Where Have I Been?

ShrikeIt’s been two months since my last update, and you may wonder if I’ve fallen off the face of the internet. In fact I have been chained to my desk working on my upcoming RPG Phoenix: Dawn Command. We just finalized the card files yesterday, the adventure path is with the editor, and we’re just a few weeks away from sending the game to the printer. Once that’s done, I’ll get back on a regular blogging schedule… but for now, all my writing time is dedicated to Phoenix. In the meantime, there are a few things I wanted to share.

EXTRA LIFE

The Extra Life fundraising event is just a few weeks away. Originally I was scheduled to play with the Wizards of the Coast Team, on a team with Erin Evans, Bruce Cordell, Teos Abadia and DM Susan Morris. It’s an incredible team, but I’m chained to my desk until Phoenix is at the printer and I can’t get away until it’s done, even for an adventure as amazing as this. However, it is a fantastic cause and the WotC marathon should be an amazing event; I urge you to check out the player links in this paragraph and back someone if you can!

WOTC EBERRON FORUMS CLOSING DOWN

On October 29th, Wizards of the Coast is shutting down their community site. I’ve been posting on the WotC forums since Eberron first began, and I’m sad to see them go. In particular, I’m sad to lose the Eberron forum. However, there are a few options. The Piazza is urging people to transfer Eberron material from the WotC site to the Piazza’s dedicated Eberron Forum. The venerable ENWorld is also encouraging people to transfer favorite posts and threads to their Emergency Evacuation Lifeboat. I don’t have time to transfer posts myself, but if anyone has enjoyed the Eberron forum over the years, feel free to move a favorite thread to a new home.

Now it’s back to Phoenix for me!

Extra Life: Epilogue

Smith CostumeLast Saturday I ventured to the distant lands of Seattle and Faerun to play in the first eight hours of the D&D Team’s Extra Life campaign. Thanks to the amazing donations from all of you, I was able to play Smith, a warforged artificer. Of course, 5E doesn’t have warforged or artificers, so the first step was putting something together as a placeholder. You can find my temporary stats for the Warforged and the Artificer at these links. Other donations established details about my character, and going into the adventure I had a whole backstory planned out. So let me take a moment to tell you about my character.

History: Smith knows nothing about his history. The first thing he remembers is a vision of the Silver Flame urging him to protect the innocent. He awoke in the Mournland, with the symbol of the Silver Flame burning on his forehead.. In the ruins of Making he found the docent Smee (Subject Matter Expert), who helped Smith harness his latent talent for artificing. Many questions remain unanswered. Did the Silver Flame shield him from the Mourning, or was it the Mourning that allowed it to touch him? Was he designed to be an artificer, or was it another side effect of the Mourning? 

The Mourning definitely had an impact on Smith’s consciousness; he is an eccentric individual and not very good at social interactions. He spent the last two years living in the streets of Sharn, doing his best to help people with his makeshift creations. He and Smee were investigating a dimensional breach that seemed to be tied to an Overlord, specifically Tiamat; it seemed like she might be trying to escape her bonds by slipping sideways through reality. Smith was pulled through the rift into Faerun, and is determined to stop Tiamat. The transfer has further damaged his memory, so his level has dropped; he’s trying to remember his full capabilities. In the meantime, he tries to acclimatize himself to the world by mimicking the behaviors of others around him.

PERSONALITY TRAITS: I am tolerant of other faiths and respect the worship of other gods. The Silver Flame is not a god as others think of gods. It is a force created by sacrifice that empowers mortals to defend the innocent. It doesn’t preclude the existence of other deities, and I appreciate anything that gives people hope.

IDEALS: I will be a vessel of the Silver Flame. I believe that the Flame restored me so that I can protect the innocent from supernatural threats. Beyond that, I believe that I serve as (one set of) the eyes of the Flame: I am helping it reach new lands.

BOND: I created a great work for someone, and then found them unworthy to receive it. I’m still looking for someone worthy. This is his mystery widget, which when used will have the effect of a wish.

