Ideas for the Warforged Outside Eberron

[Remathilis]

Heya,

I love the concept of the warforged, but I'd rather stick to my home-brew setting rather than switch to Eberron.

Give me your awesome ideas for incorporating warforged characters into a non-Eberron world.

* Who could create them? How?
* What functions aside from war could they be used for?
* How would common folk react to them?

Give me all your good ideas!

 

[The Goblin King]

Who could create them? How?

Let see....

Long ago in the distant past they were created to be a servant race but rose up against the masters? The civilization which spawned them is gone but they continue to exist.

They are extradimensional exiles from a plane where everyone are constructs?

They arose spontaneously in a place where magical and elemental energy mixed with a junk yard?

What functions aside from war could they be used for?

They can do anything people can do and some things better. No need to breath is neat.

How would common folk react to them?

I guess it would depend on the society. Some people might embrace them as equals. Some might look upon them with suspicion (for taking jobs away from humans?). They might have rules put upon them such as the Three Laws of Warforged. (tie back into former slaves?)

 

[fba827]

possible creators: any single person, any group, any community, any nation - basically, anyone with the skill and resources.

warforged could be servants for any task: war (offensive), war (as defendors), policemen, housekeeping, dangerous work (mining, forestry in a dangerous forest, underwater construction, construction in general, etc.).
they could have been built by a united nations equivalent as the ultimate and unbiased peace keepers and judges around the globe/map.

reactions? It woud depend on the society and what the warforged were actually created to do (if they were supposed to be police, for instance, some might welcome their presense for a sense of security while others will shun them thinking that they are there as "big brother to watch them")

Edit: Oh, could also be created by gods as guardians or watchmen or something along those lines. In such a case, they would be highly reveared or feared or hated like a miniavatar-like thing.

 

[BaldHero]

Deep in the desert, buried under centuries of sand, stands an army of warforged. Unmoving and statuesque. Long ago a seer had a vision that revealed to him that his people were to combat a great evil, but that the evil would take ages to arrive. So the warforged were created to hold the souls of those that wanted to be in the world to fight the great evil. As a member of the seers order or culture or civilization died, his soul was transfered to the warforged he himself had helped to create. There it stood waiting for the right time to awaken and begin the long journey to the place where the far away evil would be. I got the idea from the terra cotta warriors of Japan.
Perhaps they are inhabited by the spirits of the guardians of a long buried tomb, whos master decided they should be able to stand forever to guard his remains.
L.

 

[ForceUser]

Heya,

I love the concept of the warforged, but I'd rather stick to my home-brew setting rather than switch to Eberron.

Give me your awesome ideas for incorporating warforged characters into a non-Eberron world.

* Who could create them? How?

IMC, gnomes created them to fight in a human war, using the same processes outlined in ECS.

* What functions aside from war could they be used for?

Any job a fighter would do in peacetime...house guard, adventurer, etc.

* How would common folk react to them?

Fear, wonder, or mistrust.

 

[shilsen]

As fba827 said, just about anyone with the resources could make them, as long as it suits your campaign. Maybe a mage starts experimenting with ways to imbue a construct with life and sentience. Maybe the gnomes need some serious help for the industrial revolution (warforged with blunderbusses, baby!). Maybe some evil guy wants a race of servitors who are immune to fatigue and never need to sleep. Perhaps a species which lives underwater and can't breathe air creates the warforged as mediators between them and the surface races (warforged don't need to breathe, so they can exist underwater or on land equally easily).

Other than war, they could do just about any job, and would be especially appropriate at ones where their unique abilities and immunities would help.

Reactions to them would be, as fba827 said, dependent on their roles and the society. I can see certain clerics having serious issues with the question of someone being able to create life, debating the question of whether warforged have souls, etc. If you've read Terry Pratchett (and if you haven't, what the hell were you thinking?!), think of the scene from Feet of Clay where the priests argue with the intelligent golem about whether he has a soul or is really alive.

 

[DonAdam]

If you are using the Forgotten Realms, they could be created by the Halruaans as ground troops.

They could also be a lesser of inevitables, or even the tiefling/aasimar version of an inevitable.

 

[Ashanderai]

I got the idea from the terra cotta warriors of Japan.

You mean the ones entombed with the first emperor of China, right? How did they get all the way to Japan after being entombed and then back to China in time to be discovered last century?

Sorry, I couldn't quite bring myself to let that one pass.

 

[BaldHero]

china huh? Yep thats what i meant. As for how they got there...
when i used the concept in my game, they ran from one side of Tellene to the other, wthout stopping. They crossed every obstacle at full speed, even running underwater, across the ocean floor. In a straight line, they even inadvertantly created a new road for travel, since there were ten thousand of them, and they pretty much stomped it out. Japan isnt that far from China...maybe they were moonlighting?
im just terrible with trivia.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Deep in the desert, buried under centuries of sand, stands an army of warforged. Unmoving and statuesque. Long ago a seer had a vision that revealed to him that his people were to combat a great evil, but that the evil would take ages to arrive. So the warforged were created to hold the souls of those that wanted to be in the world to fight the great evil. As a member of the seers order or culture or civilization died, his soul was transfered to the warforged he himself had helped to create. There it stood waiting for the right time to awaken and begin the long journey to the place where the far away evil would be. I got the idea from the terra cotta warriors of Japan.
Perhaps they are inhabited by the spirits of the guardians of a long buried tomb, whos master decided they should be able to stand forever to guard his remains.
L.

I like that a lot. And maybe they all just started waking up. What would the social implications be? Do people know they're some kind of apocalyptic harbinger army, and if they do, how would they feel seeing one of these guys walking down the street? And of course, maybe the warforged have no idea what it is they're supposed to be fighting, or even whether it's years, months, or even days away.