[4E] Warforged

[mummy162]

I was reading the warforged article in Dragon 364, and I had an idea. Warforged are magically created, but what if a sentient being's mind/soul was put into a set of armor. I was thinking of maybe having a (hear me out) warforged warlock. If a human (or other humanoid) had their mind put into a suit of armor but in the process had amnesia an infernal being could have approached him and offered to return his memories in exchange for his service. It would be sort of similar to Al from Fullmetal Alchemist, if you want a better idea of what I'm talking about. My question: is there anything that points to a humanoid mind in a warforged body, because I think that would make some great roleplaying opportunities.

[Gralamin]

I was reading the warforged article in Dragon 364, and I had an idea. Warforged are magically created, but what if a sentient being's mind/soul was put into a set of armor. I was thinking of maybe having a (hear me out) warforged warlock. If a human (or other humanoid) had their mind put into a suit of armor but in the process had amnesia an infernal being could have approached him and offered to return his memories in exchange for his service. It would be sort of similar to Al from Fullmetal Alchemist, if you want a better idea of what I'm talking about. My question: is there anything that points to a humanoid mind in a warforged body, because I think that would make some great roleplaying opportunities.

Honestly? This is all just refluffing it. So go for it.

[BlckDv]

I'm not sure I understand the question. In particular the "is there anything that points to..." part.

Are you asking if in the setting of Eberron or another offical D&D world the backstory implies that the warforged may in fact not be magical constructs animated by awesome lost/forbidden magic, and instead be suits of armor with souls bound to them?

In that case, most definately not. the Official Campaigns are all pretty clear and happy that Warforged have inner bits and if the force that animates them can even be called a soul is debated.

Or are you asking if in your homebrew world this would be allowed?

In that case... why are you asking us? If you are the DM, of course it can be true, hell Warforged could be a nasty fungus that grows in discarded armor and walks around acting like a person if you wanted it to be. If you are not the DM, re-fluffing a race is a big enough deal that you really need to work it out directly with the DM who runs your world, or ask if you could run a "one off" PC that uses Warforged stats but this alternate origin.

If I missed your actual question, please clarify.

[mummy162]

I meant in terms of mechanically. What "spellcasting" classes would warforged work with?

And yes, I see how I could have been misunderstood. I was giving an example background for some character like this. My DM will have no problem with the background, but what classes of this set would work best with the Warforged racial qualities?

[Kurald Galain]

I meant in terms of mechanically. What "spellcasting" classes would warforged work with?

Sorcerer and warlock.

[Mando Knight]

Sorcerer and warlock.

Specifically, Infernal, Vestige, and some builds of Star Warlocks and Cosmic and Dragon Sorcerers.

[BlckDv]

I meant in terms of mechanically. What "spellcasting" classes would warforged work with?

Okay, so if I'm understanding correctly, the core question is "with a refluff, would a warforged have okay stats for a Warlock or other caster"

In that case, I'd say your fluff about an Infernal pact is likely a good call. With Warforged being Str/Con bonus, You'll have to pay up for your primary Int stat, but will have good secondary support... the Warforged abilities to gain temp HP and shrug off conditions also work well with Infernal pact, and could set you up for a melee 'lock build similar to the famous Hexhammer.

You could also do Okay as a Star Pact if you focus on the CON powers, or if you go Cha instead of Int, a Dragon or Cosmic magic Sorcerer could also be fun... the spirit of a dragon animates a suit of armor in it's hoard as part of it's Twilight madness... lots of fun possibilities.

I'd stay away from the Int/Cha builds for sure, and while I guess you could try a wizard path, I don't see it harmonizing too well with your racial powers.

[Asbestos]

Here's a quick Warforged Warlock build from the WotC forums:
http://community.wizards.com/go/thre...t_id=334404354

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Sulfur, level 1
Warforged, Warlock
Eldritch Strike: Eldritch Strike Constitution
Eldritch Pact: Infernal Pact
Background: Windrise Ports (Windrise Ports Benefit)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 13, Con 20, Dex 10, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 10.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 11, Con 18, Dex 10, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 10.


