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Traker
2008-08-13, 08:17 PM
I have made two warforged charecters. thy are good but thy do have a few prabloms.
what do you thenk about warforged charecters.

AstralFire
2008-08-13, 08:18 PM
Um... they're cool?

Is this 3e or 4e?

FMArthur
2008-08-13, 08:32 PM
It was a pain in the ass when I tried one out with a group I played with last year. For some reason, it's really hard to get some players to understand that they have a soul, they are individuals, and they are not mindless. It's like they thought I was playing an iron golem or something.

Leon Stormchild
2008-08-13, 08:33 PM
The hardest part for me was trying to get in the "mind" of my character. I find it a tad bit difficult to understand the psyche of an animate and sentient hunk of metal.

But he liked kitties.:smallbiggrin:

Kiara LeSabre
2008-08-13, 08:42 PM
I'd have a hard time resisting the urge to play a warforged a little like this:

"Statement: I, too, am fond of the idea of using diplomacy to solve this problem, and I imagine that once we kill half of them, the other half will almost certainly begin to see things our way. Shall we begin 'negotiations' now?"

Glawackus
2008-08-13, 08:43 PM
I'd have a hard time resisting the urge to play a warforged a little like this:

"Statement: I, too, am fond of the idea of using diplomacy to solve this problem, and I imagine that once we kill half of them, the other half will almost certainly begin to see things our way. Shall we begin 'negotiations' now?"

Pretty much this right here.

Siosilvar
2008-08-13, 08:43 PM
I'd have a hard time resisting the urge to play a warforged a little like this:

"Statement: I, too, am fond of the idea of using diplomacy to solve this problem, and I imagine that once we kill half of them, the other half will almost certainly begin to see things our way. Shall we begin 'negotiations' now?"

LOL!

Answer: Yes. We shall begin negotiations immediately.

*pew pew pew*

EDIT: More like *choom choom choom*.

Leon Stormchild
2008-08-13, 08:47 PM
hehe HK-47 for the win. :smallbiggrin:

CASTLEMIKE
2008-08-13, 09:07 PM
I don't like the creation forge mechanic/fluff.

monty
2008-08-13, 09:08 PM
They always make me think of RoboCop.

Aron Times
2008-08-13, 09:24 PM
Ooooh... I had forgotten about HK-47. I think I'm going to add a chaotic evil warforged to my 4E adventure. :D

Deth Muncher
2008-08-13, 10:13 PM
They always make me think of RoboCop.

Hm...imagine, if you will, a Huge Warforged with two Rod of Wany Wands, filled with Magic Missile (9th) up against the party.


"PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS! YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO COMPLY."

Swok
2008-08-13, 10:20 PM
I have an overwhelming desire to rp a warforged like HK-47 like previously mentioned, or like a little kid first discovering the world. Well...there's not many little kids that are seasoned war veterans, but besides that they're like little kids.

monty
2008-08-13, 10:22 PM
Hm...imagine, if you will, a Huge Warforged with two Rod of Wany Wands, filled with Magic Missile (9th) up against the party.


"PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS! YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO COMPLY."

I always thought of him as more of a paladin, maybe with some sort of Gauntlets of Magic Missile or something like that.

RTGoodman
2008-08-13, 10:22 PM
I like Warforged in Eberron, but they don't fit in any other setting.

Also, I haven't read it, but I know a lot of people really enjoyed the 4E Warforged article from one of the recent Dragon Mags.

Also, if I get to play a 3.x campaign that allows Warforged, I've been planning for years to play a Warlock whose powers aren't from a pact but are instead because he's got a bunch of robot-style attachments. (Megaman arm, jet-pack, etc.)

Neon Knight
2008-08-13, 10:23 PM
I'd have a hard time resisting the urge to play a warforged a little like this:

"Statement: I, too, am fond of the idea of using diplomacy to solve this problem, and I imagine that once we kill half of them, the other half will almost certainly begin to see things our way. Shall we begin 'negotiations' now?"

I had that problem too.


Hm...imagine, if you will, a Huge Warforged with two Rod of Wany Wands, filled with Magic Missile (9th) up against the party.


"PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS! YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO COMPLY."

Macross Missle Massacre???

METAL GEAR!?!

I don't know which reference to apply... :smalleek:

Dhavaer
2008-08-13, 10:30 PM
Macross Missle Massacre???

METAL GEAR!?!

I don't know which reference to apply... :smalleek:

The reference is to Robocop.

Deth Muncher
2008-08-13, 10:30 PM
I always thought of him as more of a paladin, maybe with some sort of Gauntlets of Magic Missile or something like that.



Macross Missle Massacre???

METAL GEAR!?!

I don't know which reference to apply... :smalleek:

I'm sorry, the correct reference was to the ED unit from Robocop.


Edit: Thank you Dhavaer for your ninja-splanation.

