Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to create simple items.

You conduct an hour-long ritual that crafts a nonmagical item that must include some metal: a simple or martial weapon, a suit of armor, ten pieces of ammunition, a set of tools, or another metal object (see chapter 5, “Equipment,” in the Player’s Handbook for examples of these items). The creation is completed at the end of the hour, coalescing in an unoccupied space of your choice on a surface within 5 feet of you.

The thing you create can be something that is worth no more than 100 gp. As part of this ritual, you must lay out metal, which can include coins, with a value equal to the creation. The metal irretrievably coalesces and transforms into the creation at the ritual’s end, magically forming even nonmetal parts of the creation.

The ritual can create a duplicate of a nonmagical item that contains metal, such as a key, if you possess the original during the ritual.

Would It be possible for me, a Warforged Forge Cleric to infinitely transmute myself into stuff? (Cut off small chunks of plating/skin/whatever it's called on a warforged, create items with metal, healing spell to close up the small wounds, repeat?) As it's part of the body, and not armor, and as it's just a bunch of small wounds (a tough battle would likely produce much worse), wouldn't healing spells be able to patch myself up again? Iron does have a set value per pound, and given enough time and long rests, would I not be able to (very slowly) manufacture infinite sets of Chain Mail?

Ask your DM.

1. A Warforged is probably not going to be composed of pure elements, and scrap pieces are going to be worth less than refined bars, so expect a poor exchange rate.

2. Economy breaking magic has always existed, so while you could potentially do this, expect the world to be retconned for balance. The integrity of the game relies upon the players and the DM sharing a common understanding of the spirit of the game, and abusing the rules at the expense of the spirit can cause problems.

Personally, if a warforged player wanted to trade HP for raw materials to solve a problem in the moment, then I would support their creativity. It's only when they try to turn it into a business model that I would begin to object.

Ok. Just wanted to make sure this was possible in a pinch :) Thx for the help.

Also, as far as I know healing spells don’t replace missing body parts. It only heals HP which is an abstract and not always actual physical wounds. If you lose a finger, healing, like cure wounds, isn’t going to grow it back. So if you purposely start cutting pieces away, yes healing will return the HP but not the part that you cut away.

Only a few specific healing spells actually regrow severed parts.

It can be generally assumed that repeated blows with an axe, bow, or sword will tear away chunks of flesh from time to time. So, while Cure Wounds might not restore a severed finger, it ought to restore a chunk of skin, even if only as scar tissue.

Once removed from the body, body parts are indeed just objects, just as a corpse is.

OP specifically framed the scenario as removing chunks before the transformation.

From an RP perspective, I would think in most cases a character like this would revere their body as an incredible - maybe almost holy - creation, and hacking pieces off of it to form mundane chainmail would something pretty close to blasphemy. I would absolutely allow it in a rare case that the creation accomplishes something heroic that the party couldn't accomplish any other way, as long as it was in line with the beliefs and values of their god.

But literally selling your body for money each night? I think there are only a few gods that might see that as an appropriate use of the power they grant you.

Quote from Memnosyne >>

It can be generally assumed that repeated blows with an axe, bow, or sword with tear away chunks of flesh from time to time. So, while Cure Wounds might not restore a severed finger, it ought to restore a chunk of skin, even if only as scar tissue.

Once removed from the body, body parts are indeed just objects, just as a corpse is.

OP specifically framed the scenario as removing chunks before the transformation.

 Yes thank you. I'm not talking about lopping off a leg, I'm talking about shaving harmless bits off the size of a skinned knee, stuff that even basic healing spells should be able to handle. 

Also, I'm not thinking really industrial-scale gold farming, more like "you are stuck in a jail cell with nothing, and want to make yourself a knife and a key to escape with." Even that scenario would likely take a week or two to pull off with the amount of material I'm thinking. Cure wounds is a touch spell, so one would just cut off a few square inches of "skin" off a leg or other flat body part, touch the wound, and repeat until you're out of spell slots. The area would probably become unbelievably scarred after a while, and remember, warforged can feel pain if I recall, so this would be a very last-ditch tactic, very inhumane for farming iron. Plus, iron is cheap as heck, so infinite money would be suuuper slow. It would take a year or more to make chain mail armor with the amount of iron produced per day.

Quote from scatterbraind >>

From an RP perspective, I would think in most cases a character like this would revere their body as an incredible - maybe almost holy - creation, and hacking pieces off of it to form mundane chainmail would something pretty close to blasphemy. I would absolutely allow it in a rare case that the creation accomplishes something heroic that the party couldn't accomplish any other way, as long as it was in line with the beliefs and values of their god.

But literally selling your body for money each night? I think there are only a few gods that might see that as an appropriate use of the power they grant you.

 Lovitar and a few other evil gods would approve, maybe even encourage this for their worshippers.

I agree with the blasphemy part. The Warforged forge cleric I play was created by priests to guard his god's temple, so it would very much be blasphemy to do it for just money.

Chainmail was a bad example to put, it's pretty heavy. I included it because it is one of the biggest things off the top of my head that could be possibly made with this tactic.

I'd certainly allow a Warforged Forge cleric to transform themselves, in the sense of altering their personal aesthetic. There are some implications with regards to disguise, I suppose, but nothing significant. A Forge cleric Warforged reforging themselves bit by bit is cool. Transforming themselves into items however... I mean, chain mail is 75 gp. It takes a huge pile of metal shavings and clippings to equal that value. Iron in ingot form is worth 1 silver per pound in D&D, last I checked. The amount you could remove seems like it'd be something measured in ounces. At 10 ounces/day you'd be saving up metal shavings for over three years (longer than most of my campaigns have ever run in in-game time) before having enough for one set of chain mail. 

