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Warlord as a Fighter option; Assassin as a Rogue option
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6046781" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>In the real world, people trick others into moving all the time without applying physical force - from boxers outmanoeuvring one another in the ring, to military commanders luring enemy forces into traps.</p><p></p><p>If all this is to be within the domain of "magic", that is a big limitation on any sort of warlord class.</p><p></p><p>As I noted upthread, there are RPG action resolution mechanics which permit defeating an enemy via "mind games" (Burning Wheel closed scripting would be one example), but D&D mechanics don't support this for a range of reasons, including the openness of the battlefield to all participants, and hit point attrition and the lack of active defence giving the to-and-fro of combat a particular dynamic that is not feint-friendly.</p><p></p><p>Will the same rationale that says warlords can't move NPCs without applying force lead to diplomats who can't actually change anyone's mind, or apply the "charmed" condition, because only magic can do that!</p><p></p><p>As for healing, I don't find applying herbal poulstices all that evocative of a charismatic warleader. There is an archetypical scene in action fiction, of the fighter, eyes blinded by blood, head spinning, getting to his feet - whether because he remembers something valuable to him, or because his leader's words rouse him. In other systems this could be modelled as condition removal, but given that D&D doesn't work on a wound or condition-track system, but via hit point attrition, the only way to capture this scene is to permit inspiration to restore hit points. 4e permits that scene to occur in a game of D&D. A ban on martial healing means it can't happen.</p><p></p><p>Metagame mechanics aren't just bonus features of a warlord. They're at the heart of it, because - given D&D's action resolution mechanics - they are the only way in which scenes that are utterly ubiquitous in action fiction (feinting, leading into traps, rousing friends from a stupor) can take place.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6046781, member: 42582"] In the real world, people trick others into moving all the time without applying physical force - from boxers outmanoeuvring one another in the ring, to military commanders luring enemy forces into traps. If all this is to be within the domain of "magic", that is a big limitation on any sort of warlord class. As I noted upthread, there are RPG action resolution mechanics which permit defeating an enemy via "mind games" (Burning Wheel closed scripting would be one example), but D&D mechanics don't support this for a range of reasons, including the openness of the battlefield to all participants, and hit point attrition and the lack of active defence giving the to-and-fro of combat a particular dynamic that is not feint-friendly. Will the same rationale that says warlords can't move NPCs without applying force lead to diplomats who can't actually change anyone's mind, or apply the "charmed" condition, because only magic can do that! As for healing, I don't find applying herbal poulstices all that evocative of a charismatic warleader. There is an archetypical scene in action fiction, of the fighter, eyes blinded by blood, head spinning, getting to his feet - whether because he remembers something valuable to him, or because his leader's words rouse him. In other systems this could be modelled as condition removal, but given that D&D doesn't work on a wound or condition-track system, but via hit point attrition, the only way to capture this scene is to permit inspiration to restore hit points. 4e permits that scene to occur in a game of D&D. A ban on martial healing means it can't happen. Metagame mechanics aren't just bonus features of a warlord. They're at the heart of it, because - given D&D's action resolution mechanics - they are the only way in which scenes that are utterly ubiquitous in action fiction (feinting, leading into traps, rousing friends from a stupor) can take place. [/QUOTE]
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