Rules of the Game - Constructs

The cast of villains in the D&D game includes a host of creatures that range from the familiar, such as animals and humanoids, to the utterly alien, such as aberrations and undead.

Constructs fit into the unfamiliar end of the spectrum. Many players and DMs have some difficulty understanding what makes these creatures tick (though few constructs literally tick). The addition of living constructs in Monster Manual III clouds the picture further. This month, we'll work on demystifying the construct creature type. We'll start with a few basics.



A construct is a kind of creature. According to the glossary in the Player's Handbook, a creature is a living or otherwise active being that is not an object. Unfortunately, the glossary doesn't include an entry for objects. So what's the difference between a creature and an object? The Monster Manual glossary gives us a clue. A creature has both a Charisma score, which gives it selfawareness, and a Wisdom score, which gives it perception. In the D&D game, perception and self-awareness come as a set -- you don't have one without the other. Anything that lacks Charisma and Wisdom scores is an object, not a creature. In this case, self-awareness can be rudimentary. In game terms, anything capable of distinguishing between itself and that which is not itself to any degree at all is self-aware.

Philosophers can argue about whether the D&D game's method of distinguishing between creatures and objects is valid, but the definition works for game purposes.

It's worth noting that in the D&D game, some objects are alive and some creatures are not. A tree, for example, is a living thing. It lacks a Charisma and a Wisdom score, however, and is an object. The D&D game teems with unliving creatures, including undead and constructs.

It's also worth noting that you can mimic perception. For example, a trap that fires an arrow when someone trips a wire could be said to have a limited ability to perceive intruders. In game terms, however, true perception requires a Wisdom score (and consequentially a Charisma score).

From page 312 of the Monster Manual: 

Nonabilities: Some creatures lack certain ability scores. These creatures do not have an ability score of 0--they lack the ability altogether. The modifier for a nonability is +0. Other effects of nonabilities are detailed below.

Strength: Any creature that can physically manipulate other objects has at least 1 point of Strength. A creature with no strength score can't exert force, usually because it has no physical body (a spectre, for example) or because it doesn't move (a
 shrieker). The creature automatically fails Strength checks. If the creature can attack, it applies its Dexterity modifier to its base attack bonus instead of a Strength modifier.

Dexterity: Any creature that can move has at least 1 point of Dexterity. A creature with no Dexterity score can't move (a shrieker, for example). If it can perform actions (such as casting spells), it applies its Intelligence modifier to initiative checks instead of a Dexterity modifier. The creature automatically fails Reflex saves and Dexterity checks.

Constitution: Any living creature has at least 1 point of Constitution. A creature with no Constitution has no body (a spectre, for example) or no metabolism (a golem). It is immune to any effect that requires a Fortitude save unless the effect works on objects or is harmless. For example, a zombie is unaffected by any type of poison but is susceptible to a disintegrate spell. The
 creature is also immune to ability damage, ability drain, and energy drain, and automatically fails Constitution checks. A creature with no Constitution cannot tire and thus can run indefinitely without tiring (unless the creature's description says it cannot run).

Intelligence: Any creature that can think, learn, or remember has at least 1 point of Intelligence. A creature with no intelligence score is mindless, an automaton operating on simple instincts or programmed instructions. It has immunity to mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects) and automatically fails Intelligence checks. Mindless creatures do not gain feats or skills, although they may have bonus feats or racial skill bonuses.

Wisdom: Any creature that can perceive its environment in any fashion has at least 1 point of Wisdom. Anything with no Wisdom score is an object, not a creature. Anything without a Wisdom score also has no Charisma score.

Charisma: Any creature capable of telling the difference between itself and things that are not itself has at least 1 point of Charisma. Anything with no Charisma score is an object, not a creature. Anything without a Charisma score also has no Wisdom score.



The Monster Manual glossary includes a brief entry stating what distinguishes a construct from another kind of creature. Here are a few notes to flesh out the glossary entry.

Artificial Beings: An object animated with the animate object spell is a construct. So are most creatures that are built through some artificial means rather than bred, cloned, sprouted, or created through any natural process.

Not all artificial creatures are constructs. Spells such as animate dead and create undead produce undead creatures, not constructs. The simulacrum spell creates a duplicate of some other creature and the duplicate has the same creature type as the original. In general, a construct is a unique kind of creature, not a previously existing creature brought back from death or an attempt to copy another creature. A construct also usually is built up, piece by piece (except in the case of an animated object) from inert materials.

Unassailable Mind: Many constructs have no Intelligence scores and no minds. This gives them immunity to all mind affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects). Constructs that have Intelligence scores effectively have minds hardwired into their bodies -- their minds aren't subject to outside manipulation and they have the same immunities that mindless constructs have.

