4 rust monster scat porn.

>>6046201
good god no.

>>6046179

THe funny thing is that you could put this caption on an image of almost any monste.r

>>6046351

He's a little shorter than a halfling, so yeah, you definitely could.

Question: You said you called them "Soul Guardians" and you came up with that idea on the fly with little forethought.

What does "Soul Guardian" mean? Do they actually have souls, and where did they get them?

Does Break unknowingly run on the captured soul of an innocent person? IS Break unknowingly the captured soul of an innocent person?

Put your enemies up against a cabal of badguys (who keep kidnapping and murdering people) that Break can't attack. He tries, god bless him, but he always stops just before hurting them and doesn't know why.

This evil cabal is the ones making Soul Guardians (out of the souls of the people they kill) and all their creations are prevented from turning on them Prime Directive 4 style.

Break is still around, and can still do some stuff, but can't attack members of the Cabal directly (although any Soul Guardians they have are probably fair game) and if they let him go off alone the Cabal can probably capture and turn him with ease.

I agree with other posters that you should bring in other guys to be a direct counter to Break while also having monsters for your PCs to fight. That way, Break stays busy and "tied up" in combat, and your PCs have to do something other than order the pet robot around.

OP, I'd appreciate it if you talked just a little more about how you roleplay Break and what you think it was that got such a great response from the PCs. I'm kinda taking notes here.

>>6046502

What I started out doing was kind of treating him like a "blank slate". He parroted a lot of what the other characters said, and didn't do much other than that in terms of speech. He did things exactly as they were ordered with no margin for error, often causing problems for the PCs because of his straightforward way of doing things ("robots don't reason, they just do"). After a couple of sessions, though, he started to develop his own personality (taking a bit from everybody in the party) and the PCs didn't have to clarify everything so much all the time. He still has trouble with new things, though, which gives the PCs and opportunity to teach him.. and they often get into well-roleplayed arguments over what Break should and shouldn't be learning.

I think they not only feel like they have a reliable NPC companion in the party, but that they've done some real good in raising Break to be productive and heroic. Their only other impression of Soul Guardians in the campaign were the ones that were robbing a church, so I definitely get the feeling my players are happy Break didn't turn out like those others, and they directly played a part in that.

>>6046559

Sounds awesome.

I've always wanted to run a game where the PCs were basically pokemon trainers and the pokemon were all NPCs. Really, the whole pet-monster genre is about the relationships and interactions between characters as they overcome challenges, but in a videogame there is no real relationship or interaction: you play the trainer and the pokemon both. RPGs could be a great medium for this.

>>6046559

Well now Break HAS to die like a fucking champion.

I'm in favor of the kidnapping the PCs idea, at least where Break comes in broken irreparably and gets one last heroic act before dying. Let them keep, like, an arm or some other obvious piece of his body, like if it were Medabee up there the yellow part of his head, guns broken off.

>>6046559
>>6045231

This is awesome and you should feel awesome.

My only suggestion: if you ever do think that you need him out of the way for a while, have him try and follow the paladins example. He is heroic in a situation where he really shouldn't have been, and pays the price for it. Done well this will be a manly tears moment, and as a construct he can be repaired, so he is only out of the way for the few sessions it takes to find someone to fix him and give him the time to do it.

For a BAD END: when he is repaired he is a blank slate again. The Break they knew is gone.

For a FUCK YEAH End: They are forced to go save the world while he is being repaired. At somepoint when they are outnumbered or have been already captured or trapped by the BBEG, Break kool-aid mans into the room and starts wrecking house, having tracked down the party as soon as he was able to move and fight again.

>>6046655

is anyone archiving this?

Do so... IMMEDIATELY.

I loved how he just described him as "a stonecold badass and a super-best friend and all that" and posted a picture of a Metabot and that was all it took for everyone in the thread to instantly love Break.

>>6046717
What can we say? Some ideas... just WORK.

>>6046717

And then start coming up with creative and dramatic ways to murder him.

>>6046655

The heroes are badly beaten. Wounded, captured, and literally on the chopping block as the villain prepares to kill each of them, one by one, for all the plans they've ruined for him over the course of the campaign. Maybe one or two of the PCs are unconscious, or are very close to death. The rogue bemoans their fate:

"It's hopeless! There's nothing we can do to stop him now!"

A nearby wall explodes, and from the smoking rubble steps the tiny, recognizable form of a mad-as-hell construct with a wrist-mounted wand of magic missile and a sword a size too big for him. His eyes are downcast, before he quickly glares up at the villain, raising his arms and pointing the wand at their hated foe:

"Then let -me- take over for a little while!"

>>6046747
>Phoenix Wright pose

>>6046733
Such is /tg/'s wont.

>>6045231
Soul Guardians are actually mechanical necromantic tools. The Souls powering them are simply thousands of bound souls, dragged from the planes of hell.

Shit hits the fan. BBEG Necromancer, seeing that many of his tools have disseminated through the population, induces final magical activation; they all turn evil, and start rioting.

Cue, 'oh shi-!' as Break turns on his owners during important struggle. Then investigation to find the cause/battling other robots/what the fuck ever.

someone really must archive this.

