I'm preparing to run a new Eberron campaing and I'm a little concerned about having warforged PC's. I'm mostly hung up on the warforged resilience ("no death saving throws necessary"). Do warforged PC's tend to let themselves often drop below zero, knowing they've got a long way to go to get to negative bloodied?
I can get over the no eating, breathing or sleeping thing. Although my normal water barriers/hazards will certainly become less effective, the options available to a WF will probably add pulp. Also, I'm not sure I care if the WF ends up standing watch most of the night when they rest. And I'm not a big stickler for tracking rations. So I guess I can get over it, I just don't want the other players to feel like things are broken.
Has anyone seen a negative side to this unusual racial trait?
The "No death save" is not a big deal, a PC at 0 or lower is no good to the party. Sure you'll never "die" as long as you are not taking damage but you're also not dealing it. The Warforged watch is not any different then the Elf trance, both are aware while they are "extended resting."
Side note-
In 3.x I thought they were over powered they were immune to poison and other such things. I ran a few through the first few maps of the Worlds Largest Dungeon and they were walking through it like a knife through butter.
I've never had a player willingly stay out of combat, ever, so that problem has never come up.
That all sounds reassuring. Also, I hadn't considered that ongoing damage could take them out. I kept thinking a monster would have to keep hacking away at the WF, after he was down.
Besides, it would probably feel like something's missing by running an Eberron campaign without a WF PC. It's not required, but it is certainly a big part of the flava.
That all sounds reassuring. Also, I hadn't considered that ongoing damage could take them out. I kept thinking a monster would have to keep hacking away at the WF, after he was down.
I look at it this way ... if the Warforged goes down and opts not to get back up (or can't get back up, for whatever reason), then he can be safely ignored for the rest of the battle. After the fight, he'll either get up and join his victorious teammates, or *then* the monsters can hack him to bits, letting him join the TPK. 
I look at it this way ... if the Warforged goes down and opts not to get back up (or can't get back up, for whatever reason), then he can be safely ignored for the rest of the battle. After the fight, he'll either get up and join his victorious teammates, or *then* the monsters can hack him to bits, letting him join the TPK.
My initial impression was that it would make the WF almost invincible, but I guess the main advantage stems from the fact that the players can supposedly "safely ignore" the WF for the rest of the battle. Unless, the DM is particularly nasty and sends over a bad guy to finish him (but that's kinda nasty without giving the players some warning that these particular bad guys are prone to that kind of thing).
In 3E warforged automatically stabilized when they were at negative hit points. So the only thing that's really new about this is the fact that a warforged has that one in twenty chance of getting back up without the corresponding chance of death other PCs have. it's nice, certainly - but I haven't seen it change my PC's attitudes towards combat (nor have I seen the leaders say "Eh, I'm not going to waste my time healing the downed warforged - he'll be up in twenty rounds or so.").
It's a nice ability, to be sure. But I haven't found it to be overwhelming.
As a side note, NPCs don't make death saving throws. So I play that NPC warforged do go inert and will remain unconscious until repaired... but it's only PCs that pop up again in about two minutes.
If you want to reduce the power, slightly, you could give the PC the choice of taking ten or rolling the die for the save - but if he rolls, he must accept the result. In this case, the warforged can play it safe, but if he does so, he'll never have a chance to roll that natural 20.
If you want to reduce the power, slightly, you could give the PC the choice of taking ten or rolling the die for the save - but if he rolls, he must accept the result. In this case, the warforged can play it safe, but if he does so, he'll never have a chance to roll that natural 20.
My group has a tendancy to avoid changing RAW, so unless it was clearly broken I would let it go. Let the players shine when they can, I guess. I was just initially concerned because it seems to make the WF unkillable. Nonetheless, after reading the feedback above, I get the impression that's not the case. I would be interested to hear if someone has seen this power somehow abused or at least over-used.
WotC is definitely interested in experimenting with new ideas concerning death saving. The latest example is the Revenant who can take 1 action (more if he spends feats on it) when he reaches negative hit points.
So if you're inclined to nerf the Warforged, I'd personally be looking at the Revenant. And I feel the Revenants negative HP abilities are definitely an important aspect of the race.
Having said that, a players ability to either deal damage or minimise damage done to allies is much more important then saving a minor action/heal power/healing item. I'm playing a Warforged and I've had no opportunities to abuse my "I can't die" feature. If I can be healed in some way, I'll almost always ask to be healed, unless the only healing available is a daily and the fight is clearly won with the enemy about to die no matter what.
It's something that comes up in conversation, and for story purposes, but I haven't seen it really unbalance the game.
Like I've had a Warforged NPC that 'died' several times, but kept getting repaired back to positive HP and getting back up. I've toyed with the idea of having a NPC that would regularly get knocked off cliffs and such, and come back even more angry with the party, but I've never seen it come up in actual play.
As has been said, a man down is a man down. It cuts down the chance of a TPK (especially if the monsters don't quite 'get' warforged) but by the time it comes to that, something's gone pretty wrong anyway.
As a side note, NPCs don't make death saving throws. So I play that NPC warforged do go inert and will remain unconscious until repaired... but it's only PCs that pop up again in about two minutes.
I love this idea...it's kinda like the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. It's also an interesting way to introduce a new warforged PC after a party member death...the group comes across an inanimate warforged slumped over...
It's been my experience that there is a fate worse than death in combat. And that is being forced to watch helplessly while your party suffers and you know you are capable of something (you aren't dead), but still can't act.
The inability to act is one thing that will drive PC's up the wall in seconds. So while on initial glance the warforged resilience shtick seems perhaps a little powerful, on closer examination it's only further incentive for the Warforged to get back up and fighting ASAP.
I've toyed with the idea of having a NPC that would regularly get knocked off cliffs and such, and come back even more angry with the party, but I've never seen it come up in actual play.
This is what Scimitar ended up doing to the last party I ran through Shadows of the Last War and following modules. They "killed" her about six times in the adventures and the campaign that spun off of it before she finally stayed dead, and became an excellent recurring villain, who eventually went rogue from the LoBster's service in order to hunt down the Warforged PC who had consistently beaten her "cheaply" (knocked her off a Sharn bridge, buried her in a collapsing building, threw her over a waterfall, etc).
She was eventually destroyed for good several levels later in Making, in a duel against the PC 'forged. It was, I am told, an extremely satisfying subplot.
I highly recommend it. Recurring villains are cool. Villains with a personal vendetta against the PCs are cool. Warforged are cool. Combine all three? Epic win.
The only broken combo I've found with it is if a revenant picks the self-forged paragon path (which has an ability that does the same thing). The revenant can be dead the whole battle but still do things.