The warforged were built to fight. While the first warforged were mindless automatons, resources were devoted to improve these steel soldiers. An unexpected breakthrough produced sapient soldiers, giving rise to what some have only grudgingly accepted as a new species. Warforged are made from wood and metal, but they can feel pain and emotion. Built as weapons, they must now find a purpose beyond war. A warforged can be a steadfast ally, a cold-hearted killer, or a visionary in search of meaning.
Quirks
Warforged often display an odd personality trait or two, given how new they are to the world. The Warforged Quirks table contains example quirks.
Warforged Quirks
d8 | Quirk |
---|---|
1 | You analyze—out loud—the potential threat posed by every creature you meet. |
2 | You often misread emotional cues. |
3 | You are fiercely protective of your friends. |
4 | You try to apply wartime discipline to every situation. |
5 | You don’t know how to filter your feelings and are prone to dramatic emotional outbursts. |
6 | You don’t understand clothing beyond its utility and assume it denotes a person’s function. |
7 | You are obsessed with your appearance and constantly polish and buff yourself. |
8 | War is the only thing that makes sense to you, and you’re always looking for a fight. |
Traits
Your warforged character has the following traits.
Creature type. You are a Construct.
Health. Your health increases by 10.
Size. Your size is Medium and you stand between 150 centimeters and 180 centimeters tall.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 5 meters.
Age. A typical warforged is between two and thirty years old. The maximum warforged lifespan remains a mystery; so far, warforged have shown no signs of deterioration due to age. You are immune to magical aging effects.
Darkvision. Your advanced artificially-designed eyes grant you superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 10 meters of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Constructed Resilience. You were created to have remarkable fortitude, represented by the following benefits:
- You have advantage on saving throws against being exhausted, being paralyzed, and being poisoned
- You have resistance to poison damage.
- You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.
- You are immune to disease.
- You don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep.
Standby. When you take a long rest, you must spend at least 4 hours in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but it doesn’t render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.
Integrated Protection. Your body has built-in defensive layers, which can be enhanced with armor:
- When you aren’t wearing armor, your Defense equals 13 + half your Aptitude Bonus (min 1) + your Dexterity (max 4).
- You can don 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 are proficient with Linguistics (Common) and Linguistics (one language of your choice).
Variant. Warforged are often created for a purpose. They come in three main variants: envoys, juggernauts, and skirmishers. Choose one of these variants.
Envoy
As an envoy,you were designed with a certain specialized function in mind. You might be an assassin, a healer, or an entertainer, to name a few possibilities. Envoys are the rarest of the warforged variants, and yours could be a unique design.
Specialized Design. You are proficient with Linguistics (one language of your choice) and you become capable with one skill of your choice.
Juggernaut
You’re an imposing war machine built for close combat and raw might. You tower over your comrades: juggernaut warforged stand between 180 and 210 centimeters in height and can weigh up to 200 kilos.
Iron Fists. You are capable with unarmed strikes. When you hit with an unarmed strike, you can deal 1d4 + your Strength bludgeoning damage, instead of the normal damage for an unarmed strike.
At 5th level, you become proficient with your unarmed strike.
At 9th level, the damage increases to 1d6 + your Strength.
Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Skirmisher
You were built to scout the edges of battle and outmaneuver your enemies. You are lean and designed for speed.
Swift. Your base walking speed increases to 6 meters.