Unliving: A construct is not alive. It has no Constitution score and it has no biological processes to disrupt (or to sustain it, either). This gives a construct several benefits and a few drawbacks.

Constructs don't eat, sleep, or breathe, and most constructs cannot do any of these things. One could, however, build a construct that can mimic these activities.

Constructs lack nervous systems, circulatory systems, and vital organs. As a consequence, a construct isn't subject to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, and necromancy effects. A construct also is not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain. The rules don't say so, but a construct also cannot be nauseated or sickened.

A living construct can use the run action, but doing so will tire it out, as noted on page 144 in the Player's Handbook. A living construct suffers all the normal effects of a forced march (see page 164 in the Player's Handbook). A regular construct can run or force march without tiring.

The lack of any biological activity in a construct's body leaves it immune to any effect that requires a Fortitude save unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless. When dealing with a spell, see the spell's area, target, or effect entry to determine if the spell affects objects. See the spell's saving throw and spell resistance entries to determine if the spell is harmless. Rules of the Game: Reading Spell Descriptions contains further notes on determining what a spell can affect.

A construct's unliving body cannot heal damage on its own unless the construct also has the fast healing special quality. However, one could repair damage to a construct through the Craft Construct feat (see below). The various cure wounds spells from the Player's Handbook don't work on constructs. Specific spells or effects noted in the construct's description can restore hit points a construct has lost. For example, fire heals damage an iron golem has suffered. Certain arcane spells, such as the repair damage spells from the Complete Arcane, also can remove damage from a construct.

A living creature's body is subject to premature death if it suffers a massive shock or injury sufficient to disrupt its biological functions. In the D&D game, the death from massive damage rule (see page 145 in the Player's Handbook) represents this vulnerability. A living creature also has the ability to cling to life and recover from wounds that render it nonfunctional. The rules for death and dying (see pages 145-146 in the Player's Handbook) represent this capacity.

A construct's hit points represent its body's total ability to withstand punishment and keep functioning. It has no biological functions to disrupt, but it also has nothing to keep it hovering on death's door when badly injured. It is not subject to the death from massive damage rule; however, it is immediately destroyed (broken into junk) when reduced to 0 hit points or less.

Since it was never alive, a construct cannot be raised or resurrected.

Mass Equals Hit Points: Destroying a construct requires smashing so much of its structure that it literally falls apart. A construct gains bonus hit points based on size, as shown on page 307 in the Monster Manual.

Standard Senses: All constructs in the D&D game can see unless otherwise noted in their descriptions. Vision is either built into the construct or magically bestowed through the spell or ritual that animates it. All constructs have low-light vision and darkvision with a range of 60 feet. The rules don't say so, but it's a reasonable assumption that a typical construct sees at least as well as typical human does when it does not have to rely on low-light vision or darkvision.

Constructs have no special ability or inability to hear sounds, and it's reasonable to assume that a construct hears at least as well as a human unless its description says otherwise.

Constructs don't eat, so it's a pretty good bet they don't have a sense of taste or smell.

A construct's immunity to critical hits and death from massive damage suggests that it doesn't have much of a sense of pain, though a construct with an Intelligence score probably has some way to assess how much damage it has suffered. Likewise, a construct also probably doesn't have much sense of touch. It probably can recognize some textures. I imagine a construct probably can feel about as well as a human wearing a pair of household work gloves.

Building a Construct 

The easiest way to make a construct requires a suitable object and an animate objects spell. If you're not satisfied with a mere animated object, however, you have to put in a bigger effort.

From page 303 Monster Manual: 

Craft Construct [Item Creation Feat]
The creature can create golems and other magic automatons that obey its orders.

Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item.

Benefit: A creature with this feat can create any construct whose prerequisites it meets. Enchanting a construct takes one day for each 1,000 gp in its market price. To enchant a construct, a spellcaster must spend 1/25 the item's price in XP and use up raw materials costing half of this price (see the Golem, Homunculus, and Shield Guardian monster entries for details).

A creature with this feat can repair constructs that have taken damage. In one day of work, the creature can repair up to 20 points of damage by expending 50 gp per point of damage repaired.

A newly created construct has average hit points for its Hit Dice.


Creating a fairly elaborate construct such as a golem or shield guardian requires the Craft Construct feat (described on page 303 in the Monster Manual). The process of construct creation is just like creating a magic item. The process is described in Chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master's Guide and in Rules of the Game: Making Magic Items. Here are the highlights:

Prerequisites: A construct has a list of prerequisites, which is included in the creation section of the construct's description. A list of prerequisites might include one or more feats, spells, and miscellaneous requirements such as level, alignment, skills, and race or kind.

A construct's creator must have a caster level high enough to cast any prerequisite spell the construct has.

