Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Sturm Jaeger 06-27-05, 01:16 AM	Whoohoo! A new Dragonshard all about Warforged! Nicely done. While there's not too much new information, what was there was interesting. The ghulra is a nice touch to the personalities and culture of the 'forged.
stone_dog 06-27-05, 01:56 AM	I was just thinking that if one of my players ( I know which one too... ) ever gets wind that some warforged are made of mithril and tries to stripmine one that I'd have it start to corrode and become brittle and useless when removed from the body. It probably makes saves each day with an increasing DC until it is absolutely destroyed which gives plot devices such as in Steel Shadows time to work.
stevelabny 06-27-05, 04:28 AM	Heh. I've been waiting for that bit about the Ghulra for a looong time. I love the "they just came out that way, nobody knows why" answer and it fits in almost perfectly with my upcoming home campaign explanation of warforged, but did it really need to take that long to say "dunno"? silly WOTC. BUT my problem is with the new info about Merrix (the elder), Aaren and Merrix (the current). I had already signed off on letting one of the players in said upcoming campaign play a true Cannith (a brother of Merrix). Now this throws an added wrinkle in my plan. I will need to consider if I will use it, or say "hey, its MY game, i choose to ignore this. Aaren died on the DoM like many other Canniths"
Crimsonsun 06-27-05, 04:38 AM	Yay! Official words saying warforged do not equal walking treasure :D
Just another user 06-27-05, 04:43 AM	Yay! Official words saying warforged do not equal walking treasure :D Yeah, nice save, BTW.
greatfrito 06-27-05, 04:52 AM	*claps* Yes, indeed, very good dragonshard! I love the backstory (and the details about Merrix/Merrix Jr. and Aaren). God, if I were DMing, I wouldn't be able to pass up the "And then some others claim that Aaren IS the Lord of Blades -- that he has crafted a suit of armor that makes him appear to be a warforged" part. And it's nice to know the inner working of the warforged now - and one of the reasons that they were so "cheap and easy" to make. Those root-thingies are just... yes, pure coolness. And though I had been downplaying (*cough*Ignoring*cough*) the symbols on the 'forged's heads, now, with this note about the Ghulra, I'm afraid I'll have to be rethinking some of it before the campaign kicks back in in the fall. Thank you Keith, Sir.
AvonRekaes 06-27-05, 05:03 AM	I love the bit about the ghulra. My warforged character actually had his removed and replaced with a gemstone component-version of the Circlet of Preservation... wonder what that means... >_>
Siran Dunmorgan 06-27-05, 05:43 AM	Doesn't anyone on this board study real-world occult literature? :D Hellcow isn't exactly making this stuff up:"Aaren's dedicated dwarven magewrights called these symbols 'ghulra,' a Dwarven word for 'truth."Concerning the traditional golem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem)—that of Hebrew mysticism, not specifically that of Dungeons & Dragons:"In many tales the Golem is inscribed with magic or religious words that keep it animated. Writing the name of God on its forehead, (or on a clay tablet under its tongue) or writing the word Emet ('truth' in the Hebrew language) on its forehead are examples of such words. By erasing the first letter in 'Emet' to form 'Met' ('death' in Hebrew) the golem can be destroyed."—Siran Dunmorgan P.S. Very cool new information about everyone's favorite living constructs, and about Aaren d'Cannith.
Zedium 06-27-05, 06:01 AM	Pretty cool, I always wondered what the Ghulra was for. I wonder though if magic can be combined with the Ghulra. If it really is the animating force of a warforged at least, a dead warforged's Ghulra can be removed. This would probably be a good way to know for sure that a 'forged is dead and not just at -7 HP or something.
Save-vs-DM 06-27-05, 07:28 AM	Ya know, I really, really wish this had been in Races of Eberron. That being said, this is a great, great dragonshard. It makes me wish for a tabletop eberron game in my home town (my DM buddy won't run eberron, he loves home brew). Cheers, Save vs DM
Stainawarjar 06-27-05, 08:45 AM	Loved the Shard! Keep up the good work Cow! If it really is the animating force of a warforged at least, a dead warforged's Ghulra can be removed. Well, you can remove it, but it grows back if you heal him. This would probably be a good way to know for sure that a 'forged is dead and not just at -7 HP or something. Or you could just chop his head off.
Radkres 06-27-05, 09:33 AM	Merrix (the elder) maybe still alive hum .. Makes me think about if you run into a small village in the middle of nowhere everyone is so nice and peaceful. The people walking around with what looks like a strange tattoo looking Ghulra on their foreheads. And look over there one of them has a baby!
