Zaruthustran said:
Great example! "Emperor" requires that the title-bearer is the leader of an empire. So no, it doesn't make sense as a base class.
To go with your example, I'll grant that "Warlord" implies that the title-bearer is the leader of a warband. Which he is, if you consider the party to be a warband.
So the class name "Warlord" is the perfect descriptor for a martial character class that fills the "leader" role in a D&D party.
Actually, the Latin word
imperator means
leader,
commander; it was later used of the Roman emperors. In fact, it derives straight from
imperium, an order or command or the right to issue one -- authority. By metonimy, it came to mean the whole Roman political unit.
Blothar said:
I agree that Centurion denotes rank, but it is much more obscure than Captain, Marshall, and Commander. Its also a rank that has not been used IRL for more than 1500 years, so I feel that rank should not be an issue.
The main drawback I see is that some people might find issue with the name beacuase they might not like a "roman" name for one of the classes, since D&D is more western middle ages inspired.
Right, because obviously Druids and Bards are
very Middle Ages.
Ok, I'll get to the point: People dislike particular names for being too specific, or outside of a trope or whatever else they may argue, but let's be honest: D&D invents its own tropes. There's no reason to have Ancient Celtic classes mixed into Western Medieval lore, except for the fact that Gary liked Celts and, apparently, didn't like Romans. I think that whatever previous conceptions people bring to the table when they start D&D are going to be paved over by the great steamroller that is the game itself; not wanting to be picking on Druids, but when you think of Druids in a D&D context, which comes first to mind: polymorphing into a bear or a golden sickle?
When the time comes, we'll get used to refer to Warlords as Warlords and some beautiful day, we are going to read on the news about feuding warlords somewhere in Africa and immediately think of them using the
Shout of Courage ability or whatever at one another, before thinking of them as ruthless men commanding armed militias...