D&D 5E Why is There No Warlord Equivalent in 5E?

[Undrave]

Haha, we are moving in exact opposite frameworks. I've made a Warlord that used Warlock-style stuff, but now I'm liking the Rogue idea more.

The Rogue framework served me well through multiple incarnations. My last one could have gone through another iteration or more for sure. I liked that the subclass framework was just meaty enough to add lots of flavour to my various subclass ideas. And we could always use another class with almost no reliance on rests.

The Warlock has that fun mix-and-match system that's tempting to experiment with for sure.

My favorite unwritten idea though is the one shared by @Minigiant significantly upthread. He poised the idea of basically a grab bag of buffs that can be handed out. If this idea is innovated on, you kind of create a new kind of Warlord spell that isn't explicitly a Maneuver. Essentially, when I explored further on my own, the Orders provide a one-turn (or longer, if Concentration is maintained by the ORDERED creature) unique effect to the creature. This could augment it, be a numerical buff, and even be new traits or actions. I give the Rogue the Sabotage action and they can make a Dexterity Skill check of their choice to not just impose disadvantage on a target, but to make them suffer damage and conditions on a failure. Then, you give the Warlord something like Tactical Operations Dice and you roll these for damage OR spend dice for conditions or other effects. Essentially, you'd have a menu of effects powered by the Sneak Attack/Tactical Operations dice that OTHER characters are tapping into. You assign who each turn by replacing an Attack or using a bonus action.

Yeah the aura with a grab bag of options and your allies can grab what they want is a cool concept as well. Could also be what replaces spells on a Warlock framework.

But, I think the Warlock-style you propose is great too! What I like about the Warlord fantasy is that its so cool and engaging that you can really represent it through a lot of different mechanics.

For sure! There's so many ideas swirling in my head that you just can't all stack into a single class! The lack of a Warlord doesn't feel like it's limited by a lack of idea but just a lack of WILL.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I guess WotC has to choose if the martial adepts will be updated to 5e, and then if the warlord should be a subclass, or a complete martial adept class, or not.

 

[ECMO3]

I guess WotC has to choose if the martial adepts will be updated to 5e, and then if the warlord should be a subclass, or a complete martial adept class, or not.

I can confidently say Warlord will not be an official class with D&D 2024. I also doubt there will be a subclass with that name.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Because the warlord epitomizes 4e, so when mearls set out to destroy 4e he certainly could not let its most distinctive class survive.