Atch 06-27-05, 10:05 AM	Yah know... this dragonshard could be added to the three modules and suddenly a whole new edition to that story evolves... *thinking* *thinking* Merrix's (baron of sharn) motives... Merrix's motives... *looks at the warforged's ghulra* unique and distinctive... *looks at an antenna* ....... I give up I can't figure it out. :smirk:
fizzbang 06-27-05, 10:50 AM	This is an excellent Dragonshard, and I look forward to its second half. It clarifies people's confusions about the multiple Merrixes ("Merrices"?), prevents players from looting warforged corpses, adds plot hooks with Aaren, encourages the view of warforged as more "living" (due to more emphasis on organic components and the ability to change over time), and has a lovely touch of individual detail added in. The fact that it's a direct reference to classical golems is a really nice bonus, too! Not to be nasty, but this Dragonshard's info on Warforged is so much more interesting and useful than the stuff in Races of Eberron. Keith, when you finish this, could you please consider giving the same treatment to the Shifters and the Changelings, too?
ENHenry 06-27-05, 11:23 AM	...AAAND Keith gives a veiled finger to the Warforged Body-Snatchers. :) Excellent job, by the way. :D One thing I still don't understand; how does the weight modifier work? Does it mean the default warforged weighs 1,080 pounds? (270 x 4?), and that Adamantine Warforges weigh 1920 pounds? (320 x 6?) Or am I misreading it? I wondered that myself when running Eberron games, because it means that a warforged is hell on earth when flying/dropping onto individuals, and can't even ride a horse if needed!
pseudonym 06-27-05, 11:28 AM	One thing I still don't understand; how does the weight modifier work? Does it mean the default warforged weighs 1,080 pounds? (270 x 4?), and that Adamantine Warforges weigh 1920 pounds? (320 x 6?) Or am I misreading it? The modifier is what you multiply the result you got for height by and add to the base weight. Recalculating my adamantium warforged's stats would start with a height of 5'10" +2d6. in this case 6"10. Since I rolled a 12, his weight would be ((12x6)+320) or 392 lbs. That makes a bit more sense.
Silent Infinity 06-27-05, 12:04 PM	I thoroughly enjoyed the Warforged dragonshard. The second will be greatly anticipated. The ghulra are of particular interest.
Sturm Jaeger 06-27-05, 12:08 PM	The entire "root system" that makes up a warforged's muscle mass also explains how one can be struck and injured when before it seemed its body is little more than stone and metal. Now arrows and swords have something to pierce and damage, once they get past the armored hide. :D
MavrickWeirdo 06-27-05, 12:57 PM	Not to be nasty, but this Dragonshard's info on Warforged is so much more interesting and useful than the stuff in Races of Eberron. Keith, when you finish this, could you please consider giving the same treatment to the Shifters and the Changelings, too? You want Shifters and the Changelings made out of wood? Sounds nasty to me. ;)
darkthought 06-27-05, 01:49 PM	You want Shifters and the Changelings made out of wood? Sounds nasty to me. ;) Barkskin anyone? :D
Euangelion 06-27-05, 02:01 PM	You want Shifters and the Changelings made out of wood? Sounds nasty to me. ;) Oh, I think woodling creatures (MMIII) are pretty cool.
Cutlass 06-27-05, 03:31 PM	I liked that Keith added different weight standards for the different body composition styles. That makes a lot of sense.
(Psi)SeveredHead 06-27-05, 03:37 PM	I think this ranks with the first gnome dragonshard as the best one yet! I seriously doubt Aaren d'Cannith could be the Lord of Blades, though. (He'd be higher level and better at magic, plus I like the idea of a warforged leader.) But if he went mad and worked with the Lord of Blades ... cool. (Now that I think about it, I rarely see subleaders, eg who is the Lord of Blade's chief assassin, his chief artificer, his enforcer squad, etc.)