AC: 16 Fort: 15 Reflex: 13 Will: 12
HP: 32 Surges: 11 Surge Value: 8

TRAINED SKILLS
Religion +7, History +7, Arcana +7, Intimidate +7

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics -1, Bluff, Diplomacy, Dungeoneering -1, Endurance +6, Heal -1, Insight -1, Nature -1, Perception -1, Stealth -1, Streetwise, Thievery -1, Athletics

FEATS
Level 1: Armor Proficiency (Chainmail)

POWERS
Eldritch Blast: Eldritch Strike
Warlock encounter 1: Vampiric Embrace
Warlock daily 1: Armor of Agathys

ITEMS
Chainmail, Implement, Rod, Adventurer's Kit, Morningstar
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======

Future Feats:
2: Wpn Prof: Mordenkrad
4: Imp Dark One's Blessing
6: Sacrifice to Caiphon
8: Wpn Expertise
10: Student of the Sword (if Iron Vanguard PP) or Warforged Tactics (if Warforged Juggernaught PP)

[Shardan]

Would you be a 'warforged' technically? No. but using stats as war-forged and refluffing is just fine. I almost made a 'warforged' stone golem fighter. 4e you can re-fluff just about everything. and i think that makes a pretty cool back-story

[Theodoric]

I had some similar ideas after playing Dragon Age: Origins, which had very similar soul-based golems. It's just minor refluffing; might even be a way to include warforged in settings that don't normally have them, and possibly to have non-martial-background warforged.

[mummy162]

Yeah, it seems like a stretch to use Warforged in a non-Eberon setting, but this does not seem outlandish at all. All it takes is a simple ritual or something similar.

[Duos Greanleef]

Warforged make mean CON-based Warlocks.
And it makes for awesome RP. How can you sell your soul to the stars if you're not even sure that you have one?


p.s: Warforged are not a stretch anywhere.
Big metal men are created by master smiths(?) and given sentience (perhaps a soul) by forbidden/archaic/awkward magic.
Sounds like typical Fantastic material to me.

[Tiki Snakes]

You mean like; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwS_GbMo99Y from about 1:40 to 2:10?

I could get down with that as an alternate Warforged origin, pretty much.

[mummy162]

I guess so. A little less cheesy, though.

[Hzurr]

One of the players in my game is (was) a Warforged. The way we fluffed it in-game was that he was, as far as most people knew, the only Warforged in existence, although some scholars recognized what he was from ancient history books. The character made his primary goal finding out where Warforged came from, what happened to them, and if he could re-populate the race.

It was a pretty great character, and I'm sure he'll turn up again before the end of the campaign.

But yes, the point of this post was to say that you can have Warforged in your non-Eberron world. (In my world, the players eventually discovered that the gnomes were responsible for the creation of Warforged. Since gnomes have also been slaughtered to extinction, this made it difficult to find one and ask it, though.)

[FoE]

Warforged are not restricted from becoming warlocks. Why does it need a person's soul inhabiting it?

[mummy162]

Warforged are not restricted from becoming warlocks. Why does it need a person's soul inhabiting it?

That's an example story for why a warforged would be a spellcaster. What really seems like a stretch, though, is a warforged primal class. Even though it would work perfectly with Warden mechanically wise, it just doesn't make sense to have a naturally oriented suit of armor with a soul.

[NEO|Phyte]

That's an example story for why a warforged would be a spellcaster. What really seems like a stretch, though, is a warforged primal class. Even though it would work perfectly with Warden mechanically wise, it just doesn't make sense to have a naturally oriented suit of armor with a soul.

With 'standard' warforged construction, go light on the metal bits and you've got a construct made out of rock and living wood, sounds like something a pack of druids might come up with to be an untiring guardian of some important location.

[Optimystik]

That's an example story for why a warforged would be a spellcaster. What really seems like a stretch, though, is a warforged primal class. Even though it would work perfectly with Warden mechanically wise, it just doesn't make sense to have a naturally oriented suit of armor with a soul.

Actually, a Primal Warforged is much more plausible than you think.

Their "muscles" are explicitly made out of living wood. Simply have a sculptor's guild use a Heartleaf tree or some other wood inhabited by spirits to make their "statues," then have them start moving around on its own, baffling their creators.

This even gives you an out to export Warforged to other settings.

Warforged are not restricted from becoming warlocks. Why does it need a person's soul inhabiting it?

Not only are they not restricted, one of the sample Warforged is a warlock!

[Devils_Advocate]

Eh, take druid fluff too far and they shouldn't even have any magic items. Those things are all artificial, right?

