Please help me build a Warforged Fighter (Core and Eberron books only)

[Gweed]

So I am trying to build a Warforged fighter. The DM has restricted books to Core and Eberron. Most of the group is already set and we need a tank.

I have looked at several guides, and of course the Fighter Handbook, and they all assume that you have access to books that I do not have access too.

This is more of an RP heavy campaign, so optimization is not a huge deal, but since I am a fighter, I need something to boost me up a little.

My stats are:

STR:16
DEX:13
CON:16
INT:12
WIS:13
CHA:6

So far I have the following:

Fighter 5/Warforged Juggernaut 5/??

Feats so far are:

Adamantine Body, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Jaws of Death, Shocking Fist, Overload Metabolism, Second Slam

My trouble is that after lvl10 my options are really limited. I don't qualify for any other PrC, and I have a hard time thinking that 10 more levels of fighter is a good option.
I thought about taking a level of Wizard at lvl2, so I can take Enlarge Person to make my natural attacks beefier as well as qualifying for Spellcarved Soldier at lvl11/12. However I am trying to avoid as much multiclassing as possible because my DM enforces the EXP penalty.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks

[lytokk]

A popular idea is to build a spiked chain tripper as a battlefield controller. Spiked chain works since you threaten all squares around you, and fighters get a bunch of feats anyway. But, your stats don't really work well for that, the way you have them lined out at least. It would require combat expertise, which needs int 13, combat reflexes, so you'd prb want a higher dex. Its a thought that you will see come up a lot when it comes to a fighter tank, since there really isn't a tanking class in D&D, as is normally defined by a lot of other games.

The nice thing about warforged fighters are the substitution levels. Those should be in play, if not, not a huge loss. You'd sacrifice the first level feat for a couple of niceties, one of which is a +3 to initiative if memory serves. Also, warforged favored class is fighter, and since prestige classes don't factor into multiclass XP penalty, you should feel free to pick up any other class. The main problem I see with wizard is the whole arcane spell failure thing.

But there is Artificer, which is in the eberron book, and I think there's some racial sub levels for it. Giving you the ability to buff yourself, heal yourself and the like is always good. Functions like any other spellcaster with it's infusions, and I don't think armor factors into it.

There's always also barbarian, if you really want to be a beatstick. Since warforged are immune to fatigue, when a warforged barbarian's rage ends, no problem. You're still a good melee combatant. Bad news is with adamantine body, no fast movement, I think. Someone may need to back me up on that.

Or, just keep going fighter. Spiked chain and whirlwind attack is always fun. But, for my money, put some artificer in there to keep yourself standing with your infusions. Juggernaut means no more healing spells, no more arcane or divine buffs. A bit of artificer will settle this for you.

[Ferronach]

I am currently running a FTR6/WFJ3 and it is alot of fun. I took FTR6 for the bonus feat. It is a low op campaign so my build which swings a huge dwarven waraxe from behind a towershield tends to fall into the role of tank in that he is very hard to hit, has alot of immunities and is able to kill most things with ease. The trick is picking the right enemy to fight. As the brute I would focus on opposing casters as you squish them easily and remove them from the battle before they can nuke too much.

The problem that i can see you having is the Reserved "feat" of the PrC as you said that your campaign is RP heavy. In order to heal yourself, i would get your friendly arcanes to prepare some form of repair/mend/make whole etc in order to "heal" you. My DM allowed me to put ranks into "Craft - Warforged Repair" so that between fights I could repair myself provided I have access to fire, scrap metal, and some rudimentary tools. The damage repaired over time is dependent on the situation and materials at hand.

Lytokk's suggestion of artificer is actually a good idea if you think that you will struggle to stay alive long enough to do your job. Artificer is also a nice addition in that it allows you to dabble in pretty much every other role in the party. Slap a few int and dex boosting items on yourself and you can help the rogue clear a room of traps and unlock the loot box. Bump your UMD up enough and you can use wands and scrolls in a way that will make the party casters envious.

