Dwarf Fighter vs. Warforged Fighter: Which for you?

[Henry]

Why?

Not only am I a totally awesome fighter. Not only am I a bad ass spell caster. Not only am I virtually immune to all poison or disease (damn natural 1) I’m a hit point socialist. I have twice as many hit points as anyone else in the group and with a casting of Shield Other on the rogue while we're exploring a dungeon I’m his best friend. Oh yeah and I can heal my self for full hit points. Therefore I am much more useful then a plain-Jane Warforge fighter.

The only thing is, warforged has you on all of the above points except for the healing. He's even immune to poisons! Convince the party sorcerer to learn repair light damage, though, and you're golden.

The dwarf has other advantages, though. (Good God, does he ever!) The resistance to tripping, the armor mobility, the argrush as a martial weapon, the stonecunning, the magic resistance, and stack it with that CON bonus, and the Dwarf is a definite peer to the Warforged in Fighting ability. Think of the Dwarf as the Abrams Tank, and think of the Warforged as the Russian T-90.

 

[Dave Turner]

How the heck does dwarven stonecutting help make them the definite peer of Warforged in fighting ability?

Sure, the dwarves get resistance to tripping and magic, but warforged get immunity to poison, sleep, paralysis, hold person, energy drain, fatigue, exhaustion, nausea, and sickening! They automatically stabliize at negative hit points. They can negate critical hits or sneak attacks with some luck. I think those advantages add up to better fighting, don't you?

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

I chose dwarf. Why? I dunno, I'm not too worried about playing Warforged I guess. It's something I'd like to do, but I'm not in a rush. I chose dwarf mainly because when I play a non-human fighter I like to save my feats to beef up my offensive capabilities.

Seriously though, I'd really like to play a gnome rogue/master inquisitive/assassin. Now that'd be cool.

 

[Painfully]

A half-giant fighter from the XPH allows you to use a large greatsword (3d6 base damage). It costs a level adjustment of +1, but it's certainly worth it IMO if you want to be a pure fighter. Racial adjustments are +2 STR, +2 CON, -2 DEX. Other benefits include being treated as a size-category large when it is advantageous to the character, but otherwise being treated as a medium-size creature.

*edit* or warforged.

 

[lukelightning]

I chose warforged but it was a hard choice; I like dwarves a lot, though have gotten really tired of all those axe-wielding faux-Scottish misanthropic types.

I would play a warforged druid. He'd be like a transformer! Or a warforged bard ("heavy metal").

 

[ironmani]

I picked the Warforged because for a feat at first level you can be a decently armored fighter. As a fighter, you have feats out the wazoo. That gold can be saved and spent on Warforged upgrades and stuff. Plus if you go for Warforged Juggernaut you can really clean house. Dont get me wrong, I like Dwarves and all, but I really have a soft sport for the Warforged.

 

[Ferret]

Warforged.

Why not?

 

[VorpalBunny]

Elf. It's all about finesse, baby. That, and warforged annoy me.

 

[DonAdam]

The only thing is, warforged has you on all of the above points except for the healing. He's even immune to poisons! Convince the party sorcerer to learn repair light damage, though, and you're golden

Two points:
First, warforged have a wisdom penalty. That's harsh on a cleric.

Second, having to use repair light damage is still a disability. You basically need to kinds of healing for the party instead of one. Better hope that you maintain the right balance of which healers have spells/are conscious/etc. Arcane spells also have a higher opportunity cost than divine spells because they're better, so the casters have to give up better spells to be healers, and healers for only the warforged of the party. Furthermore, if its a wizard, that means no spontaneous healing. If its sorcerer, that means giving up spells known... ouch.

I don't think the warforged makes the whole party significantly better off than a dwarf. They're probably a little better, but I don't think they have an absolute advantage in all circumstances.

Still, I'd pick warforged because of novelty and RPing.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Now we're gettin' meaty!

This:

Sure, the dwarves get resistance to tripping and magic, but warforged get immunity to poison, sleep, paralysis, hold person, energy drain, fatigue, exhaustion, nausea, and sickening! They automatically stabliize at negative hit points. They can negate critical hits or sneak attacks with some luck. I think those advantages add up to better fighting, don't you?

Is basically my opinion....but I'm still willing to be convinced, so I chose 'other.'

As for this:

Arcane spells also have a higher opportunity cost than divine spells because they're better, so the casters have to give up better spells to be healers, and healers for only the warforged of the party. Furthermore, if its a wizard, that means no spontaneous healing. If its sorcerer, that means giving up spells known... ouch.

All they need is a wand. They're not giving up spells/day, spells known, or room in the spellbook. One wand, 50d8+50 points of healing. I mean, think of the bard or druid as a healer...they can't do it spontaneously, so they buy a wand. Same is true with a sorcerer or a wizard. In fact, if the Warforged is smart, he spends some of his treasure on it so that it costs the wizard/sorc nothing to do it. They might need to memorize a more powerful spell, but they're better off shelling out for a scroll, unless the wizard has a free slot.

The only thing seperating the wand of repair from the wand of cure is the name of the spell.