Humanoforged Warforged [Archive] - Wizards Community

Humanoforged Warforged [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Charles Phipps
04-06-05, 09:24 PM I'm working on developing a concept that I introduced early in my game that is becoming sort of an interesting part of my campaign world and I was curious if I could get some feedback for it.

In my campaigns, I forego Ressurection Tables. There's ways of ressurecting the dead but it goes well beyond the artifices of House Jorasco and often times would require something epic like journeying to the Realm of the Dead. Regeneration, let alone Clone is also extremely rare (though I've hinted the later exists as one of many 'forbidden' technologies, the former is the province of saints)

I put a heavier emphasis on cybernetics and the constructs of eberron though than canon with plenty of people operating with false arms, false eyes, and plenty more who can afford it.

One of the most interesting things I did for my campaign is borrowed from "Ghost in the Shell" in the form of full replacement bodies that were created during the last part of the war. Basically, that a great general had his brain transferred to an artificial body from his corpse.

It was a big hit with the players who thought the idea had disturbing ramifications.

In this campaign environment I'm considering doing "humanoforged" to help blur the lines of archano-tech and humanity. Basically, that some artificers have been investigating the possibility of doing humanlike constructs and also effectively dangling the carrot that warforged can be altered to look more human and perhaps even enjoy the pleasures of being human.

This would be an extraordinarily expensive procedure and I'm thinking highly illegal, largely the bigotry in place strikes me that many would deeply resent warforged trying to become more human....perhaps even viewing it as mockery or unnatural.

I'm wondering how expensive though and how many Canniths might know this procedure once its done because I can imagine many warforged intending to save for as long as their possibly immortal lives (none have died of old age yet at least) as it takes to get it done.

The Bladerunner post inspired me to also consider heavy actions from places like Sharn where its likely possible to hunt down those who get it.

What do you all suggest? recommend?
the.eberron.traveler
04-06-05, 09:51 PM Well first of all, I think the "I've seen RoE" thread has something about a warforged prestige class that makes them embrace their living nature, sort of like an opposite of the juggernaut. So you may have something like what you're looking for fairly soon.

Besides that, since further creation of warforged has been outlawed, all of your scenarios will probably be illegal as well.

I guess you could have artificers making more human-like warforged. You can probably have Merrix d'Cannith do that, and can probably make it into a nice scenario. Have Merrix continue to bolster the 'forged community in Sharn, pumping out new ones and helping them establish themselves, only to then get new goodies from Xen'drik that allow him to focus on producing human-like warforged. Maybe then the old ones feel neglected and betrayed, and try to avenge themselves.

But anyway, about the artificial body thing, you still have to be alive to transfer right? That's what happens in GitS, and the only thing that makes sense... transferring one's conscience or brain to another body is one thing, bringing it back after it's disappeared to put it into an artificial body is another.
Charles Phipps
04-06-05, 09:55 PM But anyway, about the artificial body thing, you still have to be alive to transfer right? That's what happens in GitS, and the only thing that makes sense... transferring one's conscience or brain to another body is one thing, bringing it back after it's disappeared to put it into an artificial body is another.

Yes and no.

I use the -10 rule with it. As long as you transfer the brain out of the body before -10 damage is sustained and presumably have some kind of brain case, then its possible to raise them from the dead.

It allows it to serve as the ressurection substitute that its supposed to be plus also

"They saved hitler's bRAINNNNNNn...." type adventures

Thus players have to guard the villains bodies for 10 minutes or so til they're sure he's toast.
the.eberron.traveler
04-06-05, 09:58 PM I see. Yeah, that makes sense. After all, when above -10 you're only supposed to be bleeding, unconscious and dying, not dead. But they don't actually have to stick around for 10 minutes... 1 is enough (10 rounds), or they can just cut him up pretty well to make sure he goes below -10. OR, if they're ready to get messy, they can just make sure the brain itself is irretrievable.
Charles Phipps
04-06-05, 10:04 PM I see. Yeah, that makes sense. After all, when above -10 you're only supposed to be bleeding, unconscious and dying, not dead. But they don't actually have to stick around for 10 minutes... 1 is enough (10 rounds), or they can just cut him up pretty well to make sure he goes below -10. OR, if they're ready to get messy, they can just make sure the brain itself is irretrievable.

