WARFORGED REPLICANT: The Price you Pay

[visigani]

After my little Orcmul forum disaster I've decided to try focusing on characters that are a bit less prone to venom.




To this end I'm curious about what gamerule changes would be facillitated by the "Warforged Replicant".


For those unfamiliar many moons ago this guy made this movie about this guy chasing these people that may or may not have been like him who may or may not have been an actual person.

Think: Robots that are virtually indistinguishable from humans to the point that sometimes they themselves aren't entirely aware they are robots.



The big problem with a Warforged Replicant is appearance. If you had the capability you could easily make a crazy hot Replicant:

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2008/06/05/bladerunner.article.jpg





Rather than:


http://randommization.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/wooden-robot-man.jpg







This of course causes issues with Charisma. Although Charisma may be part and parcel of a characters force of personality... force of personality could concievably be programmed into the replicant... but physical appearance is also part of Charisma.



Then there also comes the issue of "Living Tissue". Although the majority of the creature is metal and wood, no small portion of it will be effectively an organic mass of Flesh... however this Flesh isn't the creature itself... think of it more like you and I would hair. You can chop it off and we'll grow it back, but we won't die as the result of a trip to the hairdresser.



Here is what I'm proposing.


Replicant Body [Warforged]
At the cost of durability, your body has been crafted to appear as though you are an attractive human male or female. You choose your gender upon adopting this feat. Although you appear as the adopted gender you are not bound to act as that gender and you are sterile.

Prerequisite: Warforged.

Benefit: Your armor bonus is reduced by -2, you reduce your Constitution bonus by -2 and you gain +4 Charisma. You are not considered to be wearing Composite Plating as normal for Warforged and thus may wear armor as normal for Humanoid creatures, though you still require the necessary feat to be proficient in its use.

Special: Upon taking this feat you may freely designate your form’s minor physical qualities (such as hair color, hair texture, and skin color) even outside the normal ranges for a creature of that kind. The new form’s height and weight are also under your control, but they must fall within the norms for the new form’s kind.

Although you may make adjustments to your forms minor physical qualities at a later time, your height and weight are permanent.

Replicants that attempt to pass as as humans receive a +10 bonus to disguise checks towards this end, or +20 if they are unaware they themselves are Replicants. You must choose whether your character is aware of their Replicant nature upon adopting this feat. Unaware Replicants may later discover they are indeed Replicants, reducing their disguise bonus to +10

You may still use Warforged Components but doing so incurs a -5 Penalty per Component to the Replicants ability to disguise themselves as human. Replicants that are unaware they are Replicants believe they are human and so never attempt to make use of Warforged Components.

You may only select this feat as a 1st level character.




Gain:
+4 Charisma (A total +2 vs. a Human)
Ability to use armor
No Arcane Spell Failure Chance

Lose:
Feat slot
Inherent Light Armor
+2 Armor bonus to AC
+2 bonus to Constitution

[The_Snark]

Looks fine mechanically. It seems like not needing to breathe, eat, drink or sleep would tip an unaware replicant off pretty quickly, but I suppose if they're able to do those things despite not needing to, they might go through the motions out of some kind of (programmed?) instinct.

It would be interesting to have a replicant become aware of its nature in some kind of desert survival situation, watching his companions fall prey to thirst and sun sickness while he feels nothing. What's a matter of life or death for them was never anything more than a habit for him.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Just a note, but this should go into the Homebrew forums.

That said, this is a strict upgrade from the Unbodied (I think that's the feat name, whichever 'Forged feat makes Warforged have no composite plating). That said, that's not a bad thing.

To get more with what you're going for, I would make the Warforged lose composite plating, and make the line on the ability score changes explicitly to -2 Wisdom +2 Charisma rather than worry about what's going on with the penalties and bonuses to the base of no changes. Also, I'd let the player choose any humanoid race to replicate. Thus, they may get the +10/+20 bonus to disguise themselves as an elf or half-elf or orc or whatever-else-have-you.

That said, this is a solid idea of a homebrew!

EDIT: While it does indeed need some work in regards to wording and ability score adjustments and is strictly better than the Warforged feat to which I referred, I must say that, in this case, losing your only first level feat on not having composite plating is actually worth it now, not just due to pure crunch, but also due to the options this feat opens up for serious character development! So props on that.

[visigani]

Looks fine mechanically. It seems like not needing to breathe, eat, drink or sleep would tip an unaware replicant off pretty quickly, but I suppose if they're able to do those things despite not needing to, they might go through the motions out of some kind of (programmed?) instinct.

It would be interesting to have a replicant become aware of its nature in some kind of desert survival situation, watching his companions fall prey to thirst and sun sickness while he feels nothing. What's a matter of life or death for them was never anything more than a habit for him.


This is what I'm thinking. The "unaware" replicant goes through the motions because of programmed actions and because that's what everyone else that looks like them is doing.

If you think you're human (and have nothing to compare it to) you'll endeavor to act like humans do.

However, as you stated it makes for a fascinating plot device.

[TechnOkami]

Question: What would happen if a Warforged with this feat then took the PrC which would, supposedly, make them more human?