FLAW: When in Faerun, do as the Faerunans do. Every scene or encounter, I will roll a die to randomly determine which PC I have imprinted upon. I will emulate that PC and very obviously seek their approval, to a degree that would embarrass others.  

BATTLE CRIES:

  • “Impractical Words to Give the Impression of True Couraaaaagggggeeeeee!”
  • “I Am Speaking in a Clear and Commanding Voice!”
  • “This Yelling Shall Frighten My Enemies!”

So, that’s what I had on paper when I arrived in Seattle. I pulled out the goggles because hey, every artificer should have goggles, and I liked the effect of the blank stare. The aviator hat was a last minute addition as I was going out the door; given that warforged don’t have hair, I felt that it worked.

I like Smith’s backstory and attributes, and I was prepared to tackle all these elements. But it’s one thing to come up with a story, and another to put it into practice first thing in the morning with an extremely unusual party. Jeremy Petter was a Dragonborn sorcerer whose spells were randomly determined by drawing a card from a magic deck; whenever he cast a spell, he had no idea whether it would hurt the enemy or us. Tally Heilke was a were-goat monk from the High Elk clan. Liz Smith had a dragonborn paladin who insisted she was a human with a skin condition. And Forest Gibson was a straightforward kleptomaniacal halfling rogue… except for the fact that he was carrying around the head of his father, which mysteriously could still talk. In the second round, we traded out our halfling rogue and dragonborn paladin for a few more exotic characters… Mike Selinker as a gnoblin (gnome/goblin) dessert chef/cleric and Gavin Verhey as a romantic sentient ooze sorcerer who also used Magic cards to determine unpredictable side effects of his spells.

Amidst such a colorful cast, it turned out to be a little hard to focus on all of the aspects of my character. I certainly managed to play to my ideals and I had fun with the battlecries, but I didn’t do as much with the mimicry as I could have, and I only managed to work my masterpiece artifact into things towards the end. It would take too long to go through the entire story, but I’ll call out a few of the highlights…

  • When we faced with a blue dragon, I managed to use a trebuchet to hurl Forest’s rogue into the dragon’s head, where he gouged out an eye and managed to hang on until being rescued by Tally’s pseudodragon. So I scored a critical hit on a dragon with a rogue.
  • In the process of trying to rescue the rogue, the sorcerer took to the air on a broom of flying (“Forget the dragon! Find the Snitch!”) only to be immediately blasted by the dragon and almost instantly killed. Our paladin drank a potion of flying and flew up to catch the falling sorcerer… only to be knocked out herself by the impact of his body. Professional adventurers at work!
  • When we were interrogating a kobold, I used my artificing talents to generate a zone of truth. But Mike Selinker had an even more effective tool. What would we offer the kobold for his information? “Your life… and this macaroon!”
  • In the second session, we were sent to rescue a prisoner from a cultist camp. We didn’t actually manage to do that, but we DID managed to blow up a mushroom garden and escape with a black pudding that Gavin’s ooze had fallen in love with. The pudding proceeded to eat Gavin and was then flambeed by Mike’s chef, but hey, love hurts.
  • As Forest’s rogue had to leave at the end of the first shift, he entrusted Smith with his father’s animated head. Given that this was a clear source of magical energy, it was clearly the logical tool to use for my Spell Storing Item infusion. Initially I used him as a flamethrower by imbuing him with burning hands; later I figured out that it was far more effective to amplify his senile muttering to use him as the basis for a shatter spell.
  • Mike’s gnoblin chef had to perform a limerick every time he wanted to cast a spell. Picking up on my mimicry flaw, I came up with the following spell-limerick: “To blast my opponent with flame/I must somehow learn his true name/Something something something/Something something something/Actually, limericks are lame.”