Neon Knight
2008-08-13, 10:32 PM
:smallsigh: And thus am I bested.

AstralFire
2008-08-13, 10:32 PM
I never had any issue not pretending to be HK-47. That probably has something to do with the fact that he was starting to grate on me by the end of the game and definitely in the sequel, when he went from pushed one-note joke to "trying too hard" one-note joke. The only aspect of NPC writing that went down from the original to the sequel IMO.

Neon Knight
2008-08-13, 10:36 PM
and definitely in the sequel, when he went from pushed one-note joke to "trying too hard" one-note joke. The only aspect of NPC writing that went down from the original to the sequel IMO.

I'll admit I found the writing quality decreased a bit too, but I found myself liking him the same equally regardless. Blind fanboyism, I guess.

That Warlock Warforged build was pretty popular quite a few months back. My personal favorite Warforged build was a Warblade//Warmage gestalt. Not optimized, I know, but I had fuuuuuuuuun.

Vexxation
2008-08-13, 10:37 PM
Ooooh... I had forgotten about HK-47. I think I'm going to add a chaotic evil warforged to my 4E adventure. :D

Well, HK, being a droid, is bound by his programming and the will of his master. I'd go with Lawful Evil.

Query: Is there something you wish to be killed, master?
Shaddup, Collin, being right-er than I...
Then again, he doesn't like being bound to his master's will, so I guess he could be justified as chaotic.

Edit: Also, onto what I'd like to play.

I'd love to attempt to fluff a "half-warforged" race. As in, a living being that, upon coming of age, had several body parts forcibly removed and replaced with the parts of a warforged. As in, one arm and one leg replaced with Construct counterparts made of Livewood. Replace organs with the Warforged counterparts, to eliminate the need to eat, breath, and sleep.

Mechanically, it'd be odd, but playing it would be far more so.

Collin152
2008-08-13, 10:37 PM
I've always wanted to play a Warforged with a transplanted soul.

Without it feeling like Full Metal Alchemist.


Statement: Is there something you wish to be killed, master?



That's not really a statement. More like an inquiry.

AstralFire
2008-08-13, 10:40 PM
I'll admit I found the writing quality decreased a bit too, but I found myself liking him the same equally regardless. Blind fanboyism, I guess.

That Warlock Warforged build was pretty popular quite a few months back. My personal favorite Warforged build was a Warblade//Warmage gestalt. Not optimized, I know, but I had fuuuuuuuuun.

I had a Kineticist Psiforged a bit back who had ostentatious labeling for all of his abilities and his body actually altered to project attacks. He was quite fun, though apparently I gave everyone else a bit of an Optimus Primal feel.

monty
2008-08-13, 10:45 PM
I'd love to attempt to fluff a "half-warforged" race. As in, a living being that, upon coming of age, had several body parts forcibly removed and replaced with the parts of a warforged. As in, one arm and one leg replaced with Construct counterparts made of Livewood. Replace organs with the Warforged counterparts, to eliminate the need to eat, breath, and sleep.

Mechanically, it'd be odd, but playing it would be far more so.

Isn't there already a Half-Golem template somewhere? That sounds like what you're looking for.

Waspinator
2008-08-13, 10:48 PM
I'd have a hard time resisting the urge to play a warforged a little like this:

"Statement: I, too, am fond of the idea of using diplomacy to solve this problem, and I imagine that once we kill half of them, the other half will almost certainly begin to see things our way. Shall we begin 'negotiations' now?"

You forgot to work the word "meatbag" into there somehow.

Hal
2008-08-13, 10:56 PM
Hm...imagine, if you will, a Huge Warforged with two Rod of Wany Wands, filled with Magic Missile (9th) up against the party.


"PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS! YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO COMPLY."

It's a shame a Rod of Many Wands is a full-round action to activate, because that sounds awesome.

monty
2008-08-13, 11:00 PM
It's a shame a Rod of Many Wands is a full-round action to activate, because that sounds awesome.

Fortunately, a round is less than ten seconds.

Chronos
2008-08-13, 11:10 PM
I like Warforged in Eberron, but they don't fit in any other setting.Personally, I think warforged are a great idea, mostly because if you're willing to throw away the setting-specific fluff, they give you the capability to set up mechanics for a whole bunch of concepts that weren't really well-supported before. Maybe they weren't churned out by the thousands by huge Creation Forges for the Great War... Maybe, my warforged character was created as the last experiment of a single, eccentric Tinker Gnome. Maybe it was built by a couple of rogue Inevitables out of their own spare parts. Maybe it's the last survivor of a long-lost society of self-replicating machines. Maybe it's a futuristic robot that got dimension-warped here from another universe. You can use the same mechanics for any of those.

