D&D General Putting the War into Warforged

[Zardnaar]

Anyone ever heard of the science fiction concept of the "grey goo" scenario? It is when you release self-replicating nanotechnology into the world, and it replicates, and replicates, until it overwhelms every other life form on the planet. The planet is simply covered in a blanket of nanobot grey goo.

If there are absolutely no restrictions on warforged reproduction, and they don't die of disease or old age, you eventually get a "warforged goo" - the entire planet, every square inch of surface, is covered with warforged.

There's your new novel setting idea. The ground isn't dirt - it is just a pile of warforged several tens of meters thick.

I'm familiar with grey goo. Your ideas not bad for Spelljammer but year whole planet of Warforged...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Stepping back a bit from grey goo* scenario, I always felt that Warforged should have some integrated weaponry besides a slam attack. Fingertip claws, forearm blades, spikes- something integral to each one, NOT something they needed a feat or other subsequent addition from limited pc building resources.



* wait...what’s in GREY GOOse Vodka?

 

[MarkB]

Stepping back a bit from grey goo* scenario, I always felt that Warforged should have some integrated weaponry besides a slam attack. Fingertip claws, forearm blades, spikes- something integral to each one, NOT something they needed a feat or other subsequent addition from limited pc building resources.



* wait...what’s in GREY GOOse Vodka?

In the Eberron setting I've always figured that they were effectively de-fanged when they were decommissioned after the Last War. I'm playing up on that aspect with my new character - he's a druid, but the way I'm flavouring him, his growing abilities aren't new to him - they're his original combat capabilities that he's gradually unlocking after they were bound away.

 

[Tonguez]

Warforged are made from wood and metal, but they can feel pain and emotion.

So to me that means that Warforged can corrode/rot thus Swamps and the bottom of the ocean is out. I’d also personally rule that Warforged cant handle the pressure of the deep ocean.

While somewhere like Siberia or the Desert is an option theres nothing to say that Warforged can’t feel extreme temperature.

 

[Zardnaar]

Warforged are made from wood and metal, but they can feel pain and emotion.

So to me that means that Warforged can corrode/rot thus Swamps and the bottom of the ocean is out. I’d also personally rule that Warforged cant handle the pressure of the deep ocean.

While somewhere like Siberia or the Desert is an option theres nothing to say that Warforged can’t feel extreme temperature.

Shallow water is fine although they don't have a swim speed.

 

[MarkB]

Shallow water is fine although they don't have a swim speed.

Yeah, it's actually quite tricky finding somewhere in a standard setting that can exploit their immunities without presenting other difficulties.

I was thinking deep cave systems with no airflow or noxious fumes that regular people couldn't venture into without breathing apparatus, but most D&D settings have variants of the Underdark making such regions relatively comfortable, at least as far as air goes.

 

[Zardnaar]

Yeah, it's actually quite tricky finding somewhere in a standard setting that can exploit their immunities without presenting other difficulties.

I was thinking deep cave systems with no airflow or noxious fumes that regular people couldn't venture into without breathing apparatus, but most D&D settings have variants of the Underdark making such regions relatively comfortable, at least as far as air goes.

Any cave full of carbon monoxide?

 

[Tonguez]

Any cave full of carbon monoxide?

Makes me think of the maintenance tunnels under many cities that carry the power cables and watermains. Imagine that in a world with golems/warforged there could be huge networks of cisterns and aqueducts linking cities together which are patrolled only by rats and warforged

 

[JiffyPopTart]

In my campaign world, warforged were a superweapon created by the dwarves to win a world war. The warforged are created when the bodies are mated to a rare gem (a soul stone) in a soul forge.

Unfortunately the stream of water feeding the forges was tainted by an underground aboleth and every warforged has a corrupted soul. This has a couple drawbacks.

1. The aboleth can use all the warfoeged as eyes and ears in the world.

2. If the magics of the soul stones are violently destroyed (massive over damage to the body) the warforged have a small but nonzero change of going off like an atomic weapon, scarring the weave and creating a dead zone for magic inhospitable to life.

Because of #2 the dwarves shut down the soul forges and are quietly arranging to have the warforged retrieved and decommissioned. Obviously the warforged are not OK with this plan and are on the run.

Basically in my reskinning of WW2, the dwarves were the Americans and the warforged are the atomic genie escaped from the bottle.

 

[Stormonu]

Two ways you could go is the Terminator or Matrix route.

In the Terminator scenario, the organic races are seen as a threat and Lord of Blades becomes Skynet, intent on amassing an army of Warforged in the Mournlands to destroy the organic races.

In the Matrix scenario, the Warforge attempt to settle in a place inhospitable to the organic races and their skills and ability to work together make the organics jealous, sparking a war the organics have no hope to win (See Animatrix, The Second Renaissance). Great if you want to move Eberron towards a more cyberpunk sort of campaign world.