Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Xendria 02-13-08, 02:01 PM	There's a couple of things i don't understand about warforged. 1) They don't need to sleep but alot of warforged want to be like normal humanoids and attempt to sleep. Now can they emulate sleep and not reap the benefits or do they just lay awake with their eyes shut? 2) Can warforged hear/smell/taste? 3) Similar to above, warforged don't need to eat but if they do to be similar to normal humanoids, where does the food go? Do they chew it up and spit it out, do they have a digestive system, do they have a storage unit they can empty, what is it? Thanks for the help i know people get sick of stupid questions but i would rally like to play this race and can't find this info :(
Banatine 02-13-08, 02:06 PM	1. When warforged emulate sleep, all they do is lay down on the floor and do nothing. Most warforged get bored by attempting to sleep VERY quickly. 2. Warforged have all the senses that humans do, but they are quite dull compared to human senses. they can sense strong flavours/smells, but subtle tastes are lost on them. This is why most warforged like the hunters mask (warforged component that grants scent, but also grants them the ability to smell everything, a new way to esperience, which they ogten enjoy.) 3. This one i'm not really sure about. it's probably the only part of warforged physiology that they don't explain properly in Races of Eberron. If you really want to play a warforged properly, Races of Eberron is a must buy!
Sinfire Titan 02-13-08, 03:13 PM	1. When warforged emulate sleep, all they do is lay down on the floor and do nothing. Most warforged get bored by attempting to sleep VERY quickly. 2. Warforged have all the senses that humans do, but they are quite dull compared to human senses. they can sense strong flavours/smells, but subtle tastes are lost on them. This is why most warforged like the hunters mask (warforged component that grants scent, but also grants them the ability to smell everything, a new way to esperience, which they ogten enjoy.) 3. This one i'm not really sure about. it's probably the only part of warforged physiology that they don't explain properly in Races of Eberron. If you really want to play a warforged properly, Races of Eberron is a must buy! Actually, Warforged only have the sense of Touch, Sound, and Sight. This is proven in Races of Eberron with a magic item that grants them Scent, it states that they have no sense of Smell otherwise. Not sure about taste though. Warforged do have a digestive system though. They have internal systems like hearts and blood streams due to the Con score being there. If it wasn't for that, they would have none of it.
ArcTan 02-13-08, 03:36 PM	Actually, Warforged only have the sense of Touch, Sound, and Sight. This is proven in Races of Eberron with a magic item that grants them Scent, it states that they have no sense of Smell otherwise. Not sure about taste though. Earlier sources said very clearly that Warforged *can* smell and taste. The way Keith Baker retconned the RoE reference to the tracker mask in his online article about Warforged is to say that most Warforged have a very dulled sense of taste and smell (they can tell the difference between salt and sugar, but they certainly don't see the point of fine cuisine) and the tracker mask lets them taste and smell things the same way as a human. (Hell, it lets them taste and smell things *better* than a human, since it gives them the Extraordinary Scent ability.) Warforged do have a digestive system though. They have internal systems like hearts and blood streams due to the Con score being there. If it wasn't for that, they would have none of it. Er, no, no they don't. They have internal systems *analogous* to human organs, but they don't literally have an analogue for every human system. Their internal structure is soaked through with alchemical fluids (and, apparently, Vampires can suck this the way they suck the blood of other creatures) but they almost certainly do not have the human equivalent of blood vessels or a pumping heart. Warforged's fortification ability simulates the effect of them having vital regions but having them be much more distributed and less, well, vital than a human's is -- you can find a spot to stab a Warforged that really hurts them, but nothing as obvious as stabbing them in the "heart". The Con score just means something has living organs and tissue, not that they have the normal human-like version. Oozes have a Con score. The explanation for what happens when Warforged "eat" is that they do have a cavity inside their heads that allows air to pass in and out when they speak. It's not connected to anything, though -- no stomach. A Warforged who "eats" food just chews it up and stores it inside that space -- they have to carefully spit it out again afterwards.