Going barbarian can be fun as many of the downsides do not affect you.
As for adamantine body interfering with fast movement, by RAW it does. I beleive that it says something along the lines of "taking this feat prohibits the granting of feats/abilities the forbid the user to wear heavy armour" or something to that effect. Talk to your DM to see if she/he would be willing to allow your "fast movement" to remove the penalty to move speed due to the adamantine body.

Make sure that your DM is aware that you cannot wear armour so she/he will need to inclue other sources of increased AC for you (necklaces of natural armour and rings of deflection will be your friends). Dare I say that some of the Docents from DDO may preove feasible with some tweaking here and there.

From an RP standpoint, the bbn or artificer both fit with the reserved side of your character as the bbn had a bad experience while raging around too many people or the arty is somewhat reclusive and prefers to tinker than socialize.

[Gweed]

For some reason I had not even considered barbarian. Thanks for pointing out that option guys.

I was on the fence about qualifying for Spellcarved Soldier with Artificer or Wizard, and I guess I just liked the idea of casting Enlarge Person on myself. I will look at Artificer more as well.

I really appreciate you both taking the time to respond!

[torrasque666]

Word of advice, with Core and Eberron only there's no way to increase the size of a Warforged, unless you can get a friendly Wizard to Polymorph you into a Warforged Charger(You'd qualify as you're a Construct, while the Wizard probably won't as Construct isn't on the list). Enlarge Person is limited to Humanoids, which a Warforged, as a Construct, doesn't qualify for. Unless your DM considers the SRD to be Core, in which case dip PsyWar for access to Expansion.

[lytokk]

Alternatively, if you're starting at level 10 and aren't married to juggernaut.

At a certain point, Adamantine body loses its luster over say, mithral body. +3 AC and DR2 just isn't that great after a certain point. Mithral has a lot less penalties, and you get to keep movement speeds and bonuses. A lockdown build, with a decent dex, spiked chain, improved trip and combat reflexes can do wonders at battlefield control. Throw in whirlwind attack and everything within your 10 ft reach is going to be on its back. Course, I'm just a fan of whirlwind attack when it comes to fighters.

There's also the option of a druid tank. Ironwood body is useful. When a warforged druid wildshapes, he gets to keep the +3 armor plating granted by this feat, along with any enchantments put onto the plating. This I believe also works with the base composite plating. Whether you transform into a construct looking version of the animal is of course between you and the DM, but I've always thought you should. Wisdom penalty does hurt the concept, but its a fun build if you can come up with a good backstory.

I'm not sure, but I think with 2 slams and a bite attack you might qualify for multiattack. Also, improved natural attack will beef up your slam damage.

Psion is a good alternative to wizard if you really wanted to cast some spells, since there's no spell failure associated with the class. If you're playing in eberron, which I think you are based on the nature of the post, psionics should be considered core, as they're a natural part of eberron.

I'll keep posting more ideas as they come to me.

[Gweed]

That is why I took the 2 slams and bite attack, specifically for multiattack and improved natural attack.

Good call on Enlarge Person, that takes wizard right out as an option for me, so artificer is looking better and better.

SRD is not considered core. Just PH, MM, and DMG plus Eberron.

[Ferronach]

One word of advice before I forget. You are neither a humanoid, nor a construct. You are a Living Construct. pay close attention to what this means. I have been able to screw with my DM alot and squeek out of a number of ugly situations because of it.

One nice thing about being a warforged arty is that you can infuse/imbune yourself or your items. Using the iron construct infusion on yourself can be truly terrifying especially when you have a str build.... To make sure that you always have the metal scrap handy (i.e. when the DM locks you in jail with no gear) simply embed a pice in your body :P "Goodbye jail cell, hello freedom"

[pyrese]

One word of advice before I forget. You are neither a humanoid, nor a construct. You are a Living Construct. pay close attention to what this means. I have been able to screw with my DM alot and squeek out of a number of ugly situations because of it.


IIRC, Living Construct is your subtype. Your main type is still Construct, the living part just makes some modifications to that.

[Ferronach]

IIRC, Living Construct is your subtype. Your main type is still Construct, the living part just makes some modifications to that.