IIRC the warforged race description explicitly says that healing spells work on them even though they're constructs. But that applies to the normal healing spells that work on all PCs, like Cure Wounds or Healing Word.

I don't think it would be balanced if you could use, say, Mending to recover hp as a warforged.

I think your idea is fun for roleplaying without really having much mechanical impact. Can you create a warhammer which is an extension of your arm? Sure. It's not going to work any better or worse than a human forge cleric creating a warhammer and equipping it, except that, I guess, it's impossible to drop it. Or you could modify your finger with a set of thieves' tools. Cool. But you still roll the same Dex check to pick a lock as any other character using thieves' tools.

Warforged are humanoids, not constructs, despite their artificial nature.

Quote from pangurjan >>

I'd certainly allow a Warforged Forge cleric to transform themselves, in the sense of altering their personal aesthetic. There are some implications with regards to disguise, I suppose, but nothing significant. A Forge cleric Warforged reforging themselves bit by bit is cool. Transforming themselves into items however... I mean, chain mail is 75 gp. It takes a huge pile of metal shavings and clippings to equal that value. Iron in ingot form is worth 1 silver per pound in D&D, last I checked. The amount you could remove seems like it'd be something measured in ounces. At 10 ounces/day you'd be saving up metal shavings for over three years (longer than most of my campaigns have ever run in in-game time) before having enough for one set of chain mail. 

 Exactly. As stated above, I said chain mail because it was the biggest metal thing under 100 gp that I could think of off the top of my head. Keys and the like are the only real use for this.

Quote from pavilionaire >>

IIRC the warforged race description explicitly says that healing spells work on them even though they're constructs. But that applies to the normal healing spells that work on all PCs, like Cure Wounds or Healing Word.

I don't think it would be balanced if you could use, say, Mending to recover hp as a warforged. You're not even allowed to mend yourself, creatures (like warforged) aren't affected. Though I suppose once you get your first bit of metal, you might be able to do the cycle of cutting and fixing with an object made of said bit of metal and mending instead of skin and cure wounds

I think your idea is fun for roleplaying without really having much mechanical impact. Can you create a warhammer which is an extension of your arm? Sure. It's not going to work any better or worse than a human forge cleric creating a warhammer and equipping it, except that, I guess, it's impossible to drop it. There's an entire series of weapons, including warhammers, called Armblades that is exactly what you described. They just pop out of your forearm, all wolverine-like.

Or you could modify your finger with a set of thieves' tools. Cool. But you still roll the same Dex check to pick a lock as any other character using thieves' tools.

True, but you could also just carry a key and be able to open any door you encounter, given an hour to shape it to the specific lock. The all-opening key!

Locks don't show you the shape of key you need to unlock them, at least not from the outside.

Quote from Kotath >>

Quote from pangurjan >>

I'd certainly allow a Warforged Forge cleric to transform themselves, in the sense of altering their personal aesthetic. There are some implications with regards to disguise, I suppose, but nothing significant. A Forge cleric Warforged reforging themselves bit by bit is cool. Transforming themselves into items however... I mean, chain mail is 75 gp. It takes a huge pile of metal shavings and clippings to equal that value. Iron in ingot form is worth 1 silver per pound in D&D, last I checked. The amount you could remove seems like it'd be something measured in ounces. At 10 ounces/day you'd be saving up metal shavings for over three years (longer than most of my campaigns have ever run in in-game time) before having enough for one set of chain mail. 

 

Almost certainly a lot quicker to convert daggers looted from enemies or something. 

 Of course you're right, but that's rather obvious. No one would cut off their own flesh when they can just walk around and find some metal within a day or two, tops.

The idea is that, given enough time, you can create something from nothing.

For example, you are locked in a dungeon cell with unbreakable walls, and all your belongings are taken. Given a week or so, you can create a key, a crowbar, or a weapon or two to help you escape the prison, all from nothing.

Quote from pangurjan >>

Locks don't show you the shape of key you need to unlock them, at least not from the outside.

 You could send the molten metal in the lock to shape the key, and just harden inside. If I was DM'ing that, I'd require some investigation or maybe a lockpicking check, but it could be done easily if the player knows how locks work inside.

Quote from Great_Axeblade >>

Quote from pangurjan >>

Locks don't show you the shape of key you need to unlock them, at least not from the outside.

 You could send the molten metal in the lock to shape the key, and just harden inside. If I was DM'ing that, I'd require some investigation or maybe a lockpicking check, but it could be done easily if the player knows how locks work inside.

With all due respect, I don't think you know how locks work inside. Or how molten metal behaves.  

Quote from Great_Axeblade >>

Quote from pangurjan >>

Locks don't show you the shape of key you need to unlock them, at least not from the outside.

 You could send the molten metal in the lock to shape the key, and just harden inside. If I was DM'ing that, I'd require some investigation or maybe a lockpicking check, but it could be done easily if the player knows how locks work inside.

 Making thief's tools would make more sense.

This basically becomes a variant of the Artificer's 3rd level ability:

The Right Tool for the Job

At 3rd level, you learn how to produce exactly the tool you need: with thieves’ tools or artisan’s tools, you can magically create one set of artisan’s tools in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you. This creation requires 1 hour of uninterrupted work, which can coincide with a short or long rest. Though the product of magic, the tools are nonmagical, and they vanish when you use this feature again.