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This is my attempt at a warforged conversion based solely on the race builder rules from the Advanced Race Guide of the PRD. Other people may have done it before, and perhaps done it better. For me it was a fun way to kill time and perhaps capture as much of the flavor of the warforged as I could while still keeping it "light" enough to be welcome in a "normal" setting. Crunch first then comments.
Scout Golemnoid
Type: Outsider (Native) Ties to positive energy plane 3 rp
Type: Half Construct 7 rp
Thus we have an Outsider (Native, Construct)
Size: Small 0 rp
Base Speed: Normal 0 rp
Ability Score Modifiers (mixed weakness) -2 rp
STR -2, DEX +2, WIS +2, CHA -4
Languages, Standard 0 rp
Starts knowing Common only. Bonus languages for high INT are Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Draconic, Celestial, Goblin, Orc
Racial Traits:
Defensive: Lifebound 2 rp
Senses: Darkvision - rp
Total: 10 rp
Battle Golemnoid
Type: Outsider (Native) Ties to positive energy plane 3 rp
Type: Half Construct 7 rp
Thus we have an Outsider (Native, Construct)
Size: Medium 0 rp
Base Speed: Normal 0 rp
Ability score modifiers (weakness) -1 rp
CON +2, WIS +2, CHA -4
Languages, Standard 0 rp
Starts knowing Common only. Bonus languages for high INT are Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Draconic, Celestial, Goblin, Orc
Racial Traits:
Defensive: Lifebound 2 rp
Senses: Darkvision - rp
Total: 11 rp
Scout Golemnoids use random height and weight tables for male gnomes. Compute weight as normal then multiply by 1.2
Battle Golemnoids use random height and weight tables for male elves. Compute weight as normal then multiply by 1.2
Starting Ages
Adulthood: 1 year, Middle Age: 175 years, Old Age: 263 years, Venerable: 350 years, max 350 +4d% years.
Scout Golemnoid comments first, then a slight digression to cover battle golemnoids.
That the type should be "half-construct" was a given. The question became what to make the other half. If the other half was something biological then one was essentially creating some sort of cyborg. While people could do that if they wanted to, it did not fit with the flavor of warforged so I rejected that approach. The type of Outsider seemed to be the best fit. I selected the positive energy plane as the location where the life force for the race was drawn from as the end result was clearly different from binding an elemental into a suit of armor. Thus one gets an Outsider (Native, Construct).
Size was selected as "small" in keeping with the "scout" version of the warforged the golemnoid was supposed to be emulating. I made the speed "normal" at 30 feet per round because scouts who can't keep up with one's main force when it moves, or move rapidly enough to effectively shadow the force they are supposed to be tracking, are of limited utility.
Ability score modifiers of mixed weakness with -2 rp was chosen for the metagame reason that one had to take minuses somewhere to keep the race playable at normal levels. As far as the standard in game commentary on this would go:
STR -2 because they are small creatures and simply not designed to lift and carry that much or to exert that much brute force.
DEX +2 because they're supposed to be scouts/skirmishers and they need a DEX boost to make their use of missile weapons more effective. Especially given that they wouldn't want to close.
WIS +2 because their life force was drawn from the positive energy plane, and also because it helps them be more aware of their surroundings.
CHA -4 because golemnoids really don't relate well to people, and their immobile face masks and synthetic form of speech make it almost impossible for them to convey emotion normally.
Language ability was chosen as standard. They're not linguists so they don't qualify for that. They don't have their own racial tongue so they don't qualify for Xenophobic. Thus you end up with the standard language ability and only Common as the base language. The bonus languages for high intelligence characters (Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Draconic, Celestial, Goblin, Orc) are those of races that they could be working with, languages useful for studying arcane or divine lore, and a couple of languages of races they might be used against.
The defensive racial trait of lifebound was chosen because given that they can't be raised or resurrected you don't want them bleeding to death too easily. The defense boosts that trait gives against negative energy attacks come from their ties to the positive energy plane.
They get darkvision as a freebie because they're outsiders.
The only real differences for the Battle Golemnoid are the size and the ability score modifiers. The -2 to STR went away because they're medium size. The +2 to DEX got shifted to a +2 to CON because these are going to be front line troops and they have to be able to take damage. The +2 WIS and -4 CHA are for the same reasons the Scout versions have them.
Unlike Eberron Warforged the Golemnoids heal normally and wear armor. Where true Warforged would have total immunity to some things, Golemnoids usually just get saving throw bonuses. The main advantages Golemnoids have are their 60 foot range darkvision and being light enough in rp costs [10 and 11 points] that they should be useable in a standard setting. A true Eberron Warforged would probably come in somewhere between 20 to 30 points at least.