On the other hand, you can go not far enough and have "revering nature" not actually mean anything. This seems to have been a bit of a problem in 3E. So, what has 4E done with druids and shamans and whatnot in terms of flavor, anyway? I'm curious now.

As to warforged being infused with the mental essence of mortal beings or some such thing; despite Hollywood's depictions of AI, there's no reason that artificial minds created from the ground up would be similar to those of living creatures, unless they were very specifically designed that way. But an AI might be humanlike because its creator copypastaed a whole bunch of stuff in from humans, both because we know how to relate to humans and because it's way easier to tweak an existing blueprint than to actually design a new mind entirely from scratch.

Warforged are too like normal humanoids psychologically not to share a common origin. Now, admittedly, that could mean a lot of things. Maybe they were ensouled by the same gods. Maybe they were created by tapping into some of the same platonic forms that humans embody. (I imagine that polymorphing works by accessing platonic forms.) Maybe the characters don't know yet, and it's a mystery. Maybe all of the above, maybe none of the above. Lots of possibilities.

[Delcan]

Hey now, there's always room for refluffing. One of the builds I'd like to try is a human shaman who's never even been outside his home city; instead of calling on nature spirits and animals, he channels the collective gestalt of humankind; his spirit companion would be a self-fueled projection of an idealized humanoid, and his powers would tap into the collective unconscious a la Jung.

A warforged druid would be a sight to see. Forget the short-lived plants and natural life - call the metal and stone that was there before life ever even existed! Its "wild" shape could be distinctly elemental in flavor, and its powers could focus around the uncaring elements, causing localized natural disasters. It's not about going back to nature, it's about proving that life vastly overestimates itself compared to the ravages of the uncaring world.

Okay, enough out of me. A fiendishly-enchanted suit of armor works perfectly, and I'd suggest taking those warlock powers that involve self-buffs, like the "turn yourself into metal" utility and the like - it would be fun to refluff those into various new runes being engraved into your shell.

[BobTheDog]

So, what has 4E done with druids and shamans and whatnot in terms of flavor, anyway? I'm curious now.

Simply put, druids, shamans, barbarians, wardens (and seekers, coming in PH3) are now the people who can touch the "spirit world". This means they can sense the spirits of rivers, fire, wind etc.

A beautiful city garden can have some life spirits living there as much as a forest grove, and likewise a castle might be infused with the essence of protector spirits from the rocks used in the construction. In other words it's not just nature they care about anymore.

Also, they fight for the safety of the "physical world". Deities, demons, undead and aberrations are all "outsiders" who'd better behave or get out. Most deities (and their followers) behave and are tolerated. The rest don't get such a nice treatment.

[Optimystik]

Hey now, there's always room for refluffing. One of the builds I'd like to try is a human shaman who's never even been outside his home city; instead of calling on nature spirits and animals, he channels the collective gestalt of humankind; his spirit companion would be a self-fueled projection of an idealized humanoid, and his powers would tap into the collective unconscious a la Jung.

Desharis (the Binder vestige) would like him a lot.

Okay, enough out of me. A fiendishly-enchanted suit of armor works perfectly, and I'd suggest taking those warlock powers that involve self-buffs, like the "turn yourself into metal" utility and the like - it would be fun to refluff those into various new runes being engraved into your shell.

The other pacts work too. In fact, the Warforged Warlock in EPG is a Star Pact, and WotC already adopted your "engraving your shell" idea:

Null is a warforged warlock with the star pact. In her hunger for individuality, she rejected warforged and human norms and communed with unfathomable entities beyond the world. She has engraved her body and belongings with mystical and maddening sigils, and she savors the fear her appearance evokes in her enemies. Although gloomy, taciturn, and darkly candid, Null enjoys the grudging admiration that heroics garner. Thus, she prefers to use her power to punish those whom she believes are evil.

[hamishspence]

For Faerun, I went with "techniques from the Ruamathar empire were rediscovered"

The Raumathar (in Realms canon) were the archrivals of the Narfell empire- they had armies of constructs, and mages who channelled magic through swords.

The empire fell, but a lot of their mages went to Rashemen- and became the basis of the Witches of Rashemen. Who seem very focused on the spirits of the land.

And I had them use both the remnants of the construct mastery of their ancestors, and their present-day mastery of the magic of the spirits of the land- primal magic, that is, to create new, more naturalistic constructs.

Warforged- with an affinity for primal magic.

(One thing I noticed much later- a lot of the art in Primal Power shows warforged primal characters).