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Warforged
The technology used to create warforged began with the methods used to create mindless constructs. Although true sentience was a goal, there was little thought given to what the effects of sentience would be or how to best prepare those minds for their new existence.
At the moment of a warforgeds first awakening it has no knowledge of the world, no understanding of falsehood, and no feelings about good or evil. Lies told to it then might be considered truth forever, or at least until disproved.
Living Constructs
Warforged appear as massive humanoids molded from a composite of materials — obsidian, iron, stone, darkwood, silver, and organic — though they move with a surprising grace and flexibility. Flexible plates connected by fibrous bundles make up the body of a warforged, topped by a mostly featureless head.
Warforged need little to survive: not sleep, food, or even air to breathe. Warforged need only shelter from extremes of cold and heat, and to repair damage done to their bodies. With such minimal requirements, one might think a warforged could travel to a temperate climate and then do nothing but simply exist, standing in place like a statue. Yet warforged are thinking creatures, and as such they require activities to occupy their thoughts.
Warforged have no physical distinction of gender; all of them have a basically muscular, sexless body shape. In personality, some warforged seem more masculine or feminine, but different people might judge the same warforged in different ways.
The warforged themselves seem unconcerned with matters of gender. They do not age naturally, though their bodies do decay slowly even as their minds improve through learning and experience.
Unique among constructs, warforged have learned to modify their bodies through magic and training. Many warforged are adorned with heavier metal plates than those their creator originally endowed them with. This customised armor, built-in weaponry, and other enhancements to their physical form help to differentiate one warforged from another.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT
although warforged are tireless physically,
they are still subject to mental fatigue, just as
other races are. Too much time spent
concentrating on the same mental task is
wearying to them, and this is one of the primary
motivations behind their wish to change tasks every few
hours — to keep their minds occupied.
— Doctor, A Guide to Warforged Physiology
Born to Fight
The Warforged were made to fight in The War, and they continue to fulfill their purpose with distinction. They fight fiercely and usually without remorse, displaying adaptability impossible for mindless constructs.
Now that the war has ended, the Warforged seek to adapt to life in this era of relative peace. Some have settled easily into new roles as artisans or laborers, while others wander as adventurers or even continue fighting in The War despite the return of peace.
Built as mindless machines to fight in The War, the Warforged developed sentience as a side effect of the arcane experiments that sought to make them the ultimate weapons of destruction. With each successive model that emerged from the creation forges, the warforged evolved until they became a new kind of creature — living constructs.
Warforged are renowned for their combat prowess, their size, and their single-minded focus. They make steadfast allies and fearsome enemies. Earlier warforged models are true constructs; some of these remnants of The War appear in monstrous varieties, such as the warforged titan.
Comrades are those who work or fight alongside the warforged on a consistent basis. The term “comrade” is a label that a warforged uses to indicate that experience. Warforged feel camaraderie for a group or individual after going through trying times, but it is only now, among the humanoids in peaceful times, that warforged are beginning to understand the concept of true friendship.
Struggle for Freedom
Freedom is wonderful, but it can also be terrifying. Warforged were created to fight and trained to follow orders; lacking a war to win or a leader to follow, many warforged are intimidated by the possibilities of freedom and seek comfort in roles where expectations are clear.
As the warforged strive to find a place in society for themselves after The War, they simultaneously struggle to find ways to relate to the races that created them. In general, the humanoid races regard the warforged as an unpleasant reminder of the brutality of The War and avoid dealing with them when possible.
To some, the warforged are still seen as the property of the military forces that paid to have them built, and most warforged in those nations serve as slave labor, often used to repair buildings and roads damaged or destroyed in the war.
Throughout certain lands they have freedom, but sometimes find themselves the victims of discrimination, hard-pressed to find work or any kind of acceptance.
Most warforged, not being particularly emotional creatures, accept their struggles and servitude with equanimity, but others seethe with resentment against all other races as well as those warforged whose only desire is to please their “masters.”
Warforged Names
Warforged do not name themselves and only recently have begun to understand the need of other races to have names for everything. Many accept whatever names others see fit to give them, and warforged traveling with humans often are referred to by nicknames.
Some warforged, however, have come to see having a name as a defining moment of their new existence, and thus search long and hard for the perfect name to attach to themselves.
Warforged Nicknames: Baker, Bender, Beast, Bulwark, Buddy, Blank, Cart, Clanker, Dog, Friend, Golem, Gearhead, Horse, Metalhead, Ratchet, Prodigy, Protector, Pal, Rust Bucket, Sentinel, Sentry, Servant, Slave, Soldier, Tinman, War Doctor, Warrior, Watcher.