In the end, we didn’t do much to stop Tiamat, but it was a fantastic time and thanks to all of you we raised over $75,000 for the Children’s Miracle Network. Personally, I think that the whole thing was just a daydream in Smith’s mind as he considered going through the rift, only to stop and tell his companions: “On second thought, let’s not go to Faerun… it is a silly place.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

I’m not ready to put down my dice. On Sunday, November 2nd I will be taking over the DM’s seat for ChariD20 in LA, with such awesome players as David Nett, John Rogers, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Zak S, Joseph Scrimshaw, and many many more. Anyone who donates at least $10 will get a copy of the adventure. More on that later in the week!

Thanks again to everyone who supported Extra Life. If you watched any of the stream, I hope you had as much fun as I did!

 

 

Extra Life: Hacking the Artificer!

I’m in Seattle to chew gum and play D&D, and I’m all out of gum.

On Saturday the 25th I’ll be playing D&D with the Wizards of the Coast team in a marathon session to defeat Tiamat and help children, which are basically the same thing. I’m going to be in the game from 8 AM to 4 PM Pacific Time, and you can watch the game HERE.

Click here to watch the game tomorrow!

In case you’ve somehow avoided all my other posts on the subject, this is part of an charity program called Extra Life. I’m personally raising money for Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital in Portland. Thanks to everyone who’s supported me so far: it’s been amazing and touching. If you haven’t donated yet, it’s not too late!

 Donate to Extra Life!

The first character I ever played in an Eberron campaign was a warforged artificer named Smith. My favorite thing about playing an artificer was the ability to come up with the perfect tool on the spur of the moment. Between Weapon Augmentation and Armor Enhancement I could tailor my equipment to have the ideal enhancement to deal with my current enemy. My favorite infusion was spell-storing item; this allowed an artificer to create a one-shot wand loaded with any spell of up to fourth level. I could come up with a healing spell to help a wounded ally, a fireball to take down a mob of enemies, or suddenly build a mystical translator (using the tongues spell) out of eggshells and coconuts. However, there were restrictions to balance out this powerful effect. The maximum level of the spell was tied to my level, so I couldn’t spell-store a cleric spell that a cleric of my level couldn’t cast. The infusion took a minute to perform, unless I burnt an action point to reduce this to one round. And most important of all: I had to make a skill check to make the infusion work, and if I made a particularly bad check the whole thing could backfire. So it was an extremely powerful and versatile effect, but it was unpredictable and risky. More than anything else, THIS made me feel like a magical inventor. I could reverse-engineer the magic performed by any other class… but I could never be sure this dangerous experiment would work!

Thanks to generous donations, I will be playing a warforged artificer in the Extra Life marathon. But there’s no artificer in Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons. In 3.5 the artificer had an entirely unique system for infusions, along with deeply ingrained abilities tied to creating permanent magic items, and the final 5E artificer may require equally unique systems. That’s not what I’m developing today. There simply isn’t enough time to properly playtest an entirely new set of mechanics; I don’t yet feel that I myself know 5E well enough to be confident in my sense of game balance; and DM Greg Bilsland didn’t agree to have me show up with some sort of completely untested wild card class. So instead I’m using an existing class as the foundation for my artificer – altering spell lists, proficiencies, and such, but still working from a playtested framework that the DM is familiar. I want to come up with something that feels like an artificer to ME, and it will help me think about how I might create a full artificer in the future. But this is a hack for Extra Life, NOT a fully developed class! Further, as I’m only in the first 8 hours of the game, I’m only worrying about the first five levels.

SO: I’ve decided to base my artificer on an existing class. But which class should I use? Let’s consider the defining elements of the 3.5 Artificer class.

  • Simple weapon proficiency
  • Light and Medium armor proficiency, proficient with shields
  • The ability to disable traps like a rogue.
  • An exceptional talent for creating permanent magic items.
  • The ability to create temporary magic items using infusions. This system had some similarities to spellcasting. The basic list of infusion effects was very limited, focusing on effects to enhance the abilities and equipment of the artificer and allies and the ability to disable or repair constructs and objects… and the unique abilities I mentioned before.
  • Many of the artificer’s most useful and versatile infusions had a base casting time of 1 minute; this could be reduced to 1 round by burning an action point.

