I have a party member who wants to bring a Warforged character to the table. No problem, they don't exist RAW in my world, but I managed to work a wrinkle into my setting world's lore which brings something Warforged-like into the world. Not the same lore background, but mechanically pretty much the same class.

But he really wants to play up the aged battle-scarred construct aspect of his character, so he wants to take a handful of character disadvantages and penalties which represent heavy ancient battle damage ( he is essentially a character out of time - rendered inoperable in a battle centuries ago, and just now revived ). 

The idea here being that he can divest himself of these penalties over time, by finding people that can repair this sub-system, or that sub-system. I think it makes for an interest character motivation and character progression.

We're discussing the possibility of extending that to combat moving forward - suffer a critical hit, and fail a saving throw against a pretty low DC ( probably scaling in some fashion with the amount of damage dealt ), and acquire another persistent damage effect, which would require someone to use a Tinkerer's Kit and a successful roll, to undo.

Part of me likes the idea: I love it when a player commits to a character concept enough that they're willing to take something mechanically sub-optimum in order to make their character more internally consistent with their concept.

However, I'm worried that this would end up severely nerfing the character, and making it more frustrating and less fun to play in the long run.

Any thoughts?

I'd suggest rewarding the player by giving them the benefit of the doubt; they know the potential pitfalls, so give them your support with their concept. If it becomes too frustrating there are ways of retiring the character, after all, and bringing something else in.

Excellent point, and a good approach.

Thank you,

I might sort of work backwards on this, and characterize the abilities the character gains as they progress in levels as old abilities coming back on line as repairs are made.  For example, if the character is a fighter and gains action surge, you could characterize that as the construct's "overdrive mode" coming back on-line, or something similar.

In other words, the concept is that the construct was once a mighty 20th level fighter (or whatever) that got damaged and nerfed down to first level.

My initial thoughts were that warforged are Cyborgs from Narnia.

But that is off topic and not very constructive... My input is that this sounds a little bit like the Bard class in 5e; it doesn't really fit in and becomes a drag once the novelty has worn off. Sort of like that guy who always brings his acoustic guitar to the party.

The penalties you wish to impose on this meta-warforged character leads me to the suspicion that you don't really want a warforged in your campaign. The player seems to be suffering from "ooh! shiny" syndrome.

Perhaps do something really creative instead, like creating a player race based on Inevitables?  

Quote from DMsven >>

 

The penalties you wish to impose on this meta-warforged character leads me to the suspicion that you don't really want a warforged in your campaign. The player seems to be suffering from "ooh! shiny" syndrome.

Perhaps do something really creative instead, like creating a player race based on Inevitables?  

This player definitely suffers from "ooh! shiny" syndrome.

However - I don't have any strong preference, one way or another. I'm pretty flexible with accommodating what players want, so long as it doesn't directly contradict the lore of the campaign world - which this doesn't.

I find that pretty much any class can be made to fit in. Some classes require a little skill and imagination to make them work well, so they tend to enjoy less popularity ( and even some notoriety ), but pretty much anything can work in the hands of a good player.

I wasn't the one to come up with these penalties - the player brought these to me, as something that fit in with his character concept.

Quote from Generic_Poster >>

I might sort of work backwards on this, and characterize the abilities the character gains as they progress in levels as old abilities coming back on line as repairs are made.  For example, if the character is a fighter and gains action surge, you could characterize that as the construct's "overdrive mode" coming back on-line, or something similar.

In other words, the concept is that the construct was once a mighty 20th level fighter (or whatever) that got damaged and nerfed down to first level.

This is an interesting twist. Not sure I'll use it - but it's pretty innovative :)