Dragon 381 - Warlord Essentials

[Shroomy]

Even with the transition to shorter articles, WotC is still publishing longer articles, as evidenced by "Warlord Essentials." This article is pretty much formatted like the previous articles, with advice on how to build your characters (which I glossed over) followed by mechanical crunch. This article features a whole slew of warlord specific feats that support all four of the existing builds, as well as a bunch of power (mainly heroic tier):

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Warlord Essentials)

 

[Nahat Anoj]

As my first 4e character was an inspiring warlord, I find myself not agreeing with some of their recommendations for races and powers. With respect to races, I wonder why they recommend elves as inspiring warlords - while elves aren't the best choice for the class from an ability score perspective, I'd say their higher than normal Dex and Elven Accuracy would serve them better as bravura warlords.

With respect to powers, I don't understand why an inspiring warlord would take Commander's Strike, particularly if they use the suggested ability score spread for inspiring warlords in the article (which gives a 10 in Int for them). I think Furious Smash, Viper's Strike, or Wolf Pack Tactics are stronger choices. Rousing Assault, a new power from the minis set, also looks good for them.

The article is interesting for their thought processes behind each build. Like, tactical warlords are supposed to be secondary defenders, etc. They also mention inspiring warlords are intended to be more "lead from the rear types," which is fine. I just don't think their vision for the inspiring warlord build matches up as well with the recommended powers as it could.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I don't think they mentioned anywhere in the article, that if you create a Warlord make sure the rest of the party all has an at-will power that can be used as a basic attack.

It's a point that I feel is quite essential for a Warlord.

 

[frankthedm]

I don't think they mentioned anywhere in the article, that if you create a Warlord make sure the rest of the party all has an at-will power that can be used as a basic attack.

It's a point that I feel is quite essential for a Warlord.

Indeed. Warlord's effectiveness really hinges on his number of allies and the allies' abilities.

 

[MrMyth]

I'm about to start playing a Paragon level Bravura Warlord, so I was very excited about this article... but it left me rather disappointed. Mainly just with the editing. (Or lack thereof.)

One feat (Courageous Word) simply seems poorly worded. The next feat (Emboldening Presence) gives allies a bonus to saving throws when they second wind... with no duration listed. One feat makes Aid Another stupidly powerful - I can't imagine much abuse for that in combat, but it completely shatters the math for anything skill related.

Another feat, Shrewd Positioning, lists the benefit as: "Whenever you make an initiative check, each ally whose check result you slide 1 square."

I'm assuming that meant to say "check result you exceed" or something similar? As opposed to just being gibberish?

A bunch of the powers involve giving extra benefits involving Inspiring Word. That's pretty cool. Except one of them simply states "...If the target also benefited from your inspiring word, it gains a bonus to its attack roll..." Which, notably, doesn't give any indication of when it needed to benefit from inspiring word. This round? This encounter? Ever?

Or perhaps my favorite, the flavor text for the Awakened Wrath daily power: "Seeing your hurts, an ally explodes with unexpected violence."

I mean... I understand that the article is trying to do some complicated stuff with Warlords, who already are a rather complex class. And this is right at the start of the 'more articles month', so I imagine some of this is getting cranked out. But given the uproar over the editing of the ranger article the other month, seeing issues like this is really frustrating. I like a lot of the ideas going on in this article, but the specific choices and the lack of editing really undercuts it for me.

 

[Squizzle]

Heroic tier feasts sound simultaneously delicious and attainable.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I will not be surprised if this article also gets pulled and then re-posted after a second run through the editing process just like the Ranger article did, as I also noticed some of the editing problems that had cropped up. This is the kind of small hiccup we're probably going to see for the next few weeks as the Wizards powers-that-be try to get a handle on the more frequent post times.

Of course, I will also be expecting the completely overblown reaction from probably three ENWorld posters in the next few days who claim that they are forever leaving 4E and D&D because of this shoddy editing, and how their opinions of the game and the company are forever destroyed.

 

[CCamfield]

It doesn't strike me as a fantastic article overall.

The one power I particularly like is the level 3 one which lets you slide an enemy and ally and trigger a basic attack from you and them. That looks pretty good.

 

[CubeKnight]

It doesn't strike me as a fantastic article overall.

The one power I particularly like is the level 3 one which lets you slide an enemy and ally and trigger a basic attack from you and them. That looks pretty good.

No love for the power that allows 3 party members to charge?

Also, I liked the powers that had different bonuses depending on which Presence you have. Not just "If you have X, you get bonus A", but more like "If you have X, you get A; if you have Y, you get B, and if you have Z you get C.". Makes the power look like an attactive, yet distinctive, option for all the different builds.

Also, I found the daily that gives allies a bonus to hit if you miss and a bonus to damage if you hit for the whole encounter amusing.

 

[CCamfield]

I can understand your amusement Part of it is to me the bit where you miss and give your ally a bonus to hit. "See, that's what you SHOULDN'T do!"

Incidentally, they have already revised the doc. One thing I noticed - I'm pretty sure that this morning, Devastating Offensive gave you a melee basic attack, as well as your ally. Now it just grants one to your ally.

Shrewed Positioning is fixed. It lets you do a shift 1 on everyone affected by Combat Leader.