[askandarion]

More human than human.
I see what you did there
I would say it would put them more in touch with an "inner"... fleshality? Can't really use humanity there...
I would say it would have some bigger fluff changes, while maintaining the mechanics (AFB). Not just sharpening the senses (which as I recall was a fluff aspect of the PrC), but really tuning them in on what it means to be alive.

[Telonius]

I love the idea, but for a replicant to be totally unaware they would need to have never taken damage. Remember that Warforged don't regain hitpoints normally, they have to be repaired. You'd need to address that somehow in order for the fluff to make sense.

EDIT: Maybe gain a minor self-repair subsystem installed in the replicant? Half the hitpoints regained per rest that a regular humanoid would get, maybe.

[visigani]

I love the idea, but for a replicant to be totally unaware they would need to have never taken damage. Remember that Warforged don't regain hitpoints normally, they have to be repaired. You'd need to address that somehow in order for the fluff to make sense.

EDIT: Maybe gain a minor self-repair subsystem installed in the replicant? Half the hitpoints regained per rest that a regular humanoid would get, maybe.


The "fleshy" part of the creature does heal (it's like hair in that regard.. wait a while and it'll grow back... and is organic).

Outside of that imagine the HORROR of falling off a horse, breaking a leg, and it turns out your leg is made of wood, and metal...

It'd be going to thanksgiving dinner and having your parents tear off fleshy masks to reveal something not quite human beneath.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

I love the idea, but for a replicant to be totally unaware they would need to have never taken damage. Remember that Warforged don't regain hitpoints normally, they have to be repaired. You'd need to address that somehow in order for the fluff to make sense.

EDIT: Maybe gain a minor self-repair subsystem installed in the replicant? Half the hitpoints regained per rest that a regular humanoid would get, maybe.


The "fleshy" part of the creature does heal (it's like hair in that regard.. wait a while and it'll grow back... and is organic).

Outside of that imagine the HORROR of falling off a horse, breaking a leg, and it turns out your leg is made of wood, and metal...

It'd be going to thanksgiving dinner and having your parents tear off fleshy masks to reveal something not quite human beneath.

Actually, you could just have it state in the feat that they heal as though they were a humanoid. Probably also throw in a line that cure AND repair spells return the replicant to its "default" disguise, even though the cure spells still only work at half effectiveness.

[visigani]

Actually, you could just have it state in the feat that they heal as though they were a humanoid. Probably also throw in a line that cure AND repair spells return the replicant to its "default" disguise, even though the cure spells still only work at half effectiveness.

If you make them too "human" they lose (or should lose) the benefits of being a warforged.

[Das Platyvark]

I like it. A lot. You could do some really, really cool stuff with this.
<Off to run Blade Runner in Sharn>

[Thrice Dead Cat]

If you make them too "human" they lose (or should lose) the benefits of being a warforged.

The issue with that is that a lot of the benefits from being a warforged are due to type. I suppose you could just say unknown replicants lose the save bonuses, are treated as humanoids for diseases/poisons, and suffer penalties on fear effects just to crank up the paranoia aspect. When found out, they regain some of the 'forged immunities, but keep the paranoia-induced save penalties, maybe?

As I said in the PEACH, I think this is an amazing idea that needs to be fleshed out and hammered into a fine piece of game material. The base idea is astonishing, the execution so far solid, just in need of a little fine-tuning.

That said, it is your work, so finding the appropriate balance is up to you. I'm just throwing out my critiques and ideas because I absolutely adore this concept but am not quite sure how I would execute it via crunch.

[Lord.Sorasen]

The issue with that is that a lot of the benefits from being a warforged are due to type. I suppose you could just say unknown replicants lose the save bonuses, are treated as humanoids for diseases/poisons, and suffer penalties on fear effects just to crank up the paranoia aspect. When found out, they regain some of the 'forged immunities, but keep the paranoia-induced save penalties, maybe?

As I said in the PEACH, I think this is an amazing idea that needs to be fleshed out and hammered into a fine piece of game material. The base idea is astonishing, the execution so far solid, just in need of a little fine-tuning.

That said, it is your work, so finding the appropriate balance is up to you. I'm just throwing out my critiques and ideas because I absolutely adore this concept but am not quite sure how I would execute it via crunch.

Most of their penalties are due to type as well, though.

I like the idea that they heal half, as typical worforged. Remember that the number of health healed is a metagame concept, in the end. A warforged under the belief that she is human would know the healing spells don't tend to work too well on her... But remember that cure light wounds is 1d8 rather than a straight number, so they could simply assume low effect (low rolls). More than that, the idea of taking heavy enough damage to physically see the construct beneath is absolutely terrifying, which I love.

Furthermore, I'd be willing to say a warforged of this sort can't take the PrC that makes them more human. Class is metagame, we all say, but PrC is more of a gray area most of the time: for someone to take a prestige class that makes them more human, they have to be aware of not already being human. It would probably make an interesting choice for a warforged of this sort who is aware of being constructed.

A warforged who believes she is an elf would probably worry the least of all, since elves don't sleep either (and who says a warforged cannot "trance?")

