“Life … is only heavy and none else; there is only the one trip, all heavy. Heavy that leads to the grave. For everyone and everything.” – Philip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly (1977)

But not for you.

Warforged have been a part of the D&D collective consciousness for a long time thanks to the Eberron setting that popularized these fantasy-style androids. More than flesh and blood, but still a full feeling, sentient being capable of a full range of emotions that most humans don’t enjoy. They are a deeply compelling race and their addition to D&D 5e offers players a unique opportunity to explore what it means to “be alive” and face the threat of living indefinitely. 

Enjoy the ride.

Guide Key

Epic

Good

Meh

Bad

Warforged Traits

–Ability Score Increase:  +2 CON and +1 to any other ability score. You heard right. The Warforged is not just survivable, but it can lean into any class’ main stats. 

–Age: You’re likely somewhere between two and thirty years old, but you have no max lifespan. Eberron – Rising from the Last War indicates that their lifespan is a mystery, but you are immune to magical aging effects. So, we can confidently say that there is no “max” on your life.

-Alignment: Most are Lawful Neutral, but there isn’t anything stopping you from being what you want to be.

-Size:  Medium. WotC saw fit to make a simple size rolling chart for the Warforged, so you can roll with that if you want to find out just how bulky you are (5’11 and 278 pounds on the low end, or 6’10” and 318 pounds on the high end). It has no mechanical implications, but rolling dice is part of the fun of D&D, right?

–Speed: Average 30ft. Solid.

–Constructed Resilience: Let’s just waltz through these bonuses. Advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, resistance to poison, no need to eat/drink/breathe, immunity to disease, and you don’t have to sleep with the added advantage of being unable to be put to sleep. Getting damage resistance from a racial trait is huge. Getting resistances, immunities, and removing all survival requirements makes you a perfect traveling companion; you need nothing!

–Sentry’s Rest:  When you rest, you just spend six hours in an “inert” state. However, you see and hear just like normal and no verbiage indicates that it takes you time to wake up. As the name of this trait would indicate, you are now the one and only sentry your party needs. DM ambushes beware!

–Integrated Protection:  A free +1 to your Armor Class. Any boost to AC cannot be overstated. You significantly raise your chances of avoiding hits when you raise your AC, even by one. This is amazing at level one. It’s not a competing AC, so you don’t have to select to be unarmored or wear something else. Any armor you chose to pick up down the line benefits from this as well. You integrate armor you’re proficient with into your body, and while you’re alive, it can’t be removed against your will. Got captured? Best of luck to your captors if they plan on keeping you alive.

–Specialized Design:  You gain one skill proficiency and one tool proficiency of your choice. This is just fine. It might free up some skill choices here and there for you, but this trait isn’t the reason you should go Warforged.

–Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.

Warforged Subraces

There are no official Warforged subraces at this point, but there are Unearthed Arcana options out there if you want to take a look at those. I won’t be touching upon them here, but give them a look. The official Warforged race took the best of the UA options and dropped some of the pieces that made them overly complicated.

Best Classes and Archetypes for Warforged

Let’s chat about how I determined these rankings. Generally speaking, I assume that your Ability Score array is not already maximized with 18’s from perfect score rolls at character creation and that your plan is to lean into the existing strengths of the Warforged. Your +1 to any stat is going to help you be pretty versatile throughout all of these classes, but it means that you’re off to a slow start in most cases. That is going to mean that most of these classes start in the “meh” category, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t take off in a BIG way if you focus your Ability Score Improvements on your key attributes at the end of the day, the reasoning comes down to three things:

1) Does the race satisfy the expectations of the class?

2) Does the class synergize with subclass abilities?

3) How easy would it be to get started with this race-class/subclass combo?

You can try to turn D&D 5e into as much of an exact science as you want, but at the end of the day, you need to figure out what works best for your playstyle, your campaign, and your playgroup. Alrighty, here we go!

Artificer

You’ll want to take a bonus to INT for the Artificer. This class would love your durability and CON for concentration checks. Keep boosting your INT and let the magic items flow.

Alchemist: Your AC boost is going to help the Alchemist a lot since it’s not very resilient on its own.