Winged One
2008-08-13, 11:11 PM
I'd love to attempt to fluff a "half-warforged" race. As in, a living being that, upon coming of age, had several body parts forcibly removed and replaced with the parts of a warforged. As in, one arm and one leg replaced with Construct counterparts made of Livewood. Replace organs with the Warforged counterparts, to eliminate the need to eat, breath, and sleep.

Mechanically, it'd be odd, but playing it would be far more so.

I actually know someone who did something similar, except that it was treatment for a serious injury(airship crash) instead of a coming-of-age ritual. The campaign isn't a very serious one(very fun, though), but I'll PM the player.

monty
2008-08-13, 11:11 PM
Maybe it's a futuristic robot that got dimension-warped here from another universe.

LIKE ROBOCOP! It all makes sense now...

The_Snark
2008-08-13, 11:16 PM
I'd love to attempt to fluff a "half-warforged" race. As in, a living being that, upon coming of age, had several body parts forcibly removed and replaced with the parts of a warforged. As in, one arm and one leg replaced with Construct counterparts made of Livewood. Replace organs with the Warforged counterparts, to eliminate the need to eat, breath, and sleep.

Mechanically, it'd be odd, but playing it would be far more so.

In addition to what Winged mentioned, one of the Eberron books has construct grafts, which can be used to represent this pretty well if you can afford them. They're fun.

Waspinator
2008-08-13, 11:18 PM
Personally, I think warforged are a great idea, mostly because if you're willing to throw away the setting-specific fluff, they give you the capability to set up mechanics for a whole bunch of concepts that weren't really well-supported before. Maybe they weren't churned out by the thousands by huge Creation Forges for the Great War... Maybe, my warforged character was created as the last experiment of a single, eccentric Tinker Gnome. Maybe it was built by a couple of rogue Inevitables out of their own spare parts. Maybe it's the last survivor of a long-lost society of self-replicating machines. Maybe it's a futuristic robot that got dimension-warped here from another universe. You can use the same mechanics for any of those.

Yep. If you want, you can just ignore the fluff and use them as a generic fantasy-robot "race".

Kiara LeSabre
2008-08-13, 11:20 PM
So could warforged and flesh golem technology be used to create a warforged with some human characteristics, such as a human head ... or even a completely fleshy outer shell with the warforged body underneath it (think Terminators)? :smallbiggrin:

Vexxation
2008-08-13, 11:25 PM
So could warforged and flesh golem technology be used to create a warforged with some human characteristics, such as a human head ... or even a completely fleshy outer shell with the warforged body underneath it (think Terminators)? :smallbiggrin:

Just add a way to get Fast Healing and Changeling-esque disguising!

AstralFire
2008-08-13, 11:38 PM
So could warforged and flesh golem technology be used to create a warforged with some human characteristics, such as a human head ... or even a completely fleshy outer shell with the warforged body underneath it (think Terminators)? :smallbiggrin:

I'm reminded of the G1 Transformer Pretenders.

Not to mention Maximals/Preds.

Nerd-o-rama
2008-08-13, 11:53 PM
In addition to what Winged mentioned, one of the Eberron books has construct grafts, which can be used to represent this pretty well if you can afford them. They're fun.Yeah, I told Elvith Jars about them, but apparently he's a cheap bastard. Faiths of Eberron is, for some reason, where you'll find these graft rules.

Same player is now playing a Warforged who appears to be schizophrenic. One of his voices is apparently R. Lee Ermee. It's entertaining as hell, especially since I'm the DM and I still have no idea wtf is going on.


In general, I like warforged. They can be a bit of a trick to support (Conjuration (Healing) spells being half-effective), but I usually play stabbity-death-dealers rather than clerics anyway.

chiasaur11
2008-08-13, 11:55 PM
LIKE ROBOCOP! It all makes sense now...

But.. But... Robocop is part human.
Also, my issue would be avoiding playing them as Aaron Stack. Heroic-ish, but with a massive robot superiority complex.

JeminiZero
2008-08-14, 12:00 AM
I'd love to attempt to fluff a "half-warforged" race. As in, a living being that, upon coming of age, had several body parts forcibly removed and replaced with the parts of a warforged. As in, one arm and one leg replaced with Construct counterparts made of Livewood. Replace organs with the Warforged counterparts, to eliminate the need to eat, breath, and sleep.


Sounds like the Renegade Mastermaker, essentially a craftsman who is slowly transforming himself into a Warforged.

Frosty
2008-08-14, 12:03 AM
You meat-bags don't appreciate the full value of HK-74!

AstralFire
2008-08-14, 12:04 AM
You meat-bags don't appreciate the full value of HK-74!

HK-74 is so much more awesome than HK-47. He's polite and stuff.

The_Snark
2008-08-14, 12:07 AM
Yeah, I told Elvith Jars about them, but apparently he's a cheap bastard. Faiths of Eberron is, for some reason, where you'll find these graft rules.

