Animate Wall
Ritual 2
Uncommon; White; Transmutation
This is a White Devotion variant of Animate Object, focused on walls and load‑bearing structures used as supplemental security. It uses the same Creature Creation Rituals framework as the base ritual to set level and cost, but its effects are constrained to large, mostly immobile architectural elements.
Tradition Arcane, Divine, Occult
Cast 1 day
Cost Rare structural resins, consecrated fasteners, and ward-inks equal to the creature’s level per the Creature Creation Rituals table (same progression as Animate Object).
Secondary Casters 1+ (typically ward architects, engineers, or chapel staff)
Primary Check Religion or Arcana (architectural sigil-engineering).
Secondary Checks Religion, Arcana, Crafting; at least two different skills among the casters.
Target One contiguous section of wall or structural element, up to a 20‑foot‑by‑20‑foot plane plus 5 feet in every dimension per ritual rank beyond 3 (GM can adjust), that is part of a stable structure and not already a creature.
Critical Success
The wall becomes a Warden Wall of the chosen level.
If it is at least 4 levels lower than you, you may designate it as your minion, following the usual 4‑minion limit for creature‑creation rituals.
As a minion, it obeys your verbal or symbolic commands (defined during the ritual) and can.
Success
The Warden Wall animates and is friendly toward you and your institution but is not a minion.
It follows a single, doctrinal script set during the ritual (for example, “Prevent unauthorized passage from Sector A into Sector B, prioritize non‑lethal restraint”), and ignores subsequent attempts to revise its standing orders without re‑casting the ritual.
Failure
The ritual fails; the wall remains inert, and you expend the materials.
GMs can optionally rule that a failed attempt leaves dormant sigils: future attempts to animate that same section gain a +1 circumstance bonus, but until then, the wall occasionally flexes or shifts at inopportune times (purely narrative or minor hazard).
Critical Failure
The wall partially animates but misidentifies its doctrine or controller.
The GM might have it:
Lock down against everyone, sealing doors and attempting to Grapple any nearby creature, or
Accept an unintended nearby figure (rival priest, local AI, station warden) as its rightful authority.
Treat it as a hostile or uncontrolled animated object of its level until pacified, dispelled, or re‑ritualized.
You inscribe White‑pattern warding sigils into the wall, channeling animating force through its support lattice and binding it to a specific security doctrine (zone to defend, directions considered “inside,” and credentials or symbols of authority it recognizes).
On completion, you transform the target into a Warden Wall
The GM selects or builds a creature of the desired level using animated object guidelines; it gains the Construct, Structure, and White Devotion tags and typically has:
Very limited or no locomotion (Speed 10ft or less, slow burrowing/reshaping along its own plane).
One or more actions that reconfigure space (closing apertures, extruding barriers, creating handholds, shoving intruders).
Strong perception within its zone via tremorsense, security pick‑ups, or embedded lenses.