| #1i_was_like_youDec 04, 2009 4:32:08 | [Let me start by stating quite plainly that this issue may have been dealt with quite some time ago on another thread. If so, please point me the way. I've been perusing the forums and haven't found quite what I'm looking for. To skip through my late night rambling, proceed to the asterisks *******]
I'm about to (finally) get to run an Eberron 3.5 campaign. (Several years and several gaming groups later.) The party that has been assembled so far consists of a lawful evil Daelkyr Half-Blood Rogue w/ the Throwing Scarab Symbiont heading down the path to Assassin (who is masquerading as just another human), a neutral evil Human Specialist Wizard (I'm not sure on which School he has settled on yet), a chaotic neutral Changeling Beguiler who is aiming for the Cabinet Trickster and a similar prestige class (who is also masquerading as human), and a monk of some sort (TBD).
With this collection of characters who, evil or not, completely lack healing spells, I've been trying to find a class that would even travel with such a group and be even slightly willing to offer healing. I couldn't find a cleric that would fit, since what evil cleric would want to fill his spells per day with healing spells, much less share them? So I debated between Ranger & Druid. With a focus on nature and a lack of concern over such concepts as Good or Evil, why not.
[After running the afore mentioned Beguiler through the player's kit solo adventure to give the player a feel for her character, and seeing her almost die (-8) from the first encounter with the spider, it reinforced the need for some form of healer in the group. Just to get their feet wet in Eberron, I'm just starting them out in the Forgotten Forge. I see them dying or fleeing from the first Warforged encounter on the skybridge (which I've made an impressive looking model from the Heroscape castle set).]
Finally, after digging out my hardcopy of Dragon Magazine #311, I found the class variant that seems to work for me: The Metal Master. Even still, I kept debating on the Metal Master variant of Druid or just an Artificer, especially since I had narrowed down my choice of race to shifter or warforged quite awhile ago.
I opted for Metal Master merely for survivability. Adamantine Body for a +8 AC & +1 allowed from Dex, add in a tower shield for +4 more AC, plus 10HP+Con mod (+5) granting him the highest AC and HP in the group at a mere 23AC, 15HP.
******So I was creating this Warforged Metal Master Druid Variant (from Dragon 311) and decided to look up just how much extra he should weigh with Adamantine Body, as opposed to the completely proportionate weight listed for his random height. So I looked up Adamantine in the DM 3.5. It didn't list a weight differential. Mithral does, but not Adamantine. Okay, fine, maybe it weighs the same, no big deal. But what I noticed was that the damage reduction values for Adamantine Body's "heavy armor" weren't the same as they should be. Adamantine grants DR 1/- for light armor, DR 2/- for medium, and DR 3/- for heavy. Granted, even with the DM 3.5 and its errata, DR #/adamantine makes more sense, but the question is: Should Adamantine Body grant DR 3/adamantine to start? Yes, there's the Improved Damage Reduction feat which increases the DR by 1 "unlimited" times. But it's not unlimited.
A Warforged Fighter, using only his character level feats for Adamantine Body and Improved Damage reduction, still only ends up adding DR 7/adamantine to his DR 2/adamantine, for a total of nine at 20th level. If it is indeed supposed to be the DR 3/adamantine, then that's a total of DR 10/adamantine @ 20th. Most other classes need to use those character feats for something else. It's not as if Improved DR counts as a fighter feat (if only...DR 20/adamantine with all 11 fighter feats and all 7 character level feats). And if DR 20 is so bad, then everyone would be saving up for adamantine weapons anyways. (Don't get me started on the Drow's Spell Resistance.)
So, was the DR nerfed down one point to make the feat seem fair? (I fully understand the errata nerfing down the Weretouched Master prestige class. Shifters are quite potent as is. Take a shifter with a fighter's bonus feats going toward combat and such while their character level feats go toward shifter feats which enhance their combat prowess as well. Besides, the Shifter Rogue I may introduce as an NPC at some point is going to be using the Unearthed Arcana option of Fighter feats in place of Sneak attack and will be going for Weretouched Master with the Rat affinity, which wasn't nerfed.)
The reduction in armor check penalty was accounted for. Adamantine Body functions in every way as a suit of full plate except for the reduction in the armor check penalty accounted for by being adamantine.
On a related note, both Adamantine and Mithral state that items made from them are always masterwork, granting a +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls for weapons and ammuntion. So, what about a Warforged's slam attack? Sure my Warforged Scout Favored Soul in another campaign has only ever used his slam attack maybe three times due to a Nat 1 causing him to drop his weapon or otherwise embed it in something, but that character has Mithral Body, making him a walking plus one (and a very tempting target for a trio of rust monsters in a Dwarven Salt mine).
[As I'd said at the beginning, I couldn't find what I was looking for on the other threads, mostly due to them being posted prior to Races of Eberron's publication.]
But another question: Could a Warforged be made with other materials, such as Byeshk, that have been introduced in or are at least more widely used in Eberron? If not made with, then at least having Tracery of like with Silver or Cold Iron as in Races of Eberron? (Byeshk Tracery versus Daelkyr would be a very worthwhile option.) |
| #3i_was_like_youDec 12, 2009 5:05:46 | Thanks for the point of view. I think I'm still going to use the armor's DR value, though.
I do realize that they are not just wearing the adamantine armor, despite the nearly identical stats, at least not in 3.5. However, in 4e, warforged have to buy armor just like everyone else. They may become a bit more sentimental about it than most, but they treat it like a hermit crab's shell more than as a part of the warforged's actual anatomy.
The traceries shouldn't be too overpowering, especially having to give up a feat for such. I'm still trying to find a feat / item version of the warforged charger's adamantine fists that would work for the average warforged.
Another question: If I wanted an upsized warforged without it being a charger or titan, etc., would merely adding the Large stats be balanced or would there be a difference in HD and the accompanying level adjustment.
The reason I ask is about the NPC I intend to use for my campaign. I'd like to just make him large sized to help the party survive a bit longer, what with their lack of a dedicated healer. I keep urging them to stock up on potions of cure light wounds, etc., especially since the solo adventure from the player's kit has taken two casualties. The beguiler nearly died to a spider and the wizard nearly died to the kobolds. The rogue, on the other hand, took only 2pts of damage total and took the extra greed filled initiative to loot after every encounter. The kobolds were apparently hoarding a +4 composite longbow. *shrugs* Who knew? |