While Golemnoids can and will wear armor when they think they need it, they don't usually wear clothes per se. They don't have anything they need to be modest about. They do need to carry things with them though. So there are harness and pouch arrangements available for them to hold stuff with places to attach weapon sheaths and holders to.
Golemnoid harness and pouch arrangement, can be worn over armor if desired:
Medium Size: 5 gp, 4 lbs
Small Size: 5 gp, 1 lb
These should be free for a starting golemnoid character.
Height and weight figures were chosen to make them smaller/lighter than Eberron Warforged (and thus able to wear standard gear for their size). Aging effects on Warforged in Eberron had not been totally disclosed the last time I checked. So I basically had them able to start in their respective classes after 1 year of intensive training, and then gave them "Elven" life expectancies as their partial construct nature would arguably make them less affected by the passage of time.
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Computers, bah humbug. Got about two pages worth of post entered, hit the wrong darn key and it all disappeared into an electronic black hole. But to soldier on anyway ...
The response to this thread so far has been underwhelming. Unfortunately that may be deservedly so. After working more with my golemnoid conversion and especially after being granted the chance to playtest one in a campaign on these boards, it just doesn't work as well as I wanted it to. It's not actually unplayable, but that -4 CHA penalty is really a bit much for what you're getting back out of the character. So unless you're seriously into running a warforged at all costs it's simply not an attractive option.
After thinking about it for a while I decided that the easiest way to deal with this was to swap the -4 CHA racial attribute modifier for a -2 CHA racial attribute modifier. When all was said and done one had both the scout and the battle versions coming in at 12 rp. Given that there are races in the advanced race guide that are coming in at 13 rp and 15 rp that seem to be reasonably well accepted on the boards here then that shouldn't be too much of a problem. For lack of better terms I will refer to the golemnoid conversion already presented as the "light" version. These will be the "medium" version. I also worked up "heavy" and "super heavy" variants just for the heck of it.
Scout Golemnoid (Medium Version)
Type: Outsider (Native) Ties to positive energy plane 3 rp
Type: Half Construct 7 rp
Thus we have an Outsider (Native, Construct)
Size: Small 0 rp
Base Speed: Normal 0 rp
Ability Score Modifiers: (Standard) 0 rp
DEX +2, WIS +2, CHA -2
Languages: (Standard) 0 rp
Starts knowing Common only, Bonus languages for high INT are Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Draconic, Celestial, Goblin, Orc
Racial Traits:
Defensive: Lifebound 2 rp
Senses: Darkvision -
Total: 12 rp
Battle Golemnoid (Medium Version)
Type: Outsider (Native) Ties to positive energy plane 3 rp
Type: Half Construct 7 rp
Thus we have an Outsider (Native, Construct)
Size: Medium 0 rp
Base Speed: Normal 0 rp
Ability Score Modifiers: (Standard) 0 rp
CON +2, WIS +2, CHA -2
Languages: (Standard) 0 rp
Starts knowing Common only, Bonus languages for high INT are Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Draconic, Celestial, Goblin, Orc
Racial Traits:
Defensive: Lifebound 2 rp
Senses: Darkvision -
Total: 12 rp
Somewhat perversely, the only way I could see to get the -4CHA penalty reduced to -2 for a reasonable rp cost under the RAW on the scout version also made the -2 STR penalty go away. Thus the Scout version becomes something of a "sleeper". It is a small sized race with no strength penalty and normal base speed. This gives it something of an advantage over other small sized races. But it does not seem to be an overwhelming advantage and it is totally within the RAW so I'm going to stick with it.
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To alleviate the problem with mistyping something and having the computer eat the post I decided to break things up into multiple posts. This post will cover the "heavy" golemnoids. They come in at 20 rp, and while they lack a lot of the immunities that a true warforged would have, they are nevertheless within the spirit of custom built combat machines.
