Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Salla 08-11-05, 02:00 AM	Someone's trying an Eberron game out, and as usual, I'm stuck on what to play. That's the curse of being comfortable and capable of playing almost anything ... I can never make up my mind! The other three players are very likely going to play: A Changeling Rogue A Kalashtar Psion (probably Telepath) A Halfling Bard (dragonmarked, Jorasco) ... and I have no idea what to do. If you're after the 'big four' archetype, something that opens cans of various flavors of buttwhoop would seem like the logical choice. As far as race goes, I :love: Warforged, so that's my most likely race. As far as class goes, I'm pondering ... Fighter - Oddly enough, our group has rarely had a heavily armored greatsword tank running around as a character. Playing such would actually be *new*. We usually get a bunch of high-DEX rapier-finesse Fighter-Rogue combos. Paladin - The other players liked the idea, but I'm a bit wary. How easy (or hard) one plays a Paladin can depend very much on the DM's inclinations, and with the rest of the party likely being Chaotic, I'm afraid of some sore thumb syndrome and party incompatability. I've never played one, either. Monk - Possibly mixed with Cleric for Sacred Fist for a little backup healing. The Fist is one of those PrCs I've been itching to try ... as is the Tattooed Monk. Soulknife - A bit weak, but I like the idea of a character who can't be disarmed or have his armor removed. Cleric - We all know Clerics kick butt. 'Nuff said. Plus, more healing is usually a good thing. So many choices ... so, what do you all think?
a_psh 08-11-05, 03:11 AM	I think a warforged paladin might be fun to explore. I'd picture them as a bit more introverted than most paladins. Or perhaps a fighter/cleric (perhaps going for exorcist of the Silver Flame, if that suits you and the campaign)? (paladin/cleric or just straight cleric work well, too, of course... actually, I think WF are great candidates for the paladin/fighter - with heavy emphasis on the fighter, of course - builds). Here I should trot out my primary rule for playing a PC with strong morals in a party without them: Be useful. Be friendly. Be courteous. Be honestly happy with your party members. Treat them as much-loved friends. Make sure they value you, respect you, and like you. Then, when they do bad things, don't criticise them. Don't berate them. Don't tell them they're wrong every time they transgress. Just suffer quietly. Just make it clear that they've made your character sad without doing anything to hurt them or reprimand them. It'll make them realize their actions are hurtful, but, unlike Angry Good, they can't lash out at you in response. Sure, you're just guilting their characters from a meta perspective, but you're being very kind and friendly and forgiving in character, and there's no way that they'll be able to stand by and watch you suffer deeply because of their actions for very long. I think WF naturally lends itself to this kind of "quiet devotion" style, actually. Or, hmm, ever consider a WF psychic warrior? Built right, you can tank well. Also, you can heal yourself, which is quite useful if you don't have an artificer. A friend of mine played this in my campaign, actually; it was absolutely beautiful when he used augmented expansion to bring himself to Huge size in order to face down a Warforged Titan on its own terms.
Kamikaze Chicken 08-11-05, 03:12 AM	Id say go tank with this one. You have a bard, and he will need some one to sing great songs of. Take the warforged fighter racial substitution levels, you loose bonus fighter feats but get a free warforged feet at 2nd and at first ya get battle hardened, great in combat situations. Then get yourself the biggest weapon you dare carry. I'm partial to the Maul myself. 2handed martial weapon one handed exotic, 1d10 damage x3 crit on a 20. nice peice for smashing in the skulls of anything that got in your way. Adamantine body is a must for the tank aswell. Im sure you know all of this allready obviously you heart warforged and all. but this is my two pents on the fourth member for yalls group. If you want to focus on the slam attack of the warforged tank, there was another thread floating around about a warforge donly using his natural weapons and it was rather scary looking damage wise. didnt mean to sound liek the preacher preaching to the choir. Kamikaze!
Just another user 08-11-05, 03:50 AM	The warforged paladin is quicly becoming a cliche, like the halfling rogue, the elf wizard and the half-orc barbarian. ;) Why don't try an warforged ranger? I like the idea of a warforged trying to get more in touch with nature, without the extremeness of the druid (and the rule problems than the druid give like, if I polymorph in an animal would healing work normally for a warforged? And I lose or keep my construct traits?).
Steelpunk 08-11-05, 03:59 AM	Try a warforged artificer with the racial substitution levels from RoE (if the DM allows them). One of my players had one, and he claimed it was the funnest character he'd played in fifteen years. Being able to infuse his own body was also pretty nifty. Once he got comfortable with the newness of the artificer class, he later took a few levels of fighter and became a powerhouse - and the party adored him.
