Gladiate Construct

[Ninmast]

A friend of mine is DMing a campaign designed to be pretty hard, so she's giving us all sorts of free stuff, and she's big on homebrew stuff. One of our players is playing a four-armed Warforged that was decommissioned from a Colosseum-style arena, but we've had a lot of trouble finding a class for him that would do what he wanted it to do. So I said I had some ideas and the DM gave me the okay to roll up my sleeves and try to put something together.

So far, I've come up with the Gladiate Construct, found here (http://www.humyo.com/F/273863-1538387895). As you'll notice, levels 13-20 are pretty empty. Any idea on either how to shuffle things around or some new stuff we could add?

[Scarlet Tropix]

So it's a Warforged Gladiator. I get that.

But what's so specific about the character that you need to build a different class for it, rather than using fighter or something else? I don't really understand why you need a whole separate class...

[Ninmast]

The character concept we wish to represent simply doesn't seem to fit any of the classes we've reviewed. If, upon reading the class sheet, you can think of any more fitting class, please, by all means, save us the work and headacche and share it with us! :smallsmile:

[Scarlet Tropix]

That's not very specific.

How exactly do you feel you need to fill this role that simply isn't possible by other classes?

[Ninmast]

Many of the concepts are present in the class sheet, which is why I suggested reading it as opposed to forcing recitation here, among them Modular, which permits the exchanging of "natural" weapons on the unit and Targeting, which grants the ability to target multiple enemies at no penalty, so long as each enemy is targeted with a different arm.

[Scarlet Tropix]

I dunno, it feels to me like a lot of those could just be feats. It may just be the lack of fluff, I don't really feel a unifying theme for the abilities.

Not that this is bad by any means... I just think if you're going to stick with the class, I think it could use some more powerful abilities. Perhaps you could integrate it with/make a full on class from the harrier (or bloodhound, I can never remember which version is in what book but they're almost the same.) prestige class in Complete Warrior?

Just my two cents. Nothing personal.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Many of the concepts are present in the class sheet, which is why I suggested reading it as opposed to forcing recitation here, among them Modular, which permits the exchanging of "natural" weapons on the unit and Targeting, which grants the ability to target multiple enemies at no penalty, so long as each enemy is targeted with a different arm.

Targeting is a default part of the game...hitting multiple enemies with the same weapon or with different weapons imposes no penalty. Embedded warforged components (like weapons) can be freely interchanged already.

There is nothing in that class that can't be done with a combination of Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, Warblade, Crusader, Swordsage, Scout, or any of the other martial classes. I see nothing special about this class, nor any specific reason for it to exist.

What were you going for, in terms of flavor and general party role?

[Ninmast]

What were you going for, in terms of flavor and general party role?

To oversimplify? Terminator/Walking Heavy Turret.

And forgive me for my mistakes concerning targeting and exchanging parts. They were the DM's ideas, as neither of us have really done a Warforged before, and we didn't see anything on exchanging them. I'll give the race another read.

Any particular combination you might recommend?

[Scarlet Tropix]

...Heavy turret.

So you're aiming for ranged, then?
Or was Terminator/Heavy Turret supposed to signify some sort of balance/swap?

[Ninmast]

A combination of ranged (or whatever he has equipped) and unarmed damage.

Also, Djinn, I couldn't find anything on the modular capacity of Warforged. Could you please direct me to where I can find it?

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

To oversimplify? Terminator/Walking Heavy Turret.

And forgive me for my mistakes concerning targeting and exchanging parts. They were the DM's ideas, as neither of us have really done a Warforged before, and we didn't see anything on exchanging them. I'll give the race another read.

Any particular combination you might recommend?

A Terminator could be represented well by a Warblade or a Crusader: both are high-powered melee machines that can take a beating and still come on strong. The Crusader, in fact, gets MORE VIOLENT the more you beat on it.

You would sacrifice the ability to excel at ranged attacks, but with your good attack bonus it wouldn't be that much of a loss.

If you go this route, Krimm_Blackleaf's Warforged Armorlord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99062) really gets that terminator feel across, and you can homebrew some Forged Artistry abilities to better suit your player's idea.


Also, Djinn, I couldn't find anything on the modular capacity of Warforged. Could you please direct me to where I can find it?

Eberron Campaign Setting, page 268:


Attaching or detaching a warforged component is a standard action that never provokes an attack of opportunity.

Strictly speaking most warfoged components (at least those shown in the book) are magical weapons (or magic items, but you're looking for the weapon side of things), but I would see no problem with having there be nonmagical variants as well, as otherwise it would make little sense (why would you only be able to stick a magic sword on someone's arm?). I'd just up the weapon cost by, say, 100 to 150gp, since he couldn't be disarmed.

[Eldan]

Look at pages 267/268 in the Eberron campaign setting.
Short version: every item can be made as a warforged component, which can be attached to a warforged body, or removed again, as a standard action. It even features a few examples, like armblades.

[DracoDei]

OK, you may have to IGNORE THE FLUFF, but if you want a warforged with unique ranged abilities, THIS (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6038663&postcount=8) should be worth looking into.

[Scarlet Tropix]

OK, you may have to IGNORE THE FLUFF, but if you want a warforged with unique ranged abilities, THIS (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6038663&postcount=8) should be worth looking into.

That looks SWEET.
I am glad to now possess the knowledge it has brought me.

[Ninmast]

Thanks a bunch, everyone! You've been really helpful! As soon as I can learn more about Maneuvers (never touched Tome of Battle before, surprisingly), I'll see if I can get the Warforged player and see if he'll like Cybernetic Gunner. It sounds pretty good for it.