To begin with: For this session, I’m setting aside the creation of permanent magic items. Magic Items fill a different role in 5E than in 3.5, and the issue of how to approach this with the final artificer will take some thought. Given that, I’m looking for medium armor proficiency and shields; proficiency with Thieves’ Tools; and a character that generally fights with (magically enhanced) weapons as opposed to slinging spells.

In my original Hacking 5E Eberron post I suggested using a reskinned warlock as a base for a placeholder artificer. This was based on the idea of an artificer using infusions to enhance a crossbow – so eldritch blast was his default magic crossbow, while effects such as burning hands or fireball would be special-purpose bolts jury-rigged on the spot. After discussing the idea with WotC R&D Designer Rodney Thompson, I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t such a good match. The warlock has a very limited selection of spells, uses light armor and no shield, and has little ability to enhance allies. Rodney suggested a variant wizard. The wizard is a more versatile spellcaster, and I could explain his spells as his infused items. But this just didn’t feel right to me. When I played Smith I went toe-to-toe with my enemies and laid them low with an enchanted hammer; I didn’t stand back and use offensive spells.

Finally I settled on a cleric. Before you apply domain the cleric has the right armor and weapon proficiencies, and is largely focused on enhancing allies as opposed to blasting enemies. So with that said, here’s how I’m hacking the Cleric to create an artificer for Extra Life.

BASE CLASS ABILITIES

Armor and Weapon Proficiencies: As cleric.

Tools: Special (see Domain)

Saving Throws: Wisdom, Intelligence

Skills: Choose two from History, Insight, Investigation, and Perception (see Domain)

Cantrips. As cleric (modified spell list).

Spellcasting. As cleric (modified spell list). Intelligence is used as the Spellcasting ability instead of Wisdom. All curing magic is replaced by “Repair” infusions that have the same effect, but only work on constructs.

Ritual Casting. As cleric. From a cosmetic perspective, the artificer isn’t actually performing a ritual – he’s reverse-engineering it and hacking it to produce the same magical effect. But the EFFECT is the same as if he’s performing a ritual, and he still needs to have the spell prepared.

Spellcasting Focus: The artificer can use Artisans’ Tools as a spellcasting focus.

“Expert Infusion” (Channel Divinity). This functions in a manner identical to the Cleric ability, but the Artificer doesn’t have access to Turn Undead. Instead he starts with Weapon Augmentation and gains access to Perfect Tool from his “Domain”.

Domain Infusions

1st – Detect Magic, Identify

3rd – Magic Weapon, Enhance Ability

5th – Counterspell, Dispel Magic

Domain Ability: MASTER OF ARTIFICE

At 1st level, you become proficient with Arcana, Thieves’ Tools, and one type of Artisans’ Tools. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability checks you make using Arcana and these tools.

PERFECT TOOL (Channel Divinity)

You can imbue an object with an enchantment that makes it the perfect tool for whatever situation you are dealing with. As an action, choose one skill or tool. For the next 10 minutes (and as long as you have the object) you have proficiency with the chosen skill or tool.

WEAPON AUGMENTATION (Channel Divinity)

As an action, you may enhance a weapon you are holding. For the next minute or until you let go of the weapon, you gain one of the following benefits:

Disrupting Weapon: +1d6 radiant damage, sheds bright light in 20-ft radius

Flame Tongue: +1d6 fire damage, you have cold resistance

Frost Brand: +1d6 cold damage, you have fire resistance

WHAT AM I THINKING? This is very similar to a cleric with the Knowledge domain; “Perfect Tool” is essentially the Knowledge Channel Divinity with the cosmetic addition that it needs to be a tied to an object. The Master of Artifice power is similar to the Knowledge domain, but exchanges proficiency with two languages for proficiency with Artisans’ Tools. It also ensures that the Artificer is a match for a Rogue when it comes to picking locks. Now, the Weapon Augmentation effect is very powerful, and it may be too powerful; this is what we’ll see. However, the artificer has very few offensive spells (we’ll get to the list next) and by default only has simple weapon proficiency. He’s intended to be a viable melee combatant, and this helps with that. The big thing that would concern me about releasing this power into the wild is multiclassing. I don’t think it’s going to be too unbalancing for my artificer; however, an artificer-paladin could be ridiculous. Short form: This isn’t perfect. But I don’t think it will be too powerful for our session tomorrow, and it should give the flavor I recall – being able to pick the weapon enchantment that best suits the battle. Note that for Extra Life I’m not considering this to be a concentration effect; this means that it could stack with Magic Weapon or Shield of Faith.

SPELL LIST (Infusions)

Wherever possible I’ve kept effects that were available to the 3.5 Artificer, such as Shield of Faith and Enhance Ability. I’m reskinning any curing effect as a Repair effect, so only working on constructs. I dropped in Makeshift Wand as a simple damaging cantrip on par with the cleric’s Sacred Flame, but for the most part the class is restricted to enhancement effects. Of course, they can get other effects out of Spell Storing Item!

As always, bear in mind that what matters here are the EFFECTS of the spells, not the names. My artificer can use Shield of Faith. But I won’t CALL it “shield of faith”; the point is that he can create a defensive ward that operates mechanically like the cleric spell.

CANTRIPS

Guidance

Light

Makeshift Wand (New, see below)

Mending

Prestidigitation

Spare The Dying (Construct only, “Emergency Repairs”)

Resistance

LEVEL ONE INFUSIONS

Cure Wounds (Construct only, “Repair Damage”)

Detect Magic

Identify

Inflict Wounds (Construct only, “Inflict Damage”)

Shield

Shield of Faith

Spell-Storing Item (New, see below)

LEVEL TWO INFUSIONS

Arcane Lock

Enhance Ability

Find Traps

Heat Metal

Knock

Magic Weapon

Shatter

LEVEL THREE INFUSIONS

Counterspell

Crusader’s Mantle

Dispel Magic

Glyph of Warding

Mass Healing Word (Construct only)

Protection From Energy (Construct only)

Remove Curse

NEW ARTIFICER SPELLS

Makeshift Wand (Evocation cantrip)             

Casting Time: 1 action                            Range: 60 ft

Components: S (see text)                            Duration: Instantaneous

You employ any small object as a temporary wand, channelling a blast of energy. The target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d8 damage. The spell can inflict acid, fire, cold, lightning or thunder damage; choose two damage types, and you can choose which one to use when you cast the spell. The spell’s damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8). At each of these levels, you may also select an additional damage type to add to your repertoire. You can prepare any handheld object to serve as a channel for this spell; this requires one action (inscribing a few runes on it). So it has no SPECIFIC components, but you must have some sort of focus object.

Spell Storing Item (1st-level Transmutation)             

Casting Time: 1 minute (see text)              Range: Touch

Components: S                                          Duration: 1 hour/level or until discharged

You place a spell effect into an item to draw it forth later at your command. The item becomes, in effect, a wand with a single charge which only you can use. You may choose any first level spell. You must provide any expensive material components at the time you imbue the spell into the object. Your artificer level is used as the spell’s caster level.

Creating a spell storing item is a difficult and dangerous process. When you attempt it, you must make an Arcana check; the difficulty is [10+(the Spell Level x2)]. If you fail, your action is wasted and the spell slot is lost. If you fail by 10 or more, you suffer a mishap; this could either inflict 2d6 damage on you or have an unintended effect determined by the DM.

You may reduce the casting time to a single action by expending a Hit Die when you cast the spell.

