Warforged Bone Knight?

[Kaeso]

I'm running a campaign where my player has a warforged cleric, and wants to take the bone knight class. However, from the fluff it seems that it's largely about fusing the cleric with his armor, but the problem is that the warforged already IS his armor. This makes me wonder if non-humanoids can even become Bone Knights. What is the RAW situation on this?

[Shades of Gray]

What source is the bone knight from? I'll check it out, as I have most books, I just can't for the life of me remember where that class would be from.

[Mr.Bookworm]

I'm running a campaign where my player has a warforged cleric, and wants to take the bone knight class. However, from the fluff it seems that it's largely about fusing the cleric with his armor, but the problem is that the warforged already IS his armor. This makes me wonder if non-humanoids can even become Bone Knights. What is the RAW situation on this?

By RAW, he can take the class, but he can't actually wear the armor or gain any benefits from it.

If you want to let him use the full class, either he needs to take the Unarmored Body feat (which isn't RAW-legal, but that's easy enough to waive) or you need to rewrite the class a bit.


What source is the bone knight from? I'll check it out, as I have most books, I just can't for the life of me remember where that class would be from.

Five Nations.

[Doc_Maynot]

What source is the bone knight from? I'll check it out, as I have most books, I just can't for the life of me remember where that class would be from.

Five Nations
The bonecraft armour is specially built stuff anyway, and seeing as they can wear armour just generally it's pointless for them to it should be fine.

[BowStreetRunner]

There is nothing preventing a warforged from taking the bone knight prestige class. However "composite plating occupies the same space on the body as a suit of armor or a robe, and thus a warforged cannot wear armor or magic robes." So as long as the warforged character has the Composite Plating special quality, they cannot wear the bonecraft armor. If they somehow lose this special quality (such as through the Dragonborn template) then they would be free to use the bonecraft armor as normal.

Edit:

...he needs to take the Unarmored Body feat...
This feat would also work, but needs to be taken at first level.

[Phelix-Mu]

There is nothing preventing a warforged from taking the bone knight prestige class. However "composite plating occupies the same space on the body as a suit of armor or a robe, and thus a warforged cannot wear armor or magic robes." So as long as the warforged character has the Composite Plating special quality, they cannot wear the bonecraft armor. If they somehow lose this special quality (such as through the Dragonborn template) then they would be free to use the bonecraft armor as normal.

Edit:

This feat would also work, but needs to be taken at first level.

Give the player a short role play quest to take some re-fluffed dragonborn thing designed to strip a warforged of some of their construct traits/racial features. That way you can avoid the weirdness of a dragonborn of Bahamut trying to move in on the armoured undead soldier scene. You'd have to change some of the benefits of dragonborn a bit, and if you make the quest more complicated or a hook for the whole party, then you can make it pretty cool (or not so much).

To make up for focusing so much on this one guy's build, I would suggest introducing some kind of npc or organization that the others can be involved in that can do grafts or other augmentation at a reduced price. This would allow benefits for everyone for what is otherwise a quest to help out just one pc (not that a cooperative group of in-game friendly pcs won't help each other out of friendship, but OOG, a few benefits are always nice).

[Perseus]

I'm running a campaign where my player has a warforged cleric, and wants to take the bone knight class. However, from the fluff it seems that it's largely about fusing the cleric with his armor, but the problem is that the warforged already IS his armor. This makes me wonder if non-humanoids can even become Bone Knights. What is the RAW situation on this?

Rule 74 to D&D, fluff is not mechanics.

Rule 74.1 to D&D, fluff is changeable and in my opinion should be forgotten if the player can think of their own.

Also technically the armor plating is not his body. You can take feats to get rid of its armor or to add different types.

I see bone knight as a perfect fit for a living construct that wants to be more of a construct without being an uber charger.

[danzibr]

Yeah, surely you can work something about. There would probably be some way... probably very uncomfortable... to integrate them. Or something.

[Endarire]

Have a GM-Player discussion. I find it absurd that a being made largely of metal can't wear further metal (or wood or bone) to protect himself. You could just rule, "The armor AC bonuses don't stack," and go on your merry way, which is what I do.

[XionUnborn01]

I second Endarire. Though because there is the option to make heavy or medium, i would probably make them take medium because making a full suit of armor fit over them is weird :P

But either way, I don't see the harm in letting a warforged take it. just basically make it override their normal plating.

[supermonkeyjoe]

I don't see any particular harm in allowing this for a warforged, I would just say they add the bonuses to their composite plating, treated as medium for standard plating or heavy if they have the adamantine body feat (DR wouldn't stack though)

Fluff wise treat it as the waforged reinforcing his plating with skeletal parts.

[Grayson01]

You could always Make a Feat or alternate starting option "Bone Plating". Warforged can really be made out of any material, wood, Iron, Mythrial, Adamantine, why not bone, and then all the class features and constuction can be done right to the Bone Plating. For Fluff perp. when they used the creation forge to create said Warforged he was constructed specially of Bone to become a Bone Knight but before he was trained and/or finsihed being constructed the war was over and the treaty of Thronehold was signed. But knowing it was what he was meant to be he dedicates his life to fufilling his task, Warforged "can be" extramly focused and loyal.

[Kuulvheysoon]

This feat would also work, but needs to be taken at first level.

Or after three levels of Reforged (RoE).

[Xuldarinar]

At this point, if the character does not mind spending 3 levels elsewhere, they could take the reforged class (Races of Eberron). At their 3rd level they gain Unarmored Body as a bonus feat but lose all other warforged feats, warforged components, ect. But, they do get bonus feats to replace all lost feats in this. They just need Craft or Profession 8 ranks, and Sense Motive 4 ranks.


Edit:
Or after three levels of Reforged (RoE).
..You beat me to it.


Edit (2): The levels in reforged actually could be a good rp hook. To understand the dead, one must first understand what it means to be alive.

[shadow_archmagi]

Depending on what they wanted to RP it as, I'm not sure I'd even charge them a feat to be Unarmored. Warforged is a decent race, and I get that the inability to wear decent armor is part of their drawbacks, but I don't know if their bonuses are feat-tax good.