Well, it's not really his fault. Replacement arms are quite cheap at 1,000 gp, but some of the others (armor and internal organs) are pretty pricy for most Eberron characters.


Sounds like the Renegade Mastermaker, essentially a craftsman who is slowly transforming himself into a Warforged.

Oh, that's a fun class too. Not terribly powerful for artificers, since you lose the craft reserve and bonus feats, but it's still fun. Nobody ever claimed that emulating the perfect glory of the machines would be easy! Sacrifices must be made! SACRIFICES!

Waspinator
2008-08-14, 12:12 AM
HK-74 is so much more awesome than HK-47. He's polite and stuff.

Statement: which limb would you prefer to lose?

Eldariel
2008-08-14, 12:13 AM
That would be an Inquiry. Also, don't forget the 'first'.

Neon Knight
2008-08-14, 12:14 AM
Statement: which limb would you prefer to lose?

That's more of a query.

Nerd-o-rama
2008-08-14, 12:14 AM
Well, it's not really his fault. Replacement arms are quite cheap at 1,000 gp, but some of the others (armor and internal organs) are pretty pricy for most Eberron characters.

Snark, we're running around with hundreds of thousands of gold pieces' worth of stomping death machines at level three. I think Magnus would have given him some free sunderable limbs and organs if he'd asked nicely.

Anyway, that was meant to be a joke. If you don't have a rulebook, and don't want to buy it, just making up homebrew is perfectly fine.

The_Snark
2008-08-14, 12:20 AM
Snark, we're running around with hundreds of thousands of gold pieces' worth of stomping death machines at level three. I think Magnus would have given him some free sunderable limbs and organs if he'd asked nicely.

Anyway, that was meant to be a joke. If you don't have a rulebook, and don't want to buy it, just making up homebrew is perfectly fine.

Er... this is true, and I have inadvertently slain another Internet joke. Time to paint another silhouette on my keyboard.

SolkaTruesilver
2008-08-14, 12:34 AM
I am currently playing an Artificer Warforged. A model created by the Modrons as a "War Overseer". Designed to build and equip an army of constructs, and lead them into battle. But I was de-activated 2000 years ago, and my original purpose has been rendered obsolete by time.

And I am amnesic, because of the other PC's playing around with my magical security system. But I retain my original capabilities.

It's not that hard to fit a personnality. Think "Data". He will do as ordered, but think on his own, and is not afraid to make decision.

But off course, every now and then, I pull one of these:

- Terminator
- HK-47
- Robocop
- Wall-E
- Daneel
- Johnny 5

Specially Johnny 5 when I am angered..



You see the Warforged's eyes turning red and agressive. He now points his arm at you, with 3 wands popping out and ready to use at point blank range. You can see the magical energy concentrating on them

My DM allowed my arm to become a Rod of Many Wand, but with customisable capabilities. I can store up to X different wands in my arm, and I can use up at the same time (as a Rod of Many Wands) Y wands.

The price is: (700+100*X)*3^(Y)

A gatling arm :smallbiggrin:

BardicDuelist
2008-08-14, 12:36 AM
Pretty much this right here.

Ditto. Actually, the only warforged I've ever played was an obvious HK ripoff. It's also the only obvious ripoff I've every played, but it was a humor game with a gnome inventor and a half-giant who thought he was a halfling.

vicente408
2008-08-14, 08:16 AM
Statement: which limb would you prefer to lose?

Clarification: I will, of course, proceed to remove the other three. Perhaps that will teach you a lesson with regard to such blatant favoritism.

AstralFire
2008-08-14, 08:19 AM
Statement: which limb would you prefer to lose?

Retort: You got beat up by protohumanoids.

hamishspence
2008-08-14, 08:21 AM
MM2 has a construct with Alter Self ability, Intelligence, and formidable weapons: The Nimblewright. It makes for a pretty fair infiltrating Terminator type despite its lack of flesh (spell, plus clothing, makes it pass for any Medum humanoid)

Morty
2008-08-14, 08:37 AM
Warforged have a great comedy potential, consisting of, but not limited to Hk-47 and Robocop references, but I'd have a hard time playing a serious warfoger characer in a setting that's not Eberron.

AstralFire
2008-08-14, 08:40 AM
Warforged have a great comedy potential, consisting of, but not limited to Hk-47 and Robocop references, but I'd have a hard time playing a serious warfoger characer in a setting that's not Eberron.

Serious characters are overrated anyway, I've yet to have someone complain about my almost always generally light-hearted characters as a PC. Unless you meant "not a one-note joke" and I really don't see why it's so hard to avoid doing that with Warforged. Sure, their background is written for Eberron, but it's not a hard Expy, so...

Waspinator
2008-08-14, 08:45 AM
That's more of a query.

Clarification: Assassin droids make their own grammar. Are you going to tell them otherwise?