Hellcow 06-27-05, 05:17 PM	I seriously doubt Aaren d'Cannith could be the Lord of Blades, though. (He'd be higher level and better at magic...) Well, if you used that idea, I definitely WOULDN'T use the statistics for the Lord of Blades provided in Dungeon or the ECS. That's one suggested version of the Lord of Blades. But we've already said that WE may present completely different stat blocks for the Lord of Blades, leaving it up to you to decide which exists in your campaign - or whether they all do, and the name has been coopted by multiple people. So yes, Aaren-as-Lord-of-Blades would have more artificer levels and obviously wouldn't be a warforged juggernaut (unless, of course, he's transfered his sentience into a warforge body). BUT my problem is with the new info about Merrix (the elder), Aaren and Merrix (the current). I had already signed off on letting one of the players in said upcoming campaign play a true Cannith (a brother of Merrix). Now this throws an added wrinkle in my plan. Well, to begin with, Merrix Sr had other children besides Aaren, so Merrix Jr is not the only branch of that tree. Cousins are easily done. Furthermore, Merrix jr is not a young man (and by now, Merrix Sr is long dead); if you're using standard adventurer ages, I'd think it would be more likely to have an adventurer be his son than his brother. But as you say, you can always declare "It's my game, I choose to ignore this"!
Salla 06-27-05, 05:41 PM	I must admit, the idea of the Lord of Blades being a human in an armored suit intrigues me. It makes the LoB more of a sympathetic villain; rather than being something of a 'warforged supremacist', it makes him more of a father figure, trying to protect his 'children' from the world. I'm not sure if I'm going to go that way or not, but it IS very intriguing. Tip o' the hat to Hellcow, as ever. And while it hasn't happened in my game, points for cutting off the literal use of the phrase 'looting the body' when it comes to Warforged!
Joni-san 06-27-05, 05:57 PM	I must admit, the idea of the Lord of Blades being a human in an armored suit intrigues me. It makes the LoB more of a sympathetic villain; rather than being something of a 'warforged supremacist', it makes him more of a father figure, trying to protect his 'children' from the world. I'm not sure if I'm going to go that way or not, but it IS very intriguing. Tip o' the hat to Hellcow, as ever. And while it hasn't happened in my game, points for cutting off the literal use of the phrase 'looting the body' when it comes to Warforged! I concur :mage:. This also fits well with some earlier descriptions of the Lord of Blades, where the LoB shares some similarities with Dr. Doom... :plotting: The Ghulra is also a nice reference to the classical golem legends :king:. My only complaint is that we have to wait two weeks for the next part :P
Zedium 06-27-05, 06:24 PM	I just love the idea of Aaren actually being the mad scientist of the Lord of Blades. He would be blinded by the evilness of his creation though. Immagine this: The lumbering form of a damaged warforged walks through the deep halls where the Lord of Blades kept his secret creation forge. The 'forged pauses in the light, showing his damaged form. The lower jaw has been torn off, and a right arm is missing. From the shadows, a thin and scrawny man appears, he hasn't shaven in a long time and most of his clothes have been torn by use. "I see you got some damage again, I must repair you my love." The man says while staring the construct in his remaining eye. "My precious creations, so damaged, but it is easy to repair, no worries." He mutters, while getting some of his more stranger gear. "Improvements, that is what the Lord says, and improvements is what he will get!" As the warforged tracks the man with his last remaining emerald eye, he sees the man rummaging through his cabinets. "Life isn't so bad here my love, at least I get to work on you my children." He speaks with his upper half stuck in what seems to be a bag of holding. "Ah here it is, my latest improvement." He shows his latest creation, and the warforged trembles in fear as the man attaches what seems to be a horrible mix between a saw and a lightning rail conductor to the stomp on the warforged arm. A few seconds later the warforged passes out, twitching in pain caused by his newest limb. Basically, he really went mad, and now he does what the lord of blades commands him too, strengtening the LoB's army in horrible ways. Aaren isn't even aware of what half of his creations do, but most of them pose significant dangers to any adventurers who might encounter one of Aaren's warforged. Also, Aaren is not aware of the Lord of Blades' plans, he just does what he likes most, improving and maintaining his children. He would even claim the Lord of Blades is the nicest of his creations, supporting him in every way.
Illvillainy 06-27-05, 06:58 PM	Keith, is the mention of Darkwood Body a typo?
Slayen 06-27-05, 09:08 PM	Keith, is the mention of Darkwood Body a typo? Why would that be a typo? edit: Right, Ironwood not Darkwood, of course ::curses self for not actually looking it up:: :embarrass
Hellcow 06-27-05, 09:53 PM	Keith, is the mention of Darkwood Body a typo? Yes, actually it is. It should be "Ironwood Body", which is the feat from Races of Eberron.
Euangelion 06-27-05, 10:14 PM	Yes, actually it is. It should be "Ironwood Body", which is the feat from Races of Eberron. Though "Darkwood Body" makes more sense to me since "Ironwood" is from a druid spell with temporary duration rather than an actual kind of material (unless there's really an ironwood tree in Eberron!)