magicchupacabra 02-13-08, 04:19 PM	The simplest way of figuring out what a warforged can and cannot do is simple. Except where noted in the warforged's race discription (go by the ECS or the Entry in the MM3, and I gotta side with Edy that Races of Eberron book is mostly garbage but I like some of the crunch parts) to treat them like they are human. So can they taste/smell/digest things/sleep? Yes. Do they get any real benefits from this? Not so much except in certain situations that are already outlined in the racial description. On a personal note I think warforged trying to sleep is more of a more vivid form of day dreaming. Still they are not asleep as we know it. Advantage warforged. So to recap. 1.Look at the ECS/MM3 entry on warforged and make sure to apply any needed eratta. 2. When the question comes up of "Can a Warforged do X?" see if X falls under the first two items in #1, if not run it as if the PC was human. 3. profit!
Xendria 02-15-08, 09:52 AM	I agree with all of what magicchupacabra said except for the digestive part. It doesn't really make sense for a warforged (built just for battle) to have a stomach much less an intestine. Atleast a stomach might have been thought of during creation due to potions ... but an intestine? Although its also said that the creation of warforged was learned from Xendrik. If so then they coul have been origionally built NOT as a war race. SO everything is smoothed out except for the part of where the food goes? If it does go in the empty space in their head used for air during speech how do the sound when eating? And could they pack a whole meal up there? The realistic reasoning is that they do have a stomach but no digestion system for potions and the like but then do they just throw it back up when theyre done eating? I hate holes in the role playing :(
Cyrocloud 02-15-08, 10:58 AM	Digestive wise I know they have a pouch in them that can absorb potions. This allowed them to recieve the same benefit from potions as living creatures so I would assume you could eat things and absorb them to no benefit...or if you have a cynical DM they might have you make con checks to try and pass it through or you start to become nauseated and unable to use potions:weep: :weep: :weep: /
1 ton ghost 02-15-08, 12:48 PM	1) They don't need to sleep but alot of warforged want to be like normal humanoids and attempt to sleep. Now can they emulate sleep and not reap the benefits or do they just lay awake with their eyes shut? that's a personal thing per each warforged i guess. the only mechanical (rules/not bodilly) aspects i can think of are for warforged casters and their 8hrs downtime. it's not implied, even for living folks as "sleep" per se, just a restful state, probably in respose. otherwise, i'm guessing warforged trying to emulate just "log off" or powerdown. 2) Can warforged hear/smell/taste? hear? yes, definetely. it would be crippling if they couldn't have all 5 senses. especially being designed for war, it would seriously hamper tactical effectiveness if they couldn't smell a cave filling up w/ methane or the rot of approaching undead. taste too. a measure of tracking can be done on taste, determining potions by color and viscousity alone would suck. yeah, i'd rule, like all "living" PC races, they have the 5 senses, just toned down in certain ones or interpreted differently given their mentality. 3) Similar to above, warforged don't need to eat but if they do to be similar to normal humanoids, where does the food go? Do they chew it up and spit it out, do they have a digestive system, do they have a storage unit they can empty, what is it? not sure entirely, though potions and the like i handle per the undead treatment; when you consume it past the first swallow as it were, your body uptakes the magic in a bastardized digestion process. its magics trigger and it diffuses normally (i mean, it's fast, 1 rnd = 3-6sec, some food doesn't even make it down the esophagus that fast). so, rule soon as you swallow i guess. we always stipulated that "can of valvoline" (poition of repair) tastes "good" but never reaches a hypothetical stomach. it transmutes instantly i guess. normal food, uh, probably not. they wouldn't even have need of throats, it would be an engineering flaw/weakness. if there's a void, food goes there to be expelled later, but w/ no musculature action to "push" food down, it would get mashed up in their mouths, and clutter up the works i'm guessing. no poo.
Xendria 02-15-08, 05:36 PM	But see thats where I get confused. They say in Eberron that they often try to emulate humans and they can consume a heroes feast. So is food like chewing gum to them ... chew it and then spit it out? I could see the point of a pit for potions but then how would it empty? Old school robot style like bender with a hatch on the tummy? Damn you Keith Baker!
ragoftag 02-17-08, 01:26 PM	Taste is mentioned in the Eberron book as being a mystery as to how Warforged got them, e.g. no military use.