Warforged Traits
Your Warforged character has the following racial traits.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Strength or Dexterity score increases by 1.
Age. A Warforged is built complete and considered physically fully developed after construction. They do not age.
Alignment. Warforged are generally neutral. Though they are perfectly capable of independent thought and understanding of morality, most choose not to wrestle with ethical ideals.
Size. An average Warforged stands between 5 and 7 feet tall and weighs between 200 and 400 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Built for a purpose. You gain 7 upgrade points, which you spend on upgrading your Warforged.
Integrated Armor. You can integrate armor on to your body as long as you are proficient with it. Donning and Doffing integrated armor is done over a period of long rest, requiring Smith's tools or the mending cantrip. Integrated armor does not count towards your carrying capacity.
Living Construct. 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.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice. Warforged typically learn the languages of their creators.
Warforged Upgrades
Innately Magical Construct
You were built with the innate ability to perform incredible feats that can only be rivaled by magic. You can select this upgrade more than once, up to a maximum of two times.
You learn one of the following cantrips: Lightning Lure, Mending, Message, and Shocking Grasp. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for these cantrips.
This upgrade costs 2 points.
Internal Storage Compartments
You were created with one or more internal storage compartments of varying sizes.
Objects can be stored and retrieved with a bonus action, as long as they could reasonably fit within you. You have advantage on any checks made to hide the existence of these compartments, and they can't be forced open while you are conscious. You can retrieve ammunition from your storage compartments as part of your attack action with a ranged weapon.
This upgrade costs 1 point. You can spend 1 additional point to select the Integrated Armaments option.
Integrated Armaments. When you use a bonus action to retrieve an object from your storage compartments, you can instead retrieve up to two objects, placing up to one in each hand. When you do so you can store any objects held in one or both hands. You cannot be disarmed of either of these retrieved objects while conscious if they are either a weapon without the heavy property or a shield, and they cannot be dropped.
Lantern
You are capable of emitting light like a lantern. The source of light within you could be emitted from an area such as your eyes, palm, chest, or the general cracks between the armor plating that covers your body.
You can shine a wide bright light in a 15-foot radius, and dim light for an additional 15 feet. You can switch to shining a focused bright light in a 30-foot cone, and dim light for an additional 30 feet. You can control your lights without using an action, such as dimming them, turning them off, or switching between wide and focused. This light is innate and does not require fuel.
This upgrade costs 2 points. You can spend 1 additional point to double the range of your lights.
Mobile
Your body was designed to traverse terrain with ease.
You gain a swimming speed or a climbing speed equal to your walking speed, or your base walking speed becomes 35 feet. You can select this upgrade more than once, each time you do so you must pick a different option.
This upgrade costs 2 points.
Powerful
Your body was constructed for great feats of strength. You count as one size larger for the purpose of carrying, lifting, pushing, and dragging.
This upgrade costs 2 points.
Resistant
Your body was enhanced to be resistant to a specific type of damage. Pick one damage resistance from the following options. You can select this upgrade more than once, up to a maximum of two times.
Rare. You gain resistance to Radiant or Thunder damage. This option costs 2 points.
Uncommon. You gain resistance to Acid, Cold, Lightning, or Necrotic damage. This option costs 3 points.
Common. You gain resistance to Fire or Poison damage. This option costs 4 points. If you pick poison, you can spend 1 additional point to gain advantage on all saving throws against poison.
Small
You were designed to be small, perhaps in the image of your creators. You stand between 2'6 and 4' feet tall and weigh between 50 and 200 pounds. Your Size is Small.
This upgrade is free and can only be selected when you create your Warforged. It cannot be removed.
Tough
Your armor was built to last. Your hit point maximum increases by an amount equal to your level. Whenever you gain a level thereafter, your hit point maximum increases by an additional hit point.
This upgrade costs 5 points.
Trained Mind
Your creators have trained you to be proficient in a particular area or fluent in a particular language. This upgrade can be selected more than once, up to a maximum of four times.
Skill. You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice. This upgrade costs 3 points the first time it is chosen. Whenever you select this upgrade thereafter, the cost is 2 points.
Tool, Instrument, or Gaming Set. You gain proficiency in one tool, instrument, or gaming set of your choice. This upgrade costs 1 point.
Language. You gain fluency in one language of your choice. This upgrade costs 1 point.
VARIANT UPGRADES
Your Dungeon Master might allow you to select one or more of these variant upgrades.