KP91 06-27-05, 10:31 PM	Anyone realize the Sharn Inquisitive contradicts the WF dragonshard. Dragonshrd says when metal is stripped from a WF body it rusts and is usless. SI says people are trying to outlaw stripping metal from WF. Also, is it me or does the artical make it seem that the creation forge wasn't found in Xen'drik but in Aeren's mind. It neat to know Merrix is really Merrix III though.
anarco_rata 06-27-05, 10:35 PM	;) excelent way to keep us from killing each other in the wait of five nations, a w00t for hellcow! :w00t: w00t! The lord of blades has becomed the most misterious character ever, i think...i would lov to see him kicking Elminster's old behind! (THAT would be symbolic!)
Tek 06-27-05, 10:36 PM	No, not quite KP91. Dragonshard says that when metal is stripped it rusts and becomes useless. Sharn Inquisitive says they are trying to ban dismantlement on criminal Warforged. That is to say, when a Warforged commits a crime, he usually gets torn apart in a pretty sick way. They want to ban that. It doesn't state anywhere that they are taking them apart for the metal. They are taking them apart as a form of punishment.
Sarlax 06-27-05, 11:26 PM	It neat to know Merrix is really Merrix III though. What?
Hellcow 06-27-05, 11:28 PM	Also, is it me or does the artical make it seem that the creation forge wasn't found in Xen'drik but in Aeren's mind. The creation forge wasn't found in Xen'drik. It was, according to urban legend, built using principles recovered from Xen'drik. Among other things, no civilization in Xen'drik would have had access to the Mark of Making, and the creation forge requires this. So it's sort of like saying that they found a rotary telephone in Xen'drik, and this inspired Aaren to create a cell phone. (Of course, just for amusing typos, you said "Aeren" instead of "Aaren". Aeren was the visionary who led the elves away from Xen'drik to found Aerenal. So it might make a very interesting adventure if it turned out that House Cannith somehow drew the secrets of the creation forge out of Aeren's mind.)
Hellcow 06-27-05, 11:34 PM	What? If you look closely, you'll see that Aaren is the son of Merrix II. As described in Races of Eberron, King Jarot was talking about an army of constructs with a Merrix d'Cannith before Galifar fell. So, you have: Merrix I : Approached by Jarot to build construct army. Merrix II: Develops creation forges, warforged titans. Aaren: Creates first true warforged. Merrix III: Present-day Baron of Sharn. Needless to say, all of the Merrixs have had other children, but there you are.
greatfrito 06-27-05, 11:46 PM	Also, is it me or does the artical make it seem that the creation forge wasn't found in Xen'drik but in Aaren's mind. Yeah.... Keith... you really rock. So many ideas! No many ideas! The only sad thing - the only thing I regret - is that there are so many ideas that we have almost no chance to use them all!
zambuka 06-28-05, 12:36 AM	So it's sort of like saying that they found a rotary telephone in Xen'drik, and this inspired Aaren to create a cell phone. I'd say it was more like finding a PDA/cellphone combo. Then only being able to figure out the telephone aspect, creating a rotary phone as a primitive emulation (the original d'Cannith forges that created the original construct armies) and then developing things from there down a path that requires the mark of making. The living construct aspect may be a unique result of Aaren and co. having a major epiphany over some misinterpreted piece of information or function in the forges found in Xen'drik. This Dragonshard answers a few good questions and gives some good stuff to work with, once again stellar work from KB. I kinda agree with some of the sentiments that what is contained in maybe 2 pages of text here is far more valuable to the Eberron campaign than most of the 'forged section in RoE. Edit: just noticed who I was responding to (should read the poster's name amd not just the content). But it doesn't change my view on this.
Von Ether 06-28-05, 01:25 AM	I must admit, the idea of the Lord of Blades being a human in an armored suit intrigues me. It makes the LoB more of a sympathetic villain; rather than being something of a 'warforged supremacist', it makes him more of a father figure, trying to protect his 'children' from the world. I'm not sure if I'm going to go that way or not, but it IS very intriguing. While I didn't think of the armored suit, I've been developing more of a "empire builder" vs. "supremacist" LoB. In my game, all of the anti-flesh hype is propaganda from the different nations and the Order of the Emerald Claw (if the order can yell "For Karnnath!" while working for Vol, why can't their warforged merch yell "For the Lord of Blades" just to further confuse everyone?
stone_dog 06-28-05, 02:19 AM	Though "Darkwood Body" makes more sense to me since "Ironwood" is from a druid spell with temporary duration rather than an actual kind of material (unless there's really an ironwood tree in Eberron!) Well, there is an iron wood in our world, but it is a very hard and inflexible wood that actually sinks in water so it might now suit the needs of the Warforged. Great for strong boats though.