In most cases, the construct's creator must provide any required spells personally; you can't have another character cast them for you, but you can use a scroll that you activate yourself.

Cost: A construct's description (usually) includes a market price and a cost to create the construct. To calculate the creation cost for a construct, subtract the cost of any special materials the construct requires from the market price. Divide the remainder in half. The result you get represents the basic materials you must buy to build the construct. This basic cost includes the cost of the construct's body. Most construct descriptions include a separate cost for the body to allow DMs and players to use the Craft skill to create the body.

The total cost to create the construct is the basic cost plus the cost of special materials. For example, a construct with a market price of 100,000 gp and 10,000 gp worth of required special materials has a creation cost of 55,000 gp. (Here's the math: 100,000 - 10,000 = 90,000; then 90,000/2=45,000; then 45,000 + 10,000 = 55,000 gp.)

Making the construct also requires experience points equal to 1/25th the market price minus the cost of special materials. The construct from the previous example has an XP cost of 3,600.

You can make an advanced version of a construct (one that has more Hit Dice than shown in the creature description). Each extra Hit Die adds 5,000 gp to the construct's market price. If you add enough Hit Dice to increase the construct's size, add an extra 50,000 gp to the construct's market price.

Time: For every 1,000 gp in a construct's market price (or fraction of 1,000 gp), the creator must spend one day working on the construct. The construct from the previous example would require 100 days of work.

Environment: Creating a construct requires peace, quiet, and comfort, just as preparing spells does (even when the creator doesn't need to prepare spells). Any location a character uses for construct creation also must have enough space to hold any special equipment and materials the construct requires.

Equipment: Some constructs also require a specially equipped laboratory similar to an alchemist's lab. The cost for setting up such a laboratory (if it is required at all) is given in the construct's description. The cost for a lab is not included in the construct's market price or base price. Once you set up a lab, you can use it over and over again.



If you have the Craft Construct feat, you can repair damage that a construct has taken. With one day of work and an expenditure of 50 gp per hit point repaired, you can repair up to 20 points of damage to a single construct.

You don't need to make a check to repair a golem, but your DM might want to require one. Use the same Craft skill and DC required to make the construct's body. For example, repairing an iron golem requires a DC 20 Armorsmithing or Weaponsmithing check.

It's also reasonable to assume that construct repair also requires a set of artisan's tools.


A construct that has an Intelligence score acts pretty much like any other creature during an encounter. It reacts and creates strategies to the best of its ability. A mindless construct, however, often proves more difficult to run. Many constructs can offer foes a few surprises as well.

Mindlessness: It's helpful to think of a mindless construct as a fairly simple robot that has just enough built-in programming to allow it to get along in its environment. It can recognize and avoid barriers, obstacles, and hazards. For example, it won't walk into walls or tumble into uncovered pits. It also can operate very simple devices such as levers, pulleys, and doorknobs.

Mindless constructs aren't aggressive (but read on). If attacked, however, they return the favor. The construct strikes at whoever damages it.

A mindless construct has no ability to learn and effectively has no memory, but it can retain and act on simple instructions. A mindless construct's orders must be simple and clear, but they can be general.

As a rule of thumb, I recommend keeping instructions to things that can be expressed in 25 words or less, using simple words. Keep in mind that a mindless construct has no capacity to reason and cannot fill in gaps or omissions in its instructions. Also remember that a construct can see and hear, but doesn't have a sense of smell and not much sense of touch (see Part One). In general, a mindless construct responds only to visual or audible triggers.



Spotting a Construct: Most constructs resemble inanimate objects when they aren't moving themselves. A simple animated object is indistinguishable from a regular object until it moves (though a detect magic spell will reveal the magic aura from the spell that animates the object). When an animated object moves or acts, it's fairly obvious the object isn't quite normal. A character can make a DC 26 Spellcraft check to note the spell in play.

Permanent constructs, such as golems, usually offer a few clues that can alert an observant adventurer to its true nature, even when at rest. Such clues can include articulated joints, gemlike eyes, and weaponry and bits of equipment that aren't part of the creature's main structure. A DC 20 Spellcraft or Knowledge (arcana) check ought to be sufficient to reveal these clues.





A living construct is built from a combination of organic and inorganic materials, much like any other construct, except that some of the organic material is either living or imbued with life during the creation process. For example, the warforged living constructs from the Eberron Campaign Setting have bundles of root like fibers that serve as muscles.

In any case, this fusion of living and nonliving elements makes for a unique creature with characteristics all its own.

Vulnerable Minds: Most living constructs have Intelligence scores. Those that do have organic minds (or the artificial equivalent) are susceptible to mind-affecting magic.

Living, But Tough: A living construct has a Constitution score and at least rudimentary biological processes.

