Eberron: Forging Fury [Full and Live]

Hello folks. I've been bandying around a few ideas for a campaign, and I'm going to pitch one of them to you. I want Warforged. Several of them. Four preferably, but more will work if we have talented folks who will remain active, and less will work if we don't. I would like a balanced party, but obviously that isn't a necessity, and I can work around it if requirements persist.

The Plot:
You are a group of disenfranchised warforged. You may have differing motives, differing skills and differing lifestyles, however you all came together in a glade several leagues southeast of Sharn. You arrived in response to a rather mysterious summons stating "Come" with appropriate directions.

Whether out of curiosity, boredom or a longing to be under rigid and simple command again you gathered together and were put to work by an aging human noble claiming the name of Juarin. He instructed you in various menial tasks, from negotiating deals for building materials to actual menial labour in building a small stone and wood hut for him. Always he promised that this was merely a test, that you were being held together for a higher purpose.

After several months working for him and learning to work well with each other, he has come to you one quiet summer morning asking for all of you to prepare for a journey, and to meet in the low stone building afterwards. It appears that the time to meet your higher purpose is upon you.

The Rules:
Warforged Only. Pitch a character concept (NOT a character sheet) with a rough bio. Tell me why your character chose their path in life, why they answered the summons, why they stuck around, and any other psychological info you feel is relevant. I need characters, not automatons. I also need characters with real guts and minds rather than powergaming goons.

Please, I encourage you to pitch wacky characters. Not everyone has to go the way of the Juggernaut. I would like things to be balanced and interesting, while still having the common tie of being warforged and working for Juarin.

When the time comes, I will allow sources from the Eberron Campaign Setting, Races of Eberron, Sharn: City of Towers, and the "Complete" Series in addition to the core books. So don't be afraid to pitch a Warforged Warlock with an Unarmored Body, or something equally out there.

When we have a stable of four character pitches or so that I've approved of, I will update with a Rogues Gallery post to start putting sheets for approved character pitches to.

One note: If there is alot of demand I will take the best characters, not just the first characters. So if there are already four folks posted, don't feel left out, feel challenged to pitch a unique and interesting character.

Finally, I warn you. I am pretty picky about spelling, grammar and coherency. I brought this game to this forum because I believe that most of the players here are of like mind. Please prove me right, I'd hate to have to turn people away.

Edit: One final bit. Please, if you have access to it, read the Warforged section in Races of Eberron, as well as the Dragonshards article here on Warforged. I particularly want folks to be able to understand Warforged terminology and psychology. If you choose to play outside of those guidelines, I need to know why your character is different from the mass-produced norms.

Kerrz said:

I also need characters with real guts and minds rather than powergaming goons.

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But... aren't Warforged characters with artificial guts and minds?

Finally, I warn you. I am pretty picky about spelling and grammar and coherency.

If there is alot of demand...

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Ahem

-Hyp.

Hypersmurf said:

But... aren't Warforged characters with artificial guts and minds?

Kerrz said:

Finally, I warn you. I am pretty picky about spelling and grammar and coherency.

If there is alot of demand...

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Ahem

-Hyp.

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Hey, now. Just because warforged are made by people doesn't make them any less natural. People are made by people too!

As for the second part... I am sort of missing your point. Either you're pointing out my poor grammar and expecting me to notice it or I've done something else wrong. It's funny really, because all I see is maybe a problem with comma splicing which I've fixed. I'll admit right now that I'm horrible about that though. I write as I speak, and alot of times where I would pause for emphasis I will put in a comma, whether one should be there grammatically or not.

I was more worried about things like this though, as an example of a PbP game I had to walk out on before on another forum:

Marius in greeting Flick with a brief hand shake accedently drops his holopad. Showing everyone a detailed map of the fist cavern they are going to explore. Picking it up quickly Marius hoped that no one would question him about it and descover he had already had a horrifying experiance in these dark caverns.

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This drives me crazy. He is expounding far too much on an internal monologue, treating the readers like morons, and he can't spell.

After announcing to the two mercinarys that had arrived on time this information, Marius readied himself for the perilous journey that lye ahead.

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More from the same guy, and he was our GM. Surely you can see the difference between any errors in my posts, and the errors in his.

And we are drastically off topic.
Don't mind me, it's my first time DMing on this forum and I wanted to make sure everyone knew where I was coming from. I'm not trying to be an elitist, but I know where my limits lie and don't want to upset anyone later on if I have to turn them away.

Kerrz said:

Hey, now. Just because warforged are made by people doesn't make them any less natural. People are made by people too!

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As for the second part... I am sort of missing your point. Either you're pointing out my poor grammar and expecting me to notice it or I've done something else wrong. It's funny really, because all I see is maybe a problem with comma splicing which I've fixed. I'll admit right now that I'm horrible about that though. I write as I speak, and alot of times...

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There it is again!

"alot" is not a word.

-Hyp.

Sure it is. I use it alot.

You and Microsoft Word are both out to get me. I can see it now... It never ceases to amaze me how often I use "alot" and have Word correct it for me. I don't know where I picked it up, but it's too far ingrained for me to go about changing it.
"atleast" isn't a word either. MS Word keeps trying to teach me that one too.

I will never learn. But atleast I put the right letters in the right order... even if I'm missing the all important space.

Edit: I would like to point out the irony of this post, as the final usage of "atleast" was unintended, but proved my point completely.

Not to be picky on rules, but what are some of the general rules for creation? (Stats, levels type stuff)

I've been pondering a Warforged Bard come Reforged for a while. It seems like a very fun concept. I've already had fun with a non-standard Warforged (Check out Carver and the PbP he's in in my sig. He's best described as a Gnomeforged, and has been quite entertaining to play). My worry is creation, because with his charisma penalty, it could hamper him severely. I don't mind being not perfect or even a bit underpowered, but don't want the poor guy to be crippled.