Scout Golemnoid (Heavy Version)
Type: Outsider (Native) Ties to positive energy plane 3 rp
Type: Half Construct 7 rp
Thus we have an Outsider (Native, Construct)
Size: Small 0 rp
Base Speed: Normal 0 rp
Ability Score Modifiers: (Standard) 0 rp
DEX +2, WIS +2, CHA -2
Languages: (Standard) 0 rp
Starts knowing Common only, Bonus languages for high INT are Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Draconic, Celestial, Goblin, Orc
Racial Traits:
Defensive:
Lifebound 2 rp
Natural Armor 2 rp
Members of this race gain a +1 natural armor bonus to AC
Improved Natural Armor 1 rp
Gains an additional +1 natural armor bonus to AC
Offensive:
Natural Attack: (slam) 1 rp
Swordtrained 4 rp
Senses: Darkvision -
Total: 20 rp
Battle Golemnoid (Heavy Version)
Type: Outsider (Native) Ties to positive energy plane 3 rp
Type: Half Construct 7 rp
Thus we have an Outsider (Native, Construct)
Size: Medium 0 rp
Base Speed: Normal 0 rp
Ability Score Modifiers: (Standard) 0 rp
CON +2, WIS +2, CHA -2
Languages: (Standard) 0 rp
Starts knowing Common only, Bonus languages for high INT are Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Draconic, Celestial, Goblin, Orc
Racial Traits:
Defensive:
Lifebound 2 rp
Natural Armor 2 rp
Members of this race gain a +1 natural armor bonus to AC
Improved Natural Armor 1 rp
Gains an additional +1 natural armor bonus to AC
Offensive:
Natural Attack: (slam) 1 rp
Swordtrained 4 rp
Senses: Darkvision -
Total: 20 rp
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Finally, we have the "super heavy" golemnoid variants. With these versions we are back to the "Mixed Weakness" attribute quality and a -4 CHA penalty. However, unlike the "light" versions, these things are probably worth the -4 CHA penalty.
Scout Golemnoid (Super Heavy Version)
Type: Outsider (Native) Ties to positive energy plane 3 rp
Type: Half Construct 7 rp
Thus we have an Outsider (Native, Construct)
Size: Small 0 rp
Base Speed: Normal 0 rp
Ability Score Modifiers: (Mixed Weakness) -2 rp
STR -2, DEX +2, WIS +2, CHA -4
Languages: (Standard) 0 rp
Starts knowing Common only, Bonus languages for high INT are Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Draconic, Celestial, Goblin, Orc
Racial Traits:
Defensive:
Lifebound 2 rp
Natural Armor 2 rp
Members of this race gain a +1 natural armor bonus to AC
Improved Natural Armor 1 rp
Gains an additional +1 natural armor bonus to AC
Defensive Training, Greater 4 rp
+2 Dodge bonus to AC
Offensive:
Natural Attack: (slam) 1 rp
Swordtrained 4 rp
Senses:
Darkvision 120 feet 1 rp*
Low-light vision 1 rp
Total: 24 rp
* Already had Darkvision 60 feet as a freebie, so just spent the points to "upgrade" it.
Battle Golemnoid (Super Heavy Version)
Type: Outsider (Native) Ties to positive energy plane 3 rp
Type: Half Construct 7 rp
Thus we have an Outsider (Native, Construct)
Size: Medium 0 rp
Base Speed: Normal 0 rp
Ability Score Modifiers: (Mixed Weakness) -2 rp
DEX -2, CON +2, WIS +2, CHA -4
Languages: (Standard) 0 rp
Starts knowing Common only, Bonus languages for high INT are Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Draconic, Celestial, Goblin, Orc
Racial Traits:
Defensive:
Lifebound 2 rp
Natural Armor 2 rp
Members of this race gain a +1 natural armor bonus to AC
Improved Natural Armor 1 rp
Gains an additional +1 natural armor bonus to AC
Defensive Training, Greater 4 rp
+2 Dodge bonus to AC
Offensive:
Natural Attack: (slam) 1 rp
Swordtrained 4 rp
Senses:
Darkvision 120 feet 1 rp*
Low-light vision 1 rp
Total: 24 rp
* Already had Darkvision 60 feet as a freebie, so just spent the points to "upgrade" it.
With the addition of Greater Defensive Training and upgrading their sensing capability these things are going to be serious tanks that should be able to give Drow a run for their money. Playing around with the scout variant I was able to get a 1st level wizard up to AC 17 sans gear and spells without even trying too hard (+2 DEX, +2 Natural Armor, +2 Dodge, +1 Size). Granted he wouldn't be immune to the poison drow use, but after he cast mage armor and or shield he could get an AC as high as 25 (if he cast both spells) and simply wouldn't get hit that often.
So, thus endeth the exercise of creating warforged conversions. At least for now. Hopefully the "medium" weight versions will catch on as something people might be interested in playing and GMs might be willing to allow. As for the "heavy" and "super heavy" variants, well, there are always some GMs who will go with almost anything, and other GMs who may want some serious bad guys. I will be waiting to see what, if anything happens, and also try to see if I can get some exterminators to take care of all those crickets chirping. :-)