True enough.

The Brain cases are a easy to make preservation thing, I'm wondering what level to assign to make them.

House Cannith actually in my games has entire rooms filled with brains in jars of people whom they may WANT to ressurect someday.

Of course, my House Cannith is always up to something nefarious and looking for a way to recoup their construct markets after the warforged are destroyed.

I have alot of "Red Steel" material and things like humanoforged were just easily thought of

Especially with Ghost in the Shell 2 "Ghost dubbing" cute girl constructs and other evils.
3nigma
04-07-05, 02:08 AM I actually like this idea a lot, and usually I hate this kind of stuff, hehe.

I love game stuff that will touch on a level of eerie creepiness in the players.

If you don't mind, I think I may like to use this idea at higher levels in my campaign :angelhide

-3nigma
Gnome_Dragon_Disciple
04-07-05, 02:08 AM As far as brains in jars go, there's a nasty baddie in Libris Mortis called just that: Brain in A Jar. It's on the website, I believe... it might be a good groundwork for something to start with when looking into the magics and processes needed to preserve brains for implantation into shells.

Sort of on the same vein, a player of mine made one of the most interresting characters I've ever seen today: A Lawful Good Warforged Necromancer of Cyre. The character was built (literally) to be a necromancer, but while the warforged's makers could implant magical knowledge, they could not create the 'forged with a specific allignment so as to prevent issues with what it would have to do. After creation, he was handed a spellbook full of some of the most vile, nasty, evil spells of the school of necromancy and evocation and told to do the right thing and use his magic for the benefit of Cyre... to do the good thing by committing unspeakable evils.

However, with the war ended, he now has time to rest... and consider what it is to be alive. With his uncanny understanding of the forces that make life what it is, he is starkly aware that he has no "flesh", no metabolic processes, and yet he is "alive". But why? What constitutes a soul? Where is the soul located? Where is it that he has sent so many souls over the course of the Last War? Where did HIS soul come from, when his makers can only account for the raw materials?

Yes, he is an existentialist warforged.
Charles Phipps
04-07-05, 02:28 AM Yes, the "House of Brains" was a disgusting side adventure.

House Cannith had their members roaming the battlefields whenever possible to put heads in jars and blame them on goblins or whatnot. House Cannith then privately had houses cased post-the war in order to see if the family was willing to pay to have the member put back to life (occasionally they indicated that they'd happily accept money to NOT put him back to life). When they don't feel inclined to doing so, they simply plug in the brains and demand whatever information they can get about their houses or family for the vague promise of rebirth.

Then one of their more greedy "Brain Jar cleaners" got fracking greedy and grabbed a bunch in a bag of holding. He intends to ransom them back to House Cannith but they're just sending assassin after assassin after him but for whatever reason (largely its because the Lord of Blades intends to take the bag of great generals and whatnot he intends to put in constructs for his own army) he keeps surviving.

House Cannith is TERRIFIED of what would happen should the contents of the bag come to life to the public at large. In the end the Lord of Blades is presented the bag of brains by the PCs under the guise of a journalist (The Lord of Blades routinely switches his 'spirit' through constructs in my game so that he's often there and the PCs never know it).

The Lord of Blades uses his own forge to make plenty of shells for those sympathetic to his cause and keeps the rest as Black Mail on House Cannith which has promised him a hefty discount on constructs from his point on.

The PCs are still waiting for the story to break.

Another adventure was where PCs were hired by House Cannith to find a dead body with a very necromatic solution that will raise the head of a person as a undead creature that they hope their family won't notice the sudden negative personality traits of if they put it in a construct body.

The problem is they're not SURE where he died EXACTLY.