Living constructs don't eat, sleep, or breathe, and most living constructs cannot do any of these things. One could, however, build a living construct that can mimic these activities. The living tissues in a living construct are either self sustaining or capable of drawing nourishment from the environment in some non-intrusive way. In any case, a living construct's need for sustenance is so small it can live indefinitely without breathing or eating.

A living construct may or may not have a nervous system and a circulatory system. If it does, these systems are very hardy and difficult to disrupt. A living construct isn't subject to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, fatigue, exhaustion, energy drain, nausea, or sickening. A living construct can use the run action, but doing so will tire it out, as noted on page 144 in the Player's Handbook. A living construct suffers all the normal effects of a forced march (see page 164 in the Player's Handbook).

A living construct has some life process that are subject to failure and the creature is vulnerable to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, death effects, and necromancy effects. The low level of biological activity in a living construct's body leaves it susceptible to effects that require Fortitude saves unless the effect is one that is listed in the previous paragraph.

From Player’s Handbook Page 144: 

Run
You can run as a full-round action. (If you do, you do not also get a 5-foot step.) When you run, you can move up to four times your speed in a straight line (or three times your speed if you're in heavy armor). You lose any Dexterity bonus to AC since you can't avoid attacks, unless you have the Run feat (page 99), which allows you to keep your Dexterity bonus to AC when running.

You can run for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution score, but after that you must make a DC 10 Constitution check to continue running. You must check again each round in which you continue to run, and the DC of this check increases by 1 for each check you have made. When you fail this check, you must stop running. A character who has run to his limit must rest for 1 minute (10 rounds) before running again. During a rest period, a character can move no faster than a normal move action.

From Player’s Handbook Page 164: 

Forced March
In a day of normal walking, a character walks for 8 hours. The rest of the daylight time is spent making and breaking camp, resting, and eating.

A character can walk for more than 8 hours in a day by making a forced march. For each hour of marching beyond 8 hours, a Constitution check (DC 10, +2 per extra hour) is required. If the check fails, the character takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from a forced march becomes fatigued. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue. It's possible for a character to march into unconsciousness by pushing himself too hard.


Since it is alive, a living construct can be raised or resurrected if slain.

Thanks to the inorganic elements in a living construct's body and the rudimentary nature of its biological components, a living construct cannot heal damage on its own unless it also has the fast healing special quality. It is possible, however, to repair damage to a living construct through the Craft Construct feat (see Part Two). The various cure wounds spells from the Player's Handbook work on living constructs, but only at half effect; roll the spell's effect as usual, but divide the amount of healing in half, rounded down. The repair damage spells from Complete Arcane have full effect on a living construct. Though the Eberron Campaign Setting describes how a warforged can be repaired by a character with ranks in certain Craft skills, this does not extend to all living constructs."

A living construct's body is subject to premature death if it suffers a massive shock or injury sufficient to disrupt its biological functions. A living construct is subject to the death from massive damage rule (see page 145 in the Player's Handbook). A living construct also has the ability to cling to life when heavily damaged. Most rules for death and dying (see pages 145-146 in the Player's Handbook) apply to living constructs, except as noted here.

A living construct reduced to 0 hit points is disabled and limited to only a single standard or move action each turn. A strenuous activity, however, doesn't deal any damage to the disabled living construct. For example, a warforged wizard with 0 hit points could cast a spell as a standard action. The character could not use a move action during the same turn. Unlike a human wizard, casting the spell while disabled would not damage the warforged wizard.

A living construct with fewer than 0 hit points, but more than -10 hit points is inert. The creature is helpless and unconscious. The living construct, however, is automatically stable. It doesn't lose any more hit points unless something deals the creature more damage.

Constitution, Not Mass: A living construct gains (or loses) hit points based on its Hit Dice and Constitution modifier. A living construct does not gain any bonus hit points due to size.

Standard Senses: Living constructs don't automatically have low-light vision and darkvision with a range of 60 feet (though they could have these abilities; check the creature's description to be sure).

Unless stated otherwise in the creature's description, assume that a living construct can see, hear, taste, touch, and smell at least as well as a human can.



That wraps up our look at constructs. I hope I've helped demystify these unusual creatures for you.



Skip Williams keeps busy with freelance projects for several different game companies and was the Sage of Dragon Magazine for many years. Skip is a co-designer of the D&D 3rd Edition game and the chief architect of the Monster Manual. When not devising swift and cruel deaths for player characters, Skip putters in his kitchen or garden (rabbits and deer are not Skip's friends) or works on repairing and improving the century-old farmhouse that he shares with his wife, Penny, and a growing menagerie of pets.

Based on the original Dungeons & Dragons® game by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and on the new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game designed by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison.

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