Why do you think warforged = robots?

[Mouseferatu]

I've seen it a lot, especially lately. "I don't like warforged. Robots belong in sci-fi."

As a fan of warforged (in Eberron and certain settings, not everywhere), I honestly have to ask where the idea comes from.

Constructs have been around, in some form or fashion, since Basic D&D. I never heard anybody calling golems "robots."

Sentient constructs have been around for years, too. Maugs. Nimblewrights. Clockwork horrors. To my knowledge, nobody ever called them "robots."

So what is it about warforged that earns this epithet when the others don't?

 

[Nifft]

I've always thought of Golems as kinda robot-like.

IMHO the issue with Warforged isn't their robot-ness, it's their common-ness. Golems are equally robotic, but they're rarer -- you won't fight one at 1st level. Not for long anyway.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Sentient constructs in stock fantasy are very rare, and even in D&D I can't think of a single time I encountered them.

But what pushes the warforged over the line is that they are playable. Sentient constructs that were solely the purview of the DM didn't need to be so well-defined, consistent, and documented. They could remain safely in the realm of 'creepy magical stuff that we can't possibly understand or reproduce'.

Once they became PCs, that changed. And the more defined they become, the more it's apparent that they are 'droids. And I'm firmly in the 'don't mix your peanut butter with my chocolate' camp.

 

[billd91]

I've seen it a lot, especially lately. "I don't like warforged. Robots belong in sci-fi."

As a fan of warforged (in Eberron and certain settings, not everywhere), I honestly have to ask where the idea comes from.

Constructs have been around, in some form or fashion, since Basic D&D. I never heard anybody calling golems "robots."

Sentient constructs have been around for years, too. Maugs. Nimblewrights. Clockwork horrors. To my knowledge, nobody ever called them "robots."

So what is it about warforged that earns this epithet when the others don't?

Sentient constructs, even when available in the game, have still been pretty rare. I can't recall ever using any myself as DM. If I want to use a construct, I'll generally use a golem or an animated object. As others have implied, clockworks and other sentient constructs don't fit my flavor of fantasy. They push into the science fantasy realm more than I'd like.

Personally, I have a hard time understanding how you can look at a warforged and not think of a Star Wars droid at least a little bit, or plenty of othe sci-fi movies with robots with some semblance of artificial intelligence.

 

[smootrk]

I happen to actually like Warforged, but I didn't like them initially. I think part of the Robot analogy comes from much of the source material that describes them 'searching for their place in society', or 'understanding life', in a rather Star Trek Data way. They were also described as being sorta mass produced to be the warriors in armies...

... with these aspects as part of the cannon literature, I can see why many see them as ROBOTS.

 

[Woas]

Sure, intellegent constructs may be part of the D&D mythos over all. But they are the same part of the mythos that say.. mind flayers, beholders, demonds, devils, outsiders in general, dragons and other rare creatures are. So when you take a creature/monster that typically you encounter only on rare occasions, in specific themed adventure and make them a playable race and so accessable/common, it kind of burns yea.
In addition, I actually dislike warforged specifically because of the baggage Eberron puts on them. I wouldn't mind it so much, but Eberron (to me at least. And take this with a grain of salt because I don't play Eberron and haven't kept up with it after the initial release) seems to make warforged out as a mass-produced robot race. And for me, "mass produced" definetely is marshmellow in my peanut butter!

 

[Psion]

I always thought of golems --at least Iron Golems--as robot-like. Stone golems I associate more with statues.

That doesn't mean that they--nor warforged--don't belong in D&D. Simulacrums, eidolons, golems, etc., are all "magical robots" and all have a long pedigree in fantasy (even intelligent ones). Anyone who suggests otherwise is drawing their definition of fantasy from a far narrower subset of the field than I am.

 

[Voadam]

Robots in d20 are constructs.

Metallic, humanoid form, created to be humanoid replacements (warriors in the warforged case and not other kinds of servants). Just replace the magic creation and pseudo life force with tech descriptions and you'd have a robot. So they do appear to be a robot translated into D&D.

For a player wanting to play a robot in D&D this fits the bill. I have a player who wanted to play a giant robot in D&D in my Wildwood pbp game, I was cool with the concept, and bumping it up to large size for an LA bump worked for us.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I always thought of golems --at least Iron Golems--as robot-like. Stone golems I associate more with statues.

That doesn't mean that they--nor warforged--don't belong in D&D. Simulacrums, eidolons, golems, etc., are all "magical robots" and all have a long pedigree in fantasy (even intelligent ones). Anyone who suggests otherwise is drawing their definition of fantasy from a far narrower subset of the field than I am.

As tools/minions/obstacles, yes, there is a long tradiiton of such in fantasy. As sentient characters? Not so much, and even less so as protagonists. But such things are a staple of sci-fi, and that's why (for me) warforged have the stink of technology about them. My beefs with warforged are as much for mechanical reasons as flavor, though.

Some would make a similar argument with regards to psionics, but since I was exposed to the Deryni stuff early I never had a psionics=sci-fi attachment.

 

[Umbran]

As a fan of warforged (in Eberron and certain settings, not everywhere), I honestly have to ask where the idea comes from.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, best bet it is a duck.

Warforged are constructed beings, generally of humanoid form, able to do all the stuff you expect a humanoid to be able to do. An "android" is a mechanism designed to emulate a human in looks in behavior. Seems a good fit to me. The only difference is the 'technology" that allows them to operate. The end result is the same.

Constructs have been around, in some form or fashion, since Basic D&D. I never heard anybody calling golems "robots."

I think everyone has recognized their "robotic" nature, but they haven't been prevalent enough to need to worry about it - those who didn't want robots in their games just didn't use them. Now, when it is an option that players can choose, it is more of an issue.

Not that it is a big issue - not wanting warforged is like not wanting elves, or any other particular race.