Plenty of other people are willing to pay for it too.

It was inspired oddly by "Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia."

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Charles Phipps 04-06-05, 09:24 PM	I'm working on developing a concept that I introduced early in my game that is becoming sort of an interesting part of my campaign world and I was curious if I could get some feedback for it. In my campaigns, I forego Ressurection Tables. There's ways of ressurecting the dead but it goes well beyond the artifices of House Jorasco and often times would require something epic like journeying to the Realm of the Dead. Regeneration, let alone Clone is also extremely rare (though I've hinted the later exists as one of many 'forbidden' technologies, the former is the province of saints) I put a heavier emphasis on cybernetics and the constructs of eberron though than canon with plenty of people operating with false arms, false eyes, and plenty more who can afford it. One of the most interesting things I did for my campaign is borrowed from "Ghost in the Shell" in the form of full replacement bodies that were created during the last part of the war. Basically, that a great general had his brain transferred to an artificial body from his corpse. It was a big hit with the players who thought the idea had disturbing ramifications. In this campaign environment I'm considering doing "humanoforged" to help blur the lines of archano-tech and humanity. Basically, that some artificers have been investigating the possibility of doing humanlike constructs and also effectively dangling the carrot that warforged can be altered to look more human and perhaps even enjoy the pleasures of being human. This would be an extraordinarily expensive procedure and I'm thinking highly illegal, largely the bigotry in place strikes me that many would deeply resent warforged trying to become more human....perhaps even viewing it as mockery or unnatural. I'm wondering how expensive though and how many Canniths might know this procedure once its done because I can imagine many warforged intending to save for as long as their possibly immortal lives (none have died of old age yet at least) as it takes to get it done. The Bladerunner post inspired me to also consider heavy actions from places like Sharn where its likely possible to hunt down those who get it. What do you all suggest? recommend?
the.eberron.traveler 04-06-05, 09:51 PM	Well first of all, I think the "I've seen RoE" thread has something about a warforged prestige class that makes them embrace their living nature, sort of like an opposite of the juggernaut. So you may have something like what you're looking for fairly soon. Besides that, since further creation of warforged has been outlawed, all of your scenarios will probably be illegal as well. I guess you could have artificers making more human-like warforged. You can probably have Merrix d'Cannith do that, and can probably make it into a nice scenario. Have Merrix continue to bolster the 'forged community in Sharn, pumping out new ones and helping them establish themselves, only to then get new goodies from Xen'drik that allow him to focus on producing human-like warforged. Maybe then the old ones feel neglected and betrayed, and try to avenge themselves. But anyway, about the artificial body thing, you still have to be alive to transfer right? That's what happens in GitS, and the only thing that makes sense... transferring one's conscience or brain to another body is one thing, bringing it back after it's disappeared to put it into an artificial body is another.
Charles Phipps 04-06-05, 09:55 PM	But anyway, about the artificial body thing, you still have to be alive to transfer right? That's what happens in GitS, and the only thing that makes sense... transferring one's conscience or brain to another body is one thing, bringing it back after it's disappeared to put it into an artificial body is another. Yes and no. I use the -10 rule with it. As long as you transfer the brain out of the body before -10 damage is sustained and presumably have some kind of brain case, then its possible to raise them from the dead. It allows it to serve as the ressurection substitute that its supposed to be plus also "They saved hitler's bRAINNNNNNn...." type adventures Thus players have to guard the villains bodies for 10 minutes or so til they're sure he's toast.
the.eberron.traveler 04-06-05, 09:58 PM	I see. Yeah, that makes sense. After all, when above -10 you're only supposed to be bleeding, unconscious and dying, not dead. But they don't actually have to stick around for 10 minutes... 1 is enough (10 rounds), or they can just cut him up pretty well to make sure he goes below -10. OR, if they're ready to get messy, they can just make sure the brain itself is irretrievable.
