My take on the Tactical Warlord section of Warlord Essentials. (Now revised.)

[Nahat Anoj]

Here would be my own, simple editing of the original article. Your attempt here is a good one, but the length really makes it unmanageable for the original purpose, and the tone comes across as limiting options, rather than providing them.

I do sympathize with your goal, since the given advice is poor in places and outright terrible in others. But substituting it with a lengthy treatise that pushes someone down a single optimized path is not a good solution, in all honesty. It would make for an excellent optimization article in a wiki, but fills a very different role than the short, general advise that these articles are supposed to provide.

The OP deserves credit for writing his own article, but I think your version of the is the best so far. It gives concise, accurate advice in a gentler, more conversational tone.

 

[Saeviomagy]

The existing article just needs its factual mistakes cleared up. MrMyth's version does that pretty well.

 

[Victim]

I think that the value of reach weapons (as primary weapons) is somewhat overstated. You must be adjacent to flank; flanking is the easiest way to get CA. Since many tac lord powers grant extra attacks or attack bonuses, it's important to have the best attack bonus possible to get the ball rolling (also the reason for +3 proficiency weapons).

So: if you flank, you're not using reach. If you're not using reach because you want to flank, you're giving up AC and Ref for nothing. Conversely, if you're forgoing flanking to stay behind someone else, then you're giving up attack bonus a lot of the time.

By all means, have a reach weapon in case of tight spaces blocking you from the front, nasty auras, etc.

 

[Tallifer]

I would not compare a Great Spear to a Longsword and Light Shield, but to a Bastard Sword and Heavy Shield: two more points of Armour Class and Reflex Defense.

I can see a reach weapon's many advantages, but what if the party has only one other front line fighter? Then the warlord must stand up there and form the line defending the cloth-robed casters, in which case a good armour class is a must.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I would not compare a Great Spear to a Longsword and Light Shield, but to a Bastard Sword and Heavy Shield: two more points of Armour Class and Reflex Defense.

I can see a reach weapon's many advantages, but what if the party has only one other front line fighter? Then the warlord must stand up there and form the line defending the cloth-robed casters, in which case a good armour class is a must.

I'd compare it to something with an equal number of feats, which would mean:
Greatspear vs Bastard Sword and Light Shield or
Greatspear vs Longsword and Heavy Shield

If there is no good front line fighter, the tactical warlord has more problems - his Commander's Strike is probably not very effective.

I think it would be wise to stress the reliance of the Tactical Warlord on other melee fighters in the party.

 

[EarthSeraphEdna]

See the opening post for a revised version.

 

[FireLance]

While I think that your revised version does provide better advice than the WotC article, I think you've focused your tactical warlord too much into its secondary role of being a striker and not enough into its core role of being a leader. One element that I've noticed missing from your recommended feats and powers is the ability to grant extra saving throws. For this reason, I would mention the Saving Inspiration feat and the shake it off power, even though the latter uses Charisma.

As a matter of playstyle choice, I also tend to focus on abilities that give my allies more options and help them perform better instead of dealing damage myself. Thus, my eladrin tactical warlord prioritized feats like Tactical Assault, Fey Command, Combat Commander and Fey Tactics over Eladrin Soldier. That is not to say that I neglected dealing damage. The first feat I took was Student of the Sword to multiclass into swordmage, followed by Eladrin Swordmage Advance to get a free basic attack every time I fey stepped adjacent to an enemy. Multiclassing into swordmage also opened up the possibility of taking borrowed confidence at 16th level. When hitting is a premium, the ability to roll two d20s for every attack roll and use the higher result on every attack for one round every encounter is pure gold (IMO, of course).

The typical one-round assault on the most dangerous-seeming enemy will go: activate borrowed confidence, fey step adjacent to the enemy and move another ally with Fey Tactics to help me flank, attack (two rolls, pick higher) with the free basic attack from Eladrin Swordmage Advance, attack (two rolls, pick higher) with either thunderous fury or hypnotic swordplay (multiclass swordmage power), depending on whether I think it is more important to grant my allies an attack bonus against the target or to shut it down completely, or both if I spend an action point (which also recharges my fey step thanks to my Spiral Tactician paragon path) or, if I think it is time to use my daily power, lead the attack and hypnotic swordplay.