>>6046124
This.
With perhaps the small change that instead of mauled beyond repair, when returning to the mod-shop the players are given the choice to either replace the bot's parts with lesser parts, which wipes the robot's personality, or a painstakingly long repairment session, with no guaranteed result, at high cost. The latter option would return him at the end of the campaign to fight the Big Bad or something, at a moment where he isn't all that awesome combat-wise but still a helpful (and for the players, interesting) npc.
It gives them a nice ethical decision, while ensuring the robot isn't broken. Perhaps even better, if they choose the quick repair option and find their friend is really, really just gone, they might even just put him out of his misery. Bonus xp all around.

>>6046747

>>6046999
Needs a bit more "FUCK YEAH" to it, but I like where you're going with this. :D

soooo .... archive? this was a pretty good thread.

>>6047220
Done. http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/6045231/

Feel free to keep posting; it will keep checking for new posts and updating on the hour until 404.

To further the fun while he's still alive, have you let (or considered letting) the PCs customize his upgrades as they gain levels?

You could even just use standard magic items, but with some sort of magical process that actually integrates them into his body.

>>6047492
This! But offer the consequence that an integrated item becomes part of the construct in every way and therefore can't be removed. Thus leading to crazy manly tears when they foolishly put a cursed item into him.

Random ideas since I last posted:

-Think back to some piece of advice that your PCs have given him concerning battle, adventuring, or life. It doesn't have to have seemed important at the time, just memorable. Contrive a climactic battle where the PCs watch Break succeed by following this advice.

-Consider having him (in an innocent, parrotish way) start to show signs of some evil/destructive behavior. If they succeed in correcting this (and for all I know this has already happened in your game), have it make a big difference in the long run (see above).

-Have him form an implied rivalry with an antagonistic Metab- er, SG. Have the badguy be sleeker, faster, and fancier, capable of doing things which they didn't know SGs could do (but which Break might be able to do too before the game is over). Have it overwhelm him in their first encounter (forcing the PCs to wrap it up with whoever they're fighting at the time and quickly come to his aid). Have him eventually 'win', ideally thanks to PC advice (see above), upgrades, or other indirect-help.

-IDEALLY-ideally, have the badguy-SG lose by running out of juice while Break keeps soldiering on through his attacks. Just because. Also, have the rival turn out to be a not so bad guy.

-Expose them to another group of wealthy mercenaries or adventurers who treat their SG(s) very poorly. Have Break notice and react to this.


May think of more later.

>>6047804

You're a dick.

>brofist

>>6047804

Only acceptable if he winds up being Cursed with Win (i.e., what seems like a curse actually ends up letting him kick ass somehow later on. Possibilities are endless). Now I'm tempted to start a Cursed with Win thread.

I don't know how you would do it but I kind of think that at the end of the game he should end up being 50 feet tall and fighting Godzilla.

>>6047840
>Have him form an implied rivalry with an antagonistic Metab- er, SG. Have the badguy be sleeker, faster, and fancier, capable of doing things which they didn't know SGs could do (but which Break might be able to do too before the game is over). Have it overwhelm him in their first encounter (forcing the PCs to wrap it up with whoever they're fighting at the time and quickly come to his aid). Have him eventually 'win', ideally thanks to PC advice (see above), upgrades, or other indirect-help.

Break mimics the party members.

There is a paladin in the party.

Sometimes belief makes all the difference.

What does Break have that no rival Soul Guardian does?

The ability to SMITE EVIL for GREAT JUSTICE.

>>6048015
Osmosing class features from the rest of the party is a cute idea, actually.

I personally still feel that you should have him ripped to shreds in a dramatic manly-tears encounter, after which the paladin pays their respects and leaves him behind, not realizing that the pieces can be repaired and put back together until it is too late.

The BBEG could use this to turn Break against the party, convincing him that they have abandoned them.

Bump

>>6048220

Because one of us isn't as strong as all of us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QC53JDl98M

This needs more drawfaggotry!

>>6047862
>>6047804
This little guy seems to be Cursed with Win already.

>>6048015
And honestly, OP would probably be able to fudge the rules a little bit and ignore a deity in this circumstance (as Break is probably operating on unknown magical means anyway).

"I believe in myself! That's all that matters!!"

Cue a raging fucking huge Smite Evil on his rival/BBEG as though he were a paladin at the same level as the party.

>>6050102

Believes in himself? Bitch he believes in his FRIENDS.

>>6050121
A Smite Evil with the power of friendship? FUCK YEAH!

You know, instead of breaking break, or having the little guy go away or whatever, you could make the battles harder.

If break is pulling all the weight, with the players sipping ale in the background, battles suddenly become alot scarier when it looks like break can't pull their weight, and suddenly, the players all start working harder.

Then you have more epic battles, because the players are being arsed to do things in combat, and do them well.

>>6050102
>>6050121
>>6050147

Well paladins don't actually need a deity to smite evil, so this all sounds perfectly plausible. His belief is in his friends and the good that they do; he wants to protect them and their ideals, and believes so strongly in it that he taps into divine power without thinking of doing so.

Seems to me that's a perfectly good reason to smite the fuck out of some evil.

Eassssy.

Have any BBEG or rival group be in possession of an Anti-Break. Essentially another copy/model of Break with inverted paint colors, and he beelines for Break every time.

That way you can have epic robattles.

>>6050336

Break rearranges into Baker.

>>6050336
... ?

>>6050354
Or Barke. Which is a little bit cooler than Baker.

Then again, you could also use synonyms. Like Shatter.