Wharin 02-17-08, 06:35 PM	But see thats where I get confused. They say in Eberron that they often try to emulate humans and they can consume a heroes feast. So is food like chewing gum to them ... chew it and then spit it out? I could see the point of a pit for potions but then how would it empty? Old school robot style like bender with a hatch on the tummy? Damn you Keith Baker! I imagine that eating food is, indeed, like chewing gum. Things like Heroes Feast, I imagine, however is a bit different than mundane food, in that once it hits the mouth/throat area, it ceases to be food stuffs and instead turns into magical awesomeness instead. Potions, I could see as different than food. Being a liquid its probably absorbed much easier into their system and then is excreted out like sweat, or just replaces the lost "blood" or what have you.
Exposed_Wires 02-18-08, 02:41 AM	i'm guessing warforged trying to emulate just "log off" or powerdown. They can't. They never get tired and can't turn their brains off. If you bury them in the ground, they end up going insane within a week from complete sensory deprivation. So I guess when they emulate sleep they kind of just go over their plans for the next day or take in the night sounds and contemplate their place in the world. I don't know about the food thing. I hate the idea of a warforged defecating. I suppose the exact specifics are up to the group you're playing with. If you wanna it to be gritty, you could say that they can eat and swallow, but non-magical fair needs to be hosed out or vomited. Could be neat if you want to hide a key or something. Or just gloss over that aspect if you want everything to be neat and tidy. The blood issue bothers me. If they really bleed, how does that liquid get replaced, seeing as how they don't eat? "magic" wins again.
1 ton ghost 02-19-08, 02:21 PM	sleep: the whole concept was that they are engineered for war. having a soldier that does not require rest, nor is ever fatigued, is a huge bonus. that's one of the biggest stressors for elite unit training and normal units in warfare. not necessarilly how great you are as a rifleman, problem-solving, etc., but how much sleep dep you can sustain. warforged are like droid soliders, but better given independence and sentience. having a solider on call 24/7 is comforting, especially when supply trains are not enucmbered w/ food/water, medical goods, etc. this extra "8 hrs/day" gives an army incredible mobility and versatility which is typically what wins war. like tsung tzu said (paraphrased), "whoever reaches the battlefield first has the advantage of time to rest his men, build defense, etc. whereas the opponent is hurried and will be fatigued, etc." they suffer none of that. against traditional foes, i can't think of better units, maybe undead. some attempting to mimic humans is a personal RP affair, though beyond physical emulation, i don't think they can achieve unconsciousness, a dream state, etc. brings up all manner of Blade Runner-esque issues and analogies. intriguing to say the least. they probably just lie there, attempt to snore, maybe toss and turn, that's it. humorous in immediacy, tragic in the metaphor. related for what it's worth; schizophrenics and schizoidtypals do not or rarely dream. the pons section of their brain is abnormal as well. it has been largely addressed that failure to dream often results in varying pyschosis such as these 2. warforged, though not human, might bear some mention given their involuntary disassocitie properties and worldly outlook. that is, a bit of an alienated world view, Wis penatly, however you (DM) wish to express it. Food: Heroes Feast isn't food in the normative sense. soon as magic's in play, you gotta' give them the benefit of the doubt otherwise it's an unfair advantage to the "truly living". that is, if potions are in play, stands to reason these are too. consider transubstantiation or some other metaphysical gimmick. the matter is irrelevant. physical matter, not the concept as a whole. bite, chew, swallow and magic kicks in diffusing the mana/weave power/divine essence (whatever you wanna' call it) throughout their systems. there is no esophagus, stomach, intenstine, bowel, etc. to even worry about, so...don't. no one says, what happens to consumed cadavres when ghouls are dining out.
HermitIX 02-19-08, 03:44 PM	I was running a module in a Dungeon magazine (I don’t remember which one but it was shortly before the mag was canceled.) where to solve a puzzle every one had to eat a brown fish. In the text it said that creatures that couldn’t actually eat the fish such as Warforged only had to claim a fish as their “eaten fish.”