Just a couple of questions

[TheSeer]

Exactly. If you give people many choices, they'll probably be able to find something that roughly fits their first choice (in fact, it looks like only 6.53% couldn't). This first choice seems to be 'Marshall' or 'Warlord' for about 1/3 of posters each. However, if you give them only two choices and ask 'Which of the two do you like better?' instead of 'Which (of many) do you like best?', then the widespread dislike for 'Warlord' becomes clear. There are, I think, a lot of people in the 'anything but Warlord' camp.

Ok, that point makes sense. I'm one of the people it really doesn't matter to. I also played in 1 E a Veteran. Of course, he was a fresh faced 18 year old Human Fighter,l but always assumed that it was a metagaming thing, he wouldn't call himself that in-game. By the same token, just because some has the CLASS of Warlord doesn't mean that they introduce themselves "Hi, my name is Warlord Jerry! Howyadoin?".

I think of classes as a metagaming thing for the collectinon of skills and abilities a particular type of character posseses. Whether the character in-game calls themselves a Fighter, Warrior, Soldier, Man-at-Arms, Sword for Hire, Mercenary or whatever doesn't really matter for what you are putting on your character sheet. On the sheet, he is a Fighter. The same with the Warlord. He can be a clan chief, a cashiered out soldier, an ambitious self-taught kid who wants to move on up to better things, a mongul who through the hard work, skill and leadership abilities earned a clan title of Warlord or whatever...they all share the same skills, abilities and powers. A name is just a name...

 

[TheSeer]

You do realize that 32.41% is not the majority of our peers, right? In fact, it looks like the majority of our peers would be the 67.59% who chose something other than Warlord.

As for me, givin this list, I think both warlord and marshal have the same problem: they both sound like someone who is at the top of a military command, leading armies into battle. Not at all what the class is about (or at least not what it's about during the heroic levels). Captain and commander have the same problem, but they're middle level military leaders. Soldier is basically just a synonym for fighter, with the added expectation that he's enlisted in some military group, so if it renames anything, it should rename the fighter.

That leaves Tactician. Given what little I know of the class, and its ability to be a leader and to control movements of the enemies, this sounds like a very fitting name. It descirbes the class well. And it can be applicable at first level in the same way that fighter, rogue, and wizard are also applicable at first level.

So from this list, Tactician is the superior choice for the class. YMMV.

As I have been told before, the word I was looking for is a Plurality, not Majority, you are correct.

I do like Tactician.

 

[The Little Raven]

I do like Tactician.

It fits the abilities, but doesn't convey the idea of being a Leader class. Warlord, on the other hand, implies the same abilities as well as being the guy in the midst of battle, leading the way.

 

[The Little Raven]

I do like Tactician.

It fits the abilities, but doesn't convey the idea of being a Leader class. Warlord, on the other hand, implies the same abilities as well as being the guy in the midst of battle, leading the way.

Just like General... yeah, it implies the same military leader idea, but generals don't fight battles themselves, which is a key difference.

 

[pawsplay]

Hmm...weird...if you go here http://www.enworld.org/index.php?page=4e , the main Unofficial Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Info Page you see the poll started by Morrus - here is the link for the discussion on that poll http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=210411
and just so you can see what the results were:

View Poll Results: What would be your preferred name for the Warlord class?
Warlord 1350 32.41%
Captain 223 5.35%
Commander 327 7.85%
Soldier 245 5.88%
Tactician 434 10.42%
Marshal 1314 31.55%
Other 272 6.53%

This is the poll I was referring to.

I just want to point out that 32.41 versus 31.55 is not what I would call "statistically significant." Or in plainer terms, a hill of beans.

 

[jasin]

Dwarves could have been "Mountainfolk" or "Stonechildren", but it has a better sense of reality to it that a race would have a unique name for itself. A name that doesn't mean anything besides the name of that race.

Like Dwarves?

 

[Simia Saturnalia]

Ok, that point makes sense. I'm one of the people it really doesn't matter to. I also played in 1 E a Veteran. Of course, he was a fresh faced 18 year old Human Fighter,l but always assumed that it was a metagaming thing, he wouldn't call himself that in-game. By the same token, just because some has the CLASS of Warlord doesn't mean that they introduce themselves "Hi, my name is Warlord Jerry! Howyadoin?".

I realize this isn't -exactly- what you're talking about, but way back when I got started on D&D with the red box, and in that little red PHB there were level titles. And yes, the book told you that those are how the character would most likely refer to themselves; "Not Jerry the 2nd level thief, but Jerry the Footpad", to misquote slightly.

Just sayin'.