AstralFire
2008-08-14, 08:46 AM
Clarification: Assassin droids make their own grammar.

Retort: You still got beaten up by protohumanoids. :smallamused:

DigoDragon
2008-08-14, 08:48 AM
Personally, I think warforged are a great idea, mostly because if you're willing to throw away the setting-specific fluff, they give you the capability to set up mechanics for a whole bunch of concepts that weren't really well-supported before.

Too true. I'm borrowing the concept of "Al Eric" from Full Metal Alchemist as the basis of how warforged are created in my world. A suit of armor (well, in my world they have mechanical insides) with a soul binded to them. Im most cases the souls don't remember their past fleshy lives, but part of the adventure is finding out the secret on the soul bind and who these souls are. :smallbiggrin:

Morty
2008-08-14, 09:24 AM
Serious characters are overrated anyway, I've yet to have someone complain about my almost always generally light-hearted characters as a PC. Unless you meant "not a one-note joke" and I really don't see why it's so hard to avoid doing that with Warforged. Sure, their background is written for Eberron, but it's not a hard Expy, so...

I don't mean "serious" in "oh, look at me pondering upon the cruel fate and philosophical problems of killing monsters and taking their stuff" way, but rather in a "character not based on a joke". And I have a hard time imagining a sentient robot being played in a fantasy setting not designed with a modern feel in mind without it looking silly.

AstralFire
2008-08-14, 09:28 AM
I don't mean "serious" in "oh, look at me pondering upon the cruel fate and philosophical problems of killing monsters and taking their stuff" way, but rather in a "character not based on a joke". And I have a hard time imagining a sentient robot being played in a fantasy setting not designed with a modern feel in mind without it looking silly.

Play up the iron golem side of his appearance rather than the android.

hamishspence
2008-08-14, 09:32 AM
yes, the Golem as Robot has been done a lot of times. Including by The Giant:
"WE ARE IRON GOLEMS. WE ARE PROGRAMMED ONLY TO...ROCK!"

Morty
2008-08-14, 09:37 AM
Play up the iron golem side of his appearance rather than the android.

The difference between "sentient iron golem" and "android" is mostly the name in a fantasy setting, don't you think? Anyway, that doesn't change anything. See, the thing here is that I simply can't think about playing a sentient golem in a fantasy setting in other way than "WTF"? I like golems when they're big, hulking, mindless tools of their masters, and such a golem gaining sentience is a nice idea for a story. When they're sentient and humanoid in a way Warforged are designed, they feel too off.


yes, the Golem as Robot has been done a lot of times. Including by The Giant:
"WE ARE IRON GOLEMS. WE ARE PROGRAMMED ONLY TO...ROCK!"

Was that in one of the books? I don't reacall it from online strips.

kamikasei
2008-08-14, 09:41 AM
Warforged in serious games outside Ebberon? Think Pinocchio. Or Galatea. I don't see why some wizard's creation with a mind of its own can only be a joke character unless they happen to have been built en masse for the Last War.

AstralFire
2008-08-14, 09:42 AM
The difference between "sentient iron golem" and "android" is mostly the name in a fantasy setting, don't you think?

No, because:


I like golems when they're big, hulking, mindless tools of their masters, and such a golem gaining sentience is a nice idea for a story. When they're sentient and humanoid in a way Warforged are designed, they feel too off.

(Androids look more identifiably human patterned and have glowing green eyes and joints and are made of a variety of materials. Iron Golems look like walking suits of armor for giants.)


Was that in one of the books? I don't reacall it from online strips.

Origin of the PCs, I think, but my gf has my copy right now so I can't check.

Morty
2008-08-14, 09:45 AM
Warforged in serious games outside Ebberon? Think Pinocchio. Or Galatea. I don't see why some wizard's creation with a mind of its own can only be a joke character unless they happen to have been built en masse for the Last War.

Well, I thought the point of this thread were Warforged as presented in Eberron and 4ed MM? The general idea of playing a wizard's construct given sentience is a different matter.


No, because:
(Androids look more identifiably human patterned and have glowing green eyes and joints and are made of a variety of materials. Iron Golems look like walking suits of armor for giants.)

Alright then. But it means if I play Warforged, I'm essentially playing an android. Which brings us back to my original point.

hamishspence
2008-08-14, 09:47 AM
Yes, Origin of PCs.

Dragon magazine had a column referring to a party with an intelligent construct in it (possessed by the spirit of a dwarf) They described the character as "intended to be like Data from Star trek, turned out more like Maximilian from The Black Hole disney movie"

AstralFire
2008-08-14, 09:48 AM
Alright then. But it means if I play Warforged, I'm essentially playing an android. Which brings us back to my original point.

Okay, it seems I failed to communicate my point.