Armorer: Just keep focusing on INT and you’re golden. Your Arcane Armor is going to be integrated into your body, so now it can’t be removed against your will, even if you die. This is almost a perfect vision for what a Warforged would be in a sci-fi/tech-heavy campaign.

Artillerist: Desperately needs more INT than is offered at level one. Your utility and damage will be pretty crappy until boosted.

Battle Smith: Suffers from the same issue as the Artillerist. This subclass is greedy for INT.

Barbarian

Barbarian is an easy recommendation for the Warforged. Benefiting greatly from the +2 CON a Warforged Barbarian will have a large health pool that, while raging, will have them shrugging off damage. Combine that with all the resistances and the Integrated Protection providing +1 AC; your character will withstand withering blows and focus fire.  

Ancestral Guardian:  Extra staying power and mitigate damage allies near you take.

Beast: The Beast hungers for melee combat, and you bring the main course. You get natural weapons plus extra damage while raging and temporary hit points, the last two using your CON modifier!

Berserker:  Gives you fear abilities, resistance to fear, and extra attacks. Don’t love exhaustion though. If only your racial features made you immune to exhaustion.

Depths: Offers a teleport for quick disengage/mobility, stat boost, and a splash damage ability.

Juggernaut:  This will increase your resistances and damage output.

Storm Herald:  AOE damage effects, health effects, and increases your resistances. Plus saving throws required by enemies are  DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Con modifier.

Totem Warrior – Bear:  This will round out your resistance to all but psychic damage. Later you get an area of effect intimidation

Totem Warrior – Eagle: During rage, you are harder to hit, gain eagle eyes, and have the ability to fly for short bursts. Does restrict you to medium armor to get all the benefits of the subclass.

Totem Warrior – Elk:  Go fast. Smash through foes’ space if you have a good STR score. Also has the aforementioned medium armor limitation.

Totem Warrior – Tiger:  Lets you jump higher, mostly useless if you took proficiency in Athletics or Stealth as one of your racial bonuses.

Totem Warrior – Wolf:  Out of the Totem warriors, this is the most useful one, you get an aura that gives advantage on attack rolls within 5 feet, move stealthily at a normal pace, and a bonus action knockdown on hit.

Wild Magic:  Requires high constitution (which you have, and should continue to lean into) to use your Wild Surge effectively.

Zealot:  Extra damage and you’ll be near impossible to kill.

Bard

Bard is a unique class that really requires its main components (CHA, then DEX, and then INT or WIS after that for your bonus skills) to be met early on to function properly. It doesn’t actively seek out a high CON score, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t benefit from it. You should pick up Ability Score Improvements in the order just described to make up for that.

Creation: Needs a creative mind, but it’s crazy what you can do with this subclass. The idea of magically constructing objects with music is poetry, plain and simple.

Eloquence: This subclass wants a slightly higher CHA bonus from the race, BUT it’s my number one Bard subclass right now. Infectious Inspiration is… broken.

Glamour: Shine your chassis daily. You’re trying to work your way to the top of the Warforged social ladder.

Lore: Appreciates the extra proficiencies for their skill monkeying but wants more and more and more bonuses that you just don’t offer.

Maestro: A lot of variety that sets you apart from other bards. Lots of fun. Hungry for Bardic Inspiration dice.

Swords: Wants all of its boosts to come in faster than they do. Progress will feel pretty slow. I’d recommend taking a DEX boost at level 1 instead of CHA, just so you can do better in combat.

Valor: You could do it, but these guys need an overhaul desperately.

Whispers: I think it needs (at least) a +2 CHA boost, especially if this is going to be a part of social campaigns where you won’t want to be operating with suboptimal builds when the story is relying on your gift of gab.

Blood Hunter

There are questions about whether a Warforged could even become a Blood Hunter since their whole thing is about self-alteration through the blood… you (presumably) have no blood. However, I will write this section as though you could play this class (I don’t know how it’s happening, but it is). You’ll want to pick between STR or DEX to focus on first and then boost WIS.

Ghostslayer: Solid in undead campaigns. You’ll be extra fortified against undead that most frequently have magical aging effects (at least, that’s been my experience with them).

Lycan: You are one part machine, one part monstrous beast. Don’t tell me how it happens, I think I might vomit.

