Aurorum-based Warforged Feats (PEACH, Balancing)

[LOTRfan]

I made this feat to give warforged regeneration and be an analogue to the troll blooded feat that biological races could get. Unfortunately, I don't know if the feat is balanced. The regeneration must stay, but any suggestions to modify the downsides in another way to balance it would be welcome. For those unfamiliar with the Book of Exalted Deeds, aurorum is a special metal that repairs itself.

Aurorum Body [Warforged]
At the cost of protection, you gain the ability to self-repair.
Prerequisites: Warforged, 1st Level Only
Benefit: Your body is made of the celestial material aurorum, granting you a +2 armor bonus. You are considered to be wearing light armor at all times, and may not wear armor or any other item that occupies your torso/chest slot. You have a +6 maximum Dexterity bonus to AC and an arcane spell failure chance of 10%. In addition, you gain fast healing 1. At fifth level, and every five levels afterward, this increases by one (Fast healing 2 at five, fast healing 3 at ten, etc.).
Special: Warforged druids who take this feat cannot cast druid spells or use any of a druid’s supernatural or spell-like class features. Warforged characters with this feat do not gain the benefit of any class feature prohibited to a character wearing armor.[/QUOTE]

Aurorum Metabolism [Warforged]
Your body becomes more resilient as your aurorum plating integrates throughout your body.
Prerequisites: Aurorum Body, Constitution +15
Benefit: Fast Healing caused by the Aurorum Body feat turns into regeneration of an equal amount. Sonic and evil weaponry deal damage as normal. Any spells or abilities that makes the warforged invulnerable to either of these types of damage suppresses the regeneration ability as well. Severed parts do not grow back, but they can be reattached as a full round action.
Special: This regeneration increases each time the fast healing would have.

[Silverscale]

Without my source books in from of me I can't be sure but that AC bonus seems rather low. +1 is like Leather Armor, yeah you get Regeneration 1 but damn if your AC doesn't suck.

[Kuma Kode]

Who cares if your AC sucks? Most monsters are physically unable to kill you.

[Niezck]

The problem with this is that it becomes absolutely useless at later levels. Assuming you're not playing an evil underwater campaign, a very large number of monsters can deal fire damage damage and/or have an evil subtype and, really, regeneration 1 isn't gonna help all that much later anyway.

At early levels it's amazing though, you essentially become the unkillable level 1 warforged.

[Kuma Kode]

^ What he/she/it/they said. Regeneration is like the undead subtype; generally, it's just too powerful to have at low levels. You can bypass or ignore problems that normally send new characters running to the hills.

But Regeneration 1 is probably too weak to keep you through higher levels, though if you're a warlock or some other class that normally wears light armor and can ignore low arcane spell failure, I find this feat hard to say no to. Healing essentially doubles up on such characters; you heal real damage as well as the subdual damage you took from things that couldn't bypass your regeneration.

The only way I can see this being workable is if it scales somehow, like Fast Healing 1 at first and then turns into regeneration and gets higher later on.

[Morph Bark]

At level 1 it is amazing since few level 1 characters or CR 1 monsters you come across will have evil-aligned weapons or deal fire damage, so you are almost guaranteed to live at least to level 5 or so.

And how does regeneration even work, considering living constructs cannot heal damage naturally, unlike creatures that normally have regeneration? Replacing it with Fast Healing 1/4 levels will make it more worthwhile, scaling, and it won't kick in 'til level 4, as at level 1 I'd still deem it strong.

[T.G. Oskar]

The problem with this is that it becomes absolutely useless at later levels. Assuming you're not playing an evil underwater campaign, a very large number of monsters can deal fire damage damage and/or have an evil subtype and, really, regeneration 1 isn't gonna help all that much later anyway.

Fire is also the element type that's mostly easily resisted. In fact, two feats can make you pretty much immune to fire, not to mention a single spell. Or several, really. Besides, there's so much stuff meant to make you immune to fire, or even highly resistant to it, that fire won't be much of a problem.

Evil, on the other hand...most demons, devils, yugoloth, rakshasa and other outsiders have the evil subtype, and several weapons also have this property as well (example: Unholy). So that can be a big problem, since Unholy will punch through regeneration like a spear through silk, I'd say.