Send me the best you've got! · Send me your strongest machine! · The fight my brother fought... · Here, now, will end with me!


Have something trigger a pre-existing program or behaviour in Break which makes him berserk and try to destroy anything and everything around him. When he calms down or returns to his normal self, he's pretty much entirely clueless as to what happened and remorseful.

See how they deal with that shit happening all the time.

I demand to know why there is so much win in this thread.

>>6050336
>>6050354
>>6050376
I'd like to say in advance I'm sorry for what I'm about to say.

"Who am I? My name is Brake... and I'm here to put the STOP on you!"

>>6050453

>>6050453

He gets kidnapped and caged up by some big bad evil dood, but when they finally get to where he is being held it turns out the local kobolds freed him and now treat him as their leader thinking him some kind of demigod, he is helping them to make a decent peacfull living and now he doesnt want to leave the little guys, but you cant bring them due to the risk they would be in

You have to ad Mr. Referee to the game. Period.

>>6050542

"Break, we're glad you're safe, but it's time for you to go."

"And these guys need me!"

Cue manly tears as Break leaves the party to keep the kobolds safe and teach them wrong from right.

>>6050641
>"But these guys need me!"

Not and, but.

>>6050641

BUTTERFREE NOOOOOO ;_;

let them find out that some gem holds his essence or soul (maybe make it in conjunction with a reveal that break was a child who died of disease, hence being such a blank slate)

Destroy break in an epic/heartbreaking moment. His essence remains intact.

They take his essence, they get him a hodgepodge weak body not covered in weapons and easy encounter win.

Later, they find breaks body has been repaired by bbeg and they have to destroy that.

Maybe have breaks shit body busted in the process.

Final destination? Break becomes a real boy.


God damn tg, you suck at dming.

>>6050678

What you just wrote is terrible, and you should feel terrible for doing so. I submit that you, sir--and NOT /tg/--"suck at DMing."

I know that this whole situation was originally posted as being a problem you would like help in resolving, but god damn, I wish I could have problems this awesome.
Seriously? An NPC that people love too much? I want to be in your game...

>>6050658
I'm still not over that episode
;_;

>>6050542
>>6050641
>>6050658

If this happens, I want your players crying bitch tears by the time it's over. And then, Break can show up later on in the campaign in a FUCK YEAH moment and save somebody, his band of kobold heroes in tow.

>>6050933

And then his kobolds all get killed off defending the party in a weakened state, and Break sacrifices himself so you can escape.

And then the party each puts a piece of Break on their body like armor to honor him, and thousands of years later, Break Pieces are regarded as magical artifacts. Wars break out over them, and finally one nation gathers all the pieces of Break and assembles them.

Break comes back to life and cries.

Evild Dude: "who's the little champ. look at his cute little metal bits. what are you gonna do?"

Brake: "Brake you"

ED: "Hu- *SMITE!*

>>6050635
That may end up taking things a little too far out of the realm of possibility. A little construct that fights for his friends and doesn't afraid of anything? Fuck yeah, I can get behind that. But a guy that shows up out of nowhere to referee a fight between two of the little guys? The mood changes, and it gets more slapstick than anything else. From what I've seen, the OP and party are taking this at least somewhat seriously in terms of the game setting, and Mr. Referee is far from serious, no matter how you make him.

Mr. Referee is best left in his own universe.

>>6051009
... drawfaggotry, please? I want to see this be awesome.

>>6051001

whoa whoa, what the fuck is with all the BAD ENDS? break comes back after all this time and then all of his new friends get killed and he gets dismantled?? that's fucked up, man. give the guy a good end.

>>6051044

That's an awesome end. It's like 3000 years later so they would have been dead anyway.

>>6051044
Fuck you faggot, this isn't Gaia, we're adults here.

>>6051096
Not the guy you're insulting, but just because we're adults doesn't mean everything has to be BAD END GRIMDARK KILLAN OH FUCK EVERYONE'S DEAD.

All I'm saying is that bad ends and good ends have their place.

I personally would go for a bad end myself, actually.

>>6051105

But everyone isn't dead. Break is alive, and it's 3000 years later. He was dead from the time he sacrificed himself to save the party, so he'd probably go on a quest to find out what happened to his friends while he was gone, and to see if they produced any heirs.

He could try to follow their family trees to the present so he could bro it up with descendants.

>>6051035

The one who wrote it here. Working on some subpar draw faggan for the little guy, No idea how he looks like. But i made my own take, inspired by the OPs love for Medabots

Not shure about design. He was paladin like right?

send in an atog to have it eat him!!!

>>6051232

I approve of this design with a fervor unlike any the world has every seen.

>>6045253

This is /tg/. Anyone here who says they HAVEN'T wanted a cool robot friend is a goddamn liar.

the little champ is to damn fun to draw

>>6051453

>>6045695

>If he's too powerful for your liking, all you have to do is have him advance more slowly than the rest of the party does. Or perhaps not advance at all unless they spend money

>Or perhaps not advance at all unless they spend money

IT'S LIKE BREAK REALLY IS A MEDABOT!

>>6051523

... Have we statted Break yet? O mean OP didn't give us stats. I wanna know this little badass current status

Dear /tg/, thanks to you I've now started re-watching all of the old metabots episodes on youtube. I know want one.

>>6051582

Thanks to this thread I'm downloading them all.

