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Warforged are an artificial race of living constructs originating in Cyre and created by House Cannith in 965 YK to fight in the Last War.[4][3][2] The warforged are sentient constructs and have free will, which earned them the same rights as human citizens in each of their homelands in 996 YK under the Treaty of Thronehold.[4]

Description[]

Warforged are a sizable race, averaging over 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall and weighing over 300 pounds (140 kilograms).[2] As an artificial species, they are made out of a variety of materials, including stone, metal, and darkwood, that have been infused with magic.[2][4] Though their design can vary, they share common traits of a hinged jaw and eyes made from crystal.[2] All warforged have some built-in defenses, and many warforged wear additional armor that has been integrated into their body.[2][4]

Like humanoids, warforged can be healed by magic and affected by mind-altering effects, but like constructs they do not need to sleep, eat, or breathe.[2][4] They are immune or resistant to poison.[2][4] To rest, they enter an inert but fully conscious state.[2][3]

Personality[]

Warforged can have unique personality traits, though being constructs, they are restricted in some ways. They experience anger, pain, fear, and hatred like their human creators—not all warforged are incredibly reserved and pensive, hiding an array of emotions behind their metallic face. Their faces were not designed to display facial expressions and so it can seem like they are distant to the conversation. Despite their lack of physical facial expressions, they're not completely without them as their eyes tend to brighten when experiencing strong or specific emotions.[3]

Some warforged are incredibly naive and lack introspection; however, many others are the opposite and question their existence, wonder if they have souls, and ask what becomes of them in the afterlife. The more intelligent warforged create complex philosophies about what they perceive and learn. Though warforged can show loyalty to religions and organizations, typically they become loyal to a small group of comrades.[3][2]

Warforged often have little life experience as they spent most of their time assigned to one specific duty, usually soldiering. If there is one interest all warforged share it is the love of working and many create endless lists of goals and chores. They take pride in their work and work incredibly hard, which makes them dislike idleness and failure. Warforged can excel at most tasks as they have a single-minded efficiency, especially in combat-related roles.[3]

War and military conditioning create the foundation of warforged personalities, and they understand duty, the chain of command, and conflict.[3] Warforged are typically sexless in body shape, so some do not bother with the concept of gender, while others adopt a gender identity.[2][4] Warforged were given numerical designations as part of their manufacture and military service, but most adopt new names. Often warforged simply accept the nicknames given to them by their comrades while others seek to earn more meaningful names that best describe them.[2][3]

Leisure[]

Warforged never tire and rarely allow themselves to become bored. Having no fear of ageing and no need for sleep or food, warforged have an almost unending patience, yet a hard life as constant soldiers has accustomed them to endless toil and so long periods of inactivity can make them anxious. A warforged without orders or a task to complete will create one for themselves to keep active. Individual warforged choose different hobbies, yet these activities tend to always be repetitious or unending. Some warforged enjoy counting objects; what they count doesn't need to be interesting as warforged will count even mundane things such as counting each blade of grass in the area. Other warforged may carry strips of materials to braid into patterns then un-braid them to recreate a new pattern. For many warforged, their routines inherited from the military are not so easily undone as some will repeatedly perform weapon and equipment maintenance and checks.[8]

Warforged also tend to take an interest in crafting though they will endlessly perform their craft. A smith may hammer and weld all day and night and if the noise disturbs anyone during the nights they take up a more silent craft such as weaving or sewing before returning to smithing during the day. Many adventuring warforged take up crafts to keep themselves busy when their allies sleep, such as carving wooden figures. Many warforged enjoy games of strategy such as chess or gambling. Few warforged actively pursue group activities though when requested to do so they participate with gusto.[8]

Description[]

The warforged are made of stone, metal, and wood fibers. The core of a warforged is a skeletal frame made of metal and stone with wood fibers acting as a muscular system. Covering the warforged is an outer shell of metal and stone plates. An internal network of tubes run through the warforged's body; these tubes are filled with an alchemical blood-like fluid that is designed to lubricate and nourish their systems. Their hands have only two thick fingers and a thumb, whilst their feet only have two broad toes. Their body is sexless.[3][2][4]

Warforged face

A warforged head.

The warforged's face loosely resembles their human creators though they have a toothless jaw and heavy brow line and are lacking noses and hair. Each warforged has a ghulra engraved upon their foreheads. Each of these runes is unique to the warforged, giving them a sense of individuality.[3]

Warforged are able to be repaired and modified by artificers or even by themselves, giving an endless possibility to their appearances.[3][4]

The oldest known warforged (as of 998 YK) are 30 years old, and have yet to show signs of deterioration from age. It is theorized that they can live for eternity as long as they receive maintenance and repairs. Most warforged are between 2 and 30 years old.[2]

Society[]

Creation[]

ForgedWarforged

The birth of a warforged.

