Animated TankLike a deranged caterpillar of grinding metal and protruding
turrets, this massive armored vehicle dominates the battlefield,
spitting hot lead and artillery—seemingly without a crew.
Animated Tank CR 12Source Pathfinder #71: Rasputin Must Die! pg. 84
XP 19,200
N Huge construct
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +26
DefenseAC 29, touch 9, flat-footed 28 (+1 Dex, +20 natural, –2 size)
hp 144 (16d10+56)
Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +5
DR 10/adamantine; Immune construct traits
OffenseSpeed 40 ft.
Ranged 3 Maxim M1910 machine guns +15 (2d8/19–20),
Hotchkiss 6 pounder +15 (8d6/×3)
Space 15 ft., Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks integrated weaponry, telekinesis, vicious
trample (6d6+18, DC 30)
StatisticsStr 35, Dex 12, Con —, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 9
Base Atk +16; CMB +30 (+32 bull rush); CMD 41 (43 vs. bull
rush, can’t be tripped)
Feats Alertness, Awesome Blow, Improved Bull Rush, Improved
Initiative, Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack, Skill Focus
(Perception), Toughness
Skills Intimidate +15, Perception +26, Sense Motive +20
Languages Russian (can’t speak); telepathy 100 ft.
SQ inexhaustible ammo
EcologyEnvironment any
Organization solitary, troop (2–4),
squadron (5–12)
Treasure none
Special AbilitiesInexhaustible Ammo (Su) An animated tank loads and fires its
weapons as a normal tank, but it telekinetically reloads from
a supernaturally endless supply of ammunition.
Integrated Weaponry (Ex) An animated tank is equipped
with three Maxim M1910 machine guns (see page 65)
and two Hotchkiss 6 pounders (see page 66) built into
its body. It treats these weapons as natural attacks and
not manufactured weapons. It cannot make iterative
attacks with these weapons. An animated tank has its
weapons arranged on all sides of its body and can make
three machine gun attacks and one Hotchkiss 6 pounder
attack each round. An animated tank’s weapons can still
be targeted by effects that target manufactured weapons
(such as magic weapon spells or sunder attempts), but
cannot easily be harvested for use once the animated tank
is destroyed. An animated tank is always proficient with its
weapons, and its ranged weapons do not provoke attacks of
opportunity when fired in melee combat.
Telekinesis (Su) The pickled brain that animates the
tank possesses a supernatural ability to manipulate its
surroundings and reload its armament. The animated tank
can use telekinesis as a standard action every 1d4 rounds
(caster level 16th).
Vicious Trample (Ex) An animated tank’s powerful metal treads
deal 6d6+18 points of damage on a successful trample.
DescriptionThe brains of great military commanders and tacticians
need not go to waste simply because their mortal bodies
have been slain. Preserved in glass vessels, bathed in
nutrient fluids, and wired to strange energies and bizarre
technologies, these organs are given new life, as their
mental talents are preserved and tapped to independently
control monstrous war machines. Though the methods,
magic, and technology used differ between creators of
these hulking engines, incarnations of these creatures
typically take the form of captured siege engines and
vehicles retrofitted to allow independent control by the
pickled brains inside.
Animated tanks are perhaps the most dangerous of such
animate siege engines. Thought haunted by some, and
simply assumed by others to be well-commanded vehicles
crewed by crack soldiers, these animated monstrosities are
feared and loathed on battlefields across the front. Blessed
with incredible armor and the ability to never tire or deplete
their stocks of ammunition, these creatures run roughshod
over trenches and barricades alike, grinding troops
unfortunate enough to fall beneath their tracks to splinters
of meat and bone. The tremendous range afforded by their
armaments only makes matters worse for those forced
to confront the lumbering monstrosities, and finding a
weakness within their steel carcasses is nigh impossible.
Animated tanks are found in the company of one or
more rifle or flamethrower troops; these soldiers are
usually either keenly aware of the tank’s unique magical
animation, or wholly ignorant of its mysterious and taciturn
movements as they simply follow their commander’s
orders without regard to the tank’s missing crew. Those
hearing the tanks’ orders in their own heads, however,
instantly realize that something is not quite normal. As
animated tanks are built with the armored frames of
British Mark IV tanks—a common war wagon on First
World War battlefields—few soldiers question the orders
of their superiors when tasked with accompanying one of
the beasts. Though Mark IV tanks could normally hold a
crew of eight, the cabin of an animated tank is filled with
strange technological and alchemical devices, allowing
only four Medium creatures space to ride inside—that is,
if the animated tank agrees to carry passengers.
Animated tanks were designed by Viktor Miloslav for use
by the Russian Imperial Army, and it is thought that this
mad experimentation and blasphemous use of the deceased
is what triggered his exile to the cold wastes of Siberia and
his imprisonment in the Akuvskaya prison camp. It is
ultimately unknown how effective the creations of Viktor
Miloslav proved on the battlefields of the Great War, or
whether any of the monstrosities survived the war, as their
shelled-out carcasses look little different from normal
tanks, with the exception of a faint smell of formaldehyde
and remnants of broken glass not usually found with
tanks of this model. Whether some slumbering beast waits
patiently in some forgotten barn or warehouse remains to be
seen, or whether brave soldiers have laid this dangerous and
blasphemous technology to rest is unknown, but hopefully
Viktor Miloslav’s mad designs have all been destroyed or
lost forever.Variants
Viktor Miloslav is rumored to have created variations on
the normal Mark V tank during his brief explorations into
self-animated war machines during World War I.
“Female” Animated Tank (CR 11): So named because it
lacked the heavier Hotchkiss 6 pounder guns of its more
robust counterpart, this variant makes up for its lack of
explosive firepower with a bristling barrage of machine gun
fire, being able to make up to five attacks per round with
its Maxim M1910 machine guns. The tanks are otherwise
identical in most respects, and few find a female animated
tank’s lack of Hotchkiss 6 pounder guns a relief when faced
with its withering machine gun attacks.
The “Moving Fortress” (CR 13): Once word of Viktor
Miloslav’s inventions spread to Germany, the engineers
there tried to replicate the effects he’d achieved, though
it’s unknown to what degree they succeeded. Should one of
these specimens have survived, it would have been much
more highly armored, built on the base of the German A7V
tank—designed literally like a tracked, armored land ship.
A moving fortress has 2 additional Hit Dice, and its natural
armor bonus is increased by 5. Its single main gun, more
robust than the Hotchkiss 6 pounder, deals an additional 4d6
points of damage, and the moving fortress is equipped with
six Maxim M1910 machine guns.Construction
An animated tank is built by retrofitting a preexisting tank
and hard-wiring its pickled brain to the controls through
strange technology, rather than crafting the construct’s
tank body from scratch. The secrets to preserving brains
and connecting them to metal war wagons is lost, as is the
nonmagical technological process by which Viktor Miloslav
constructed the monstrosities found on Earth during the
First World War. However, those able to inspect a destroyed
specimen may be able to reconstruct the process. In addition
to an animated tank’s creation requirements—beyond
the body of an intact tank—an animating brain must be
harvested soon after its body is deceased, preserved with
gentle repose, and subjected to a special nutrient bath before
being revived and ultimately hooked into the tank. Only time
and experimentation will reveal whether other secrets to this
mysterious process were lost in the chaos of war on Earth.
Animated Tank
CL 12th; Price 200,000 gp
Construction
Requirements Craft Construct, animate object, geas/quest,
resurrection, telekinesis; Skill Craft (blacksmithing),
Knowledge (engineering), and Heal DC 25; Cost 100,000 gp
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