 

WHAT AM I THINKING? Makeshift Wand gives the artificer a simple, basic ranged attack. It’s not as strong as Eldritch Blast, and it doesn’t have Sacred Flame’s ability to avoid cover. What it does have is versatility, fitting with the idea of the artificer coming up with the perfect tool for the situation. Meanwhile, Spell Storing Item will definitely need testing! Obvious it’s EXTREMELY versatile, but that’s the point. The catches are that it has a long casting time; even in the best case, you have to spend a hit die and an action to get a spell you’ll then have to wait a turn to cast. You have to burn the spell slot matching the spell. And while it’s a relatively small risk, there is always the chance that you can fail the check or even have it blow up in your face. It’s perfect for pulling out the one spell you really need for a situation – but there’s a risk attached!

IN CONCLUSION…

This literally is a jury-rigged artificer slapped together using duct tape and common household lint. I don’t know if these ideas are balanced; we’ll find out tomorrow. But I want to see how they work – especially Spell Storing Item. It won’t be my old Smith, but I hope it will be a reasonable enough facsimile for one day… and that it will help me think about what I’d like to do with the true artificer in the long run.

POSTGAME ANALYSIS

I’ll give a full report at some point in the future, but I’ll just say that things worked out reasonably well. A few specifics:

Weapon Augmentation worked fine for THIS session. It didn’t feel too powerful, and in fact I didn’t using in many of the fights because I couldn’t afford to lose an action. However, it’s definitely broken when multiclasses are taken into account. Of course, a REAL artificer won’t have Channel Divinity, so this isn’t a major concern. Once the DMG exists, I’d want to consider something that captures the original feeling of Weapon Augmentation – an infusion that lets you mimic the effects of a magic item.

Spell-Storing Item was great. I used it four times, producing the effects of sleep, burning hands and zone of truth. I liked having the ability to come up with the perfect tool for the situation and also had fun explaining just what the things I was creating were; technically they are “one-shot wands”, but that doesn’t mean that each one can’t take the form of some sort of interesting and unique item. So for example, my zone of truth generator was a crazy magic hat that interfered with the wearer’s brain, while I actually enchanted an undead head to serve as a flamethrower for my burning hands. It did fail once, with one of the sleep spells. There are two things I’d change before experimenting with it further. First: Any failure should result in a mishap. Mishaps are fun. Either the spell effect should trigger in a way that is most inconvenient for the artificer, or it can simply do 2d6 damageHowever, failure shouldn’t cause you to lose a spell slot. At low level, spell slots are precious. A mishap makes things interesting; losing the spell slot makes the failure doubly depressing.

In any case, I had a lot of fun with Smith. It wasn’t a perfect conversion by any means, but it was definitely a fun placeholder.

Please share your thoughts about Artificers in 5E!

Extra Life: Double For Doernbecher!

Only one day to go until Extra Life, where I’ll be playing a warforged artificer. You can see what I’m doing for Warforged here, and I’ll write more about my artificer hack after I arrive in Seattle. But I’m still raising money for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, and as we go into the final hours we have a call to arms. If 10 people donate $20 by noon Pacific time, my wife Jennifer Ellis will match that donation! (To be clear – Jenn will match the donations up to a total of $200 on our end.)

Donate to Extra Life here!

Thanks for your support!

Extra Life: Hacking The Warforged

This Saturday I’m going to Seattle to play on in the D&D Team’s marathon session for Extra Life. The money I’m raising goes to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, and if I can raise an additional $110 in the next few days, not only will you help kids in need, you will literally make my wish come true: if I can raise $1500, I get to cast a wish one time during the course of the game. If you can spare anything – even $1 – please donate here!

Donate to Extra Life!

Most of the time when I’m at the gaming table, I’m the GM. The first character I ever PLAYED in an Eberron campaign was a warforged artificer named Smith. I suppose you could say that he was a literal iron man; he was a brilliant inventor who was always developing new tools… and he was sheathed in awesome adamantine plating. We didn’t have a martial character in our party, and despite being an artificer Smith ended up being the primary melee combatant. He didn’t have the attack bonus of a fighter, but with his adamantine plating and shield he was extremely durable. Personally, I love the story of the warforged; beings built to serve as weapons who must now find purpose in a world without war. In Smith’s case, I was exploring the idea of the invented being who is now becoming the inventor. On a less philosophical level, what I enjoyed about playing a warforged was the sense of being a juggernaut. I had my heavy armor plating, I didn’t need to eat, breathe, or sleep, I couldn’t be poisoned… I felt like a force to be reckoned with.