Newborn warforged come fully formed from creation forges at birth, with rudimentary language and instinctual knowledge of movement. Over the first few months they are extremely adaptable and able to learn new skills, just like children of other races. It is during this period that the majority of warforged were trained by House Cannith in the art of warfare. Warforged are born with clean slates for minds and are at the mercy of their creator's tutoring as they have no concept of morality or good and evil. In their infant years they will believe all that is told to them by their creator and will treat what is taught to them as the only truth until proved otherwise.[9]

Occupation[]

Warforged at work

Warforged turning their hands to construction.

Warforged have taken up many roles in Eberron and though many in Karrnath and Thrane have become servants to masters again, others have become laborers in various roles, whilst others have used their military experience to become guards, escorts, and mercenaries. Not needing to eat or sleep, the warforged only desire shelter and a purpose so working is still important to them and it is common for warforged to work 20-hour shifts in laboring roles. In Thrane and Karrnath, the warforged are in some cases exploited for their ability to perform multiple tasks and are used to dominate the production of goods. This has caused tension between nations and houses and has also led to many workers despising the warforged.[10]

The warforged live as outsiders in all nations and live lives that are completely different to the rest of the populace. Surprisingly, some warforged have become bards and have even written their own songs, whilst some also have become artists, usually by mistake, and now a warforged art market exists in Breland.[11]

There are warforged who have taken an interest in their neighbors' culture and ways of life and have chosen to wear clothes and imitate their countrymen's accents and manners.[12]

Names[]

Warforged often take up the nicknames given to them by their friends, colleagues, and superiors though they also name themselves after their rank, job title, or something that describes an aspect of themselves. It is not rare for a warforged to change their name when they feel their old one no longer suits them. Others can take names from other races, such as humans.[4][2][3]

Example Names: Azm, Book, Bulwark, Cart, Cutter, Falchion, Graven, Hammer, Mark, Morg, Nameless, Pierce, Pious, Relic, Rune, Steeple, Three, Titan, Unsung, Victor, Watcher, Zealot[3]

Prejudice[]

Warforged prejudice

An anti-warforged protest in Sharn.

Despite the warforged's peaceful nature, many citizens of the Five Nations see them as reminders of a dark past. Some still see them as implements of destruction, killing machines and equipment made in the form of a man, and see them as a danger that must either be destroyed or removed from society. Of the Five Nations it is Karrnath that has the least liberal social attitude towards warforged. Most Karrns see them only as machines rather than individuals; this is perhaps due to their relation with undead soldiers. But warforged prejudice isn't exclusive to Karrnath and there are those who make the common Karrn citizen seem fair in their views. A prominent example of such an individual would be Nolan Toranak, a member of the City Council of Sharn. Nolan endorses anti-warforged organizations and advocates the banishment and even the murder and melting down of warforged.[13]

History[]

During the Last War, House Cannith played a major role through arms dealing but it was in 965 YK that they would create their greatest weapon. The first batch of warforged was created in Cannith's forgehold at Whitehearth in Cyre by Aaren d'Cannith. The warforged were supplied to all of the warring nations of Khorvaire to aid their war efforts, but particularly Breland, Cyre, and Thrane.[14]

In 996 YK, the warforged were set free and given equal rights by the Treaty of Thronehold. This was somewhat traumatic for the warforged who were accustomed to having a single purpose with orders and instructions. In Karrnath and Thrane, the warforged became indentured servants instructed to repair the damage of war whilst in Aundair, Breland, and other nations the warforged became idle after losing their only purpose in life. The idle warforged stood still in fields for days, hoping they'd receive orders but it wasn't until after a few weeks that they learned that the orders would never come so instead, warforged began to band together to seek out new purposes whilst others searched for leaders within their own race to give them meaning.[15]

Religion[]

Warforged praying

A warforged praying to the Sovereign Host.

During their years as soldiers, warforged were rarely educated in religion so that they could be sold to anyone regardless of the buyer's religious beliefs. In recent years, however, the warforged have learned of religion, but few embrace it. Many see worshiping a deity to be identical to working for a master who never gives a command. Still, a few warforged seek out the meaning of their existence and turn to religion for answers. Being the dominant religion in Khorvaire, many warforged worship the Sovereign Host though many also turn to the Silver Flame and other religions. Warforged prove themselves to be useful to their religions and can take up the role of paladin or cleric.[2][4][16]

Some warforged in the Mournland have founded a new religion following the Becoming God. These warforged search the ruins of Cyre to build a body capable of housing their god.[17]

Variations[]

Due to their constructed nature, many less-common types of Warforged have been built in addition to the standard style.