As for spelling, well, I realy suck, but I can usually get most things correct. As far as internal monolog, I find it can be usefull to help a GM (As a GM and player) to help a GM understand the intent of an action. But yes, your examples, if par for the course, would have driven me nuts.

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Basicly, I could see my bard warforged being one of the last off the assembly line, perhaps part of an order that was canceled before he could even be trained. Having little practical training in the military (he recieved very basic training, and even that was not particularly serious), he began to explore the life of the 'godforged', Envying the freedoms they enjoyed and yearning to explore his own lust for life.

Once the treaty was signed, he spent time wandering taverns, observing people, till a wandering soul took him and mentored him in the ways of people and the bard. As he wanderd as a bard, he heard wind of the reforged, and their embrace of living life, and he has begun to seek it out ever since.

He's hoping that the invitation is perhaps an invite from the Reforged to teach him their ways, though he knows that is unlikely.
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I'd flesh it out more. That's 5 minutes of me sort of brainstorming/typing. I usually write out longer background and run them though word to check spelling and such.

North, Quartermaster Command Model QK-94.

Background

North was created near the end of the Last War as a commander for an entirely warforged mobile supply unit. Basically, North was trained by House Cannith to be a quartermaster for Karrnath. North’s unit was mostly responsible for keeping up the armor, weapons, and Warforged of some of the farthest extended units in the Karnathi military. The Karrns felt that warforged could make the perfect supply train: they get the supplies where they are going soonest, and teaching them to do things like repair armor is a skill that they have a large amount of self-interest in learning due to feelings of self-preservation. Due to his position in the military, North saw little actual combat in the Last War, only the aftermath of combat.

After Thronehold, North felt cheated that he, amongst the most sophisticated war machines House Cannith built for the war, was under used in the fighting. Since at the end of the war he felt warforged were treated as little more than property in Karnnath, North decided that he needed to find a country to serve that actually valued the war machine he was designed to be. Breland, pushing hardest for Warforged independence, seemed just the place. North smuggled himself out of Karrnath, and traveled south to Breland, seeking work and a chance to prove he was made for combat. When he received a summons to meet with other warforged shortly after arriving in Breland, he answered it as it promised adventure and a chance to flex the fighting muscles he was never allowed to use in the war. The early tasks set by Juarin were right down North's alley: organization of goods and services, repair work, and building were second nature to North: but so was his impatience at again being offered a chance to prove his worth in combat, and once again, not being able to do so. Only the comraderie North felt with his fellow warforged has kept him from walking out so far. The assurance that the tests are over, and the real tasks are soon beginning has cemented his interest.

Personality

North wants a place for warforged to have in this world above all else. He is idealistic well past the point of reality at times, but when these ideals get him into tough scrapes his quick-thinking and adventurous attitude tends to get him out of trouble. North is fiercley loyal to his friends and only counts those who have tried to kill him, or try to stop warforged from being a part of society, as enemies.

North is never afraid to step up into the leadership role for which he was designed, and he likes managing goods and having items that are useful at hand. He isn’t very good at assigning value of things in terms of money, and sees all objects as their value to the operation at hand. North, like many warforged, respects a good chain of command. If he sees someone as his superior, or at least the most knowledgeable in a particular situation, he gladly steps aside and allows others to take the lead.

Appearance

North was designed with adamantine plating that resembled commander’s armor. This is what was intended to distinguish him as an officer-warforged model. The only article of clothing North wears is a thick black leather belt with silver studs.

Classes

I plan on being a fighter/artificer eventually going the path of spellcarved soldier if allowed

Bront said:

Not to be picky on rules, but what are some of the general rules for creation? (Stats, levels type stuff)

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I purposefully didn't mention it so that people would avoid writing up character sheets right away, thus forcing you guys to work out the story rather than the statistics. Don't worry about crippled characters though - I'll be pretty generous with stats, probably going with a high point buy.

ShaggySpellsword said:

Note: If we are starting at a higher level I will add to his history some (probably a good bit about him working in the warforged "undergound railroad" of Karrnath, helping fellow warforged escape their slavery.

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Nah. We're starting fresh and new at first level - so you've had some experience living, maybe some experience fighting, but you haven't had much of a chance to really flesh out your lives since the treaty of Thronehold was put into place. I'll probably advance you guys relatively quickly because PbP games have a tendency to drag, but it won't be ridiculous, I'm a firm believer that Eberron is made for low level characters. When the highest level NPC created for the setting is only ECL 14 or so, then it's fairly evident that the world is pretty low level.

Also guys, remember, it's very important that you explain explicitly why you answered the summons. The concept of the party is that you already know each other rather well, so running up a few short lines on why you're here and why you've stayed is vital to keep the group together.

Otherwise, it looks good, we've got our first two 'forged.

Done and done. I promise, I wasn't asking for higher levels...just pointing out I could expand if needed. Looking foward to it!

Kerrz said:

I purposefully didn't mention it so that people would avoid writing up character sheets right away, thus forcing you guys to work out the story rather than the statistics. Don't worry about crippled characters though - I'll be pretty generous with stats, probably going with a high point buy.

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Great. The unfortunate reality is to make a somewhat enjoyable bard, you need a few good stats, and it's worse when you have a racial penalty to your stats. I do understand your idea of not offering it up first. It's all good.

Like I said, once I actualy do start to stat him up, I'll probably fill in more of the details. It's part of how I work a character up. It's a combo of statting and rping life.