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Warforged

A warforged stands at the ready

"Warforged are constructs, but they are not machines. Warforged have bodies composed of both organic and inorganic material, and also of living magic. In this way, the body of every warforged combines technology and magic in a manner never before seen."

"Born from the strife of the Last War, warforged remain as constant reminders of that terrible time. The Treaty of Thronehold gave warforged their freedom, although only after great debate. Warforged were freed because they could exhibit thought and free will. All of them were adrift after the Treaty of Thronehold declared them free."

"The warforged live uneasily among the other races of the world, seeking to create a place for themselves. Warforged are resilient and powerful, but their difficulty in relating to other creatures makes them seem aloof or even hostile. Warforged are perennial outsiders, longing to be accepted but forever the 'other.'"

"Warforged were created to fight and trained to follow orders. Now lacking a war to win or a leader to follow, a warforged may revel in freedom and despise authority, look for someone to serve, or test the waters of freedom by carefully exceeding self-imposed boundaries."

"Some warforged embrace their construct nature and their warrior purpose. Others reject all ties to the past and seek experiences that they were not built to know. Most are lost somewhere between these extremes, trying to find a place in a world that wanted them only to fight and die, and now has no need of them."

"So warforged begin new lives in the aftermath of the Last War, taking up all kinds of professions and lifestyles. Some settle down in pastoral lands, taking up the simple lives of peasants and emulating their neighbors’ dress and habits. Others conclude that they cannot live as the other races do and drift from town to town, aimless wanderers in search of purpose."1

Description

Physique. Warforged stand between 6 and 7 feet tall and weigh on average 300 pounds. They're as heavy humanoids molded from a composite of materials—obsidian, iron, stone, darkwood, silver, and living wood—though they move with a surprising grace and flexibility. The body of a warforged is made of bundles of wooden spars covered in armor plating, topped by an underfeatured head. Their eyes are normally made of jewels that glows faintly, and their mouths speak without moving lips. Their hands tend to have three broad flat articulated fingers, likewise their feet have three broad toes. (Note that the construction of warforged varies widely, so any specific warforged may be different from the norm outlined here.)

Age. The first warforged were built 33 years ago. The mass production of warforged stopped 2 years ago. So a warforged can be at most 33 years old, and nearly all are 2 years old or older. As constructs warforged do not physically age.

Size. Your size is Medium. To set your height and weight randomly, start with rolling a size modifier:

Size modifier = 2d6
Height = 5 feet + 10 inches + your size modifier in inches
Weight = 270 pounds + (4 x your size modifier in pounds)

Suggested Names. Argent, Art, Ash, Aurora, Barbican, Bastion, Blades, Blue, Bright, Crank, Crucible, Dawn, Fortress, Gate, Glyph, Hedge, Holt, Malleus, Memory, Mithril, Parapet, Pauldron, Rampart, Redoubt, Retort, Root, Sigil, Sonnet, Spear, Steel, Stone, Thirteen, Toil, Tread, Void, Ward, Wheel, Winter, Wrought, Zephyr.

Racial Traits

Creature Type. Your creature type is Construct. Magical effects that target only humanoids do not affect you.

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Constructed Resilience. You were created to have remarkable fortitude, giving the following benefits:

  • You don't need to eat, drink, or breathe.
  • You are immune to disease, poison damage, and poison effects.
  • You don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to sleep. You do not dream, and are not susceptible to magical dream effects.

Stasis. Warforged don't truly sleep. Instead, they go into a stasis mode, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. They do not dream in this state, and cannot be affected by magic that uses dreams. After resting in this way, a warforged gains the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. A warforged in stasis does not have the Unconscious condition, and remains able to make Perception checks about their surroundings without disadvantage.

Effect of Healing Magic. When you suffer damage, it can be healed by a healing spell, healing features, and spells that repair objects or constructs. However, healing spells and healing features heal only half the specified number of hit points (round down, minimum 1) unless otherwise specified. This does not apply to hit points recovered using Hit Dice during short rests, or as a result of taking a long rest.

The spells repair damage, total repair, and comparable magic can heal you fully, as they're intended for constructs. To ensure your warforged character can be healed make sure you or a party member can cast the spell repair damage. It is on the Sorcerer, Wizard and Artificer spell lists.

Enhanced Stabilization. You stabilize automatically as soon as you succeed on one death save, rather than needing three.

Integrated Protection. Your body has built-in defensive layers, which can be enhanced with armor:

  • You gain a +l bonus to Armor Class.

  • You can don only armor with which you have proficiency. To don armor, you must incorporate it into your body over the course of 1 hour, during which you remain in contact with the armor. To doff armor, you must spend 1 hour removing it. You can rest while donning or doffing armor in this way.

  • While you live, your armor can't be removed from your body against your will.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common.

License. Content on this page is licensed under the CC0 1.0 Universal License, excluding quotes and images.

  1. Races of Eberron, pp.7-24, abridged and remixed ↩