Regeneration 1 is both strong and weak at the same time, which is something I can agree with.


The only way I can see this being workable is if it scales somehow, like Fast Healing 1 at first and then turns into regeneration and gets higher later on.

And I agree with this solution. Fast healing is simple, easy, wonderful at low levels and still useful at high levels. Also, it fits with the concept.


And how does regeneration even work, considering living constructs cannot heal damage naturally, unlike creatures that normally have regeneration? Replacing it with Fast Healing 1/4 levels will make it more worthwhile, scaling, and it won't kick in 'til level 4, as at level 1 I'd still deem it strong.

Like the scaling idea, as well. Fast healing 1 at the first few levels is decent enough (basically a permanent Lesser Vigor on you), but at higher levels you'll be taking more than 1 point of damage to really justify keeping it that way.

As for "Regeneration"...consider that Aurorum can be made whole by bringing its fragments as a full-round action together. Considering that most of these feats involve replacing a great deal of the composite plating into the material you're working with, and that the methodology of construction quite likely involved mending, it's justifiable that the composition of a Warforged with Aurorum Body (and perhaps something else) would generate a self-repairing mechanism similar to the natural regeneration of most creatures, and the natural healing of the rest.

--

As for the feat in earnest:
I'd make it give a much better armor bonus, or at least the same of Composite Plating. I'd also remove the idea of Regeneration and give Fast Healing as suggested (1 per every four character levels). In fact, I'd make it exactly as composite plating, except you get Fast Healing 1 (plus 1 for every four character levels), since Aurorum is essentially steel with a self-repairing ability. However, I would make it so that you gain some weakness instead (I'd say vulnerability to sonic, because most of the stuff that shatters objects are sonic-related), or what I believe is most fitting, being treated as an object when using spells like shatter or shout except you only receive half the damage. In any case, it would make you a bit more vulnerable to an energy type that's not so common. Fast Healing 1 + 1 for every 4 caster levels may not be enough to cancel Vulnerability to Sonic, but it seems like the most fitting option.

You might be capable of giving it Regeneration, but as a Warforged racial feat that requires Aurorum Body and perhaps something else (Con 15+, or base Fortitude save 6+). The feat would treat all damage as non-lethal damage except for sonic damage and weapons of evil alignment. You might as well limit it to non-evil creatures, if you like. In any case, that feat should have a special requirement that it is incompatible with feats that null non-lethal damage (you may take only one or the other), and that if you become immune to non-lethal damage after you take the feat, the feat becomes inert for the duration of this immunity. That way, you may not exploit the ability to turn all damage into non-lethal damage and a bit of feat tax, but you'll probably get a better regeneration property (Regeneration 1 plus 1 for every 4 character levels, as your fast healing turns into regeneration) and a much more sensible set of weaknesses (evil because of the steel's ties to Celestia Shavarath Syrania the plane of your choice; sonic because it usually deals damage to objects) for the cost of 2 feats. Since you can get immunity to sonic with some effort, and you can get ways to reduce evil damage, you'd be pretty tough but not THAT tough, which is pretty reasonable. And since you're justifying regeneration through means of a feat (the fluff is what really makes you work the idea, such as...say: the magic that created you has extended the properties of aurorum into your non-metallic parts, but also caused it to attune to its weaknesses). Name it "Aurorum Metabolism" and call it a day.

It's a great idea, but unfortunately not placed in the right moments in-game. Too powerful for early game, near-useless on late game unless you can find ways to justify both.

[LOTRfan]

Alright, I think I fixed it. If I missed anything, please tell me. Thanks guys!

EDIT: Oh, wait, no I didn't. Something must have went wrong in the editing. Give me one second...

EDIT II: Alright, now its fixed.

[Dead_Jester]

Now it looks fine, but like most warforged feats, I don't think they are worth it, because unless you give them one free body feat at character creation (which is something I really recommend), they're just a feat tax to play a decently effective warforged.