I stand corrected, you do indeed recall correctly.

[Urpriest]

That is why I took the 2 slams and bite attack, specifically for multiattack and improved natural attack.

Good call on Enlarge Person, that takes wizard right out as an option for me, so artificer is looking better and better.

SRD is not considered core. Just PH, MM, and DMG plus Eberron.

Just to clarify, by Eberron you mean the campaign setting right? In that case, you won't be able to get the extra slam or the bite attack, since they both are from Races of Eberron. Or can you use all Eberron splatbooks?

[Gwendol]

I would recommend some barbarian levels, and also to get the usual fighter tricks in your build somehow. At level 4 you can put a point in INT and qualify for Combat Expertise, which opens up improved trip.

[Feint's End]

Just to clarify, by Eberron you mean the campaign setting right? In that case, you won't be able to get the extra slam or the bite attack, since they both are from Races of Eberron. Or can you use all Eberron splatbooks?

Yeah this is my question too. Are you OK with all Eberron books? Also how does your dm expect the setting to work without the inclusion of psionics? Sarlona is a thing and even khorvaire has tons of psionics related stuff.

On another note I support the artificer idea. Go 4 levels of fighter and the rest artificer / warforged juggernaut. You will be very tanky + bring lots of utility in later levels. More than 4 fighter levels is almost never worth it unless you really really need some feats or have some great substitution levels.
If you are not starved for feats you could even get just 2 levels of fighter and go 3 levels artifice later.

Might not qualify for WFJ though. Can anyone tell me the prerequisites?

[Gweed]

All Eberron books allowed.

Qualifications for WFJ are BAB5, Adamantine Body, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack.

I read all the information on Artificer last night and my new thought is:

Fighter 1/Artificer 1/Fighter 4/WFJ 5/Artificer 4/Spellcarver Solider 5

I think that is a good level of not too powerful, but still enough to be helpful at higher levels, while giving myself plenty of space to RP.

Thoughts?

[Ferronach]

As your DM seems to be big on RP, make sure you have a valid character reason for becoming WFJ. I.e. why does your character want to be less like a human and more like a construct?

[Feint's End]

All Eberron books allowed.

Qualifications for WFJ are BAB5, Adamantine Body, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack.

I read all the information on Artificer last night and my new thought is:

Fighter 1/Artificer 1/Fighter 4/WFJ 5/Artificer 4/Spellcarver Solider 5

I think that is a good level of not too powerful, but still enough to be helpful at higher levels, while giving myself plenty of space to RP.

Thoughts?

1 level of fighter is wasted ... go 1 more level of artificer instead (pre wfj). Same bab, same amount of feats but more utility.

Edit: Something like
Fighter 2 / artificer 2 /fighter 2 / wfj 5 / artificer 4 / Spellcarved soldier 5.

[Gweed]

Thank's Feint's End.

I ended up with a final build pretty close to your suggestion.

And Ferronach, thanks for the RP tip. That part I have covered. You know how it is, you get the fluff and rp angle first and then try to find a race/class to fit :)

[KingSmitty]

if variant classes are allowed, why not feat rogue? something like fighter 2, feat rogue 2, warforged juggernaut 5, warblade 1, giving you 2 more feats to work with, throw in leap attack and take warblade at level 9 and you'll be a force to reckon with.

[Gweed]

if variant classes are allowed, why not feat rogue? something like fighter 2, feat rogue 2, warforged juggernaut 5, warblade 1, giving you 2 more feats to work with, throw in leap attack and take warblade at level 9 and you'll be a force to reckon with.

Thanks King, but Feat Rogue and Warblade are not available to me.

Unearthed Arcana and Tome of Battle are not on the allowed books list.

[Feint's End]

Thank's Feint's End.

Happy to help. Let us know how your fighter progresses from time to time.

[Ferronach]

And Ferronach, thanks for the RP tip. That part I have covered. You know how it is, you get the fluff and rp angle first and then try to find a race/class to fit :)

So true :) Have fun with it!