Consider Sacred Guardian (Beastiary of Krynn) on top afterwards, if you're only avoiding abusive pre-template use and not avoiding post-template.
I forgot about Sacred Guardian template, since it is from a weird book. Sacred Guardian can also be added to effigies in addition to or instead of Rudimentary Intelligence. Sacred Guardian makes the intelligence of an effigy equal to 10 (this gives you feats and skills for your intelligence is greater than 2) as well as stat boosts and many other benefits.
You have to be a cleric to make a sacred guardian.
It adds to the cost of creating an effigy equal you add this cost to make it a sacred guardian
Fine 500 gp +10 XP
Diminutive 1,000 gp+20 XP
Tiny 1,500 gp+30 XP
Small 2,000 gp+40 XP
Medium 2,500 gp+50 XP
Large 3,000 gp+60 XP
Gargantuan 3,500 gp+70 XP
Colossal 4,000 gp+80 XP
(Note in the book it lists steel pieces instead of gold pieces. This is a dragonlance term for money and gold pieces in the phb are supposed to be converted to steel pieces with a 1:1 ratio.
Note it is never made clear if a sacred guardian is a npc or still under your control. Rudimentary Intelligence specifically states the construct is under your control. Awaken Construct specifically makes the construct an npc. Sacred Guardian does not state so it is a DM call. Flavor wise though Sacred Guardians are supposed to be Guardians of Temples and sometimes Avatars from which gods speak to the mortals.
If your DM allows Sacred Guardians to be under your control, then Sacred Guardian is a vastly superior template to Rudimentary Intelligence. It gives vastly more abilities and is cheaper. Only time you should do Rudimentary Intelligence is that you need a high int on the character for a feat or you really want the skills.
That or you do not want to be a cleric.