Mutant: Isn’t too worried about Ability Score deficits. Pick up the mutagens that are going to suit your playstyle. 

Profane Soul: Needs the WIS for class skills and WIS or INT for spellcasting. You’ll really want to pick up STR or DEX first so that your round-by-round standard attacks are solid, but you’ll need to pick up a WIS boost at level 4 for your spellcasting.

Cleric

Your free stat improvement must be in WIS and this is going to give you a decent start, but you’ll still want to find ways to boost that along the way. What would machines worship? Why would they worship? Do androids dream of electric sheep? This is the class Philip K. Dick would choose.

Arcana: Massive versatile spell options. Great pick. 

Blood: You can take control of Large creatures (or smaller, and eventually Huge or smaller) and make them attack their allies. No one will want to leave corpses around you.

Death: The Death Cleric is already one of my favorite options in the game, so I am biased here. Your abilities are excellent, and you’ll especially love this if you face undead regularly. 

Forge: This is likely the closest thematic fit for a Warforged (IT’S LITERALLY IN THE NAME). Solid utility options. Free +1 AC or Weapon boosts at level one are pretty amazing. Boost yourself or your allies. You could be walking around at level one with a free +2 to AC on top of heavy armor and a shield. We’re talking 20 AC AT. LEVEL. ONE.

Grave: Powerful abilities, but really wants more than a +1 to WIS as soon as possible.

Knowledge: Too Ability Score heavy for you to reliably enjoy everything that this subclass wants to do.

Life: You’ll be a very formidable healer and it’ll be hard to keep you down. Enjoy the heavy armor with your +1 bonus. A natural AC of 17, with a 19 if you use a shield.

Light: Pretty incredible abilities. Your enemies will be clutching their eyes, trying to avert their gaze from your holy radiance. 

Nature: You’re a robot that loves nature. Ever seen Iron Giant? Get ready to cry.

Order: Enjoy the heavy armor with your +1 bonus. A natural AC of 17, with a 19 if you use a shield. Otherwise, this is an awesome pairing, and Voice of Authority may be one of my favorite cleric reaction abilities.

Peace: This guy is pretty broken just because you get to add so many dice to people’s rolls. The party will pick who has the most powerful build, and then you’ll just make them unstoppable. Love it.

Tempest: My personal favorite out of all the Cleric domains. I just like zapping people when they try to hit me. With your CON score, you’ll be more resilient to hits as they come in and you’ll be able to rock heavy armor with an AC of 17 and a shield for an AC of 19. Crazy. 

Trickery: You’ll want a boosted CHA score to keep up the deception rolls you’ll inevitably be making. Like the Knowledge Cleric, you may feel too conflicted over picking between WIS and CHA to fully enjoy the benefits of either.

Twilight: Powerful, powerful, powerful abilities. I love these guys. Just keep up the Advantage to Initiative rolls and you’ll be golden. Another big AC subclass with that Heavy Armor, Shield, and AC bump!

War: Huge hit potential. You shouldn’t miss (too often) when you’re using Channel Divinity, getting a +10 to hit. And this is another Cleric subclass that could get you an AC of 19. 

Druid

Same as the cleric, the +1 being put toward WIS is essential. Without it, you’re in for a very rocky start. Keep focusing on WIS and you should be golden.

Dreams: Really fun abilities that expand roleplay/gameplay options beyond the waking world. 

Land: Decent abilities, but I think they are outshined by the newer, shinier druid subclasses. Though it is a classic, and it’s not like it can’t do awesome damage. 

Moon: There is nothing that indicates that your free +1 to AC goes away in your wild shape. And, honestly, you should talk to your DM about taking on “construct” forms of the animals you would change into. The visual alone is epic. 

Shepherd: Awesome conjurations spells and abilities that rival the Conjuration Wizard’s abilities well into the late game

Spores: Pretty tanky druids with all of their abilities taken into account. I think they’re just “okay” in nine out of ten situations, but they can be a pivotal last line of defense in a sticky situation.

Stars: Love these guys. They are top-tier druids. Their efficiency is unrivaled. They can do a bit of everything and frequently do it better than the people who do it as their “main” thing.

