Q228: Is there any low-cost way (xp, gold, and/or level-adjustment) for my 11 lvl wizard to come into the game having started out life as a gnome but transcended his mortal, natural form for that of a construct? Looking for some cool flavor here and not wanting to break the game, but if the cost is high I suppose the rewards will need to be as well. Thanks for the help.
A wizard can use
Nybor's Psychic Imprint to create an intelligent item with a duplicate of his mind in it. It's not too big a stretch to say that this can be used when creating a warforged.
You would not actually be the gnome wizard, but you would have his memories and personality, so you would carry on his legacy after his death. I could see a wizard who believed becoming undead is evil choosing this as something like immortality.
This provides you with no special benefit. In fact, you would have had to receive your education as a wizard after being created, likely from the wizard you were built to duplicate.
An interesting in-game explanation for this is to say you have all the wizard's memories locked away inside your head, but you can't access all of them. As you level up, you aren't learning new skills but rather remembering how to do things.