[Zaydos]

Aurorum Metabolism [Warforged]
Your body becomes more resilient as your aurorum plating integrates throughout your body.
Prerequisites: Aurorum Body, Constitution +15
Benefit: Fast Healing caused by the Aurorum Body feat turns into regeneration of an equal amount. Sonic and evil weaponry deal damage as normal. Any spells or abilities that makes the warforged vulnerable to either of these types of damage suppresses the regeneration ability as well. Severed parts do not grow back, but they can be reattached as a full round action.
Special: This regeneration increases each time the fast healing would have.

Is the bolded part supposed to be invulnerable? I just wanted to double check that making their weaknesses hurt them more was supposed to stop their regeneration, or if it was supposed to be making it so that they didn't take damage from these sources was supposed to.

[Chrono22]

For balance reasons, I'd make Aurorum Body grant warforged the ability to heal naturally (as living creatures do).
Aurorum Metabolism would grant limited regeneration (as a ring of regeneration).

As written, the feats seem way too overpowered.

[T.G. Oskar]

For balance reasons, I'd make Aurorum Body grant warforged the ability to heal naturally (as living creatures do).
Aurorum Metabolism would grant limited regeneration (as a ring of regeneration).

As written, the feats seem way too overpowered.

Key word being "seem". There's a fine line between overpowered and underpowered.

Aurorum Body, as it works, is essentially a way to add fast healing 1 to a character. Fast healing can already be used at level 1 with a Wand of Lesser Vigor, quite reliably, for 11 rounds per day at first level. However, you're denying yourself the ability to wear heavier armor (you're still using composite plating), so the end result is that you'll get hit a bit more (since the max you'll probably get is 18 + shield IF you have a Dexterity of 22, and more often than not you'll have a Dex of 12-14, if not less, which means 13-14 AC without a shield). This pretty much merits having the feat, because otherwise the warforged would get hit quite a lot; it also allows the warforged to heal efficiently and naturally after battle, which means the cleric will have to heal one less person. The increase in fast healing is good, but unless you can have it with one feat (or are a class with several bonus feats, like the Fighter), you'll have a severe feat competition, and feats are quite scarce for what you want (hence, why the mention of "feat tax").

As for Aurorum Metabolism == ring of Regeneration, just...no. Sure, a ring of regeneration can be useful, but there are two things you'd want that for: healing, and reattaching stumps. Thus far, unless the DM uses called shots or a fumble table or for any reason becomes too descriptive with disemboweling, only a VORPAL weapon is known to de-attach body parts, and mostly for killing. Hence, part 1 of the ring's benefits are out. The second delivers a regeneration ability which is far too slow to be of notice (1 HP per hour, too little to use in battle), and it doesn't offer the other regeneration abilities (turning lethal damage into non-lethal damage). Thus, you'd have two feats for the ability to heal naturally AND a limited form of ring of regeneration, the first being something all living races have naturally and the second being a magic item that costs quite expensive for the benefit it gives, but still reinforcing one of the key ideas of homebrewing: don't give anything that could be given by a magic item unless it is really important to give. The trade is far too bad if you plan on getting Aurorum Body and Aurorum Metabolism to work that way, specially since you're taking two of your 7 general feat slots for it.

As it stands, Aurorum Body offers a limited form of healing, which isn't overpowered unless you simply can't get hit and/or your received damage is only 1 HP per round. Any monster attacking you with a weapon can deal a minimum of 1 HP of damage, and you can get attacked once or twice. You already have the trouble of not being healed fully by cure spells, so that's another point against you. Thus, what it does is reduce a bit of the damage dealt, which is in no way a bad idea. The only thing that it can do is basically slowly heal you to full HP outside of battle, which is actually a boon to the Cleric because it can reserve the healing spells for those who might need them. Later on (say, at 5th level when you get Fast Healing 2), the Cleric will already be well underway to protect from more damage than the enemies can heal, and that may be the same with Aurorum Body than with Adamantine Body or Mithral Body.

