Copyright 2009 Wizards of the Coast.

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Warforged were originally introduced with the Eberron setting in 3e, as a playable option. They made their 4e debut in the first Monster Manual, which a couple of “monster” stat blocks for warforged and some abbreviated rules for using them as PCs.

Full support for playable warforged in 4e would arrive with the Eberron Player’s Guide, published in June 2009. However, just before that happened we’d get a few more NPC stat blocks here in the MM2, which was published in May 2009.

The basic lore for warforged remains the same as in the Monster Manual. The Eberron-specific info would only appear on the Eberron Player’s Guide, but I guess the two books were developed in parallel because the extra stat blocks we get here seem like a particularly good fit for that setting.

Their signature traits remain the same: the Living Construct keyword, a +2 to saves against ongoing damage and the Warforged Resolve encounter power (see the link above to read about what this does).

Warforged Resounder

These are warforged spellcasters whose power derives from a retained echo of the ringing sound of their creation forges. Their spells tend to have themes of sound and impact, dealing a mix of thunder and force damage. They wear robes and wield staffs, so I guess they’re meant to come across as “arcane”, but you could easily use their lore for a more priestly type since it’s so close to that of the Anvilpriest (below).

Resounders are Level 6 Artillery with 57 HP and the common traits described above. Their quarterstaves are weak melee attacks, so they prefer to stay away and cast thunder orbs (ranged 10 vs. Fortitude) that do good thunder damage and push 2 squares.

They also have a couple of encounter spells: Resounding Sphere is an area version of Thunder Orb that knocks prone instead of pushing, making it a good fight opener; and Rumble Staff is a “keep-away” melee power that does thunder damage, pushes 1 square, and knocks prone.

Their final encounter spell is the amusing Collision Bolt, a ranged attack that targets two enemies and slams them together. It works by dealing force damage to both targets, and sliding the second one 3 squares towards the first. If the slide ends with both targets adjacent to each other, they’re both knocked prone.

Warforged Savage

With an unfortunate name and a somewhat unfortunate illustration, this is a warforged who feels emotions more intensely than most of its kin, and channels all of that extra intensity into anger. It was likely produced in a forge belonging to the Lord of Blades, since the Cannith smiths tend to go for cool-headed discipline instead. It’s a Level 7 Brute with 98 HP.

This warforged has the Battlefield Tactics trait that was common in the MM1 entries, gaining a +1 to melee attacks when an ally is adjacent to their target. It also gains 4 temporary HP whenever it hits with an attack.

The warforged savage uses a scimitar to fight. This is a High-Crit weapon, and when it hits it deals a bit of automatic damage to another enemy adjacent to its target. It can use the weapon to attack in a Close Burst 1 (recharge 5+), and to perform a Wild Charge that deals heavy damage, and gives it a +3 AC bonus during the movement part of the charge. This recharges whenever the warforged hits two or more enemies with the burst attack. All of these maneuvers benefit from the scimitar’s High-Crit property.

Warforged Anvilpriest

Like the resounder, this spellcaster retains a bit of the power of its creation forge and uses that as a source of magic. The main difference is that the anvilpriest focuses on the searing heat of forge-fire. Despite the name, many anvilpriests aren’t all that religious. Some are real clerics, though, and a small number of them actually worship the creation forges themselves. I guess the latter are mostly found amid the Lord of Blades’ forces.

Anvilpriests are Level 8 Controllers with the Leader keyword and 89 HP. They wield a fiery warhammer that does bonus fire damage and inflicts a -2 AC penalty for a turn. They can use that to perform a Heat of Battle maneuver (recharge 4+), which is like a basic attack but replaces the AC penalty with ongoing fire damage.

In addition to this they have two encounter spells.

The first is Blunted Mind, an area burst that targets Will and inflicts psychic damage. It also inflicts a -2 penalty to attacks and a -4 penalty to damage on a hit - the first save improves this to a -2 damage penalty, and only the second removes it entirely. This only targets enemies, so it’s safe to cast into a messy melee.

The other is Mending Flash Fire, a close burst that deals fire damage to all enemies inside (vs. Reflex) and gives both the caster and any allies in the burst 5 temporary HP. If those allies are Warforged, they can also use their Warforged Resolve power as an immediate reaction to this power.

Warforged Titan

Copyright 2009 Wizards of the Coast.

Titans were some of the earliest models of warforged developed by Cannith engineers. They’re as big and as powerful as their name implies, but they’re also only barely sapient. In a battle, they fulfill the same role as tanks or siege engines, but they need to be accompanied by smarter infantry or at least by a minder who can direct them. They’re loyal to whoever holds or displays a symbol of the titan’s creator, regardless of whom it may be or how long it’s been since their creation.

Warforged Titans are Huge Natural Humanoids with the Living Construct Keyword. They’re also Level 19 Elite Soldiers with 362 HP, which makes them plausible counters to Slaughterstone Constructs and other near-epic giant monsters.

These towering creatures fight with their built-in weapons. Their basic attack is a Reach 3 Axe with the same “splash damage” effect as the Savage’ scimitar above, and that also marks on a hit. As a minor action they can also use a Reach 3 Hammer that does more or less the same damage, slides the target 2 squares, and knocks it prone. It does a bit of damage even on a miss, likely from the shockwave. Both of these weapons enjoy the benefits of Threatening Reach.

Finally, the titan’s Unstoppable Charger trait makes it so a charge attack doesn’t end its turn. It can perform any actions it still has after charging, such as using a Move to shift or reposition, or a Minor action to perform a hammer follow-up.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

Warforged are people. You can find them fighting for any cause people tend to fight for. Good, evil, or just plain selfish. They’re relatively recent creations in Eberron, but other settings might have then as ancient survivors/relics of a fallen empire. Titans work well as McGuffins in that role, since they’ll obey anyone who displays the mark of their creator.

We have two sample encounters:

  • Level 7: A resounder, an anvilpriest, and 3 savages. Lord of Blades patrol?

  • Level 19: A cambion hellfire magus, a steel predator, and a warforged titan. Someone found themselves a few control amulets.