Thanks to generous donations from Charles Huber and Jeremy Esch, I will be playing a warforged artificer in the Extra Life marathon. But there’s no finalized statistics for warforged in Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons. An early version was presented in the public playtest, but it doesn’t match up to the final versions of other races. I expanded on this basic foundation with help from WotC R&D Designer Rodney Thompson, and here’s the traits I’ll be using for this weekend’s game.  Bear in mind that these traits are IN NO WAY OFFICIAL. If and when there is future Eberron support, a completely different version of warforged could be presented. Consider this an experimental playtest – nothing more.

WARFORGED TRAITS

As a warforged, you have the following racial traits.

Ability Score Adjustments: Your Constitution score increases by 2. 

Living Construct: Even though you were constructed, you are a humanoid. You are immune to disease. You do not need to breathe, eat or drink, but you can ingest food or drink if you wish.

Unsleeping SentinelWarforged don’t need to sleep. Instead, they settle into a resting state, remaining semiconscious for 4 hours each day. While in this rest state, you are fully aware of your surroundings. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

Warforged ResilienceYou have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.

Integrated Armor: When you are not wearing armor, your AC is 12 + your Dexterity modifier. During a short rest, you can bond a suit of armor you are wearing to your body. When you finish that short rest, the armor you are wearing is bonded to you, and it cannot subsequently be removed from your body until you finish another short rest during which time you remove the bonded armor.

Self-Stabilizing:  You have advantage on death saving throws.

Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common. 

Type: Multiple types of warforged are found among the worlds of D&D, including warforged scouts and warforged soldiers. Choose one of these types.

Warforged Scout

Ability Score Increase: Your Dexterity score increases by 1.

Size: Small

Speed: 35 feet

Warforged Soldier

Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 1.

Size: Medium

Speed: 30 feet

In the original Eberron Campaign Setting (ECS) warforged had a host of immunities. Warforged were completely  immune to “poison, sleep effects, paralysis, disease, nausea, fatigue, exhaustion, effects that cause the sickened condition, and energy drain.” While this helped me feel like an unstoppable juggernaut, in retrospect it was simply too much. There were simply too many situations that were challenging to other characters that ended up being inconsequential to warforged. Rodney and I pared this down to a list that kept the basic flavor of being a construct – immunity to disease, resistance to poison, and no need to eat, sleep, drink, or breathe. This warforged is highly durable; the +2 Con score and bonus to death saving throws help the warforged take a pounding and keep going. As a warforged I can be a tireless sentinel but I can’t shrug off ghouls and vampires quite so easily, and I can’t make out with a succubus.

The original warforged spent a feat at first level to acquire an armored body, the equivalent of wearing either medium or heavy armor. This isn’t an easy thing to model in fifth edition, because characters don’t GET feats at first level… and simply giving the characters armor proficiencies would mess up class balance and step on what is currently the unique feature of the Mountain Dwarf. The current model gives a warforged a default AC of 12 + Dex, much like the basic composite plating of the 3.5 Warforged. Armor can then be attached like the shell of a hermit crab, the same approach used in Fourth Edition. Frankly, this is the one feature I’m not entirely happy with. That Adamantine Body was a defining part of Smith the Artificer, and the character won’t be the same without that heavy armor; at the same time, without the cost of a feat at first level, I don’t see an answer that both feels balanced and doesn’t simply steal a unique aspect of the 5E dwarf. So this Saturday, my 5E iteration of Smith will be a Warforged Soldier following these rules, and we’ll see how it goes.