Wildfire: The Arson Druid. I think there is some awesome roleplay opportunity by saying that your wildfire spirit companion is a manifestation of the magic in your core.

Fighter

Drop your +1 into STR or DEX and you’re on your way to victory. If you are picking up a subclass that wants a heavier focus on tertiary stats (i.e. Arcane Archer, Eldritch Knight, Psi Warrior; focused on INT) then you will likely want to split your ASI at level four between boosting your selected attribute and INT. Otherwise, this is a really solid way to go since you can focus on a single attribute because a +2 to CON doesn’t need to be touched after character creation.

Arcane Archer: As pointed out above, you are going to be pretty torn between taking DEX and INT, but just start things off with DEX and then split your level four boost between DEX and INT and you’ll be in a better position.

Battle Master: Lean into whatever your level 1 pick was (between STR/DEX) and that’ll define how you operate. You’ve got endless combat options. 

Cavalier: Machine riding a beast. I like the vibe, but I don’t love the subclass features. Only go this route if you ABSOLUTELY feel like you need mobility options that only a mount can solve.

Champion: Expanded Crit Range. Beautiful. A bit too limited a playstyle for my like, but might fit the rigid mindset of a robo-man.

Echo Knight: They took out all the stops on this one and decided “Yeah, we’re just going to make a subclass that infinitely cooler than everything else”.

Eldritch Knight: Take the approach of the Arcane Archer, but you’ll likely be going with STR instead.

Gunslinger: This subclass wants more DEX than a +1, so you’ll be boosting that. From that point, you’re a walking canon. I dig this.

Psi Warrior: Take the approach of the Arcane Archer, but you’ll likely be going with STR instead.

Purple Dragon Knight: The perfect bannerman; inspiring allies and raising spirits. I like these guys, but I don’t love their combat options.

Renegade: See the “Gunslinger”. That’s your life too.

Rune Knight: I think the theme of the subclass can jive with the general aesthetic of the Warforged, but I don’t like the outlook of the Rune Knight. It plateaus too quickly for my liking. 

Samurai: You’ll be operating in a similar vein to the Arcane Archer, just replace DEX with STR and INT with CHA.

Monk

The Monk is off to a very slow start since you’ll really be wanting WIS and DEX along the way and you’ll be splitting your focus between the two more than you’d probably like. However, I will add a caveat. You’ll be able to handle more situations than other monks in the same situation as you because you get a free +1 to your AC that losing out on a WIS or DEX boost might have given you. So, your AC is not the end of the world, it’s just that your damage and class abilities might suffer without a sufficient blend of both. It will start out “meh”, but with enough time, has the potential to become epic since the Monk adds much-needed mobility options to the Warforged.

Ascendant Dragon: Robo-Dragon Punches. You’re a Gundam Dream.

Astral Self: The powers are simple but powerful. Does a Warforged have a soul?

Cobalt Soul: Punch the truth out of enemies. Great for turning a combat scenario into a roleplaying opportunity.

Drunken Master: It’s just Jackie Chan. It feels great to play mechanically and immensely fun to roleplay.

Four Elements: I think the Four Elements Monk is a bit clunky mechanically. They apply the Dungeon Master’s Guide variant spellcasting, but with Ki points instead.

Kensei: Specializes on atypical monk weapons, so that gets pretty wild (like using a Warhammer and a Blowgun… who does that? A Kensei). 

Long Death: Brutal attacks and strong utility. Thumbs up.

Mercy: Punch the souls back into people. Is it a bit silly? Maybe, but I like it.

Open Hand: Classic monk. More interesting options have come up since it first came out, but I like the simplicity and ease of access. 

Shadow: Unbeatable in dark-setting campaigns. Like… seriously unrivaled.

Sun Soul: Turn every attack into a Kamehameha blast and have a good time.

Paladin

I view the Paladin in a similar vein as the Fighter. You’ll add a +1 to STR or DEX, but then you’ll also want to be dropping some points into CHA along the way. You don’t need to be super focused on spellcasting as a Paladin if you don’t want you. Spending all your slots on Divine Smite is not just okay, it’s often recommended. Boost your STR or DEX at level four, and then boost your CHA at level 8. 

Ancients: The Aura of Warding may be one of the most useful Paladin auras in the game. Resistance to ALL spell damage is huge. 