Psiforged[]

Psiforged have bodies that incorporate psionic crystal from the Mournland. This gives them potent psionic abilities. Most psiforged have been made, in violation of the Treaty of Thronehold, by Merrix d'Cannith in his secret workshop beneath Sharn, though at least some seem to have been created in the Mournland, possibly from a Creation Forge controlled by the Lord of Blades.[18]

Greenshadow[]

Greenshadow warforged can bend light and muffle sound, making them exceptionally stealthy. Greenshadow were constructed with a mithral alloy and typically have a crossbow in place of an arm. Greenshadow warforged were still considered experimental during the last days of Cyre.[19]

Notable Warforged[]

Warforged wizard ECS

A warforged wizard with lemur familiar.

Classes[]

Appendix[]

External Links[]

See Also[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Amanda Hamon et al. (May 2024). Vecna: Eve of Ruin. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 209. ISBN 978-0-7869-6947-0.
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 Keith Baker, Jeremy Crawford, & James Wyatt (2019). Eberron: Rising from the Last War. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 35–36. ISBN 0786966890.
  3. 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 David Noonan, Ari Marmell, and Robert J. Schwalb (2009). Eberron Player's Guide. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 32–33. ISBN 0-7869-5100-1.
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 Keith Baker, Bill Slavicsek, & James Wyatt (2004). Eberron Campaign Setting. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 20–24. ISBN 0-7869-3274-0.
  5. Jesse Decker, Matthew Sernett, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, & Keith Baker (2005). Races of Eberron. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 7–9. ISBN 0-7869-3658-4.
  6. Keith Baker, Bill Slavicsek, & James Wyatt (2004). Eberron Campaign Setting. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 27. ISBN 0-7869-3274-0.
  7. Keith Baker (2005/06/27). The Warforged, Part One. Dragonshards. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2016/10/31. Retrieved on 2021/07/03.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Jesse Decker, Matthew Sernett, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, & Keith Baker (2005). Races of Eberron. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 13. ISBN 0-7869-3658-4.
  9. Jesse Decker, Matthew Sernett, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, & Keith Baker (2005). Races of Eberron. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 10. ISBN 0-7869-3658-4.
  10. Jesse Decker, Matthew Sernett, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, & Keith Baker (2005). Races of Eberron. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 13. ISBN 0-7869-3658-4.
  11. Jesse Decker, Matthew Sernett, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, & Keith Baker (2005). Races of Eberron. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 14. ISBN 0-7869-3658-4.
  12. Jesse Decker, Matthew Sernett, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, & Keith Baker (2005). Races of Eberron. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 16. ISBN 0-7869-3658-4.
  13. Keith Baker & James Wyatt (2004). Sharn: City of Towers. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 111. ISBN 0-7869-3434-4.
  14. Keith Baker, Bill Slavicsek, & James Wyatt (2004). Eberron Campaign Setting. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 22. ISBN 0-7869-3274-0.
  15. Jesse Decker, Matthew Sernett, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, & Keith Baker (2005). Races of Eberron. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 11. ISBN 0-7869-3658-4.
  16. Jesse Decker, Matthew Sernett, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, & Keith Baker (2005). Races of Eberron. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 16–17. ISBN 0-7869-3658-4.
  17. James Wyatt and Keith Baker (2009). Eberron Campaign Guide. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 93. ISBN 0-7869-5099-4.
  18. Bruce R. Cordell, Stephen Schubert, and Chris Thomasson (2005). Magic of Eberron. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 39–41. ISBN 0-7869-3696-7.
  19. Mark Sehestedt ed. (2006). The Tales of the Last War. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 1. ISBN 0-7869-3986-9.

Connections[]


Races
Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn | Drow | Dwarf | Elf | Gnome | Half-Elf | Half-Orc | Halfling | Human | Tiefling
Eberron Races: Bugbear | Changeling | Goblin | Hobgoblin | Kalashtar | Orc | Shifter | Warforged
Other Races: Armand | Asherati | Bhuka | Doppelganger | Dragon | Gnoll | Goliath | Kobold | Lizardfolk | Medusa | Sahuagin | Shulassakar | Thri-kreen | Yuan-Ti
Outsiders: Aasimar | Angel | Archon | Daelkyr | Demon | Devil | Elemental | Genie | Githyanki | Githzerai | Inevitable | Mephit | Quori | Slaad
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