Composite Plating
This provides an optional equivalent to the Warforged from Unearthed Arcana: Eberron.
Your racial trait Integrated Armor is replaced with Composite Plating, giving you a +1 bonus to your Armor Class, and your speed is reduced by 10 feet.
This upgrade costs 7 points.
Self-Stabilising
This provides an optional equivalent to the Warforged made by Keith Baker
When you make a death saving throw you add your proficiency bonus to the roll.
This upgrade costs 2 points. You should spend your remaining 5 points on resistance to poison damage and advantage on poison saving throws, though your Dungeon Master might not require you to do so.
Slow
This provides a downgrade option to the warforged, giving them more flexibility.
See Downgrades.
You were not designed for speed, you're slower than most other warforged. You can select this downgrade twice, and only when you create your character. It cannot be removed.
Your movement speed is reduced by 5 feet. This downgrade gives you 2 points.
Feats
If your DM allows feats from Chapter 6 of the Player's Handbook, your warforged character has access to the following feats.
Warforged Resolve
Prerequisite: Warforged
You gain 3 points of Resolve, which you regain at the end of a long rest. You can spend 1 point of Resolve to power one of the following abilities:
- When you make a Death saving throw and fail, you can ignore it.
- When you would make a Wisdom saving throw, you can make a Constitution saving throw instead.
- When you make a Constitution saving throw but before being told the outcome of your roll, you can roll one more time. You must take the new roll.
Warforged Physiology
Prerequisite: Warforged
You have spent some time tinkering and adjusting your body to fit your adventuring needs.
- Increase your Constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
- You gain 5 upgrade points.
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Additional Information
For Dungeon Masters
Upgrades
Increasing or decreasing the number of upgrade points that the Warforged start with directly affects its power. Before doing this consider what configurations would become limited or available based on the new point total.
Instead of adjusting the number of upgrade points available to this race you should consider removing Integrated Armor and increasing the point total by 1, or make an upgrade into a racial trait and reduce the point total by that upgrade's cost to adjust the Warforgeds flexibility, and indirectly, its power.
Several upgrades specify limitations on how many times they can be selected. You might consider increasing or ignoring these limitations when a warforged character earns new upgrades, or as a reward.
Downgrades
Giving a warforged the ability to make themselves weaker in one area to make themselves stronger in another is a way of giving players more control over their customisation. This is not recommended as it incentivises min-maxing.
The variant upgrades Composite Plating and Slow showcase this effect.
Adventuring
Whether a warforged can remove any of its upgrades and how it can do so is up to you. You should consider allowing it when a warforged character picks the Warforged Physiology feat, which might have additional costs or time constraints involved. It's recommended that the removal of downgrades should not be allowed, as it represents an investment in a warforgeds weakness to become powerful elsewhere.
Rewards
Handing out upgrades instead of magic items to a warforged character is a great way to reward them. Warforged get as much use out of magic items as any other race but consider if these magic items would overlap with possible upgrades.
You can find further examples of upgrades and downgrades by looking at the Detect Balance resource.
Certain magic items can be handed out as an enhancement for existing upgrades. For instance, a Lantern of Revealing (DMG, pg. 179) could be used to enhance a warforged's Lantern upgrade so that they gain the ability to view invisible creatures and objects.
Make-A-Warforged
Created by Zephilinox, August 2017 Version 2 Warforged know that humans were their creators, and it’s difficult for them to forget that. How a warforged handles that association depends on the individual, but most warforged at least respect humanity’s potential and drive.
Credits
Artwork
1st & 4th Page, Stains (/u/AeronDrake) 1st Page, Ironman (PathOfDawn) 3rd Page, Warforged (Unknown) 4th Page, Tower (Resonance of Fate)
Content
Eberron Campaign (Keith Baker) Detect Balance (Eleazzaar) Races of Eberron
Special Thanks
Bagel (/u/VampireBagel_) GenuineBelieverer (/u/GenuineBelieverer) IrishBandit (/u/IrishBandit) Kais_117 (/u/Kais_117) Kryxx (/u/Kryxx) Layhnet (/u/layhnet) Lobster Dog (/u/lobstaris) Mctoomin (/u/McToomin27) Morgrath (/u/morgrath) Watswrong (/u/Watswrong)
The Discord of Many Things The Homebrewery (/u/stolksdorf) The Unearthed Arcana Subreddit
Detect Balance Score
Trait Cost Ability Score Increase 12 Built for a Purpose 7 Integrated Armor 1 Living Construct 8 Total 28