OH HOLY SHIT THIS THREAD IS STILL ALIVE FUCK YEAH!

>>6051661
It's never gonna BREAK down.
ahahahaha

ha
haa...

a single bump before bed

>>6051009

>>6051896

>>6051896

From one drawfag to another.

Great Win.

>>6051896
>GLORIOUS.jpg

>>6051896

Good work, I say, good work

>>6051690
Somebody already posted that .jpg of Reed slapping Sue, so I've got nothing other than a stern look for you, mister.

>>6051582
>>6051648
Same.

Dammit /tg/.

>this thread

God dammit, now I'm rewatching the episodes too.

Thanks.

>>6052302
>>6052234
>>6051648
>>6051582


You know, this is how the whole Homeworld thing started on /tg/...

Did Medabots just become /tg/ related? or is it just the manly epic of Break?

>>6051896
>>6051001

Now draw Break like this. Sitting on a throne with a crown on his head, in the thinker position, deep in thought.

"But that is a tale for another time..."

>>6052355

pfft, medabots is /m/ related, why is it here anyways?

>>6052449
uh ... read the thread?

>>6052449
Because of AWESOME.

>>6052477
>>6052483

but it's not fucking /tg/, I just come for d&d and magic, why is this allowed here?

>>6052555
Because it's on topic? Robots in tabletop games. Shocker.

>>6052555

Because it's Medabots in D&D, you insufferable cunt.

Now go troll elsewhere.

>>6052555
>I just come for d&d and magic, why is this allowed here?

Troll detected. Ignoring.

Anyhow, I think it would be interesting to play a game that consisted entirely of these Soul Guardians as characters instead of the normal PCs from the PHB.

>>6052599

That, while awesome, would have the downside of each of them presumably having an owner they were supposed to obey. That can rub players the wrong way really quick.


Possibly a mixed party of owners/bots (with the bots having a fair amount of free will without being completely out of their owners control) or a party of people playing the owners as well as the bots (certain advantages, but would involve a fair amount of people talking to themselves, which is rarely fun)

>>6052599
So would their skills and feats and everything be based on class, or by the parts they chose to build the character with? If the latter is the case, I think there's an extreme chance for high-level douchery very early on in the game, with no telling how things would turn out by the end.

>>6052679
With players who aren't douches, I think this would be awesome to play.

I can't help but think of a follow up campaign: In the far future, to stop a great evil, the PCs have to rebuild an ancient artifact of great good, who will have the power to defeat the BBEG.

Turns out it's Break.

>>6052679

I think that generating the characters from scratch would actually be very simple, with a couple magic items embedded into the bodies of the PCs (at DM discretion). Everybody has range and melee items (somebody earlier mentioned wrist-mounted wands of magic missile? Stuff like that), as well as some class features to round them out and give them worth to one another.

Yeah, there's a chance for dickery, but not if the DM says at generation: "No, no you may not have that +2 Fuck-All of Raping grafted into your arm." The DM is always right when you're making characters, no ifs, ands, or buts.

rolled 99 = 99

>>6051001
>>6051118

This can only end in AWESOME.

And OP, you better use this track at some point. Maybe if he ever decides to sacrifice himself while giving the party time enough to escape, as the surrounding area falls apart around him and the enemy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlbg1E51os8

>>6052735

The construct is small, hardly looking like a weapon of great power, and barely resembling what the ancient scrolls told you of its appearance. For one, it's much shorter than described... barely standing a few feet tall, if even that. Two blue gems resting in what appear to be eye sockets slowly hum to life, glowing an ethereal beryl tone. The diminutive construct slowly stands up, turning its gaze to the party...

>>6052831

"Hey, any of you 'mos got some polish? I'm rusting my bearings off over here."

I've been seeing this thread on page 0 all damn day, and ignoring it because of the OP pic. I just read it through and dammit /tg/...

good on to you.
*slow clap*

hope you enjoy. I felt like doing something else then sleeping: Drawing

Am I too late to contribute a side-plot?

>>6052836

I lol'd. Doesn't sound much like the break we've been talking about in the thread, but god help me I lol'd.

>>6052975
>Break*

>>6050391
>Have something trigger a pre-existing program or behaviour in Break

"It was you who broke my mason plate!"

>>6052836

nice

I'd go with

"More..Bad guys... Smite?"

Did OP die? :( We were hoping for stats on Break/Soul Guardians in general.

Damnit OP

Don't tell me this thread's tapped out already!

We need to keep it alive for the OP's return!

rolled 29 = 29

>>6053021

He said construct not ooze

First you have to see what Break is good for, then you need to design some challenges where he simply can't be of much use.

...That or have a mission that goes DIRECTLY through a region where Soul Guardians are considered destructive monstrosities, so bringing Break along would be a very big risk. Worse case scenario..well Break dies, but if you play your cards right, you can get some good tension going and get them to do things without him. Hell, you could probably get some serious Laughs disguising and hiding him as they make their way through the region.

>>6053477
>Hell, you could probably get some serious Laughs disguising and hiding him as they make their way through the region.

"This? Oh, this is... er, our ... son?"

"You're five adventurers, and you're all men. You have a son?"

"... with us, yes."

>>6053507
> "You're five adventurers, and you're all men. You have a son?"