I'm talking about the general racial idea a Warforged represents: a living construct. You can decide they look however you want, reflavor them entirely, and stick them into a new setting. (Eberron did that with half-elves, after all.)

kamikasei
2008-08-14, 10:05 AM
Well, I thought the point of this thread were Warforged as presented in Eberron and 4ed MM? The general idea of playing a wizard's construct given sentience is a different matter.

If you want to play a warforged with all the racial backstory from Eberron in a non-Eberron game, obviously that's going to be problematic. If you want to just play a warforged, as in the basic stats and idea of a warforged without necessarily wanting any of the fluff the same, explaining your origins as a wizard's experiment seem the simplest solution. There are options in between.

I don't see how much difference there is between a construct made by a wizard and given sentience, and a construct made in a creation forge and given sentience by unknown magics to form part of an army, except in how that character fits in to the world. That issue affects almost any non-core race.

Morty
2008-08-14, 11:27 AM
Okay, it seems I failed to communicate my point.

I'm talking about the general racial idea a Warforged represents: a living construct. You can decide they look however you want, reflavor them entirely, and stick them into a new setting. (Eberron did that with half-elves, after all.)

Hm. Well, in this case I still wouldn't play such character -purely personal dislike- but I agree that it can be made serious.


If you want to play a warforged with all the racial backstory from Eberron in a non-Eberron game, obviously that's going to be problematic. If you want to just play a warforged, as in the basic stats and idea of a warforged without necessarily wanting any of the fluff the same, explaining your origins as a wizard's experiment seem the simplest solution. There are options in between.

I don't see how much difference there is between a construct made by a wizard and given sentience, and a construct made in a creation forge and given sentience by unknown magics to form part of an army, except in how that character fits in to the world. That issue affects almost any non-core race.

Well, I'm not too fond of playing a living construct in general, even if I twist the fluff to match the given setting. It's just too... weird? That's strictly personal issue, of course.

chiasaur11
2008-08-14, 11:49 AM
Hm. Well, in this case I still wouldn't play such character -purely personal dislike- but I agree that it can be made serious.



Well, I'm not too fond of playing a living construct in general, even if I twist the fluff to match the given setting. It's just too... weird? That's strictly personal issue, of course.

What makes a metal guy harder to play as than a fleshy meatbag?

I'm honestly curious to hear it in more detail. That sort of thing is often mildly interesting.

Morty
2008-08-14, 12:05 PM
What makes a metal guy harder to play as than a fleshy meatbag?

I'm honestly curious to hear it in more detail. That sort of thing is often mildly interesting.

Plaing a warforged isn't hard. It's just silly, and therefore harder to play seriously and have fun with it. I mean seriously, a magical C3PO?

kamikasei
2008-08-14, 12:10 PM
It seems to me that if you think warforged are fundamentally silly, they'd remain so if played in Eberron. How is it that they get sillier outside that setting?

Morty
2008-08-14, 12:12 PM
It seems to me that if you think warforged are fundamentally silly, they'd remain so if played in Eberron. How is it that they get sillier outside that setting?

At which point have I said Warforged are less silly in Eberron? It'd be yet another case where during my ramblings I somehow say things I didn't mean to. Anyway, I feel that Warforged are equally silly both in Eberron and outside of it. Though they at least fit Eberron's overall feel.

kamikasei
2008-08-14, 12:18 PM
At which point have I said Warforged are less silly in Eberron? It'd be yet another case where during my ramblings I somehow say things I didn't mean to. Anyway, I feel that Warforged are equally silly both in Eberron and outside of it. Though they at least fit Eberron's overall feel.

Well, you said:


...I'd have a hard time playing a serious warfoger characer in a setting that's not Eberron.

Which I took to mean that you would have an easier time playing a serious warforged character in Eberron, meaning that if you have trouble playing them outside Eberron because you find them silly, presumably you find them less silly in Eberron.

If you just find the notion of a living construct character silly in itself, wherever it appears, then that's a matter of personal taste and there's not much point discussing it; it was the idea that somehow taking a warforged out of Eberron made it stop working as a serious character that I found strange.

Traker
2008-08-14, 04:16 PM
I'd have a hard time resisting the urge to play a warforged a little like this:

"Statement: I, too, am fond of the idea of using diplomacy to solve this problem, and I imagine that once we kill half of them, the other half will almost certainly begin to see things our way. Shall we begin 'negotiations' now?"

You sound like data from startreck

Traker
2008-08-14, 04:21 PM
Um... they're cool?

Is this 3e or 4e?

3rd eddition

Frosty
2008-08-14, 04:26 PM
You sound like data from startreck

Data wouldn't say that...

FatherMalkav
2008-08-14, 04:35 PM
You sound like data from startreck

It's been stated before, it's HK-47 an assassin droid from the Knights of the Old Republic games. He begins each sentence with a statement of what sort of comment he's about to make; statement, inquiry, question, threat, etc.