Charles Phipps 04-06-05, 10:04 PM	I see. Yeah, that makes sense. After all, when above -10 you're only supposed to be bleeding, unconscious and dying, not dead. But they don't actually have to stick around for 10 minutes... 1 is enough (10 rounds), or they can just cut him up pretty well to make sure he goes below -10. OR, if they're ready to get messy, they can just make sure the brain itself is irretrievable. True enough. The Brain cases are a easy to make preservation thing, I'm wondering what level to assign to make them. House Cannith actually in my games has entire rooms filled with brains in jars of people whom they may WANT to ressurect someday. Of course, my House Cannith is always up to something nefarious and looking for a way to recoup their construct markets after the warforged are destroyed. I have alot of "Red Steel" material and things like humanoforged were just easily thought of Especially with Ghost in the Shell 2 "Ghost dubbing" cute girl constructs and other evils.
3nigma 04-07-05, 02:08 AM	I actually like this idea a lot, and usually I hate this kind of stuff, hehe. I love game stuff that will touch on a level of eerie creepiness in the players. If you don't mind, I think I may like to use this idea at higher levels in my campaign :angelhide -3nigma
Gnome_Dragon_Disciple 04-07-05, 02:08 AM	As far as brains in jars go, there's a nasty baddie in Libris Mortis called just that: Brain in A Jar. It's on the website, I believe... it might be a good groundwork for something to start with when looking into the magics and processes needed to preserve brains for implantation into shells. Sort of on the same vein, a player of mine made one of the most interresting characters I've ever seen today: A Lawful Good Warforged Necromancer of Cyre. The character was built (literally) to be a necromancer, but while the warforged's makers could implant magical knowledge, they could not create the 'forged with a specific allignment so as to prevent issues with what it would have to do. After creation, he was handed a spellbook full of some of the most vile, nasty, evil spells of the school of necromancy and evocation and told to do the right thing and use his magic for the benefit of Cyre... to do the good thing by committing unspeakable evils. However, with the war ended, he now has time to rest... and consider what it is to be alive. With his uncanny understanding of the forces that make life what it is, he is starkly aware that he has no "flesh", no metabolic processes, and yet he is "alive". But why? What constitutes a soul? Where is the soul located? Where is it that he has sent so many souls over the course of the Last War? Where did HIS soul come from, when his makers can only account for the raw materials? Yes, he is an existentialist warforged.
Charles Phipps 04-07-05, 02:28 AM	Yes, the "House of Brains" was a disgusting side adventure. House Cannith had their members roaming the battlefields whenever possible to put heads in jars and blame them on goblins or whatnot. House Cannith then privately had houses cased post-the war in order to see if the family was willing to pay to have the member put back to life (occasionally they indicated that they'd happily accept money to NOT put him back to life). When they don't feel inclined to doing so, they simply plug in the brains and demand whatever information they can get about their houses or family for the vague promise of rebirth. Then one of their more greedy "Brain Jar cleaners" got fracking greedy and grabbed a bunch in a bag of holding. He intends to ransom them back to House Cannith but they're just sending assassin after assassin after him but for whatever reason (largely its because the Lord of Blades intends to take the bag of great generals and whatnot he intends to put in constructs for his own army) he keeps surviving. House Cannith is TERRIFIED of what would happen should the contents of the bag come to life to the public at large. In the end the Lord of Blades is presented the bag of brains by the PCs under the guise of a journalist (The Lord of Blades routinely switches his 'spirit' through constructs in my game so that he's often there and the PCs never know it). The Lord of Blades uses his own forge to make plenty of shells for those sympathetic to his cause and keeps the rest as Black Mail on House Cannith which has promised him a hefty discount on constructs from his point on. The PCs are still waiting for the story to break. Another adventure was where PCs were hired by House Cannith to find a dead body with a very necromatic solution that will raise the head of a person as a undead creature that they hope their family won't notice the sudden negative personality traits of if they put it in a construct body. The problem is they're not SURE where he died EXACTLY. Plenty of other people are willing to pay for it too. It was inspired oddly by "Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia."