Word of Wizards - Excerpts: Warforged Juggernaut

Eberron Player's Guide Excerpts: Warforged Juggernaut

The Warforged Juggernaut is a classical path for every Warforged to take since the orginal Eberron campaign setting. Although this paragon path was first featured Dragon 364 where they introduced the new rules for Warforged in 4E, there has been some noticeable changes to it in terms of rewording some of its features and powers and there are instances where considerable additions and omissions has been made.

Previously, the paragon path was only opened to Warforged from a Defender role class but now the latter has been removed so that any Warforged can take up this paragon path.

Charging Action (11th level path feature) and Charging Strike (11th level path feature) still works the same from the Dragon article but they have rephrased the wording to make it more clear.

Charging Action grants the warforged a +2 bonus to speed and defenses until the end of their next turn if they spend an action point to make that charge. In addition, they are still entitled to their normal actions after the charge.

If a warforged hits a target with a charging attack, Charging Strike deals an additional 1d6 damage and pushes the target 1 square. The warforged may choose to shift 1 sqaure into the previously occupied square.

They have broken down the Living Construct Perfection feature from Dragon into two parts but they still effectively work the same. Construct Perfection (16th level path feature) provides the +2 bonus to saving throws and Endurance checks while being Unstoppable (16th level path feature) lets them make a saving throw when they spend an action point.

The biggest change we see between the Dragon's Juggernaut and the Player's Guide Juggernaut is with its powers. Ruinous Onslaught (Level 11, Encounter) still deals 2[W]+Str mod damage and dazes the target but does not push the target 1 square and allows the warforged to shift into that square. Instead it allows this power to be used as a charge attack, allowing the warforged to do the same thing if it hits with Charging Strike.

Inexorable Momentum (Level 12, Encounter) still allows the Juggernaut to ignore difficult terrain, move through enemy squares and gain +2 power bonus to AC against opportunity attack but can no longer be used for charges. They've also omitted the requirement to end their movement in an unoccupied square but I guess it was a redundant sentence than actually increasing its potential.

There is a tricky nerf for Crag of Steel (Level 20, Daily) which still does the same of giving the Juggernaut resist 5 to all damage, reducing forced movements by 5 squares and making auto hit opportunity attacks against enemies that start their turn adjacent to the Juggernaut. However, the new Crag of Steel does not prevent ongoing damage, just the condition or effect of an attack if the resistance manages to reduce the damage to zero.

This is probably arguable if we can determine whether ongoing damage can be constituted as a condition of an attack. If so, then removing ongoing damage from the original would be appropriate.

What do you think? Any interpretation of the rules is welcomed as well as any comments on the new Warforged Juggernaut. Feel free to comment on it.