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Most of their penalties are due to type as well, though.

I like the idea that they heal half, as typical worforged. Remember that the number of health healed is a metagame concept, in the end. A warforged under the belief that she is human would know the healing spells don't tend to work too well on her... But remember that cure light wounds is 1d8 rather than a straight number, so they could simply assume low effect (low rolls). More than that, the idea of taking heavy enough damage to physically see the construct beneath is absolutely terrifying, which I love.

Furthermore, I'd be willing to say a warforged of this sort can't take the PrC that makes them more human. Class is metagame, we all say, but PrC is more of a gray area most of the time: for someone to take a prestige class that makes them more human, they have to be aware of not already being human. It would probably make an interesting choice for a warforged of this sort who is aware of being constructed.

A warforged who believes she is an elf would probably worry the least of all, since elves don't sleep either (and who says a warforged cannot "trance?")



I'd say that a Replicant that does not know it is a 'Forged couldn't take things that require "Race: Warforged" until s/he learns the truth and comes to gripes with it. As such, the feat should probably go for an explicit ruling on what a "known replicant" and an "unknown replicant" get and lose when they finally make the inevitable transition to "known." Maybe also have a small "stress" phase where they are temporarily shaken for X-ty days or some such.

[visigani]

I'd say that a Replicant that does not know it is a 'Forged couldn't take things that require "Race: Warforged" until s/he learns the truth and comes to gripes with it. As such, the feat should probably go for an explicit ruling on what a "known replicant" and an "unknown replicant" get and lose when they finally make the inevitable transition to "known." Maybe also have a small "stress" phase where they are temporarily shaken for X-ty days or some such.

I believe the first level feat is actually something that occurs at the creation of the warforged.

The warfirged doesn't go out and get "Mithril plating". It's built with it (which is why it can't go out at level 3 and get adamantine plating).

This is why it would be possible for the warforged to be unaware they're a replicant. They wake up with programmed memories and dreams on a tabe somewhere and aren't told who or what they are and then promptly set loose.

Perhaps that programmed set of instructions included the assassination of a powerful person but that person is long dead? Or they succeeded and the idea haunts them to this day?

[ffone]

Do warforged have Darkvision? That'd be a big clue you're not human - but you might assume you 'just' have weak tiefling/aasimar/orc blood; probably aasimar if you look 'attractive' - like that Otherworldly feat from some Faerun book.

Agree it also needs some natural healing for 'unawareness' - maybe something mild like 1 hp per day, regardless of level (most NPCs are 1st level anyway and you might just think you're a slow healer) counterbalanced by receiving a bit less healing from Craft. It'd make sense that you're harder to repair with Craft if your Warforged-ness is anatomically nonobvious.

For the fluff, maybe it's a Terminator-like thing; real organic skin over a construct interior. I forget, do warforged need to breathe and eat? If not, maybe you have 'faux' breathing and digestion - you don't NEED to do them, but you feel as if you do, so if you've never been starved or suffocated you don't realize it's just a needless craving put there to make you seem human. Or perhaps as part of the feat, you do need to eat and breathe or else your skin rots and you lose some feat benefits (recoverable with appropriate magic).

In general I like the idea...recently saw Bladerunner and had the same reaction - wanting to see a PC or NPC like the main girl :).

[kardar233]

This is pretty cool.

An idea: Will these, being constructs, still be destroyed at 0hp? If not, then you have a solid benchmark as to what constitutes enough to expose them, as you can say that any attack that drops them to negatives would get into their structure.

The only problem I see with that is that PCs tend to hit negatives fairly often, which would kind of defeat the purpose.

[ffone]

This is pretty cool.

An idea: Will these, being constructs, still be destroyed at 0hp? If not, then you have a solid benchmark as to what constitutes enough to expose them, as you can say that any attack that drops them to negatives would get into their structure.

The only problem I see with that is that PCs tend to hit negatives fairly often, which would kind of defeat the purpose.

My guess is that, while it's very plausible for a noncombatant with this feat to never realize they're a construct, an adventurer is likely to sooner or later - but IMO that's okay, I suspect most players who would gravitate to such a PC would be looking to roleplay an 'accidental' discovery.

Unless of course it carried even the tiniest mechanical benefit to be unknowing - in which case the player will likely bite and claw to remain 'unaware' in-character.

Oh, my other suggestion was not to have the Disguise thing differentiated by whether you are self-aware, for that reason, and b/c it seems more like a Bluff thing. In fact it doesn't really need a special bonus/penalty, maybe just a blurb on how it fits into normal bluffing: you don't need to make bluff checks to tell people you are what you genuinely think you are, but you do need to make them to knowingly lie.

[visigani]

This is pretty cool.

An idea: Will these, being constructs, still be destroyed at 0hp? If not, then you have a solid benchmark as to what constitutes enough to expose them, as you can say that any attack that drops them to negatives would get into their structure.

The only problem I see with that is that PCs tend to hit negatives fairly often, which would kind of defeat the purpose.



They're constructs in the same vein as Warforged and like warforged are disabled at 0 or less, but not destroyed.