The warforged are one of the playable fictional races of creatures in the Eberron campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

Publication history

The warforged first appeared in third edition for the Eberron setting as a player character race in the Eberron Campaign Setting (2004), which also introduced the warforged titan. The warforged appeared again as a player character race in Monster Manual III (2004), which introduced the warforged charger and the warforged scout. The warforged appeared once more as a player character race for the Eberron setting in Races of Eberron (2005). The psiforged appeared in Magic of Eberron (2005). The warforged scorpion and the quorcraft wargorged template appeared in Secrets of Xen'drik (2006). The warforged raptor appeared in Forge of War (2007).

Description

The warforged are a race of living, sentient constructs, superficially similar to golems. Warforged are composed of a blend of materials: predominantly stone, wood, and some type of metal. In Eberron, they were created by House Cannith in magical 'creation forges' to fight in the Last War, based on technology recovered from Xen'drik. When the Last War ended, they were given their freedom at the Treaty of Thronehold.

While they have no sex, warforged may adopt a gender role as part of their individual personality, particularly among recently constructed models who have spent more of their life mingling with other races. They do not age as the other races do, and with the first true warforged being created only 33 years ago it is not yet known what effects time will have on them; it is stipulated that, like all living creatures, their bodies must experience degradation over time. Like other races, warforged may take levels in any character class, but their starting age is uniquely lower for "complex" classes than for "simple" ones, as warforged with such skillsets were only developed recently.

Racial qualities and adjustments of the warforged were published in the Eberron Campaign Setting and later reprinted in Monster Manual III. Warforged are produced with their own armor and have various immunities, including to poison and disease. Healing spells have reduced effect on warforged, but a series of repair spells work fully on them. Besides the roughly human-sized and -shaped standard model, other published forms of warforged include:

  • merchurion (MM5) – massive, extremely powerful constructs of living quicksilver; in Eberron they are an ancient variety of warforged, though their origins in other settings vary.
  • quorcraft warforged (SoX) – various ancient models of warforged which are mindless but slightly stronger and sturdier than their modern counterparts.
  • warforged charger (MM3) – warforged that are larger than standard designed for brute strength, but have little intelligence.
  • warforged raptor (FoW) – warforged resembling giant birds or insects, designed for aerial bombardment; similar in construction to warforged titans.
  • warforged scout (MM3) – smaller versions of the standard warforged model, similar in size to halflings.
  • warforged scorpion (SoX) – warforged resembling giant scorpions created by the drow of Xen'drik since ancient times; similar in construction to warforged titans.
  • warforged titan (ECS) – massive constructs created in the early years of Cannith's warforged program; while they have limited problem-solving abilities which set them apart from mindless golems, they are not truly alive like later models.

Besides these base models, individual warforged may have unique features such as upgrading their standard armor plating to mithral or adamantine, building cognizance crystals (capacitors for psionic power) directly into their bodies, or adding extra attack forms such as spikes or fangs.

Warforged are also capable of modifying their bodies to some extent after construction, represented by prestige classes such as the warforged juggernaut

Geek & Sundry wrote "Winner of Wizards of the Coast’s Fantasy Setting Search contest in 2002, Eberron marries magic with steampunk’s technology, offering a world of elemental-powered airships, industrial nobility, and arcane tinkerers. [...] I dig the playable Warforged race, which puts you in the mind of a soldier drone seeking purpose (although their explicit maleness serves a pedantic point). If you want to sling spells in a tailored coat, check out Eberron".

References

Further reading

  • Polojac, John. "Arcane Upgrade: warforged Magic Items." Dragon #341 (Paizo, 2006).
  • Sehestedt, Mark, ed. Tales of the Last War. Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast, 2006.
  • Wizards of the Coast – Dragonshards: The warforged, Part One
  • Wizards of the Coast – Dragonshards: The warforged, Part Two