Warforged

Warforged appear as massive humanoids molded from a composite of materials—obsidian, iron, stone, darkwood, silver, and organic material—though they move with a surprising grace and fl exibility. Flexible plates connected by fibrous bundles make up the body of a warforged, topped by a mostly featureless head.

The warforged face loosely resembles their human creator’s, though they have a toothless jaw, heavy brow line and are lacking noses. Each warforged has a “ghulra” engraved upon their foreheads. Each of these runes are unique to each warforged, giving them a sense of individuality.

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 customized armor, built-in weaponry, and other enhancements to their physical form help to differentiate one warforged from another.

Warforged can have unique personality traits, though, as they are constructs, those are restricted in some ways. They experience anger, pain, fear, and hatred like their human creators. All warforged naturally seem reserved, stoic, and pensive, hiding an array of emotions behind their inexpressive metallic faces. Their faces were not designed to display facial expressions, so it can seem like they are distant to the conversation. Despite their lack of physical facial expressions, they’re not completely without them, as their eyes tend to brighten when experiencing strong or specific emotions. Some warforged have their faces modified to be more expressive for their companion’s comfort, but these expressions are learned rather than natural and often appear stilted and awkward.

Some warforged can be incredibly naive and lack a sense of introspection. However, many others are the opposite and question their existence, they wonder if, as constructs, they have souls, and ask what becomes of them in the after life. The more intelligent warforged create complex philosophies about what they perceive and learn. Though warforged can show loyalty to religions and organizations, typically they become loyal to a small group of comrades.

Warforged often have little life experience as they have spent most of their time working towards one specific duty, usually soldiering. If there is one interest all warforged share it is their love of working and the satisfaction of a job well done. Many create endless lists of goals and chores to feed that feeling. They take pride in their work and can work incredibly hard, both traits that make them dislike idleness and failure.

Warforged can excel at most tasks, having a single-minded efficiency, especially in combat related roles. But this same single-mindedness can often translate to a lack of creativity and they can be easily surprised or “outflanked.”

As the warforged strive to find a place in society for themselves after the Last War, they simultaneously struggle to fi nd ways to relate to the races that created them. In general, the humanoid races of Khorvaire regard the warforged as an unpleasant reminder of the brutality of the Last War and avoid dealing with them when possible.

In Thrane and Karrnath, 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 the rest of Khorvaire, they have freedom but sometimes find themselves the victims of discrimination, hard-pressed to fi nd 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 Traits

  • Ability Score Increase. Your Strength and Constitution scores increase by 1.
  • Size. Warforged are generally broader and heavier than humans. Your size is Medium.
  • Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
  • Composite Plating. Your construction incorporates wood and metal, granting you a +1 bonus to Armor Class.
  • 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 other language of your choice.
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