Nurgan_the_drunked 08-11-05, 04:35 AM	One concept I was tempted by, and only works with Eberron rules (feel free to kick me if I misinterpretted) is a corrupt clergy, who puts on his best "goodly righteousness" act to the world, but is really one mean, cruel, selfish scumbag when he can get away with it. But Warforged tanks are far too cool to turn down. Especially if they're played as more than just a mindless death machine.
Cordus 08-11-05, 06:47 AM	Another idea is one I have been kicking around. Large Greataxe weilding Half-Giant psycic warrior from XPH. Add in Psionic Lion's charge, powerful charge and greater powerful charge and you have a great damage dealer. PW also have some good access to buffs/armor bonus type powers. In the ECS it does talk about some rare clans of giants near and tradiing in Stormreach in Xendrix, so the concept is not impossible. Just needs some background work.
Arden Blackleaf 08-11-05, 07:29 AM	Warforged Paladin all the way! Ah a useful piece of advice for playing Paladin is. Remember you stand for Good yes, but you also stand for Lawfulness, way to many Paladins seems to favor one part of there alignment over the other, don't.* Strike a balance between the two. and your set.
Sieylianna 08-11-05, 07:39 AM	My suggestion is to think about where you are going to get healing. If you're the main combatant of the group, you're going to take damage and no one can cast repair damage. The halfling bard can give you cure wounds spells, but the halved effectiveness and the fact that bards are less capable than clerics at healing means the group is likekly to be seriously hindered. Ed
pinky_si 08-11-05, 07:57 AM	One concept I was tempted by, and only works with Eberron rules (feel free to kick me if I misinterpretted) is a corrupt clergy, who puts on his best "goodly righteousness" act to the world, but is really one mean, cruel, selfish scumbag when he can get away with it. But Warforged tanks are far too cool to turn down. Especially if they're played as more than just a mindless death machine. Another route to take with a cleric is the "Lucifer Jones" option (for those of you who've read the eponymous novel(s) by Mike Resnick). Definitely a CG outlook on the world, so you'd fit in with the general worldview of the party, but with a more personal (and less evil) interpretation of the teachings of whichever church you sign up to. this would allow you to synnergise in-character with the rogue's outlook, while giving you the meta option of being able to substitute as tank/healer. "Why, yes ma'am I am taking donations for the Silver Flame... I'm setting up a mission to exercise those damn lycanthropes, and belive me them heathens take a lot of exercising with their ungodly constitution an all, so what better way than a racetrack - beats hell out of watching greyhounds anyday and, with the bets that the faithful can place, allows me an' the lord to put a little aside for a rainy day as well." :D
Splendide 08-11-05, 08:09 AM	Yeah, go the greatsword wielding fighter/ranger. As for race, strangely enough, I'm going to recommend playing a gnome. :D Nothing better than a civil, helpful and friendly fellow that just happens to be able to kill things four times his size in a single blow.
a_psh 08-11-05, 02:39 PM	Hmm... I'm gonna emphasize psychic warrior for a warforged, I think. You can heal and buff yourself like a fox, taking a bit of the pressure off of the bard (though, as the tank, make sure he buffs you up nicely), get some pointers from the kalashtar psion, and outshine the fighter in big battles (though your endurance is a bit worse, yes). And, just how did you get those mysterious psychic powers in the first place? Warforged ranger is also pretty awesome, I think. Perhaps a weapon-and-shield (using the shield to bash, of course) build?
Salla 08-11-05, 03:59 PM	Hmm. Does Body Adjustment work at full strength on a Warforged, or does it get halved?
Beleriphon 08-11-05, 04:07 PM	Hmm. Does Body Adjustment work at full strength on a Warforged, or does it get halved? Its one of those wonderful thing that isn't a healing subschool so its gets full power.
a_psh 08-11-05, 04:24 PM	<BLATANT FALSEHOOD>Body adjustment works at full power</BLATANT FALSEHOOD>. As do the empathic healing abilities. Hostile empathic transfer, which is very limited but very potent, is probably the best choice for battlefield healing. Though it takes longer to qualify, PsyWar/Juggernaut is an attractive option because you can tank insanely but don't suffer the support problems (like limited healing) that most Juggernauts get stuck with. Mithril's actually a pretty viable alternative for a psychic warrior, by the way, as you can use powers to give yourself similar or better DR while being able to benefit from Speed of Thought and the like. I'm rather fond of the idea of a wall-running, high-speed, super-jumping warforged. (It would be appropriate, though uncouth, to shout "Robot ninja!!!" at this point.)
Cutlass 08-11-05, 04:36 PM	IMHO warforged cry out to be either single or multi-classed artificers. Having a level or two of artificer is the easiest way to get your warforged the ability to heal and buff himself. I would recommend either a fighter/artificer or a ranger/artificer. If you go ranger/artificer you will need to get the mithril body feat as opposed to the adamantine body feat. However, depending on how you are generating your stats realize that: Adamantine Body + 12 Dexterity = AC 19, AC vs touch 11 Mithril body + 16 Dexterity = AC 18, AC vs touch 13. The low AC vs touch attacks is the Achilles' heel of the adamantine tank build.