"A wizard did it."

ran out of steam. NOT BLOODY LIKELY

Checked the archive, found that this thread had doubled in size, copy-pasted thread ID to /tg/, found out that this thread was still going.
Bump.

Also,
>>6050933
>>6051001

Holy fuck, this is just too much.

>>6053562

Thousands of years later and broken down, he still knows he is supposed to be a hero.

Fuck yeah, Break.

Fuck yeah.

I haven't read too much into this thread but the parts I have, have been fuck yes.

If it has a BAD END, your next campaign should be set in a modern campaign where the PCs have died, but Break re-awakened for a short while. He isn't there in the modern times, but he influenced the entire world. In the modern times, every aspect of modern culture is influenced by him and his design. Robot companions are not only available, but expected.

And then it just goes off of that.

I could totally see SGs becoming a /tg/ thing. I mean we already have, what, three different designs for "Break" drawn in this thread? We have no idea what he actually looks like in OPs game, but this is still pretty cool.

I like the implication that SGs are the bound souls of children. This means that most SGs (as long as they remain uncommon) came about from parents who wanted their children to live on somehow, but an evil organization trying to raise an SG army would do it through, well.. mass infacide.

>>6045231

This version of Bumblebee is gay.

>>6053791
Now now, let's not do this...

>>6053791

silly troll

>>6053823

Swear to gawsh just kidding, I reserve my trolling for the other boards.

>>6053739
Meh. Too much /m/ faggotry with it. "IMMA ROBOT WHO FIGHTS FOR HIS FWIENDS!" isn't going to resonate well

>>6053845

but that is what Break is all about. Being a hero and believing in his friends.

>>6053845
>isn't going to resonate well

Have you read the thread? Being strong and fighting for your friends should ALWAYS resonate, and it looks like it has been so far.

More thoughts on badass-sidekicks-as-game-balance-issues:

I'm totally with everyone who is saying that this is awesome and there is no need to fuck it up as long as your PCs are having fun. Remember, challenging the PCs is second to them having fun (or, more accurately, it is only a goal because being challenged is usually more fun than not being).

Now, don't get me wrong: if Break is just taking care of all their challenges for them they are likely to get bored with the game eventually, but I find it hard to believe that that is the case. What's going on there? Is it that he's overshadowing just one party member (maybe the warrior)? Is he really overshadowing the whole group? Is that because he's so powerful or because the challenges you're facing are to weak? In all those cases, making him slightly weaker might be called for, but don't get rid of him completely jjust yet. Your players like him.

Or, perhaps, is it because they use him to do all the really shitty/dangerous jobs, like their own little bomb-robot? The answer there is obvious: have him get into a situation that he can't handle (but that a PC probably could have) and get really hurt because he makes a robot-mistake, doesn't have the right ability, or just doesn't have a high enough skill bonus.

>>6053898
>>6053873
No no, I'm sure that the thread is loving it, but I don't see these things becoming a /tg/ staple when they're just halfling Kamen Riders.

>>6053954
>halfling Kamen Riders.

.. again I'm not seeing what /tg/ isn't going to like.

>>6053939

>robot mistake

and then he starts to robotcry

;_;

>>6053954

brb making halfling Kamen campaign

>>6053967
Because you think all of /tg/ shares your wishes. Or maybe you've missed the full half of the thread that desperately wishes Break to be shattered, twisted, corrupted, deformed, and plain broken.

>>6053939

Meow. Like I said, your little robot-guy is awesome and you should have him stick around for awhile if the PCs like him, but it's reasonable to imagine that he shouldn't be around indefinitely (that you or they might eventually get sick of him even if he's fun now) and to start thinking about ways to dramatically get rid of him.

A permanent solution isn't the only solution, though. As others have suggested, you have the option of lengthy repairs putting him out of commission for entire chapters, after which he makes a dramatic entrance and the party is glad to have him back.

Or you could invert that somewhat, so that in the future they only occasionally GET to bring him. Perhaps his batteries or what-have-you are dying and he can no longer afford to run at full combat capacity every day, but he isn't completely useless and they can still bring him along when they really need the help (in other words, once you think he's starting to get old, make Break becomes a once per week ability).

For added FUCK YEA, reverse the battery thing- it's not that it's dying, it's actually that he has some king of cockfucking-awesome secret overdrive death-mode that lets him clean house but then puts him out of commission for extended periods.

>>6053954
>halfling Kamen Riders.
Send for a Drawfag, Quickly.

>>6053991
>some kind of*

Break is now /tg/ legend.

>>6053988
Easy there with that whole putting words into other peoples' mouths thing, pal. I never said all of /tg/ shared my sentiments, just that /tg/ probably wouldn't mind the concept of halfling Kamen Riders.

You don't like the concept presented here, that's fine, but the people posting in this thread DO like the concept, and they're contributing to it. You can contribute, or hide the thread.

Polite sage for lack of contribution.

>I never said all of /tg/ shared my sentiments, just that /tg/ probably wouldn't mind the concept of halfling Kamen Riders.

>.. again I'm not seeing what /tg/ *isn't* going to like.
Emphasis mine.

You may not believe me, but I am contributing to the idea. I like the story of Break. Its cute. But do I want to see it spammed like cutebolds and 40k shota? Hmmm. No. I'm offering up the rebuttal to the claim that SGs should be made general /tg/ material. That is neither trolling nor complaining, as much as some may wish to describe it.