In my next few posts I’ll talk about what I’m doing to model the Artificer for Extra Life and about the backstory of Smith Mk 2!

 

 

Support Eberron!

Over the last few years I’ve been working to support Eberron, between posting my unofficial Q&As and lobbying WotC for some form of official support. It’s my hope that this will come to pass in 2015, and that we will have new Eberron material. However, there’s no easy way for WotC or myself to know just how many people still want new Eberron material. I don’t know how many people find my Q&As to be useful, and if it’s worthwhile for me to continue writing them. So I’m asking you to help me get a sense of how many people actually want to see new Eberron material.

I’m currently involved in two D&D related charity events. On October 25th I will be playing an artificer in the Extra Life campaign with the WotC D&D team. On November 2nd I will be running an Eberron adventure for ChariD20. Both of these are supporting noble causes – childrens’ hospitals and child literacy – and they are also a chance to show support for Eberron itself. I’m asking you to donate one dollar to one of these causes, and to reach out to anyone you know who would like to see new Eberron material and to ask them to do the same. All I’m asking for is one dollar – just enough to stand up and be counted as someone who would like to see more Eberron in the future (and hey, supporting a good cause in the process).

Donate to Extra Life

Donate to ChariD20

If you’re able to spare more, these are both excellent causes. Furthermore, if you donate at least $10 to ChariD20, you’ll get a copy of the 5E Eberron scenario I’m creating for the event… meanwhile, if you donate to Extra Life, you can help establish details about the character I’ll be playing (currently an Artificer who follows the Silver Flame).

TO BE CLEAR: This is just an informal show of support. There’s no concrete assurance that it will affect WotC’s decisions. But knowing how many people are willing to throw down a dollar in support of Eberron means a great deal to ME, and helps strengthen my resolve when it comes to lobbying for new content and continuing my unofficial support… and at the end of the day, you’re helping a great charity. So if you’ve enjoyed my Q&As or other work and want to see more of it in the future, please give $1 to one of these causes – and share this message with other Eberron fans that you know.

Thanks!

Keith Baker

Gaming For Charity

I’ve been busy working on Phoenix, and I’ll have more to say about that soon. But I’m also making time for a few special projects, and I hope that you’ll support either or both of them.

First up: On Saturday, October 25th I am taking part in Extra Life, a Charity program benefiting Children’s Miracle Network hospitals. I’m participating as a player with the Dungeons & Dragons team: I’m going to be playing in the first 8 hours of a 24-hour D&D marathon run by gamemaster Greg Bilsland. The entire event will be live-streamed, so you can follow along with our perilous journey. My donation page is here, and I’m personally raising money for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. In exchange for your donations, you can help establish details about the character I play – everything from my name and class to my motto or battle-cry… plus, the more money I raise, the more benefits the DM gives to me, just like the Hunger Games! In particular, if you select an Eberron option for my Race or Class, I will develop 5E stats for that element and post them here. For Race, you can choose an Eberron specific race – such as Warforged – or a traditional race with a specific Dragonmark. Note that these will not be official and may not match whatever form official 5E Eberron support takes, and in the case of the Artificer I will only develop the elements of the class as needed for this adventure, NOT a full 20-level class with a full infusion list. Nonetheless, it is an opportunity to help an awesome cause and to get the wheels turning on 5E Eberron development, and I hope you’ll lend a hand! Once again, you can find my donation page here.

A week later – on Sunday, November 2nd – I’ll be on the other side of the screen, gamemastering events for Celebrity ChariD20. This event is raising money for Reach Out And Read, a charity that promotes child literacy. I’m going to be creating a short 5E Eberron adventure with pregenerated characters. If you donate you can watch the livestream of the event, and with a donation of $15 or more you will get a copy of the Eberron adventure. You can donate here!

Both of these are excellent causes, and I hope that you will help to make them both succeed. If you have any questions about either one, please ask. Otherwise, again, please lend a hand and support Extra Life or ChariD20. Thank you!