Tinleaf Trupacious

The end result of Faduardo Gantonin's apprentice Yoranda Delane's attempts to create an assistant and friend, sinch she had little emotional support from Faduardo or anyone. Locked away in the lab researching Faduardo's various temporal magicks, she developed the Phase Guardian. Tinleaf Trupacious was meant to be the next step toward more human-like constructs.

It is neither living, nor dead, nor undead. It occupies that space at the intersection of the three. He performs actions as if alive, but cannot think beyond his rudimentary tasks, and does not eat or sleep. It does, however, require maintenance.

Tinleaf Trupacious (CR 4)
Medium Construct

Hit Dice: 7d10+20 (54 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 20 (+10 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+11
Attack: Slam +8 melee (1d6+6)
Full Attack: 2 slams +8 melee (1d6+6)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Construct traits, darkvision 60 ft., find master, guard, low-light vision
Special Defense: Phasing
Spell Resistance: 50%; Immune to all spells when out-of-phase, susceptible when in phase.
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +5
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 10, Con —, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 1
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

The tall, lanky figure seems to disappear completely every few seconds, reappearing a few seconds later. For a moment, you can make out the symbol of an hourglass, but only for a moment. Its body seems made of a metallic leafy fiber, which wraps around the carapace like scales or links of a chain.

Forever oscillating in and out of phase with the current time, Tinleaf Trupacious is a slave to time and its master. When one is fashioned, the phase guardian is keyed to a particular magical timepiece. Henceforth, it regards the wearer of that timepiece to be its master, protecting and following that individual everywhere (unless specifically commanded not to do so).

Tinleaf obeys its master's verbal commands to the best of its ability, although it is not good for beyond simple manual labor and occasionally a simple conversation. It can also be keyed to perform specific tasks at specific times, down to six second accuracy, if it's in phase when the alarm goes off. The wearer of the timepiece can call Tinleaf from any distance, and it will come as long as it is on the same plane.

Tinleaf is 6 feet tall and weighs a mere 100 pounds. It cannot speak, but it understands commands given in any language, though only in six-second increments, when it phases out of time. Its true master can phase with it, as can any mage with phase self.

Combat

Tinleaf was not designed for combat and is thus horrible at it.

Find Master (Su): As long as Tinleaf and its timepiece are on the same plane, it can find the timepiece wearer.

Guard (Ex): If ordered to do so, Tinleaf moves swiftly to defend the wearer of its timepiece, blocking blows and disrupting foes. All attacks against the timepiece wearer take a –2 penalty when Tinleaf is adjacent to its master.

Phase Other (Sp): Forever oscillating in time, Tinleaf must phase through time. If the Phasing is ever dispelled or otherwise disrupted, Tinleaf is trapped in whatever time it is disrupted in, and begins losing hit points at a rate of 1HD/rnd.

Construction

Tinleaf is built of tinleaf, a magical plant-metal alloy. The materials cost Yoranda Delane 15,000 gp. The timepiece also runs on two ounces of magesilver, kept within an hourglass that constantly resets itself every round, the amound of time it takes for the magesilver to flow from the top bulb of the hourglass to the bottom one.

Creating the body required a DC 16 Craft (blacksmithing) or Craft (carpentry) check. The keyed timepiece is fashioned at the same time, and its cost (20,000 gp) is on top of the cost of Tinleaf itself. After the body was sculpted, Tinleaf was animated through an extended magical ritual that required a specially prepared laboratory or workroom (she borrowed Faduardo's). A similar lab, such as an alchemist's laboratory would cost 500 gp to establish. If the creator is personally constructing the creature’s body, the building and the ritual can be performed together.

CL 9th; Craft Construct, limited wish, discern location, shield, phase other, caster must be at least 9th level; Price 40,000 gp; Cost 32,500 gp + 2,300 XP.

Timepiece

If Tinleaf's timepiece is destroyed, it ceases to function until a new one is created. If the wearer dies but the timepiece is intact, Tinleaf carries out the last command it was given.