History Main / MinionsCustomizedAtCreation

* ''Fanfic/FateRevelationOnline'': Keita's {{familiar}}s are furniture that he made, that have been imbued with the power to move around at his command.

* InUniverse in ''Literature/Overlord2012'': When he was a human, Ainz and his guild played an MMORPG called Yggdrassil that allowed for a great deal of customization, including making {{Non Player Character}}s tweaked to the creator's preferences and allowing a lot of backstory (although this didn't play a role in the game). When Ainz finds himself transported to a different world with his entire guild's equipment and base, he discovers that the {{Non Player Character}}s are now real characters in accordance to those backstories (and because he was goofing around as he played, one of them is now deeply in love with him instead of a ReallyGetsAround succubus). This causes all sorts of problems since there's a lot of personality clashes and their UndyingLoyalty manifests as being an OverzealousUnderling to the last, but Ainz can't bring himself to change their personalities even if he could because they're all he has left to remind him of his guildmates, so doing so would be as if he were brainwashing their children.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Objects animated by the "animate object" spells are under the control of the caster, and said caster can choose what they animate:
** ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition''
** ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFifthEdition''
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': The origin story of Balazar, and from him, the rest of the "summoner" class and how they form their eidolons. He was about to be thrown into a [[EldritchLocation Void Chasm]], Bleached, and presumably killed ForScience when a voice called to him. It said that if Balazar gave it a form, it would help him. So Balazar imagined what he thought the voice would come from: A strong and serpentine body, powerful talons, and a chicken's head because he was getting hungry. Cue ''[[YourMindMakesItReal exactly that]]'' leaping out of the chasm and [[BigDamnHeroes unleashing hell.]] The eidolon, which called itself Padrig, pledged its UndyingLoyalty to Balazar, and [[TrueCompanions they've been together ever since.]]

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': Summons whose forms are made from magic, usually also have a part of the SummonMagic being able to tweak the result with sufficient will.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': The mages that deal in the creation of generally obedient "Abominations" made out of shaped purple matter. It appears that the completed humanoid forms cannot be altered, only dispelled, because there are shaping failures that apparently cannot be easily salvaged.

* ''Literature/{{Threadbare}}'': Souls can be used to animate golems whose appearances and capabilities are under the design decisions of the golem-maker / controller, a.k.a Golemist.

* InUniverse in ''Literature/Overlord2012'': When he was a human, Ainz and his guild played an MMORPG called Yggdrassil that allowed for a great deal of customization, including making {{Non Player Character}}s tweaked to the creator's preferences and allowing a lot of backstory (although this didn't play a role in the game). When Ainz finds himself transported to a different world with his entire guild's equipment and base, he discovers that the {{Non Player Character}}s are now real characters in accordance to those backstories (and because he was goofing around as he played, one of them is now deeply in love with him instead of a ReallyGetsAround succubus). This causes all sorts of problems since there's a lot of personality clashes and their UndyingLoyalty manifests as being an OverzealousUnderling to the last, but Ainz can't bring himself to change their personalities even if he could because they're all he has left to remind him of his guildmates as if he were brainwashing their children.

Well, drawing from the maker's desires is a way to ShowDontTell things about the maker, and that trope is a common piece of writing advice. But if the minions aren't to be too flexible, then the customization could be made to only be possible before the minion is fully "born". Also makes it even more meaningful if the creation process has a large resource cost, so they can't just make more to fit the situation, but have to work with what they got, but that last point isn't necessary, it just helps keep minion counts down and a need for inventive uses.

Minions made of multiple parts. like robots, don't count because the ability to customize them both before and after activation is more inherent to the idea of such beings than it would when customization can occur to a more generic minion.

** Ami tries to make stronger, or at least more durable imps by changing the material she summons the spirits into. The spell usually sends them into a flesh body, but she tries materials such as stone, water and mud, and while her plan eventually works, she needed the help of much more experienced magic users to do it.
** Ami can create {{Animate Inanimate Object}}s that obey her because [[spoiler:they're reliant on her magic for food]], and trying to implement someone's advice on making custom minions than just enhancing what's already there, reveals that she can make them look like whatever she wants, not just based on items around her.

* InUniverse in ''Literature/Overlord2012'': When he was a human, Ainz and his guild played an MMORPG called Yggdrassil that allowed for a great deal of customization, including making {{Non Player Character}}s tweaked to the creator's preferences and allowing a lot of backstory (although this didn't play a role in the game). When Ainz finds himself transported to a different world with his entire guild's equipment and base, he discovers that the {{Non Player Character}}s are now real characters in accordance to those backstories (and because he was goofing around as he played, one of them is now deeply in love with him instead of a ReallyGetsAround succubus). This causes all sorts of problems since there's a lot of personality clashes and their UndyingLoyalty manifests as being an OverzealousUnderling to the last, but Ainz can't bring himself to change their personalities even if he could because they're all he has left to remind him of his guildmates, as if he were brainwashing their children.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Generator generates spirits to infuse into items and make {{Animate Inanimate Object}}s out of them, so the limits of her customization is what she has on hand.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': The origin story of Balazar, and from him, the rest of the "summoner" class and how they form their eidolons. He was about to be thrown into a [[EldritchLocation Void Chasm]], Bleached and presumably killed ForScience, when a voice called to him. It said that if Balazar gave it a form, it would help him. So Balazar imagined what he thought the voice would come from: A strong and serpentine body, powerful talons, and a chicken's head because he was getting hungry. Cue ''[[YourMindMakesItReal exactly that]]'' leaping out of the chasm and [[BigDamnHeroes unleashing hell.]] The eidolon, which called itself Padrig, pledged its UndyingLoyalty to Balazar, and [[TrueCompanions they've been together ever since.]]