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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next The Soul-Forged (Race)--PEACH



PhoenixPhyre
2018-01-27, 05:43 PM
Note: The lore is specific to my setting. I'd like feedback as to balance--is it too much? Too little? Incoherent?

Soul-forged

The soul-forged Awakened in the echoes of the Fifth Wish in 206 AC. Each gained individuality in the body of a construct empowered by fragmented souls. Whereas those constructs were short-lived and halting, body and soul poorly integrated, the soul-forged were able and capable. Learning at a tremendous rate, they set out to carve their own place into the world around them. Driving many of them is the desire to learn to create others of their kind. Not all the construct bodies Awakened; no one knows why some did and others did not.
Each soul-forged is individual--no two share the same appearance beyond the basics. All the Awakened were in the form of a human being--two arms with opposable thumbs, two legs, a head, a torso. Some had detailed faces; others merely porcelain masks. Some had fragmentary memories of their past, others were a completely blank slate. Some were decorated in elaborate patterns, others not at all. Some wear the clothing, others prefer to go without body coverings beyond harnesses for tools.

Soul-forged Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Soul-forged are new to the world. No one knows how long they will live. Each one comes into existence as a blank slate, learning fast. Within a month they are fully adult. No soul-forged is older than 4 years old.
Size. Soulforged are approximately the size of humans, but there is much variation in height and weight. Steel-skin tend to be larger and bulkier than bark-skin. Both are more dense than humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Sleepless Vigilance. Soul-forged do not need sleep. Instead they enter a quiet state of reverie for 4 hours a day, reviewing and organizing their memories. During this reverie they remain conscious and alert; they can end the reverie at will. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.
Living Construct. As a creature of metal, wood, and stone, you resist poison damage and are immune to the poisoned condition and to disease. You do not need food or water, although you can eat normally if you choose.
Unlike most constructs, healing magic (such as cure wounds) works fine on you, as does resurrection magic.
Hardened Body. Your armor class increases by 1.
Inhuman Mindset. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common as well as one other language of your choice.

Steel-skin
The steel-skin soul-forged were first constructed in the goblin workshops of Byarsha in the southern Remnant Dynasty. Made out of metal and crystalline stone, they were built for harsh labor; in the Awakening, it became clear that their minds were like the crystal they were made of--clear and structured, able to learn and form new ideas at a tremendous rate.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength and your Intelligence scores increase by 1.
Tool Proficiency. You gain proficiency in either Mason’s Tools or Blacksmith’s Tools.
Strong Frame. You count as one size larger for determining how much you can lift, pull, or drag.
Structured Intellect. You gain proficiency in your choice of Arcana, Investigation, Nature, or Religion. When you make an ability check that applies your proficiency in your chosen skill, add twice your proficiency modifier instead.
Bonus Language. You can speak, read, and write Ngyon Toi (Goblin).

Bark-skin
The bark-skin soul-forged were originally carved in the forests of Byssia as guardians of the sacred resting places of the honored ancestors. Made out of the various trees with joints of carved stone, they maintain a connection to nature and a keen awareness of their surroundings.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength and your Wisdom scores increase by 1.
Tool Proficiency. You gain proficiency in either Carpenter’s Tools or Woodcarver’s Tools.
Natural Awareness. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception), Wisdom (Survival), and initiative checks made while in natural settings such as forests, mountains, or caves.
Natural Bond. You know the druidcraft cantrip. You can cast the speak with animals spell as a 1st level spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the pass without trace spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the plant growth spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Your ability modifier for all these spells is Wisdom.
Bonus Language. You can speak, read, and write Metsae (Wood Elvish).

Gr7mm Bobb
2018-01-29, 07:00 PM
First off, I loved ebberons warforged immensly. I hope that you creating the Soul Forged that I look at here is the product of a similar origin, if not then no big. Construct people are boss af to play. Overall I enjoy your concept, but I feel that it is just a little overloaded with features. Don't feel bad though, its really easy to do. When I homebrewed the warforged of ebberon for 5e I did the same thing. Eventually I had to sit down with all of the parts and ask myself what it was that I needed the race to have to actually be a "Warforged". I eventually came to the conclusion that I wanted them to be Living Constructs who's body is armor to an extent. So I stripped the race down to the features that I felt needed to remain to preserve this identity and worked around that frame. This ended up leaving me with plenty of room to flesh out the subraces that would help express the build diversity of the Warforged (after I ripped those to bones as well of course).