Personally I've never played a Warforged because I've never played a game that I felt it would fit in ok. When given the chance I would like to play the 'child just experiencing the world' type. The hopelessly naive and charmingly innocent gentle giant. Not unlike the one that was in Silverswift's epic binder campaign (for those who read the thread).

Kiara LeSabre
2008-08-14, 04:39 PM
I highly doubt Data and HK-47 would get along very well.

... although an encounter between them would be amusing.

Waspinator
2008-08-14, 04:47 PM
These links should help you understand HK-47:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HK-47
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/HK-47
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CqpGfWrmc4

chiasaur11
2008-08-14, 04:56 PM
I highly doubt Data and HK-47 would get along very well.

... although an encounter between them would be amusing.

To say the least.
Of course, HK-47 and anyone would be amusing.

Behold_the_Void
2008-08-14, 05:39 PM
Personally, I think warforged are a great idea, mostly because if you're willing to throw away the setting-specific fluff, they give you the capability to set up mechanics for a whole bunch of concepts that weren't really well-supported before. Maybe they weren't churned out by the thousands by huge Creation Forges for the Great War... Maybe, my warforged character was created as the last experiment of a single, eccentric Tinker Gnome. Maybe it was built by a couple of rogue Inevitables out of their own spare parts. Maybe it's the last survivor of a long-lost society of self-replicating machines. Maybe it's a futuristic robot that got dimension-warped here from another universe. You can use the same mechanics for any of those.

I'm doing this myself. In my upcoming 4e campaign, the now-destroyed civilizations had started dipping into the creation of warforged, as well as some other pretty nasty magitechnology along the same lines. Then someone figured out a way to make the warforged sentient, which sparked all kinds of interesting debates. The warforged character is actually a relic from the past that just got excavated.

Colmarr
2008-08-14, 08:42 PM
Personally, I think warforged are a great idea, mostly because if you're willing to throw away the setting-specific fluff, they give you the capability to set up mechanics for a whole bunch of concepts that weren't really well-supported before. Maybe they weren't churned out by the thousands by huge Creation Forges for the Great War... Maybe, my warforged character was created as the last experiment of a single, eccentric Tinker Gnome. Maybe it was built by a couple of rogue Inevitables out of their own spare parts. Maybe it's the last survivor of a long-lost society of self-replicating machines. Maybe it's a futuristic robot that got dimension-warped here from another universe. You can use the same mechanics for any of those.

My DM approved warforged for his FR campaign (mostly because we all love the shoulderbow) on the basis that he would justify it by treating them as some form of Wolverine-style "Weapon X" program gone wrong.

Works for me.

shadow_archmagi
2008-08-14, 09:08 PM
An iron golem does not necesarrily HAVE to look like a suit of armor made for a giant, does it?

Couldn't you sculpt a human-ish one? Isn't the classic thing to have statues/regular armor laying around and attack?

Are there not rules for having Huge warforged? As far as I know, there is no reason that a warforged can't just be a giant suit of armor.

That said, alternate fluffs:

1.A wizard tried to make a sentient companion.
2. An abandoned iron golem has nothing to do but think for 20,000 years and eventually achieves sentience.
3. Soul transplant.
4. A human suffers terribly, and has all sorts of limbs replaced until every single piece has been robotized (sort of like darth vader, but going further)
5. A flesh to stone spell gone wrong.
6. Wish for immortality
7. Inevitable who decides it has better things to do.
8. A druid casts Awaken, and then Ironwood on a tree, and then somehow reshapes it into a workable body.
9.A gnome who built himself a body that would never age, and had his brain stuck in a jar to control it.
10. Enchanted armor that become sentient.

It isn't hard to imagine a serious warforged at all.

arguskos
2008-08-14, 09:30 PM
I had a player in my FR campaign who REALLY wanted to play a warforged juggernaut, so we RP'd that the party found this strange, armored... thing in an abandoned magical labratory in the dungeon they were exploring. It turned out the machine was at one time a human wizard who got trapped in the dungeon, and decided that in order to survive, he was going to transfer his consciousness into a suit of armor he made. However, he botched the transfer, and was trapped inside the activation crystal till the party came along. They restored him, but he'd forgotten who and what he was, so he just followed them around until they restored his memory.

Yay, warforged in non-Eberron settings! On an unrelated note, that character ended up being hurled into Eberron during the Last War at some point, and became the Lord of Blades... XD (yay, screwing continuity!)

-argus

Elvith Jars
2008-08-15, 03:05 PM
Being the "cheap bastard" that I am (heh) I created my own template instead of relying upon the Eberron book. Actually, when I created Angel, I had no idea that there already were rules for half-warforged so I just made my own.

template: http://www.spellflight.com/Angel125/HalfWarforged.htm

The character background is here (http://www.spellflight.com/Angel125) if you're interested.

And yes, Playing a schizophenic warforged who thinks his giant robot is talking to him with the voice of a drill sergeant is turning out to be fun!