Salla 08-11-05, 05:16 PM	Thanks for all the input, everybody. Regrettably, I've discarded the Paladin idea, as I really dislike mounted combat and I'd rather not have to sit on a class feature I'll never use. Healing might not actually be that big a problem since the Bard has Use Magic Device has a class skill; useful for general purposes anyway, all we really need is a Wand of Repair (X) Wounds and I'm in business. ;) Fighter-Artificer does sound fun ... (Lord of Blades: "I shall call him ... mini-me.")
Cordus 08-11-05, 05:21 PM	Its one of those wonderful thing that isn't a healing subschool so its gets full power. Actually according to XPH page 81 Body Adjustment is a Psychometabolism (Healing) power. Sounds like healing subschool to me.
a_psh 08-11-05, 05:28 PM	One absolutely lovely thing about fighter-artificer is how easy it is to subdue your enemies instead of killing them, thanks to Weapon Augmentation (merciful). Bane-ifying things rocks, too, of course. Though you're burning action points, Personal Weapon Augmentation is an absolutely lovely way to turn a fighter into a veritable Swiss Army Knife, ready for any situation at a moment's notice.
a_psh 08-11-05, 05:36 PM	Actually according to XPH page 81 Body Adjustment is a Psychometabolism (Healing) power. Sounds like healing subschool to me. *checks* You, sir, are more observant than I am. Body Purification (the ability damage remover) also suffers from this prolbem. All the more reason to buff up instead of healing. Fortunately, the Empathic Feedback and Hostile Empathic Transfer powers are not healing powers (though they are mind-affecting Telepathy powers, which somewhat limits what opponents you can use them on).
Altaris13 08-11-05, 05:41 PM	If you're interested in a tank build for a 'forged, go all Artificer. With adamantine body & a shield, my arti has about a 30 AC at level 8. Heal yourself if you ever get hit, buff ability for yourself & others, it works awesome. If you /really/ need to mow down your enemies, you can always add in a level of fighter or two. OR you can go the blastificer route.
getyourspotusa 08-11-05, 11:11 PM	a_psh, just wanted to say, i LOVE your idea about the suffering WF paladin. I'm gonna use that. Awesome. :bow:
Salla 08-12-05, 12:17 AM	If you're interested in a tank build for a 'forged, go all Artificer. With adamantine body & a shield, my arti has about a 30 AC at level 8. Heal yourself if you ever get hit, buff ability for yourself & others, it works awesome. If you /really/ need to mow down your enemies, you can always add in a level of fighter or two. OR you can go the blastificer route. I'm torn on either Artificer 2 or Artificer 1/Fighter 1 (starting at 2nd level). Fighter gets me MUCH better weaponry, but gets me fewer infusions and item creations ... can't decide!
anarco_rata 08-12-05, 12:33 AM	The problem with the artificer is that your group doesn't have a decent melee fighter. I think that if you fight a creature with SR and high AC (not that likely, but it could happen) and you use the psionics=than magic rule, then your party is doomed. I like the idea of a Psionic warrior better, maybe one or two levels on artificer later in your carreer can prove usefull. As always to a warforged
Salla 08-12-05, 12:50 AM	The problem with the artificer is that your group doesn't have a decent melee fighter. I think that if you fight a creature with SR and high AC (not that likely, but it could happen) and you use the psionics=than magic rule, then your party is doomed. I like the idea of a Psionic warrior better, maybe one or two levels on artificer later in your carreer can prove usefull. As always to a warforged This is true, though I think a buffed and equipped Artificer might be able to keep pace (rather like the way Clerics rely on buffs rather than feats to whoop butt). A few wands with the Complete Arcane orb spells (not affected by SRs) or having the telepath pick up Crystal Shard (ditto) might be necessities, though, I definitely admit.
a_psh 08-12-05, 02:18 AM	a_psh, just wanted to say, i LOVE your idea about the suffering WF paladin. I'm gonna use that. Awesome. :bow: I think one of the "____ with Class" articles said something similar. I don't know why, but I'm really fond of kind, compassionate, unassuming, forgiving, and long-suffering divine casters... with backbones of steel.
Beleriphon 08-12-05, 02:40 AM	Actually according to XPH page 81 Body Adjustment is a Psychometabolism (Healing) power. Sounds like healing subschool to me. And thats my mama..... Guess that'll learn me to not check my source books while at work. :embarrass
Salla 08-16-05, 04:44 PM	It just occured to me ... This is the first 3.X game I've ever played in where someone (usually me) wasn't playing a rare-by-the-fluff-text race/class combination.