[3.5] Caster Level for Craft Warforged?

[Drakevarg]

So, I bought the Monster Manual III today, one of the primary intentions being to add Warforged to the construct army one of the minor(ish) villains is making. Problem being, of all the constructs in the book, Warforged are the only ones that have no construction rules for them. Since I don't like running my NPCs on plot-fu (except the Big Bad and his nigh-unlimited income), I'd prefer to get a ballpark estimate to see if the villain in question is powerful enough to make the things in the first place before I use them.

[Iku Rex]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Eberron#Warforged

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050627a
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050711a


Short story: Warforged are built in large and very advanced "creation forges". Once you have a creation forge it gets a lot easier. There are no published rules for it.

[Drakevarg]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Eberron#Warforged

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050627a
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050711a


Short story: Warforged are built in large and very advanced "creation forges". Once you have a creation forge it gets a lot easier. There are no published rules for it.

So they literally run on plot-fu.

Alright, alternative path: though I'm guessing there's no consistant scale with such things, what would y'all guess to be suitable creation prereqs?

[Dusk Eclipse]

AFAIR the creation forges are artefacts..so I guess a high CL.

As far as other pre-reqs, you would obviously need craft construct...I would say about a 1K of materials (including wood, metal, etc). Spells needed.... limited wish, woodshape..and...PAo? So at least CL 15....

[Drakevarg]

So at least CL 15....

Pity. The villain is CL 7 (Wizard 7/Effigy Master 1). Guess I'm stuck with Effigies and Animated Objects unless this guy winds up being a long-term villain. (I make named NPCs gain one level for every two levels the PCs gain since encountering them for the first time. So to reach CL 15... he'd need to be their opponent until they hit 18th level. Not likely. )

[Edit]: Wait... why polymorph any object?

[Edit]: Oh ho... after taking a look at the Effigy Creature template again, and cross-referencing it with the various Constructs in my books, I noticed a pattern. It's not a hard-and-fast rule by RAW, mind, but it's an elegent but simple solution for a houserule:

The Caster Level to create any Construct is equal to that Construct's HD.

Using this method, the villain can make up to Level 8 Warforged.

[AslanCross]

The thing about the Warforged is that even if the Cannith artificers built the Creation Forges, they didn't expect intelligent constructs to come out.

If you really want plot-fu, you could just say the villain somehow got hold of/found a creation forge.

When Warforged are created, though, they emerge blank and need to be trained for them to gain experience. I guess that's why crafting warforged is broken---they're intelligent enough to be cohorts.

[Drakevarg]

When Warforged are created, though, they emerge blank and need to be trained for them to gain experience. I guess that's why crafting warforged is broken---they're intelligent enough to be cohorts.

Alternative idea: Warforged cannot gain any more class levels than it's creator's caster level at the time of it's creation. However, a Warforged can be upgraded past this limitation by someone with the Craft Construct feat and a higher caster level than the Warforged's creator.

[Marnath]

Generally the idea is that all warforged start at level 0 and are trained, like people. I don't think you could just create them as say level 8 fighters.
But that's not actual rules I guess, so go wild.

[Drakevarg]

Generally the idea is that all warforged start at level 0 and are trained, like people. I don't think you could just create them as say level 8 fighters.
But that's not actual rules I guess, so go wild.

That's why my alternative idea was that a creator with a CL of X is only so good at designing the "brain" of the Warforged, and so any Warforged created by them can only handle the complexity of X class levels. A more adept caster with Craft Construct can upgrade their "brain," however, allowing them to reach higher levels than their original limitation.

[Marnath]

That's why my alternative idea was that a creator with a CL of X is only so good at designing the "brain" of the Warforged, and so any Warforged created by them can only handle the complexity of X class levels. A more adept caster with Craft Construct can upgrade their "brain," however, allowing them to reach higher levels than their original limitation.

Ooohh, I see what you're saying. They'd be unable to pass level 8, not start at it. I like this idea!