Karaswanton
2008-08-15, 03:26 PM
In the game I'm playing, Warforged existed as a nation in their own right in the past. Eventually, they were wiped out...or thought to have been. Some of them have been unearthed by archaeologists.

Also, from that game:

DM: "The guard tells you about the onslaught caused by orcs, and drinks from his flask frequently as he does so..."

Me: Ferrous asks the man for the flask..(We have to clarify which PC is talking, because each player has two characters)

DM: The guard says, "er..ok." and hands you the flask."

Me: Ferrous takes a sip. "Interesting. Why are you consuming an anabolic poison?""

Tenadros
2008-08-15, 03:45 PM
For myself the interesting bit in world building is not why there is 1 warforged running about, there are an infinite number of reasons why that should be so. But rather why there are a thousand, or a hundred thousand. The point in Eberron is that these things are an actual race. People know what they are. They might be rare but people know of them.

A single warforged which no one has ever heard of is going to send the peasants running for the pitchforks every time you walk into town, or at least have the entire place staring and gawking.

Personally I would enjoy playing a warforged in the first case but I would not in the second. I would get very tired of the same reaction in every town I walk into. Not an enjoyable setting for me personally.


The problem is not insurmountable however. Take your ques from Eberron. A war happened, the warforged were created by x number of people/countries. The war is over and the armies are disbanded. Now the big question is why the armies were disbanded. Eberron handles this well and you can copy them. Other variations could equally be: Foozle created an army of warforged and invaded Belgium (or some other equally fictional country) with them. Good King Maurice "the Space Cowboy" got upset at this and hired Magus Frank "The Gangster of Love" to blow up Foozle's castle. Which he did. This destroyed the central Macguffin controlling all the warforged and they disbanded. After determining from the Prophetess of Love that they were of no harm to him or his Maurice chose to let them live as they chose.

Other songs could work equally well for this type of story. Create your own, its fun!

FatherMalkav
2008-08-15, 03:47 PM
1.A wizard tried to make a sentient companion.
6. Wish for immortality
9.A gnome who built himself a body that would never age, and had his brain stuck in a jar to control it.

1) That's a good one, and almost the standard for the 'sole Warforged' I've seen.

6) I LOVE that idea; memo to self, use that next time.

9) Another oldie but a goodie. I think if someone found that out I'd allow him to be subject to criticals from them if it seemed plausible that they could strike the head hard enough.

Siegel
2008-08-15, 03:49 PM
Somehow they remid me of the wooden soldiers from the Wizard of Oz.

Elvith Jars
2008-08-15, 05:16 PM
Actually a thought came to mind. My folks went to China a few months ago and my dad took pictures of the terra cotta army there. Imagine an age long ago where an army of warforged where built, tested, and put in hibernation mode (so they wouldn't go insane) and then burried and forgotten, only to be uncovered centuries later. Who knows why they were built. Perhaps they were there to serve a reincarnated emperor. Or... (this is one is my favorite) Maybe they were created and pre-positioned by an enemy nation, ready to perform a pre-emptive first strike when the rival nations went to war. Those nations are long gone but the warforged don't know that. Archeologists uncover them, sell tours... and then they wake up...

Traker
2008-10-07, 07:11 PM
Actually a thought came to mind. My folks went to China a few months ago and my dad took pictures of the terra cotta army there. Imagine an age long ago where an army of warforged where built, tested, and put in hibernation mode (so they wouldn't go insane) and then burried and forgotten, only to be uncovered centuries later. Who knows why they were built. Perhaps they were there to serve a reincarnated emperor. Or... (this is one is my favorite) Maybe they were created and pre-positioned by an enemy nation, ready to perform a pre-emptive first strike when the rival nations went to war. Those nations are long gone but the warforged don't know that. Archeologists uncover them, sell tours... and then they wake up...

I like that idea

AstralFire
2008-10-07, 07:13 PM
I like that idea

Dread Necromancer Handbook (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=759515)

monty
2008-10-07, 07:27 PM
http://www.hookahforum.com/uploads/1165808825/gallery_2063_3_17264.jpg

vartan
2008-10-12, 03:42 AM
Yes, Origin of PCs.

Dragon magazine had a column referring to a party with an intelligent construct in it (possessed by the spirit of a dwarf) They described the character as "intended to be like Data from Star trek, turned out more like Maximilian from The Black Hole disney movie"

Sure you aren't thinking of Minder from the old FR comic books?

Teron
2008-10-12, 04:12 AM
Sure you aren't thinking of Minder from the old FR comic books?
No, a column in one issue of Dragon did indeed relate the editor's experience playing such a character.

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-10-12, 04:22 AM
http://www.hookahforum.com/uploads/1165808825/gallery_2063_3_17264.jpgQFT. Do people not notice these things?