Sarlax 06-28-05, 03:37 AM	If you look closely, you'll see that Aaren is the son of Merrix II. As described in Races of Eberron, King Jarot was talking about an army of constructs with a Merrix d'Cannith before Galifar fell. So, you have: Merrix I : Approached by Jarot to build construct army. Merrix II: Develops creation forges, warforged titans. Aaren: Creates first true warforged. Merrix III: Present-day Baron of Sharn. I understood that. What I thought KP91 was suggesting was that Merrix III is actually Merrix I (like the Kaius situation).
SirBruce 06-28-05, 04:16 AM	The creation forge wasn't found in Xen'drik. It was, according to urban legend, built using principles recovered from Xen'drik. Among other things, no civilization in Xen'drik would have had access to the Mark of Making, and the creation forge requires this. Hmmm... Keith, the original, non-sentient warforged don't have a Ghudra, right? Did making them still require a Mark of Making? Because I could see that if they used Xen'drik blueprints and such, that the original non-sentient warforged machines could be produced without a Mark of Making, but the Mark is required for making sentient ones, which ties into the whole Dragon prophecy. Then again, perhaps they simply made the forges require the Mark of Making from the beginning as a way of ensuring a monopoly on the warforged creation, but one COULD theoretically construct a forge without such a Mark... The thing is, it seems to me the only way to explain the docents in Xen'drik is that the giants or other culture there created something very similar to the original non-sentient warforged, as well as the docents for them. And as you say, they didn't have access to the Mark of Making, so... Bruce PS - I see there are at least two posts in the Ask Keith Baker thread about whether or not creation forges really require a Mark of Making, how the Lord of Blades is getting around this (or not), etc.
PsionicMonk 06-28-05, 05:27 AM	Well if its based on something from Xen'drik then, it could be like finding a rotory telephone and then creating a cellphone. ALso there is a "family tree" of the warforged. It was over time when they started becoming intelegent. Sort of like robots nowadays. They are slowly becoming more complex, it could get to the point where there is a "magic line" of raw knowalage, that AI begins. Alot like the matrix, Metropolis, or other such movies. In a way the LoB is alot like this. He deems fleshies, obsolite and wants to rule/destory them. *shrugs* overanlzying =p gotta stop that
MavrickWeirdo 06-28-05, 09:49 AM	Anyone realize the Sharn Inquisitive contradicts the WF dragonshard. Dragonshrd says when metal is stripped from a WF body it rusts and is usless. SI says people are trying to outlaw stripping metal from WF. You never heard of people making pointless laws before? :D
MavrickWeirdo 06-28-05, 09:53 AM	(Of course, just for amusing typos, you said "Aeren" instead of "Aaren". Aeren was the visionary who led the elves away from Xen'drik to found Aerenal. So it might make a very interesting adventure if it turned out that House Cannith somehow drew the secrets of the creation forge out of Aeren's mind.) That's ok in the ECS they spell it Aarren (I am of course refering to Aaren, not Aeren) :P
Kemanmaldea 06-28-05, 10:41 AM	Anyone realize the Sharn Inquisitive contradicts the WF dragonshard. Dragonshrd says when metal is stripped from a WF body it rusts and is usless. SI says people are trying to outlaw stripping metal from WF. Actually it doesn't in the SI the dismantelment issue is in regards to capital punishment, a death penalty. IIRC at no point in the SI does it says that any money is made from the practice, or even what happens at all to the disassembled warforged (other than their death).
gaerfindel 06-28-05, 11:21 AM	Actually it doesn't in the SI the dismantelment issue is in regards to capital punishment, a death penalty. IIRC at no point in the SI does it says that any money is made from the practice, or even what happens at all to the disassembled warforged (other than their death).Agreed. What certain MBPs were trying to do is outlaw "drawing & quartering" as a method of capitol punishment against warforged. Think of the "Flesh Farms" of Disney's A.I.; rather gruesome stuff. P.S. Anyone else notice the timeliness of this dragonshard vis-a-vis certain lynching trials in the American South? *nudge nudge, wink wink*