Aurorum Metabolism may seem really powerful (regeneration!) but look at the original intention of the OP and what it gives. The original intention of the OP was to give a feat based on one of the key aspects of a troll (regeneration), except the ability would be granted through Aurorum which is a self-repairing metal. What it gives is the ability to turn your fast healing into regeneration, but bypassed by sonic spells (arguably rarer than fire or cold spells) and evil weapons (that means the lowly lemure or dretch will smack you down for damage that cannot be regenerated by means of your ability). The idea is that if you become immune to non-lethal damage, the regeneration effect turns off (it's either one thing or the other), but the OP decided for another thing. Now, for 2 feats and a Constitution score of 15 or higher (mostly Barbarians and incarnum users get Constitution that high, since other classes have competition for their highest scores; Constitution is important but in a point-buy system that's 8 out of your maximum points, which may be between 25-32 if the DM really likes you), you get regeneration 1 + 1/5 levels. Unless you're a fighter or a class with a lot of bonus feats, you'll be starving for feats for what's arguably a great bonus; two feats for what you get SHOULD be reasonable enough. This isn't sacrificing two feat slots for...say, Endurance and Weapon Focus (unarmed strike), this is sacrificing stuff like early access to Power Attack, Combat Expertise, Two-Weapon Fighting, amongst other feats that define what your class works with (alternatively, metamagic feats such as Extend Spell, or divine feats, or worthwhile dabbling feats). If the feat is not attractive enough, people won't get it, and two feats for regeneration is attractive enough but it, certainly, won't appear that early unless you optimize your character. What you offer, while a noble intention, is basically Endurance twice; something that you'd only get as a bonus feat or as a requirement for a better feat, but never for its own sake.

Now...if you want to offer that Aurorum Body grants natural healing (which can be nice, since living constructs are vulnerable to ability damage) and Aurorum Metabolism offer fast healing...that's a worthwhile compromise, but it'd seem far too much of a feat tax for an ability you can essentially get for 750 gp (a rather cheap way) or from a spell. Hence, why it should aspire for regeneration, which is really good and perhaps able to justify the feat tax.

[Ziegander]

T.G., while your arguments that overall these feats aren't overpowering in gameplay, and I agree, the argument can be made that, compared with other feats, these are really quite powerful. Overpowered? At 1st level, no, but in later levels, when AC matters less than it did then... possibly. And again, they aren't unbalancing, just overpowered compared to what other feats offer.

I would offer the compromise that Aurorum Body allows you to heal naturally as a living creature, allows you to be healed by supernatural effects or spells from the healing subschool for full effect (rather than half), and heals you 1 hp per character level per hour.

Then Aurorum Metabolism could grant Fast Healing (1 at 1st level, 2 at 5th, 3 at 10th, 4 at 15th, 5 at 20th) which at 10th level could become Regeneration. I feel like that would work out well and be more balanced against what other feats offer.

[LOTRfan]

Yeah, that was a spelling error.... I should be looking through what I write before posting more often...

Anyway, Chrono22, if you could post why you feel it is overpowered, I'd see what revisions I could make.

Ziegander, I'll see what edits I can make, but I do agree with T.G. (although, again, I do not know much about balancing, which is why I posted it).

[Chrono22]

Key word being "seem". There's a fine line between overpowered and underpowered.

Aurorum Body, as it works, is essentially a way to add fast healing 1 to a character. Fast healing can already be used at level 1 with a Wand of Lesser Vigor, quite reliably, for 11 rounds per day at first level. However, you're denying yourself the ability to wear heavier armor (you're still using composite plating), so the end result is that you'll get hit a bit more (since the max you'll probably get is 18 + shield IF you have a Dexterity of 22, and more often than not you'll have a Dex of 12-14, if not less, which means 13-14 AC without a shield). This pretty much merits having the feat, because otherwise the warforged would get hit quite a lot; it also allows the warforged to heal efficiently and naturally after battle, which means the cleric will have to heal one less person. The increase in fast healing is good, but unless you can have it with one feat (or are a class with several bonus feats, like the Fighter), you'll have a severe feat competition, and feats are quite scarce for what you want (hence, why the mention of "feat tax").

As for Aurorum Metabolism == ring of Regeneration, just...no. Sure, a ring of regeneration can be useful, but there are two things you'd want that for: healing, and reattaching stumps. Thus far, unless the DM uses called shots or a fumble table or for any reason becomes too descriptive with disemboweling, only a VORPAL weapon is known to de-attach body parts, and mostly for killing. Hence, part 1 of the ring's benefits are out. The second delivers a regeneration ability which is far too slow to be of notice (1 HP per hour, too little to use in battle), and it doesn't offer the other regeneration abilities (turning lethal damage into non-lethal damage). Thus, you'd have two feats for the ability to heal naturally AND a limited form of ring of regeneration, the first being something all living races have naturally and the second being a magic item that costs quite expensive for the benefit it gives, but still reinforcing one of the key ideas of homebrewing: don't give anything that could be given by a magic item unless it is really important to give. The trade is far too bad if you plan on getting Aurorum Body and Aurorum Metabolism to work that way, specially since you're taking two of your 7 general feat slots for it.

As it stands, Aurorum Body offers a limited form of healing, which isn't overpowered unless you simply can't get hit and/or your received damage is only 1 HP per round. Any monster attacking you with a weapon can deal a minimum of 1 HP of damage, and you can get attacked once or twice. You already have the trouble of not being healed fully by cure spells, so that's another point against you. Thus, what it does is reduce a bit of the damage dealt, which is in no way a bad idea. The only thing that it can do is basically slowly heal you to full HP outside of battle, which is actually a boon to the Cleric because it can reserve the healing spells for those who might need them. Later on (say, at 5th level when you get Fast Healing 2), the Cleric will already be well underway to protect from more damage than the enemies can heal, and that may be the same with Aurorum Body than with Adamantine Body or Mithral Body.

Aurorum Metabolism may seem really powerful (regeneration!) but look at the original intention of the OP and what it gives. The original intention of the OP was to give a feat based on one of the key aspects of a troll (regeneration), except the ability would be granted through Aurorum which is a self-repairing metal. What it gives is the ability to turn your fast healing into regeneration, but bypassed by sonic spells (arguably rarer than fire or cold spells) and evil weapons (that means the lowly lemure or dretch will smack you down for damage that cannot be regenerated by means of your ability). The idea is that if you become immune to non-lethal damage, the regeneration effect turns off (it's either one thing or the other), but the OP decided for another thing. Now, for 2 feats and a Constitution score of 15 or higher (mostly Barbarians and incarnum users get Constitution that high, since other classes have competition for their highest scores; Constitution is important but in a point-buy system that's 8 out of your maximum points, which may be between 25-32 if the DM really likes you), you get regeneration 1 + 1/5 levels. Unless you're a fighter or a class with a lot of bonus feats, you'll be starving for feats for what's arguably a great bonus; two feats for what you get SHOULD be reasonable enough. This isn't sacrificing two feat slots for...say, Endurance and Weapon Focus (unarmed strike), this is sacrificing stuff like early access to Power Attack, Combat Expertise, Two-Weapon Fighting, amongst other feats that define what your class works with (alternatively, metamagic feats such as Extend Spell, or divine feats, or worthwhile dabbling feats). If the feat is not attractive enough, people won't get it, and two feats for regeneration is attractive enough but it, certainly, won't appear that early unless you optimize your character. What you offer, while a noble intention, is basically Endurance twice; something that you'd only get as a bonus feat or as a requirement for a better feat, but never for its own sake.

Now...if you want to offer that Aurorum Body grants natural healing (which can be nice, since living constructs are vulnerable to ability damage) and Aurorum Metabolism offer fast healing...that's a worthwhile compromise, but it'd seem far too much of a feat tax for an ability you can essentially get for 750 gp (a rather cheap way) or from a spell. Hence, why it should aspire for regeneration, which is really good and perhaps able to justify the feat tax.
I hold that these two feats are still overpowered. I'm not going to mention toughness or skill focus, that wouldn't be a fair comparison. But compared to what most good feats do, these two feats give you too much too fast.
I have no problem with out of combat unlimited healing (hence the ring of regeneration suggestion). I have no problem with wands of lesser vigor or the healing hands feat or stigmata cheese.
All of those things represent a cost that's being exacted on a character in return for their benefits. The wand costs you money, which reduces your wealth in proportion to your level- it makes you weaker over the course of your advancement in return for immediate gain. Stigmata has steep requirements and limited use, and even using Bind Vestige in conjunction with it can be justified by the number of feats such a combination requires. Healing hands requires you hold a spell in reserve, and can only heal to half total.

These? These are broken. No other party members can acquire them because of racial restrictions, and no other defensive-focused feat even comes close to their utility. They allow a warforged player to entirely bypass the half-healing weakness of his race, something that is supposed to be a factor in warforged level adjustment was determined.

This is coming from someone that loves to play warforged: these feats are too good.

I'll just reiterate my previous suggestion now:
Aurorum body should allow a warforged to heal naturally (like living creatures do). Allowing the warforged to gain the full benefit of cure spells wouldn't be bad either.

Aurorum metabolism should grant the benefits of a ring of regeneration (a still faster healing rate).

[T.G. Oskar]

I hold that these two feats are still overpowered. I'm not going to mention toughness or skill focus, that wouldn't be a fair comparison. But compared to what most good feats do, these two feats give you too much too fast.
I have no problem with out of combat unlimited healing (hence the ring of regeneration suggestion). I have no problem with wands of lesser vigor or the healing hands feat or stigmata cheese.
All of those things represent a cost that's being exacted on a character in return for their benefits. The wand costs you money, which reduces your wealth in proportion to your level- it makes you weaker over the course of your advancement in return for immediate gain. Stigmata has steep requirements and limited use, and even using Bind Vestige in conjunction with it can be justified by the number of feats such a combination requires. Healing hands requires you hold a spell in reserve, and can only heal to half total.

These? These are broken. No other party members can acquire them because of racial restrictions, and no other defensive-focused feat even comes close to their utility. They allow a warforged player to entirely bypass the half-healing weakness of his race, something that is supposed to be a factor in warforged level adjustment was determined.

This is coming from someone that loves to play warforged: these feats are too good.

I'll just reiterate my previous suggestion now:
Aurorum body should allow a warforged to heal naturally (like living creatures do). Allowing the warforged to gain the full benefit of cure spells wouldn't be bad either.

Aurorum metabolism should grant the benefits of a ring of regeneration (a still faster healing rate).

Note the following: Aurorum Body and Aurorum Metabolism require two feats to get the bigger gain (regeneration 1 + 1/4 levels). Stigmata is also two feats for a bigger gain (2 points per point of Constitution for one ally per point of Constitution + new saving throw vs. disease). However, accessibility is something else: both Aurorum feats are race-restricted (barring Renegade Mastermaker) and also limited in scope: by blocking your 1st level feat gain (Stigmata can be gained later on since you don't need to use your 1st level feat), you're limiting your choices unless you enter a class without bonus feats.

Even then, Stigmata isn't the best way to handle healing (2 hp per point of Constitution is quite inefficient, considering that you're taking 1 hp/level per two points Constitution damage + a penalty of -1 on Fortitude).

WBL isn't also a good way to measure why having a feat like that is too overpowering. Do note that WBL is merely a guideline, which can be used if you wish to restrict your gains but isn't necessarily constant (no two groups will have the same wealth every level, not even by MIC guidelines). Even then, you're taking the most efficient way of healing and comparing it to a feat; as a rule of thumb, magic items shouldn't offer things that feats offer, barring bonuses and a few other things. Consider that while spells and class abilities are like wind and sun (renewable resources of energy, for a better allegory), magic items are like natural gas or biodiesel (semi-renewable resources of energy which have their cost) and feats are like petroleum and derivates (non-renewable resources). You can save, expend and to an extent recover a wand of Lesser Vigor (or make it a bit more renewable with Eternal Wand of Lesser Vigor and/or Healing Belt); however, once you spend a feat slot on Aurorum Body, you're expending one of the few slots you might get, again barring classes or PrCs with bonus feats (or Shun the Dark Chaos, but in that moment you're entering optimization grounds and kinda beating the purpose of the exercise).

I do, however, concede the argument of Aurorum Body vs. Healing Hands. To an extent, of course; Aurorum Body is much more efficient than either Healing Hands OR Draconic Aura (Vigor) which can be gained with 1 level of Dragon Shaman, but the former is limited only to 1 character while the latter is limited to several characters but to a certain point.

