Why do you think warforged = robots?

[Elephant]

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.

I see your cannon and raise a Howitzer.

 

[Squire James]

On the other hand, I don't think it's cynical enough. In almost every case where I've seen robot applied to warforged, it's in a "OH NOEZ, THEY GOTS SUM SCI-FI INZ MY FATNASY!!!11" type of tirade.

I've also heard that shifters and changelings are the X-men, for what it's worth. That's why someone didn't like Eberron, because it was all robots and X-men. :\

Actually, I always thought Changelings and Warforged made it more like the Teen Titans...

 

[Mortellan]

LOL, I never thought of that before, and now I always will.

 

[Agamon]

Oooh, I can see the X-Men analogy taken even further in 4E Eberron.

Warforged = Colossus
Shifter = Wolverine (and several other characters)
Changeling = Mystique
Kalashtar = Marvel Girl, Emma Frost, Psylocke, Prof. X, etc.
Tiefling = Nightcrawler

That's pure awesome. Awesome, as in, I want to play that, or awesome, as in , great parody, I'm not sure....

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

My take on Warforged is more along the lines of Frankenstein, and the in game decriptions include much more wood, leather bindings and dull metal parts than they do 'shiny robot'

Heres how I look at it. The Creation Forges are ancient artifacts that twist the 'Reincarnate' magic to pull a new soul and 'birth' it into a prepared body. The body is originally a simple construct with a minimal set of orders and training built in.

Once out into the world, however, the soul grows and learns.. and begins searching for answers to its own existance...etc.

Perhaps some of the Creation Forges were pulling recently departed souls instead of new souls... and the memories of their past life is lurking just under the surface..

maybe the souls are not human/demi-human but fiendish!


The call for 'no Robots in my DnD' have been sounded by many since Eberron came out. Many of those who say this also do not play Eberron and have issues with other techno-magic stuff like the lightening rail.
Each to thier own game. I can see how these things fit and make for a very interesting campaign world.

The difference is, I don't bash Campaing setting X {that I don't play} for having option Y {that I don't like}.... I simply don't play in setting X or with option Y

 

[reanjr]

I think alot of it has to do with the artists. Warforged look like robots. Additionally, a construct's personality is usually close to what one might expect out of a robot.

 

[Klaus]

Maybe I'm just cynical, but I figure a fair percentage (though not all) of the people doing the "warforged=robots" stuff are using 'robot' as an easy pejorative term, just like the use of 'computer game' or 'anime' in "D&D is becoming too anime/much like a computer game".

Warforged are SO anime!

I like the 'forged (check my website if you don't believe me). With very minor adjustments, they could be reimagined as a humanoid plant species, as a composite elemental (specially if you use the Chinese five elements, which include wood and metal), etc.

As for the Chinese terracota warriors, they were built in an age where people DID believe in magic, and were supposed to protect the Emperor in the afterlife. In the 2e Monstrous Compendium, Tony DiTerlizzi used a terracota warrior to represent the Clay Golem (my favorite rendition), much like the Stone Golem is reminiscent of Ramses II's colossi.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

1. Because constructs, particularly the metal ones, have always been robots in D&D. Iron golems fill the same role as killer robots in innumerable sci-fi stories, movies and serials: implacable, nearly indestructible, mindless killing machines that are often outwitted rather than destroyed. Flesh golems are explicitly based on Frankenstein's monster - and many robot stories descend from the Frankenstein story. Warforged are an outgrowth of golems, which are D&D's most common version of robots.
(Note: I'm aware of the actual legendary background of golems; it has as much bearing on D&D's treatment of them as the actual legendary background of elves or dwarves does, or gorgons for that matter)

2. Because Warforged are explicitly used to explore the same themes as robots in more serious sci-fi stories, from Asimov's three laws 'bots to Data on Star Trek. Becoming human or exploring their own sentience, the potential danger they pose and the danger humans pose to them, etc. All of these thematic territory has been explored with robots.

3. Because they LOOK like robots in most depictions. Magic robots, yes, but robots all the same.

4. Because I want robot PCs in my fantasy. It was good for Chrono Trigger, it's good enough for me.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That's pure awesome. Awesome, as in, I want to play that, or awesome, as in , great parody, I'm not sure....

I have to say, I'm not a fan of the modern X-Men (read: X-Men since they became a giant company-choking franchise in the late 1980s), but I'd play in that game in a heartbeat, especially if the DM figured out how to map all of the X-themes onto Eberron in a natural way.

 

[Nifft]

Warforged are SO anime!

In that case, so is Craft (Alchemy).

Cheers, -- N