>>6054139
listen you butthurt troll, we're not 40k fans like you, we know not to spam something. You're just jealous you didn't come up with something HALF as good as Break.

So what's a good way to stat one of these things, considering the OP may not be coming back (I mean, we have no way of knowing one way or the other, it looks like)?

I was thinking a shorter-than-average Halfling with living construct traits and some special notes regarding the use of the magical weapons grafted into its armor? Also, how would classes/feats/skills work? Like a normal character, or like maybe something like what >>6052758 said, leaving it up to DM discretion and/or picking from pools of class features/following a set tree of them?

>>6054163
You, knock it off. That isn't helping.

>>6054139
I see where you're coming from, and definitely agree that turning it into a spam-worthy circlejerk ( like everything /co/ ever puts together! ha!) would ruin a lot of the fun about it. I misread you before, and I apologize.

>>6054139

As the person who first made that suggestion I wasn't suggesting that it should be spammed or forced in any way, merely wondering aloud if it might catch on (i.e, if we might see a sequel thread, or hear about someone implimenting SGs in their own game. Not implying that it should be shoved forcibly into the mainstream of /tg/ culture).

I was only suggesting that we might have an idea that could be expanded upon collaboratively in future threads.

>>6054179

Was just thinking of that. If I used them they would be an ECL0 race of living constructs who became popular after warforged were outlawed (the idea being that "soldier constructs" should be banned, while 'servant constructs'- anything less than 40 inches tall- were fine. As a consequence and perversion of this law, small constructs were developed that were just as badass as warforged used to be in melee).

They're a small race of living constructs with a racial bonus to strength.

>>6054179

Small sized warforged that take levels in construct and, at every level where a character normally gains an ability point, instead permanently integrates an item.

They may multiclass from construct into any class in the party without xp penalties, but may ONLY select feats from those known in the party.

>>6054293

Occorse, that's assuming I wanted them to be common and available for PCs to play.

If they were just there to be servants/sidekicks to the PCs I would treat them completely differently. Like someone else suggested, I would probably just generate the stats for each one from scratch, with perhaps some shared rules for how they are powered and how they can be re-equiped or modified.

>>6054297

Hmmm.... with a little bit of work (+2 STR, - 2 Int, -2 Wis) I can see that being worked into a +1 LA, +2 if we want to make them extra tough little bastards.

>>6054333

And that brings us to another point, too. Can SGs act on their own, either solo or as a unit, without human/halfling/elf/what-have-you interaction? Can they grow on their own without people around, or is it required?

I think in OP's campaign, the "blank slate" thing might work for the way they originally did the character, but if people want to play them as characters, then the lore surrounding them would have to be quite a bit different. I like what >>6054293 said about "servant constructs," but I also like what people were saying before about the souls of the living being placed inside of SGs.

Oh! Here's an interesting story idea: People are paying a locally-known wizard top dollar to put their eternal souls into Soul Guardians (either for thrill-seeking, "eternal life," or some other magical wish-fulfillment nonsense). The only problem is he doesn't know the spell to get them back into their flesh-and-blood bodies again, and while he makes that point perfectly clear to his customers, some still come back enraged and distraught.

Maybe these could be PCs for a game? People from the town who bought/were forced into a soul transfer and are now looking to reclaim their original bodies.

>>6054338
3.5 I assume?

Why the LA? STR doesn't have as much synergy with a size-small race as with a medium one, meaning they're weaker than halforcs stat-wise.

>>6054438
Sup?

>>6054663

.. and you are?

>>6054438
I'm going to go ahead and assume you haven't watched the movie "9" yet. The concept is very similar to >>6054696's idea. Instead of a wizard putting souls in minature warforged, in 9, the idea is that a scientist put the pieces of his soul into these small constructs as a backup plan because the bigger machine he built was on the brink of destroying humanity.

>>6054755
Oh wow, you managed to avoid spoiling the ending while still giving a summary of the movie plot. I'm actually impressed in a very non-sarcastic way. Good show sir.

>>6054804
[spoiler]also 1, 2, 5, 6, and 8 live happily ever after in the atmosphere and make rain.[/spoiler]

>>6054453

The magic item integration, when combined with the normal warforged stuffed and even a little ability score boost, boosts it from a high powered 0 to a +1.

>>6054438

That's an interesting idea.

With regards to the 'blank slate' and PCs, though, keep in mind that a player character SG could (and probably will) be someone with a lot of history, who has already developed a personality.

>>6054955

I'm not sure why the item integration is a bonus. We haven't even decided how it works yet.

I mean, it -could- be worded in such a way as to be more powerful than standard magic item usage, but you'd have to get pretty creative. By default, never being able to swap your Ring of Deflection +1 for something better is more of a drawback.

Can we get some stats (Both 3.5 and 4e, ideally) for these things?

>>6055022

Not that creative. Its item INTEGRATION.

You eat a ring of deflection. Enjoy your bonus. You still have two (presumably) perfectly good hands left.

The only thing that needs to be addressed are items with charges. I recommend no scrolls or potions or
other one time use items, and wands and such end up with a flat 3 times per day usage of the spell.

Or some kind of charge regeneration, but that can become unbalanced pretty dam quick.

>>6055243
>wands and such end up with a flat 3 times per day usage of the spell.

I approve of this, but with the addition that spells-per-day rising every so many levels as though they were a caster.