Conquest: You’ll have some similar flavor to the War Cleric, but your damage potential outmatches them greatly when you’re popping off effective Divine Smites.

Crown: Great combat options but your spellcasting will flounder until about level 8 (if you follow my method).

Devotion: Just be a Cleric of Order or Peace. This is my recommendation to everyone considering the Devotion Paladin. They are fine but boring.

Glory: Gives you one of the best mobility boosts in the entire game and your allies can benefit, but you have to make it to the mid-game. Also, the utility of giving temp HP after using your divine smites is immense. You won’t be as sad to have a crappy CHA, but you’ll still want to boost it.

Oathbreaker: In the right scenario, this can be one of the strongest Paladin subclasses (facing against undead), however, I think they tend to be beaten out by the Conquest Paladin.

Open Sea: Works best at sea. Otherwise, pass.

Redemption: The Rebuke the Violent Channel Divinity used against a powerful enemy is huge. But you’ll want a very high spell DC to make their save harder to pass. Boost your CHA!

Vengeance: At around level 7, you’ll have one of the better reactive mobility options in the game, but be careful to use your reaction wisely. You’ll frequently be choosing between now or later; do damage now, or set up for something later.

Watchers: Solid class skills, but needs to be used in a planar campaign. With the Spelljammer setting, this will likely see a lot more play.

Ranger

Starting with a split focus on the Ranger hurts a lot more than other classes. If the Fighter and Paladin are fine to focus on more than one attribute over their level ups, why not the Ranger? In my mind, the Ranger is more skill oriented martial class than either the Fighter or Paladin. You need the WIS not just for your survival, but for your core class abilities to be useful at all. Focus on STR or DEX (depending on if you want to be melee or ranged focus, respectively), and then boost your WIS. Your +1 to AC is naturally going to make you a stronger fit for melee situations. 

Beast Master: The free +1 ASI can be used for WIS to help in those animal handling rolls, not to mention the interesting roleplay of a machine with a living pet. With most Warforged being 2-30 years old you may actually be younger than your pet!

Drakewarden: A solid pairing. Dragon buddies are always welcome. And you’ll be able to cutely watch over them while they sleep. Just consider yourself an upgraded version of Overwatches’ Bastion and his little bird friend, Ganymede.

Fey Wanderer: Best in campaigns that involve the Feywild. Otherwise, their kit feels a little limited. But what they have is good! 

Gloom Stalker: Start with a +1 to DEX and just focus on DEX from there. You won’t approach the game like a “Ranger”, you’ll be approaching like a “murder machine”. 

Horizon Walker: Like the Watcher Paladin. Will likely be seeing a lot more play in the coming years of D&D. Solid teleportation options in the mid-late game that will help round out any issues you might feel you need to address about mobility.

Hunter: Basic Ranger. They have a lot of options and can put out A LOT of damage in the right situation. The difficulty with them is that they basically ask you “when do you want to deal damage” and outside of that scenario, you might feel less capable.

Monster Slayer: Lean into STR and go into melee with big ol’ beasties.

Swarmkeeper: In a word – mediocre. They have some solid control options against single targets, but these guys fall flat for me.

Rogue

Rogues are very hungry for good Ability Score arrays. Your CON is going to be very welcome to survivability, but picking your +1 is likely going to dictate your early playstyle and also change your roadmap for how to play down the line. I’d recommend taking a DEX boost at level one, taking another DEX boost at level 4, and then looking at feats or boosting CHA at future ASI opportunities.

Arcane Trickster: Wants DEX, CHA, and INT. A bit of a split focus there will make it harder to be effective until much later into the game. 

Assassin: Love their ability to hit hard and you should be able to focus solely on DEX and be okay. An assassin doesn’t need that much CHA unless you plan on getting caught.

Inquisitive: Not a great fit because you’ll need to be boosting DEX, INT/WIS, and CHA to be an optimal rogue. That is going to take WAY too long to do effectively.

Mastermind: 30ft help bonus actions are beautiful, but you lack mobility options offered by other races that could set you up for greater success here. You’ll likely be dashing around more frequently than not. 

Phantom: Solid choice. Doesn’t worry too much about Ability Scores to maximize class abilities. I like it. 

