[D&D 3.5] Artificer Iron Defender Questions

[Eldzan]

So I'm creating a level 13 Warforged Artificer for a tabletop 3.5 game and am not finding useful rules for creating an Iron Defender of proper level and effectiveness for the character. I also know that some of the people who play DDO also play tabletop D&D, so I'm hoping some kind person can assist me.

Ideally, I want the Iron Defender to do melee stuff while my Artificer stays back doing ranged stuff, healing, and general support. I'm not just looking for a set of stats for an appropriate Iron Defender, I'm also looking for the steps taken to create such, and the source material used...in case I have to point this out to my DM...and yes, he's going to let me use some of my Warforged's lifewood in place of blood for the creation of the homonculus...

Useful responses appreciated.

[WurmBurned]

Iron Defenders are a type of homunculus and information about how to create them should be in the “monsters” section of the the main campaign setting book. More homunculus options are available in Magic of Eberron and maybe Dragon Marked and The Five Nations. I’m very uncertain about those last two.

[Eldzan]

Thanks for the response. I've given the Iron Defenders another look and it seems they advance using the monster advancement rules with regards to increasing hit dice. However, they also seem to have a limit of 6 hit dice, which makes their usefulness at level 13 fairly low, unless I build a pack of them...and even then they'd still be nearly useless...and expensive...

I had been hoping to have something akin to the Iron Defenders in DDO, but it seems DDO treats them differently than tabletop. For instance, DDO actually gives them class levels instead of simply increasing their hit dice. My L4 Artificer in DDO has an Iron Defender that is a L4 Fighter, for example.

I will likely end up looking into a Weapon Familiar instead, unless someone can think of a homonculus that would fit my needs.

[WurmBurned]

I will likely end up looking into a Weapon Familiar instead, unless someone can think of a homonculus that would fit my needs.

The best I can think of off the top of my head is maybe adapting one the Slaughterstone constructs from monster manual III to suite your needs. I don’t how much luck you’d have with that though.

[Elxir]

You could talk to your DM and see if they'd allow your Iron Defender to take class levels in Fighter since they have an Intelligence of 8. It would only gain the 1d10 HP per level but still enough to help, plus the BAB and Feat selection would be good, and with the starting BAB, could start taking some feats that aren't normally available early on in a Fighter's career.

EDIT: There's a feat in Magic of Eberron on pg. 49 called Improved Homunculus, the only way as the rules permit to improve the Humunculus beyond simply giving it more HD and the feats and BAB that go with that except giving its bite some weapon enchantments and enhancing its AC. Another thing, the max Hit Dice for a Homunculus made by an Artificer using the Craft Homunculus class feature is only 2 less than your own Hit Dice.