Are the Warforged underpowered?

[Quickbeam]

One of my two gaming groups is about to embark on its first Eberron adventure and I found myself creating a warforged character for the campaign. As I read through the descriptive material on warforged, I began to sense that this race was a bit underpowered. Forget the two negative attribute scores, because plenty of other races have this same handicap. I was referring more to the racial abilities...or in this case, deficiencies. I understand that warforged are no longer entirely constructs, nor are they flesh and blood. But IMHO there seem to be a variety of benefits they are precluded from receiving with little provided to offset these losses on the plus side of the equation. For instance, why don't they have darkvision -- a minor, yet completely reasonable racial ability to be sure? I have other questions along these lines, but I'm sure you get the point.

Forgive me if there have already been 1,001 discussion threads on this topic, but I wanted some feedback on other player/DM experiences with warforged. I love the race despite what I perceive to be its shortcomings, but feel the game designers may have given the warforged short shrift on racial abilities because the very concept of playing such a PC would be enticement enough.

 

[fredramsey]

The warforged in my group is the powerhouse, especially since one of the other players is and artificer.

 

[Bihor]

I find them powerfull the only proble is the half-healing problem.
So you just need to have a mage friend to heal you and you're ok.

 

[Urbanmech]

I think you are one of the few people who has looked at the warforged and said they look underpowered. Usually people see the immunity to disease and poison, no need to breath, sleep, or eat, and minor fortification and say the opposite. I don't think they got the short stick on racial abilities (wave hello half-orc). I think that they come out being pretty well balanced and a facinating character perspective to explore.

Having seen one in play they are actually quite well balanced. The host of immunities and access to armor feats are offset by the difficulty of healing them. It puts a strain on a parties cleric and artificer if your warforged goes charging into combat at every chance. Sure an artificer (or wizard) can heal a warforged, but they don't have the infusions per day to keep up with the need. I can imagine that most artificers would rather use their infusions for something fun rather than healing the warforged.

 

[Khairn]

When we played Ebberon, my group and I felt that the Warforged was too powerful and had too many advantages compared to their disadvantages. In the end we assigned them an additional +1 level adjustment, and even then they became the powerhouse of the party.

Is darkvision the primary example for your arguement? What else do you feel is tipping the scales against the Warforged?

 

[KB9JMQ]

I don't think they are under- or over- powered.
But I am confused as to why they dont have darkvision or low-light vision of some sort.

 

[fredramsey]

Maybe make darkvision a warforged accessory, or a warforged 1st level feat, or part of the warforged juggernaught prestige class...

I don't think they are under- or over- powered.
But I am confused as to why they dont have darkvision or low-light vision of some sort.

 

[Quickbeam]

Thanks for the replies thus far.

I have no doubt that warforged PC's can kick some serious tail, but I was trying to get a sense as to whether or not the scaled back construct immunities and half-healing rules left them in the lurch versus the shifters, elves, etc. Given the experiences mentioned thus far it appears not.

FWIW Devyn, I wasn't trying to make an argument either way. I was simply trying to express my first impression of the race and its corresponding abilities/limitations. This thread wasn't designed as a forum for me to debate the strengths and weaknesses of warforged, but rather to see if my fellow gamer's experiences mirrored or refuted my gut reaction. Four replies in, I think it's pretty clear where things are heading .

More than anything I just wanted to know how the characters played given their racial design. It's clear they can deal wicked amounts of damage and survive inhumane conditions, but I was curious how other factors affected them in game play.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Yeah, the thing is that they get immunity to most of the things that dwarves get bonuses against. So they're definately not underpowered. Though they aren't extremely flexible...you can be a wizard, or you can be an attack beast.

 

[Desdichado]

I think you are one of the few people who has looked at the warforged and said they look underpowered. Usually people see the immunity to disease and poison, no need to breath, sleep, or eat, and minor fortification and say the opposite. I don't think they got the short stick on racial abilities (wave hello half-orc). I think that they come out being pretty well balanced and a facinating character perspective to explore.

That really kinda depends on your game, though. I've rarely seen those "advantages" have much, if any, impact in a game, so they hardly go towards mitigating the negatives. On the other hand, I suppose for some campaigns, those same immunities could be crippling to the other players, and therefore the warforged would seem overpowered, if anything.

Having seen one in play they are actually quite well balanced. The host of immunities and access to armor feats are offset by the difficulty of healing them. It puts a strain on a parties cleric and artificer if your warforged goes charging into combat at every chance. Sure an artificer (or wizard) can heal a warforged, but they don't have the infusions per day to keep up with the need. I can imagine that most artificers would rather use their infusions for something fun rather than healing the warforged.

There is no artificer (or cleric, for that matter) in our group. To clarify; I play in Quickbeam's group -- I've made up a shifter ranger in the same campaign. We had a discussion last night after the game ended, and we all pretty much agreed that the warforged seemed underpowered relative to the situations we envision the game will take us. Immunity to disease isn't really an issue unless 1) you're traveling through an area infested with the plague, 2) you fight a ton of mummies, or 3) your character is after cheap hoochie in every tavern you stop. Immunity to poison is similarly an infrequently used ability.