Animator Overview

Animators are wicked, violent spirits that slip into objects and give them a will of their own. Their power varies a great deal, but every one is mischievous and dangerous. Dark feelings such as fear, anger and hatred draw them, apparently because they feed on that emotional energy. Usually it pours off a living person, though occasionally it lingers around a corpse.

Having found such a person, the animator picks an object that matters to them and merges with it. This takes 1d4 hours, during which the item glows faintly, and moving the object during that time spoils the attempt so the spirit must start over or pick another item. Magical objects, and things currently under a spell, are off limits, though a spell cast on a host after possession does not force the animator out.

The person whose emotions called the animator becomes its ward, and the spirit sets out to protect them. That sounds kindly, but its idea of protection may be very different from the ward's. A rough telepathy lets it sense what is upsetting its ward, and it often tries to hurt or eliminate that cause. It is far too willful to follow the ward's wishes or orders.

Animators behave like furious children: wildly jealous and hostile to anything that pulls the ward's attention away. One living in a bitter widow's house might trap her indoors or bar the door against a suitor.

An animator can freely work any moving part of its host: a latch lifts and a door swings wide, or a loaded crossbow fires untouched. It cannot bend or warp solid material, so scissors might snap open and shut but their blades will not curl.

Three times a day it can also hurl or shove its host bodily. This force cannot move anything fastened down unless it is strong enough to tear the host loose. A minor animator pushes like a Strength 8 human for one round, enough to fling a possessed dagger into a wooden wall or a startled onlooker, with an attack roll based on that Strength. A common animator pushes with Strength 18 for a full turn, and attacks made this way use that score for attack and damage. A greater animator exerts hill giant strength (19) for a full hour, though since it usually inhabits huge structures it rarely shows this.

How dangerous an animator is depends entirely on its host; one inside a dagger is far deadlier than one in a milk pail, and they rarely choose objects without violent potential.

Armor Class comes from the host's material, with other factors possibly adjusting it. Each full or partial 10 pounds of weight grants 1 Hit Die, so a 14-pound heavy crossbow has 2 HD. Hit points per die equal 11 minus the base AC: glass gives 1 per die, cast iron 10. The hardwood crossbow gets 6 per die, 12 hit points in all.

There are three approaches. The simplest is to disable the host, after which the spirit can be driven out or even killed. Pinning the host down also works for a while, such as locking that crossbow in a safe, but the animator will just leave and find something else.

Strong magic such as dispel evil or wish expels the spirit; it may return to the same object later, though that takes a long time. Destroying the host does not hurt the animator, only evicts it. To kill one for good, first bind it inside its host with quest or geas (other spells may work at the game master's option), then destroy the object while it is trapped.