## How to Build a Shield Guardian So your players just defeated an evil wizard with a shield guardian ally and now they want it all to themselves? But they can't have a shield guardian! They're way too powerful you tell me. Well that's certainly true. But what if I told you that the shield guardian got beat up real bad in the fight, and now your players are gonna have to spend a whole lotta time and bucu money to get that shield guardian working properly again? The shield guardian was top-of-the-line, none of that off-brand shit, but it was beaten to smithereens. The thing is a heap of metal now. Your players are gonna have to spend 1,000 gp worth of resources and spend 8 hours working to rebuild this thing. They're also gonna need proficiency with either tinkerer's tools or smith's tools, otherwise they're gonna have to find someone who can take on the job. Once it's repaired and in functioning condition, one player has to spend 1 hour to attune to the amulet. After which, they get the following Shield Guardian companion: ___ > ## Shield Guardian >*Large Construct, Unaligned* > ___ > - **Armor Class** 15 (natural armor) > - **Hit Points** 67 > - **Speed** 20 ft. >___ >|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA| >|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:| >|18 (+4)|8 (-1)|18 (+4)|7 (-1)|10 (+0)|3 (-4)| >___ > - **Damage Immunities** Poison > - **Condition Immunities** Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Poisoned > - **Senses** Blindsight 10 ft., Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 10 > - **Languages** Understands commands given in any language but can't speak > - **Challenge** 2 >___ > > ***Bound.*** The shield guardian is magically bound to an amulet. As long as the guardian and its amulet are on the same plane of existence, the amulet's wearer can telepathically call the guardian to travel to it, and the guardian knows the distance and direction to the amulet. If the guardian is within 60 feet of the amulet's wearer, half of any damage the wearer takes (rounded up) is transferred to the guardian. >___ > > ### Actions > ***Fist.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage. What is this bullshit? you ask. This isn't a shield guardian! You and your infinite wisdom are right. This isn't a shield guardian. It's the one that you just beat the shit out of, and guess what? You broke all of it's carefully crafted upgrades, and you're going to have to embark on a journey to rebuild it into it's former glory. Tough luck kid, guess there's no such thing as a free lunch, or a free shield guardian, but I digress. ### Blueprints At your option, your players must find blueprints that detail how to make and repair each individual upgrade before they can spend the time and gold to craft them. ### Upgrades If you are proficient in smith's tools or tinkerer's tools, you can spend 2 hours of work and lots of gold (enumerated below) to successfully repair a shield guardian's upgrade. Each upgrade also adds 15 hit points to the shield guardian's hit point maximum. #### Armored Plating *Cost: 1.000 gp* This upgrade increases the shield guardian's armor class by 2. #### Integrated Targeting computer *Cost: 1,000 gp* This upgrade increases the shield guardian's bounded accuracy by 3, giving it a +7 to hit. It also restores it's shield trait. ***Shield.*** When a creature makes an attack against the wearer of the guardian's amulet, the guardian grants a +2 bonus to the wearer's AC if the guardian is within 5 feet of the wearer. #### Life Support Systems *Cost: 2,000 gp* This upgrade restores the shield guardian's regeneration trait: ***Regeneration.*** The shield guardian regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit point. #### Spell Storing Module *cost: 2,000 gp* This upgrade restores the shield guardian's spell storing trait: ***Spell Storing.*** A spellcaster who wears the shield guardian's amulet can cause the guardian to store one spell of 4th level or lower. To do so, the wearer must cast the spell on the guardian. The spell has no effect but is stored within the guardian. When commanded to do so by the wearer or when a situation arises that was predefined by the spellcaster, the guardian casts the stored spell with any parameters set by the original caster, requiring no components. When the spell is cast or a new spell is stored, any previously stored spell is lost. #### Powered Servo Joints *cost: 2,000 gp* This upgrade increases the shield guardian's speed by 10 feet, and restores it's multiattack trait. ***Multiattack.*** The guardian makes two fist attacks. \pagebreakNum ### Power The shield guardian also requires power to function. When you find the shield guardian, it has an energy cell with 2d10 charges left. For each hour the shield guardian is active, it consumes 1 charge from the energy cell. When the energy cell is depleted, the shield guardian enters a dormant phase whereby it's unconscious. You can craft an energy cell with 100 gp worth of materials and tinkerer's tools. This process takes 1 hour. You can only hold one energy cell at a time. A newly crafted energy cell holds 20 charges before it is depleted. ### Amulet of Control *Wonderous item, very rare* Each shield guardian is made animate by a magical amulet. The shield guardian will protect the wearer of the amulet at all costs. While you are wearing the amulet and attuned to it, you can use a bonus action on your turn to command the shield guardian. As a bonus action, you can shunt the shield guardian into an extradimensional space within the amulet, and you can conjure it to an unoccupied space within 10 feet of you as a bonus action. If the amulet is destroyed, you can make a new one with 1,000 gp worth of materials and 2 hours of work. \pagebreakNum