And again: Ring of Regeneration to heal wounds outside of battle is pretty much worthless. You have to wait for an entire hour to heal yourself of 1 hp/level; in the meanwhile, you're having the same AC than another warforged, AND you've wasted two feats for something that a wand, or a feat, grant you almost effortlessly.

Another thing, which I notice you said, is "level adjustment". You're already having a character who, in exchange for a +2 on Constitution and some worthwhile but still minor immunities, sacrifices his body slot AND gets a -2 net penalty to his scores (which, unless you're not planning on using those and there are builds that may disregard them, means that you'll be hard-pressed to play most of the caster classes except for those who base themselves on Int).

Finally, it's better to compare what else does the Warforged has. Aside from Aurorum Body, you can also have Unarmored Body, Adamantine Body, Ironwood Body and Mithral Body. The first feat, as you propose it, merely grants natural healing; Unarmored Body allows you to wear stuff in your armor slot in exchange for your composite plating; Adamantine Body grants a +8 AC and DR 2/adamantine (far better in most cases than having fast healing 1 because you can apply DR to more than one attack, while you can heal by means of fast healing once, hence better survivability); Mithral Body grants a +5 AC and the ability to, by expending 1 more feat, make your body a bit more lighter; finally, Ironwood Body grants a +3 AC bonus, DR 2/slashing (see Adamantine Body except with a 33% reduction on effectiveness) and can be used by Druids. Each consume the same resource, but only the latter 3 grant benefits that are quantifiably stronger than getting natural healing (because the latter doesn't apply until you rest), and Unarmored Body has slightly better utility in what you can get (contrast something like wearing +1 Full Plate Armor of Healing, which restores you 2d8+5 points of damage automatically even if you fall unconscious, even if only 1/day, but it's a burst that can save your skin, even if you rule out the half-damage thing) even if you lose light fortification, something that you'd retain with Aurorum Body. Not to mention that Repair Light Damage (even a wand) shouldn't be so expensive, and a cleric can get Lesser Humanoid Essence to grant essentially more than what you'd get with Aurorum Body because you wouldn't be wasting a feat.

If I were to reach an even greater compromise, I think Ziegander got the point. The healing from Ring of Regeneration is mostly pointless because you can't expect always to get 1-hour breaks between battles; sometimes, you'll wish you can have at least 1 hp recovered per round (or heck, per minute) instead of 1/level/hour healing. As you propose it, it's unattractive and that's why I support the idea of fast healing, specifically the idea of a scaling fast healing even if it's gained via 2 feats as proposed; getting 2 feats to get what I could have gotten with a magic item and a spell isn't exactly the idea of a feat I'd want to have, specially since that means I'll have to wait at least 3 levels to get a real feat.

Also, if you're worried that "defensive feats" don't grant the level of defense that Aurorum Body would grant (or at least the combo), you definitely haven't seen Stone Power. Or Evasive Reflexes. Or even Martial Stance (Child of Shadow). The first grants up to 10 temporary hit points, which is almost twice as what you'd get with Aurorum Body. Evasive Reflexes completely ignores melee attacks unless these have reach. And Child of Shadow is concealment, which means that you have a good chance not to get hit, period. All three are better defensive feats; Aurorum Body is more of a healing feat than a defensive feat, and Martial Stance (Martial Spirit) is even better in that. Perhaps you might be scared of the regeneration quality, which indeed IS powerful, but heck, it's something that you can get that perhaps few if not any other character will have.

Not to mention that it's easier to beat than other stuff (Trollbane is cheap as heck and it can be crafted, mind you).

I'll have to insist: Aurorum Body as you intend seems like a joke (getting natural healing seems good at first instance, but you can already heal just as well by using Craft and Repair spells), and Aurorum Metabolism (again, as you intend) doesn't help either. It's wasting something that, for all means, should be invaluable for something that you can get with one scroll and one magic item, for a series of benefits that really aren't worth what they cost; if Aurorum Body/Aurorum Metabolism is really THAT overpowered, then apparently Ring of Regeneration is justly priced?

And, whatever helps the Warforged, man. Whatever helps the Warforged.