Now that I fulfilled my sense of narcisim for now, What would you say are the key components that identify your race? I can see that they have a theme of being construct people, but I also see some really neat cultural ties with them (the tool kits associated with their base materials is neato too). I want to help with this concept of yours, but I'm not certain of how to proceed without accidentally gutting your project.

I swear there is only some minor self horn tooting with this. But I figure since I've been down a similar road, you might be willing to canabalize some of my work to suit your needs. I've been tweaking my version of the warforged for years now. I hope this is useful for you, here's my version of the Warforged (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uiz0w-20ddlqHIj0rCoSHtouTPj_OgJRcZDSDnBw1hA/edit?usp=sharing). As a side note, I retained the 1/2 healing from spells and repair mechanics for the warforged to retain some of their original feel. Those parts are not used as a form of full counterbalance, they are just a form of painful flavor.

PhoenixPhyre
2018-01-29, 07:26 PM
First off, I loved ebberons warforged immensly. I hope that you creating the Soul Forged that I look at here is the product of a similar origin, if not then no big. Construct people are boss af to play. Overall I enjoy your concept, but I feel that it is just a little overloaded with features. Don't feel bad though, its really easy to do. When I homebrewed the warforged of ebberon for 5e I did the same thing. Eventually I had to sit down with all of the parts and ask myself what it was that I needed the race to have to actually be a "Warforged". I eventually came to the conclusion that I wanted them to be Living Constructs who's body is armor to an extent. So I stripped the race down to the features that I felt needed to remain to preserve this identity and worked around that frame. This ended up leaving me with plenty of room to flesh out the subraces that would help express the build diversity of the Warforged (after I ripped those to bones as well of course).

Now that I fulfilled my sense of narcisim for now, What would you say are the key components that identify your race? I can see that they have a theme of being construct people, but I also see some really neat cultural ties with them (the tool kits associated with their base materials is neato too). I want to help with this concept of yours, but I'm not certain of how to proceed without accidentally gutting your project.

I swear there is only some minor self horn tooting with this. But I figure since I've been down a similar road, you might be willing to canabalize some of my work to suit your needs. I've been tweaking my version of the warforged for years now. I hope this is useful for you, here's my version of the Warforged (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uiz0w-20ddlqHIj0rCoSHtouTPj_OgJRcZDSDnBw1hA/edit?usp=sharing). As a side note, I retained the 1/2 healing from spells and repair mechanics for the warforged to retain some of their original feel. Those parts are not used as a form of full counterbalance, they are just a form of painful flavor.

It's "inspired" by the Warforged, but different to make it fit into my setting better. They once were more golem-like, powered by bits and pieces of souls jammed together, but a super-Wish-thing has awakened some of them as actual living creatures. I have enough "created to be soldier" races in my setting (both the Orcs and the Dragonborn got their starts as magically-modified super-soldiers)--this one is more accidental. They're a part of the rise of technology and "weird-science" magic-lite things.

The core parts are the idea that they are new minds in bodies--quick to learn but connected to their roots. The two sub-races are from the areas that would likely build them--the goblins want heavy workers and are metal-smiths; the Byssians don't use metal very much but are druidic ancestor-worshipers. I didn't want to pigeonhole them into physical classes either.

Key Traits:

Living construct. For my sanity as a DM, I want them to heal normally. Due to the nature of healing magic in my setting (restoring reserves of energy to the soul), it should work just fine on ensouled constructs.

Extra AC or Resistances of some type. They're less susceptible to physical damage than most meatbags. This should be reflected somewhere in their traits.

A split between the intellectually curious Steel-skin and the nature-connected Bark-skin.

As a note:

I've removed a bunch of features from my current draft, but didn't post the changes here because it didn't seem like anyone cared.

Base:
Reworked: Living construct trait reworded to "Even though you were constructed, you are a living creature. You are immune to disease. You do not need to eat or breathe, but you can ingest food and drink if you wish. Instead of sleeping, you enter an inactive state for 4 hours each day. You do not dream in this state; you are fully aware of your surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal." This removes the poison resistance/immunity and includes Sleepless Vigilance.
Removed: Inhuman Mindset

Steel-skin
Removed: Structured Intellect.
Added: Skill proficiency--one of Arcana/Investigation/Nature

Bark-skin:
Removed: Natural Awareness, speak with animals.

Thanks for commenting!