Originally built as weapons of war on the world of Eberron, the DnD Warforged is a construct of metal and wood that vaguely resembles a humanoid soldier. Over time, Warforged became advanced enough to develop consciousness – naturally, many took up the life of a DnD adventurer! This guide introduces you to the rules for Warforged in DnD, with suggestions of how to build characters, find miniatures, as well as their nearest equivalent in Pathfinder.
While this guide focuses on DnD Warforged 5e, we have many other guides that you may find useful. Naturally we have a guide to the other DnD races, and all the other DnD settings (including Eberron).
Our guide to DnD stats is a useful reference to accompany this guide, and we have full rundowns of all the DnD classes that will support you when you make your next Warforged DnD character builds. We can even point you to DnD character creators that can be used to design tokens and miniatures to represent your Warforged character.
Here’s everything you need to know about the DnD Warforged 5e:
- Warforged names
- Warforged 5e stats
- Warforged Artificer
- Warforged Barbarian
- Warforged Cleric
- Pathfinder Warforged
- Warforged Miniatures
Warforged names
The creators of the Warforged gave them an androgynous appearance, so many of the species don’t identify with any particular gender. There are, of course, always exceptions to rules (and it’s perfectly fine to give your Warforged a gender identity). However, this means there isn’t typically a gendered distinction between Warforged names.
A Warforged’s name is usually chosen, as their given names are numerical in nature and military in function. They might have a nickname, or perhaps they borrowed another humanoid name from a beloved figure.
Here are some examples of Warforged names:
Warforged 5e stats
These are the standard Warforged 5e stats:*
| Ability score increase | +2 Constitution, +1 one other score |
| Size | Medium |
| Speed | 30ft |
| Languages | Common, and one of your choice |
| Traits | Constructed Resilience, Sentry’s Rest, Integrated Protection, Specialized Design |
*Bear in mind that the custom origins rules in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything let you modify many of the species’ DnD stats to your liking.
The Constructed Resilience trait grants a Warforged multiple benefits. They don’t need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep. Additionally, Warforged are immune to magic that puts them to sleep, as well as disease. They even have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned 5e, and Warforged are generally resistant to poison damage.
It’s worth noting that, despite their constructed nature, Warforged can still feel pain and take damage like a humanoid. This means that resting, healing 5e spells, and Medicine skill checks do still affect them.
Warforged D&D characters may not need to sleep, but they do rest and recover. The Sentry’s Rest trait describes what they do while the rest of the party is snoozing; the Warforged spend six hours in an inactive-but-conscious state during a long rest. Essentially, a Warforged can hear and see as normal – so they’re harder to surprise.
Integrated Protection gives the Warforged +1 to their armor class. It also adds special rules regarding DnD armor. According to Eberron: Rising from the Last War, Warforged can only wear armor they’re proficient in, and they need to spend an hour incorporating any armor that isn’t a DnD shield into their body. It also takes an hour to remove it from their person, but the armor can’t ever be removed against the Warforged’s will (providing they’re still alive, that is).
The Specialized Design trait is much simpler. This gives the Warforged proficiency in one of the DnD skills, as well as a particular tool.
Warforged Artificer
The Warforged’s boosted AC and many condition resistances make it an appealing choice for pretty much any class, but there are a few that stand out as ideal picks. One of these is the Warforged Artificer. Pick up a subclass that focuses on creating magic armor, and you’ve got a flavorful character that uses body mods to their full advantage.
The Artificer 5e class already has plenty of utility as a frontline fighter, but the tanky Warforged will keep your character well-protected as they’re lobbing infusions and DnD magic items left and right. Another tool proficiency doesn’t hurt the Artificer, either.
Warforged Barbarian
The Barbarian 5e class eats Constitution for breakfast. You can stack their Unarmored Defense feature with the Warforged’s already-buffed AC for extra protection on the battlefield, and having a handle on those Con saving throws will keep your character on their feet. Give a Warforged Barbarian a shield and get them to the front of a fight for the perfect damage sponge.
If you’re prepared to dance with potential Exhaustion, the Berserker subclass will give your Warforged even more condition immunities. And while a connection to the natural world doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense lore-wise, the Path of the Beast Barbarian subclass 5e does get to summon beastly allies equal to their Constitution modifier at some point – which could throw up some fun possibilities for a Warforged.
Warforged Cleric
If you’re looking for a spellcasting class, the Cleric 5e is one of the top Warforged choices. Use your +1 stat boost for Wisdom, and you’ve got a Cleric who’ll absorb hits with ease while doling out divine justice. A boost to your Perception also doesn’t hurt when you never sleep.
A War Cleric makes the most thematic sense given the history of the Warforged species, but there’s a wide range of viable subclasses that give a Warforged Cleric major flexibility. The Forge Cleric 5e subclass also taps into that body-mod goodness the Artificer gets, letting you meld magic armor with your body.
Pathfinder Warforged
There are no official Pathfinder Warforged. The Warforged race was added to DnD via the Eberron setting, and the Warforged are tied closely to it. However, the Android Pathfinder race has a very similar theme, a synthetic humanoid species with real souls. You can find it in the Lost Omens Ancestry Guide Pathfinder book and the several online Pathfinder SRD databases.
Warforged Miniatures
The first place to look for Warforged miniatures to represent your player character is WizKids officially licensed DnD miniatures range ‘Nolzur’s Marvellous Miniatures’. WizKids has made Warforged miniatures to represent Monks, Barbarians, Rogues, and Fighters.
Hero Forge has plenty of parts to make custom Warforged characters too, which you can print at home if you own a 3D printer. Similarly, Eldritch Foundry offers custom parts that can be used to create a detailed version of your own Warforged.
Got a Warforged character ready? We can point you to the right DnD character sheets and DnD dice sets to get you ready for your next DnD campaign.