I've been having trouble trying to find a character I like in the Eberron game I'm currently playing in. I normally try to find characters with strong flavor to them. But since Eberron lacks a lot of flavor in most ways (that was the kinda the point of the setting) I've had some trouble.
So I started re-reading Timothy Zahn's Cobra Trilogy, its a very good Sci-Fi story about soliders who get cybernetic implants to basically come living weapons (super strong bones, weapons in their hands and feet etc....). The cobra warriors become the perfect guarillia warriors, and the books deal a lot with the Cobras trying to fit back into society. Kind of like a future-istic First Blood.
Anyway, so I thought about making a Warforged who was basically a Cobra during the Last War. A character with lots of weapons built into his body, self sufiecent. A warforged they'd send out into the battlefield for months at a time.
Just looking for opinions on how others would make this character. Class, paragon path, weapons etc... I kinda like the idea, just not sure about the execution.
Most all Warforged were soldiers, but as a solo sapper/guerrilla soldier, I'd imagine that you'd be a bit more paranoid. By spending long periods of time by yourself, behind enemy lines, you've learned that making too much noise or drawing too much attention to yourself tends to have negative consequences. Because you lacked a lot of support or gear, you've had to jury rig, cheat, and be more clever than normal. Try indirect or improvised approaches when coming up against difficult situations. Patience will also be a very useful trait to have. Be very patient and slower to lose your cool, even if you're seething underneath.
I'd go with the Ranger class. Probably a dual wielding one. Play up use of Perception, Stealth, and Survival skills. Also, take either Ritual Magic, Alchemy, or Martial Practice so you have more utility in the field.
As far as equipment goes, Warforged have access to a couple of weapons that can be permanently affixed to their bodies. I believe that include armblades and a shoulder bow that generates its own unlimited ammunition. That should make you plenty self-sufficient and should simulate "bionic weapon implants".
Anyways. Like Alex_ said, a lot of that is going to be done through role-play. Truth be told, I can see you doing that with pretty much any character. What are the specifics of your existing group?
An Elf two-weapon Ranger
A Dragonborn Fighter/Barbarian Hybrid
A Human Seeker
A human Cleric
One idea I had was a human ranger multi-class with the artificer, then take the self-forged Paragon Path. A human augmented with warforged parts, rather then a full out warforged
Well, how stealthy/guerillalike do you want your guy to be?
I've made an Elf fighter that has dex at 18, and STR at 16. He's a lot more agile than a fighter is expected to be, and between a Ranger multiclass feat and backgrounds, has stealth and nature.
An alternate is you could try something like Pierce, from Keith Baker's The Dreaming Dark trilogy. Ranged combatatent. Played tag with Valenar commandoes, too. But, that'd be a bow Ranger.
Is there a way for humans to get warforged parts without taking the self forged paragon path?
Just fluff it. You have a warforged arm or leg grafted on, but it gives you no particular mechanical benefit.
Like, if you play a Sorcerer, you roleplay your powers as not actually coming from magic in your blood, but rather through an arm-cannon graft, or something.
There is also House Vadalis's magebreed solider program: they are stronger, tougher, faster, smarter and more attractive then their normal counterparts (re-fluff a Githzerai or Mul or just go Human with some relevant feats). A magebred PC may have some bio-enhancements /weapons taken from Vadalis secret Clifftop lab (in such case you can also go with the Bladeling race for the body-spikes racial power).
or maybe go with an Aerenal elf and their deathless (necrotic) grafts - Open Grave offered a few a grafts magical items (tho I don't see them in the compendium).
and Zil elemental grafts - where you can use Dark Sun's Elemental Gift as crunch or refluff class powers as AvonRekaes suggested.
There is also House Vadalis's magebreed solider program: they are stronger, tougher, faster, smarter and more attractive then their normal counterparts (re-fluff a Githzerai or Mul or just go Human with some relevant feats). A magebred PC may have some bio-enhancements /weapons taken from Vadalis secret Clifftop lab (in such case you can also go with the Bladeling race for the body-spikes racial power).
or maybe go with an Aerenal elf and their deathless (necrotic) grafts - Open Grave offered a few a grafts magical items (tho I don't see them in the compendium).
and Zil elemental grafts - where you can use Dark Sun's Elemental Gift as crunch or refluff class powers as AvonRekaes suggested.
I've neer heard of the magebreed. Is there a place I can find more info about them?
Magebreeding is how House Vadalis breeds stronger, faster, smarter animals as mounts and companions. Combining that with sentient species isn't covered in the books as far as I know, but it's the logical militarization of their skills.
I don't think it works on sentient species, since it involves the Mark of Handling which really only does things involving animals. That said, if someone wanted to roll with that, enjoy.
They are one of the new threats added in the 4E Eberron Campaign Guide (p. 96): During the Mourning the magebred took over the Cliftop research facility (Cyre border), they sometime come out of the Mourland to raid Karrnath or the Talenta Plains for slaves which they later 'charm' into followers.
So its not a classic PC choice and there is no canon crunch support for playing one, but its not hard for example to play a Mul and say its a magebred dwarf which escaped his Mournland Magebred unit during a raid ("promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade at Fort Zombie...today, still wanted by the Karrnathi government, magebreed and house Vadalis he survive as a soldier of fortune...").
Symbionts make nice bio-attaching-weapons, the module Kybher's Harvest had crunch for them.
Edit:
There are captured Vadalis heirs in Cliftop, with the next generation of Magebreed comming out - it could be that a magebred human will have a Vadalis heir as parent which opens the possibility for a dragonmark (and a reason for him to leave the group).
Scouts & Hunters from the essentials both play the roll of the gurrilla / skirmisher well. With your current mix, I think I'd favor the hunter as a ranged controller since it sounds like you have 3 reasonable melee combatants (unless the Cleric isn't a melee build) The hunter abilities are mainly controller, but can still generate a fair amount of single target damage.
Aspect of the Fox provides a shift 2 as a free action on a hit or miss with a basic attack (their bread and butter) as well as half damage from attacks occuring during their turn. Soaring Eagle grants +2 power bonus to speed, +2 power bonus to Perception and reduces concealment/cover bonuses against ranged attacks.
Depending on the feats you take, you can flavor them as grafted warforged components. That becomes the in-game mechanic of how the character gains the feats, rather than through training.
Then there's the roleplay - does the character reval in the powers given to him or does he resent what he was forced to give up? Does he seek a life away from the hostilities and wars he was pressed into or long for a return to the time of war when his skills were in more demand.