An awakened Construct, while sentient, is not truly alive. Thus, if the Construct dies, it is truly dead, without hope of resurrection or an afterlife. There are a few ways that an awakened Construct can cross over into life.

 

Living Constructs are rare. The gods can choose to imbue a machine with a soul (as what happened with Kai Frank, the Protector of Bali). Such rewards are typically the result of a successful resolution to some dangerous, heroic quest that benefits a god (or gods), its ethos, or its people. Alternatively, a Construct may have a “near death experience” in which the Construct is nearly destroyed but is restored by way of an incoming soul from the reincarnation cycle. The Game Master may allow other methods as well. However, a Construct transitioning from purely machine to something that is part of the eternal reincarnation cycle should always be the result of long-term storytelling. This is not a cheap gift and thus should never be given cheaply.

 

Becoming alive has several important ramifications. First and foremost, the Construct is granted a soul. As a result, the Construct now has access to spirit points. This allows the Construct to advance in professions that draw power from the spirit realm. A Construct will always retain levels in its original character class, and can choose to remain in that class. However, a Construct would have the option to split-class into a profession that requires spirit points. For example, Kai Frank was engineered to be a Warrior but he became a Warrior/Protector once he was imbued with a soul. Moreover, his chose to make Protector his primary character class going forward.


One of the negatives of becoming alive is that a Living Construct loses some of its machine-based immunities. For example, a Living Construct only gets a +2 to any save that involves mind-based illusions. An Awakened Construct is wholly immune. Likewise, a Living Construct is now vulnerable to Death Magic (+2 save instead of full immunity).

On the bright side, magical healing will work on a Living Construct. The spell must be sufficiently potent as to heal a full Structural Point (thus spells that generate 1d6 or 1d8 healing are still useless).

Oddly enough, becoming a living Construct does not cause the creature to eventually die of old age. While the Construct is mortal (i.e. it can take injury and be physically destroyed), it never grows infirm and is not vulnerable to biological diseases or poisons. It can only be destroyed by physical injury.


However, a Living Construct is still vulnerable to becoming ossified. This state of being is not exactly death, but it is a kind of death. An ossified Construct can no longer learn new tasks, can generally not create new memories (it basically lives in the present and can access memories created from before it became ossified). These Constructs still regenerate, but their appearance usually looks shabby and dull. For example, an ossified Construct may be mechanically whole but it will neglect repairing cosmetic wear and tear. It is generally impossible to reverse the ossification process. If the Game Master does allow ossification to be reversed, it is always the result of some storytelling adventure. In other words, this is not a cheap gift and will not be given cheaply.

Constructs generally become vulnerable to ossification after a few hundred years of life. A highly-stimulated Construct is much less likely to become ossified than a sedentary one. For example, a security drone at an abandoned factory that no one has visited in four hundred years would be at high risk for ossification. By contrast, a Construct employed as a college professor would receive continuous intellectual stimulation and be highly resistant to ossification.


A living Construct, however, retains the vulnerability of being animated by a Theoretical Engine. Should this anima be destroyed, the Construct is not slain but is rendered immobilized until it can be imbued with a new Theoretical Engine. Moreover, a Steal Construct formula, and other related powers, cannot enslave, but can still bring grief and inconvenience to the living Construct by effectively de-animating them for the duration of the power.


For Living Constructs most of the saves are based on the character class saving throw matrix. There are times, however, when the Game Master may rule that an Item Save roll is more appropriate. If a Living Construct is split-classed, it may use the more favorable of the two saves.