Mechanical Construct Race for BFRPG

[dymondy2k]

Greeting all.. I just recently discovered BFRPG and I can safely say it was love at first site. I am currently running a campaign now using Microlite20 ruleset and I am seriously considering moving to BFRPG because its easier to use and it seems much easier to convert the wealth of older adventure modules into a usable adventure on the fly. I did have a question though.. My son is a huge fan of sentient mechanical constructs like the Warforged or Alphonse Elric from FullMetal Alchemist. I found this post on another site for a conversion of this type of construct to the BFRPG ruleset, but thought I would get the opinions of the experts:

Constructs
Restrictions: Constructs may become Clerics*, Fighters or Thieves. They are required to have a minimum Constitution of 9. Due to their generally bulky nature, they may not have a Dexterity higher than 17. (or, perhaps Charisma due to the their inherent unnaturalness) Constructs have a constant -1 penalty to AC. Due to their often odd construction, Constructs cannot wear armor unless it is specifically fitted for them. Double the cost of mundane armor and increase the cost of magical armor by 300 gp.

*If they are sentient, they can have faith, right? So clerical powers are a possibility!

Special Abilities: Constructs never roll lower than a D6 for Hit Points regardless of class. Due to the powerful materials they are constructed from and the equally powerful magicks that hold them together, some blows simply slide off of a Constructs with no effect (DR 1). They do not eat, drink, breathe and are immune to Poison and Disease. However, Constructs must dedicate four hours per 24 hour cycle to "powering down."

Saving Throws: Constructs save at -1 versus Breath Weapon, +2 versus Spells, +3 versus Wands, +4 against Paralysis/Petrify and +5 against Death Ray.

[SmootRK]

at first glance I would just say that there are not enough negative qualities compared to positive aspects of race, or at least the negative qualities you mention (max dex, -1 ac, extra armor costs) dont really measure up to the positives listed.

[dymondy2k]

What would you recommend to give them balance? Thanx for the help btw.

[SmootRK]

Hmm. I think a big balancer could be that Constructs get only 1/2 the normal benefit from Healing spells/effects (their bodies simply do not 'heal' like flesh and blood creatures; even rest periods do not give them much relief). To provide some assistance in this area, instead create some sort of "Repair Construct" spell for Magic-Users (or perhaps also for clerics of deities with focus on constructs/repair/forge/etc) that is the equivalent of the healing spells (although I would make the equivalent of Cure Light Wounds at least a second level MU spell).

You could also make something like "Constructs suffer from a -2 penalty to all reaction rolls".

Related to their 'not needing to eat', you could add "Constructs cannot benefit from the effects of Potions (or any other ingested sort of magic), but may apply substances that are designed as oils/salves/etc."

I am sure others may have more ideas that you could refine the idea with.

[dymondy2k]

Those are excellent and actually fit right in with how they are treated in the Online Game DDO.

[jackel]

Maybe they are not constucted with steel, maybe wood or stone. Wood less hp, ac and what not stone more hp, ac and what not. "Not every machine is created equal." I would also say look to golems from as many 'games systems' as you can.

[SmootRK]

Maybe they are not constucted with steel, maybe wood or stone. Wood less hp, ac and what not stone more hp, ac and what not. "Not every machine is created equal." I would also say look to golems from as many 'games systems' as you can.

A couple of sub-types might be interesting. Those Warforged are a special 'combo' sort, but perhaps there could be wood, clay, stone, metal types each with their own particular benefits/penalties?... or perhaps the the construction is more of a "Clockwork Man" with gears, steam, etc.

I think I would be predisposed to the Clockwork-Man sort of idea, especially in a Steampunk/Victorian/Fantasy sort of hybrid setting... (which btw is a sort setting that I would love to have available for BFRPG).

[SmootRK]

When I was working on 3.5 edition material I wrote up this take on Warforged specifically for the Forgotten Realms (attached). I also wrote up a Yuan-ti inspired warforged called scaleforged, but never created a pdf for it. It can be found somewhere on ENWorld forums where you can also find some of my other contributions such as Geisha (asian bard for 3.5), Thayan Slaver (3.5 prestige class), and a class similar to the 3.5 Archivist class with a nature/druid sort of inclination. Some searches or googling ought to locate all that easy enough.

[dymondy2k]

Smoot.. That is very cool! I had to come up with a similar way of bringing the Warforged into the Grayhawk campaign. In mine they set up a settlement outside of Law's Forge in the Shield Lands so now they refer to them as the Lawforged. I am definitely going for a 'warforged' type race for BFRPG. I also like your idea about sub-races, this might allow for differing types for differing classes. My son collects Warforged minis and they actually have different sizes, the warforged 'scout' being a smaller model than a fighter.

[Joe the Rat]

Another angle on balancing bonuses and tackling toughness might be to go with negative xp/monster levels (per the Old Monsters as New Races supplement). In other words, you need a level or three of "I'm a Construct" and associated monster hit dice before you start your class levels. Differing materials/sizes/types could be slotted to different numbers of pre-levels as well.

If it suits your tastes, I could see a M-U variant for Constructs - something akin to one of the Sorcerer subclasses perhaps - where your spells are literally built in.