>>6055287

Fair enough.

Will this form or slotless item integration be enough/too much? If it seems a bit much for a LA +1, we should go all the way for a +2 and give them some bitch'n natural armor/better ability boosts.

>>6055340

It could prove handy at high levels, but short of level 10 this ability is absolutely useless. There are so many body slots that, until your characters really start looking like christmas trees (i.e. high level), they aren't going to use the item integration at all. They're just going to wear the item as usual, that way they can sell it when they're done instead of losing it forever.

This isn't unworkable, and you can always try balancing a useless-now-great-later power with a great-now-useless-later one (spell-like abilities and beatable DR are good examples of this).

If it were me, though, I would probably just have them use magic items like everyone else.

>>6055340
>>6055287

Maybe have the items' charges stay the same, but as the character rises in level, they gain more slots, leading at high levels to a limited number of casts per day from each integrated item, but lots of items to choose from?

I suppose it depends on whether you want just a few spells with a lot of casts, or a lot of spells with just a few casts.

>>6051001
>my reaction

THIS THREAD MAN, THIS THREAD

In the year 020X, Mordenkainen created a Soul Guardian named Break.

Break defeated Vecna once, but now Vecna has created 8 new Soul Guardians of his own.

Are you a bad enough dude to drop the plot of Megaman II on your players through Soul Guardians?

have him get captured/stolen and have the party find him

>>6055789

Metalman
Airman
Woodman
Flashman
Quickman
Heatman
Bubbleman
Crashman

So, each Soul Guardian should have one primary power, and if you destroy one and take its core/power source into another Soul Guardian, it can use that power?

FUCK YEAR

>>6055789
>>6055840

...epic.

>>6055840

JESUS YES

>>6055745

I'll do you one better. When the player creates their character, they get to choose one of these options for how the process works for their character.

Be interesting to see how the two methods compare in the same party.

>>6055840

Metal Soul Guardians have DR and do slashing damage.
Air SGs can fly and use Mage Hand at will.
Wood SGs... I don't know. They're made out of fucking wood. Woodman was a terrible idea. I think he has like, lordship over robot animals.
Flash SGs have the ability to stop a target from moving or acting.
Quick SGs are permanently hasted.
Heat SGs gain damage from fire attacks and can burn things.
Bubble SGs can swim instead of sinking like other SGs and can make oxygen bubbles for party members to breathe with.
Crash SGs are TINY GURREN LAGANNS COVERED WITH EXPLOSIVE DRILLS. Seriously Crashman was a fucking bad ass.

And so they fought.
The clash of metal and grinding gears echoed across the night sky.
Victory was at hand
But in the end... his will overcame the program.

FUCK BITCHES
GET WILY DOLLARS

Airman was here, all other robot masters are jabronies.

Break has some...fate...which prevents him from continuing adventuring with the players, but he is kept whole.

Before Break leaves, players gain something along the lines of "Break talisman", allowing them to summon him 1 every few days.

With this model, Break can be employed for BBEG fights or whenever the going gets really tough, but it's enough
for the players to strictly ration his usage for the just-n-case. You don't have to overcomplicate mechanics, just justify his leaving

>>6053129
Let's stat Break ourselves since OP ain't posting no more.

>>6055968
Woodman has Summon Nature's Ally and Wildshape (Elder Ent) as spell-like abilities.

>>6056095

DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE BUILT THIS WAY?

>>6056238

I'm pretty sure he actually needs something like a wall of blades effect, invoked by beating his chest and hooting.

>>6056273
Okay, Summon Nature's Ally, Wood to Metal and some kind of spell like ability that let him control leaves. WITH HIS MIND.

>>6056367
>some kind of spell like ability that let him control leaves. WITH HIS MIND.

Let's use the Ragewalker ability "Weapon Cloud" from the 3.5 MMIII:

Weapon Cloud (Su): Ragewalkers are surrounded at all times by a cloud of flying, whirling weapons. This cloud deals 2d6 points of slashing damage each round to any creature adjacent to the Ragewalker. DR applies to this damage.

Let's take that, and make it for Woodman:

Leaf Shield (Su): Woodman is surrounded at all times by a shield of flying, whirling, razor sharp leaves. These leaves deal 2d6 (or whatever at 1st level, probably 1d4) points of slashing damage each round to any creature adjacent to Woodman. DR applies to this damage.

>>6056448
>>6056448
>>6056448
>>6056448
>>6056448
>>6056448

:D

>>6056367
>>6056448
well that was easy enough, huh?

>>6056448
Still think he needs Wood to Metal as a constant effect. Any wood he is touching becomes hard as metal. He's made of wood as hard as metal. Etc, etc.

>>6056583

You mean ironwood?

>>6056614
Their is such a thing in DnD, isn't there?

Make it so, then.

>>6056583
>>6056614
>>6056636

So his armor would just be Ironwood armor, then? Problem solved?

>>6056691

Yea, pretty much.

We also want his leaves to be as hard/sharp as steel. But the leaves should be a spell effect anyway, we shouldn't be worrying about their stats as objects.

I think this thread has gone past the point of no return.

>>6051896

Thanks for the new MSN avatar

So, this thread has lasted roughly two or three days now, my sense of time is slightly warped due to a fucked sleeping schedule. Anyways, my point is that I say we adopt Break into the ever growing /tg/ mythos. We need a badass little construct like him. Hell, I've been on and off thinking of my own Soul Guardian. So what do we say /tg/?

