Warforged's Slam

[Yogibear41]

What is the Warforged's slam attack made with? If it attacks with a 2 handed weapon, or a one handed weapon can it make a secondary slam attack? If it only attacks with its slam does it get 1.5x its strength mod due to only having 1 natural attack?

[(Un)Inspired]

Warforged make their slam attacks with their extendable slam units.

It does take a free hand to steady the slam unit so you can make a secondary slam at the end of a full round attack but not with a weapon in each hand.

[TuggyNE]

*casts Sudden Quickened summon Darrin*

Short answer: "One slam good, two slams bad."

Long answer: RAW is unclear and muddled. RAI is not certain either. However, some general principles can be induced that cover most actual monster entries more or less. These have already been alluded to.

[Darrin]

*casts Sudden Quickened summon Darrin*


*BAMF*


What is the Warforged's slam attack made with?


That's not really clear by RAW. The MM mentions "appendage", but that's not really defined explicitly anywhere (arms and legs yes, but headbutt = appendage? Not sure.)



If it attacks with a 2 handed weapon, or a one handed weapon can it make a secondary slam attack?


Again, this isn't entirely clear by RAW. If we go by the Warforged statblock in MM3, then they lose their slam attack when they wield a two-handed weapon (a spear in the example). There are no rules for what happens to the slam when wielding only a one-handed weapon, and there are no statblock examples for this.

If the Wargorged slam is supposed to work the same way as the Mighty Arms graft, then you can still make a slam as a secondary attack if your other arm is busy doing something else (Faiths of Eberron p. 158), but you need at least one arm free to make the slam. The Renegade Mastermaker PrC (Magic of Eberron p. 81) also gets a slam via a battlefist, but that one is even more bizarrely worded than the original battlefist, as you can make iterative attacks with your slam (???). In both cases, there's no indication from the rules that these similar types of slam work exactly the same way the original Warforged slam works.

When I tried to classify slams by creature size/type, nobody was happy, and all the various possibilities got confusing and counter-intuitive. So I came up with a rule-of-thumb houserule:

"One slam good, two slams bad."

If a creature has a single slam, then it uses a body-slam, shoulder-check, or some other bludgeoning surface that doesn't directly involve the arms. This allows the creature to wield a two-handed weapon and still get a slam. This conforms to most examples in the MMs where a medium creature gets a single slam, such as the Vampire and Woodling (but not the Warforged).

If a creature has two slams as part of it's full attack routine, such as most giants, golems, and elementals, then as per the MM these slams represent the arms, and they are not available if one or both arms is busy with something else. This matches all of the examples we see in the MMs where a larger humanoid-shaped creature has two slams.

There's also the "regrip" issue: you can let go of a two-handed weapon and regrip it as a free action. This allows you to draw ammunition for a bow, or in some cases attack with a spiked gauntlet while gripping a polearm. If we say all slams must be delivered via arms, then why can't a Warforged change his grip on his two-handed weapon, make a slam, and then regrip his weapon? However, there isn't much RAW support for this.

This houserule is designed to cut down confusion, defuse arguments, and speed up play. It does not exactly match RAW or every single statblock involving a slam. You'll want to ask your DM to clarify how he thinks the Warforged slam should work.



If it only attacks with its slam does it get 1.5x its strength mod due to only having 1 natural attack?

As per Races of Eberron (p. 22), yes, but only if that single attack is your only attack that round. If you're using the slam as a secondary attack, it gets 1/2 Str just like any other secondary attack. There is no indication about what happens if the Warforged gains another natural attack, such as Jaws of Death or Second Slam. By RAW, if you gained another type of natural attack, you'd only get x1.0 Str on your slam, because while it may still be your primary natural weapon, it is no longer your only natural weapon. (You may find some wiggle-room on Second Slam, as it's not a second natural weapon, but two attacks with your original slam.)

[danzibr]

[a lot of text]

Hmm, upon reading this I'll have to reword some things in my handbook.

Also, thanks for your handbook. I use it a lot.

[Gwendol]

What is the Warforged's slam attack made with? If it attacks with a 2 handed weapon, or a one handed weapon can it make a secondary slam attack? If it only attacks with its slam does it get 1.5x its strength mod due to only having 1 natural attack?

I always imagined the 1.5 STR mod damage came from the warforged using both arms to deliver the attack. Not sure if there is much support for that interpretation, but it is one way of looking at it.

[Darrin]

I always imagined the 1.5 STR mod damage came from the warforged using both arms to deliver the attack. Not sure if there is much support for that interpretation, but it is one way of looking at it.

It works that way for Captain Kirk, but it's most often used to give a single bite attack a x1.5 Str bonus. I think it was intended to give creatures with only a single natural weapon a little more *oomph*, so they aren't severely out-classed by other creatures with more pointy-ish appendages. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the idea that you can make a "two-handed grip" on a natural weapon, but it's mostly descriptive fluff at that point.

[Captnq]

I was disappointed with the graft handbooks so I'm working on the Body Augmentation handbook. Since the focus is on collecting as many extra natural attacks as possible, I am curious as to what handbooks you two are referring to that deal with warforged slam attacks.

[Darrin]

I am curious as to what handbooks you two are referring to that deal with warforged slam attacks.

My TWF OffHandbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15034585#post15034585) discusses Warforged slams, even though they aren't directly related to TWF.

danzibr's Totemist Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=287304) goes into more detail on how to pile on as many natural weapons as possible.