Scout: Gives you some great mobility options that you REALLY need. The path I would recommend for a mid-range Warforged Rogue.

Soulknife: Focus everything on DEX, forget everything else.

Swashbuckler: Turning off Opportunity Attacks by attacking an enemy makes you a very high-pressure fighter. You’ll constantly be pressing the advantage and your boosted CON is going to help keep you up. This is what you must do as a melee Warforged Rogue. 

Thief: Classic Rogue. I love their level 13 ability where they just ignore all class, race, and level requirements of a magic item, but I don’t think they offer much more beyond that in the way of meaningful options that most DM’s would just allow anyway.

Sorcerer

Take +1 to CHA, and like the Cleric or Druid, you’ve got a solid start that just needs a little fine tuning during the early level ups. Boost your CHA even further at your nearest opportunity and you’ll be sitting pretty. Your +1 to AC is going to make your life as a spellcaster immeasurably better.

Aberrant Mind: Great spell options that keep gameplay interesting from a campaign’s start to finish.

Clockwork Soul: This is you. This is the race/subclass combo that makes sense beyond all else. In a broken world where nothing fits, this does. I love it. The subclass’ abilities are powerful and fit the theme of an ageless machine.

Divine Soul: Excellent sorcerer healer route. I think a Life Cleric is still going to do better than anything else, but you’ll have the versatility of meta magic to toy around with healing that Life Clerics just don’t.

Draconic Bloodline: A machine with dragon’s blood. What are you?

Rune Child: Hungry for sorcery points. Deny immunities. Plenty o’ fun, but may need a little rework.

Shadow Sorcery: Superb subclass that functions best in a campaign that wants to lean into exploring dark places. 

Storm Sorcery: Great pick for a level one dip, but expands into a fantastic class capable of immense damage and battlefield control. Also, a solid thematic blend if you are leaning into a more “Frankenstein’s Monster” vibe.

Wild Magic: You will want your DM to magic surge you all over the place to keep things interesting. Your abilities are pretty cool, but I think they fall flat compared to the newer sorcerer bloodlines. 

Warlock

Take +1 to CHA, and like the Cleric or Druid, you’ve got a solid start that just needs a little fine-tuning during the early level ups. Boost your CHA even further at your nearest opportunity and you’ll be sitting pretty. Your +1 to AC is going to make your life as a spellcaster immeasurably better. I must add, though, that the Warlock is a poor mechanic fit with the theme of the Warforged that doesn’t rest since you want to be short resting after every other combat scenario (at the very least). 

Archfey: Misty Escape is great. It’s a mobility option that I love, but it works best with expanded mobility options that you don’t have.

Celestial: Cleric Warlock. Packs a punch with its healing and a Warlock Guiding Bolt is formidable, but your spell slots are dangerously few. Short Rest all over the place.

Fathomless: A Warforged that leans in the old diving-suit vibe (a la Nautilus, from League of Legends) could be pretty cool in the right campaign. The Fathomless anticipates a sea-based adventure.

Fiend: Great sustain option that your CON is just going to bolster. A good tanky Warlock. Fantastic late-game damage options.

Genie: Your CHA might be a little lower than you’d want for your Genie Vessel early on, but you’ve got some of the most powerful abilities waiting for you as you level up (and boost your CHA).

Great Old One: Entropic Ward is a great option to provide you with some much-needed reactivity. Telepathy is always cool too. Lacks the necessary CHA to be effective.

Hexblade: Hexblade Warlocks hit like an absolute truck and have some awesome utility options that tie very well into their combat abilities. Thumbs up. 

Undying: I don’t know how a Warforged might come about the powers of an Undying Warlock, but you’d be considered “undead” which is kind of crazy. Thinking about this is throwing my mind for the same loops a Blood Hunter Warforged did.

Wizard

Take +1 to INT. and don’t stop boosting it at every ASI opportunity. Your +1 to AC is going to make your life as a spellcaster immeasurably better and should be additive with spells like mage armor (it sets base AC to 13 + DEX, but your Integrated Protection isn’t a base AC, it’s just a +1 to AC at all times). 

Abjuration: Good fit for a race that already is leaning toward the defensive.

Artificer: Just play the class. It’s a better fit for your racial abilities and you can specialize more than the Wizard Artificer permits.

Bladesinging: Stunning displays of magical carnage on the battlefield frequently follow a Bladesinging Wizard. If your DM lets you get past the Elf-Restriction, this would be a fantastic combo, especially with your natural +1 to AC.

Chronurgist: Game. Changing. Abilities. And the Dunamancy spell list is a whole lot of fun to toy around with (they really should be available to all Wizards, but you’ll likely be looking more closely at them given your class theme of ‘time’).

Conjuration: Fantastic summon options that explode in power in the late game.

Divination: To this day, their ability to roll and pre-select outcomes is the number one class feature in the game.

Enchantment: You need an unbeatable Spell Save DC for this to be any good. Most late-game threats are going to be able to save against your controlling spells easily.

Evocation: A true Robo-Blaster. Throw fireballs all over the place. Overpower your spells and paint a beautiful picture of what an overloaded Warforged looks like. 

Graviturgist: I like their effects and I think gravity magic is some of the coolest in the game, but you’ll have to pick when to use your effects wisely. You’re all about the set-up!

Illusion: Strong in the hands of a creative thinker. 

Necromancy: Not getting a hoard of undead buddies is pretty sad. You’ll have an okay time, but you should go to the Death Cleric if you want to play this type of class optimally.

Order of Scribes: I love collecting spells and this whole class is built on the idea of getting spells transcribed for cheap and en masse. Major damage reduction potential if you’re willing to temporarily lose access to spells. 

Transmutation: While I like the vibe of this class (and it was Transmutationists that likely first build the Warforged… my Eberron lore knowledge isn’t perfect, so don’t hate me if I understand that poorly) but I think the class lacks a luster offered by newer Wizard schools. I’d just play an Artificer.

War Magic: Arcane Deflection + War Caster Feat + your AC bonus means you’re going to have an INSANE AC bonus as a Wizard (which is just unseen elsewhere). 

Racial Feats/Best Feats

No racial feats for the Warforged, but like all races that don’t have racial feats, there are a bevy of Feats out there that can improve the lives of the Warforged. Since my focus through this analysis has largely been on boosting your Ability Scores, I’ll drop some of my favorite feats that increase an Ability Score and also provide some sweet benefits.

–Athlete: STR or DEX. A classic dilemma that persists here. Moving from prone to standing only uses 5ft of movement. Read up on the prone rules, because they have some wild benefits when you’re facing up against ranged enemies. You can fall prone for free and that gives disadvantage to all ranged attacks. The ability to stand from that for just 5ft is huge and lets you close the gap much faster. The improvements to climbing and jumping don’t hurt either.

–Resilient: A +1 to ANYTHING. A very nice versatile feat that you can take more than once. Plus, getting proficiency in a saving throw of your choice is massive. If something has been messing with you specifically, you can help round yourself.

–Keen Mind: +1 INT Boost. Booyah. This is one of my favorite feats for this one line: “You can accurately recall anything you have seen or heard within the past month”. That means you now have a new daily ritual; you record everything and glance over your notes daily. You don’t need to deeply read anything since you have a perfectly eidetic memory, you just remember it. You are now the key to keeping any relevant information fresh and accessible to the party. There is a case to be made here that if you’re a wizard, you no longer need to hold your spellbook.

–Actor: Go this way for a boost for CHA if you’re not a spellcaster and/or want a tiny dip of Bardic-like skills. Trying to impersonate people? Free advantage. Huzzah. Trying to mimic someone’s voice perfectly? You just have to listen to someone talk for a minute and now you’ve got another voice in the toolbox. Add that to a Mastermind Rogue’s Master of Intrigue and now you can mimic anyone from anywhere (as long as you know the language… look at the Linguist feat if you’re interested). Also, a Warforged in any disguise just sounds hilarious.

–Fey Touched: Take this if you’re a spell caster for a boost to INT, WIS, or CHA. You gain two spells for free (Misty Step and one other from the Divination or Enchantment school, with no limitations of what class lists they come from). You can cast it as a 1st level spell or use a slot to cast it at a higher level, so try and snag a spell that scales that’s not on your class’ spell list for a little extra versatility.