I keep seeing Break as more of a dwarf warforged than anything else, pic related in that it has Break levels of win

>>6056775
I don't know if the rest of /tg/ would agree with me, but I think we can BREAK the rules just this once.

>>6056813
And his Soul Fighter is Sandvich.

>>6056775
...

Agreed. Break is part of my own personal /tg/ mythos now and I support the concept of Soul Guardians for less than srs buiznez games.

>>6056775

Agreed

I've also been thinking about SGs in actual play, but nothing seems as cool as Break.

Something about OP's very basic descriptions strike a serious chord.

>>6056884

/tg/ needs to make a 3.5 rule set for Soul Guardians.

Actually that brings up a question, if one were to implement Soul Guardians in ebberon, how would people perceive them?

>>6056775
Agreed! I thought of one too heh. He's a grappling type soul guardian who wears a really loose cloak. Underneath the garb are tones of razor sharp spikes that he impales his victims with. I call him Pierce.

Have we reverse-engineered a meaning for "soul guardian" yet?

I keep thinking that the bodies were literally built to protect the souls that are locked inside them; like there was some situation where all these souls were drifting about defenseless and some crack team of artificers started whipping up bodies in order to turn them into a force capable of defending itself.

>>6056917
The newest evolution in living constructs. House Cannith had been secretly researching and refining the forging process and now they have released them to the public to help aid and protect everyday people and adventurers. However, the King of Blades heard about this and was enraged so he had developed a similar type of construct called Cogs who's soul purpose is to help subvert all things that are alive.

>>6056943

Also, this whole thing reminds me of a game I ran where warforged were created by gnomes, originally to be guardians of the gnome race. The campaign secret was that warforged were actually created using the souls of old or sick gnomes.

As such, when the human empire started forcing gnomes to fork over their warforged (not to mention coerced them into making more) for use as common soldiers, it was seen as some serious sacrilege and inspired all sorts of treason and rebellion.

>>6056943

That is a nice explanation.

I figured that Soul Guardians run off the positive energy normally generated by living creatures, in order to stay active they need to be around living breathing creatures. In the end they end up in a 'Guardian' role of 'Souls' in a sort of instinctive self-defense tactic.

>>6056943
I take it as: An original set of plans for Soul Guardians existed in the past, and everything spun off from there. Seeing as all a Soul Guardian needs is a construct body with the power to integrate magical items, and of course a soul. So everyone from wizards to artifacters made their own version of Soul Guardian(s).

>>6057014

Right, so the name isn't literal in most cases, it's just derived from the first "Soul Guardians" (for whom that name DID have some religious/thematic/literal/whatever meaning).

>>6057014
>own version of Soul Guardian™.

>>6046091
Break makes a Grapple check against the Rust Monster.

"Won't you be my new friend?"

Eh, why bother with a cloak? Just have the body completely smooth but for small circular patches. When he grapples successfully he can as a standard action release the spikes for a fuckton of damage. Alternatively have it his main attack, have another thats a once shot that shoots the spikes in all directions or he can shoot one or two spikes at a time in whichever direction he chooses.Perhaps give him 12 spikes to fire in a day. They magically regenerate over time. Or as he consumes metal.

>>6057433

I approve sir!

>>6057433
lol at the guy without a head.

I imagine his voice just coming from his cannon-face (sounding as if it is coming out of a long tunnel).

>>6057433

Perhaps differnet pulses of a fog horn...

>>6057159
>>6057385
What if break... eats...er..integrates a rust monster? I know the rust monster would fuck up his body, but would successful integration allow him to gain the abilities of a rust monster? I like the idea of break eating the rust monster and then being able to consume all the spare weaponry that the party doesn't need to give him a boost in battle.

>>6057159

>>6057666

Your telling me. Break actually integrates his natural enemy into himself?

>>6057716
He can integrate magical items, so I don't see why not. Perhaps he could function like Bolt Crank: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat-Man

>>6057740

Rust monsters aren't magical items, only magical creatures. No one 'fabricated' a rust monster.

What if Break absorbs a sentient item? Would he gain multiple personality disorder? Schizophrenia?

>>6057769
I dunno, I'm not really sure just how his integration process works, I just know he can eat magic items and win prizes without taking up space. I'm just speculating at this point.

1. Find vorpal weapon and eat it
2. Punch BBEG
3. Roll 20
4. ?????
5. Profit

>>6057864

Break is to noble to absorb a thingking creature. Unless he had to becouse SHIT JUST GOT REAL

>>6057666
Simple solution is to eat a gauntlet of rust instead. Break eating living things should probably be avoided. I also imagine all good SG's would be hesitant to integrate magic items. I personally think the would no longer be sentient but may grant a bonus for integration but for all intents and purposes the item would be "dead". I also think that trying to integrate any type of artifacts wouldn't work (he does the robot equivalent of spitting it back out) and epic items wouldn't be attainable until he (or his owner) was epic level.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giNH7sp004Y&feature=related

>>6057769
>>6057961
I'd like to think break just gets a talking arm or something out of it, would be mighty hilarious if break just started talking to a random body part, then having the PC's notice and think he's damaged, and then having the PC's hear the extra voice and thinking break is possessed.