Renimate Spell, Constructs and Living Constructs

[cure]

The Reanimate spell from Gazetteer II yields a Construct without constitution, that cannot gain XP but retains his/her prior talents, cannot heal cosmetic damage, can regain hp 'naturally' but is not affected by magical healing. (The spell was created, in part, to account for the assassins in Death Unchained who were created within 2ed by reversing the Slay Living spell.)

The Reanimate spell may itself predate the distinction between Construct and Living Construct. And although it does seem to yield much more a Construct than a Living Construct, there does seem to be at least some ambiguity that could be resolved by fleshing things out a little more.

The goal is not to combine the best elements of each, rather it is to produce a balanced and reasonable result. This is complicated by the fact that Death Unchained explicitly denies that the assassins had any special talents or immunities (at least of significance within that context).

I place question marks before the traits that I find at least somewhat questionable:

CONSTRUCT TRAITS
No constitution
(?)Unliving matter is hard to destroy +20hp
(?)Not subject to critical hits
(?)Low light vision and darkvision
Does not eat, sleep, or breathe
(?)Immunity to all mind-affecting effects
Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, and necromancy effects
Not at risk of death from massive damage
Cannot be raised or resurrected

LIVING CONSTRUCT TRAIT
No lowlight or darkvision
Living constructs are subject to critical hits
No Immunity to mind-affecting effects

Is reanimated flesh tougher (+20 hp) than living flesh and is the construct really undependent upon the functioning of at least some of its organs (hence no critical hits)? Equally, how are the intelligence, wisdom and charisma of the self reattached to the reanimated body? Are they reattached as before (suggesting the possibility of mind-affecting spells and critical hits (at the very least) about the ears) or are they reattached differently (explaining the immunity to mind-affecting spells and critical hits and the acquisition of lowlight and darkvision)? At the end of the day it is the lowlight vision and darkvision that seems the most out of place.

Thoughts?

Food for thought from WOTC Rules of the Game for Constructs:

"Constructs that have Intelligence scores effectively have minds hardwired into their bodies -- their minds aren't subject to outside manipulation and they have the same immunities that mindless constructs have."

"Most living constructs have Intelligence scores. Those that do have organic minds (or the artificial equivalent) are susceptible to mind-affecting magic."

"Vision is either built into the construct or magically bestowed through the spell or ritual that animates it. All constructs have low-light vision and darkvision with a range of 60 feet. "

PS Is Adam from Gazetteer II missing some feats?

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Sounds like a template waiting to happen, IMO. Feel like writing it up for QtR?