style="color: rgb(154, 185, 124);">Refuse
to Group with Warforged?

By
Ralsu

This is DDO Build Week here at Ten Ton Hammer. href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=273">Today's
featured build used the warforged race. Right now, the official DDO
forums blaze with the intensity of a thousand flames about warforged
and their role in parties. People play warforged for a reason, be it
the benefits of their racial traits or for a role playing purpose.
Regardless of why people select the warforged race, the players behind
warforged pay $15 per month just like the rest of us to play DDO. At
the same time, warforged are considerably harder to keep alive due to
their Living Construct racial trait (Cure spells are half as effective;
Repair spells are fully effective). Thus, some gamers insist, a person
who plays a warforged is extending an unnecessary burden to the party.



The Case for the Warforged

Warforged get nifty immunities (via Enhancements) and nice natural
armor Feats. A carefully designed warforged can have a ton of hit
points and be a valuable damage dealer for the party. Alternately, some
warforged build arcane casters who specialize in healing other
warforged in addition to their other class roles. Those warforged
immunities can keep a warforged party member healthy when another race
would require a Cure spell or Remove Poison/Disease. Experienced
warforged players often say, "You should try a full warforged group.
Nothing compares."



The Case for Clerics

Because warforged receive only half of the normal benefit from healing
spells, many clerics find it inefficient to heal a warforged party
member. Several DDO players estimate that 30 spell points spent healing
a warforged fighter for 10 hit points with Cure Light Wounds means two
less heals of 6 each for another party member. The truth of the math is
that it takes more spell points to heal warforged (and they will take
damage eventually, regardless of immunities) than warforged are worth.



The Case for Sorcerer

The Repair Wounds line of spells frequently saddles sorcerers and
wizard with the job to "keep the warforged alive." In a full party of
warforged, this situation is no different that using a party slot for a
cleric. In a mixed party, however, the party still needs a cleric to
heal the other players. Sure, arcane casters can attempt to perform
their traditional roles of damage and crowd control in addition to
healing, but this leads to a less than optimal scenario. The arcane
casters will have to make tough decisions in the heat of battle. style="font-style: italic;">Should I cast Web now for crowd control
and try to save everyone some hits? Or should I heal the warforged who
is rapidly losing health? In the end, many number-crunching
players claim it is better to let a warforged die and save the rest of
the party some hits.



The Case for Wands

One of the solutions the DDO community has reached to solve the
"warforged problem" is to use wands of Repair to heal them. Wands
require no spell points to use, but they cost gold. Many people demand
that warforged supply their own wands or the fund to replace wands used
on them during the party's adventures. Others won't heal warforged even
with a wand, citing weapon/wand swapping or the loss of a stat boost
from not having their normal weapon equipped as too great a price to
group with warforged.



The Case for Segregation

Taking a page from America's shady past, a few gamers advocate keeping
warforged separate. These people will not group with a warforged in any
circumstances. Most respect the players behind the toons, but some go
so far as to automatically dislike any person who wants to play
warforged. These warforged racists say that a person who plays a
warforged is being selfish and bringing undue difficulty to the party.