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Warlording the fighter
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 6692457" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>Alright @<em><strong><u><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=59506" target="_blank">El Mahdi</a></u></strong></em> : The summon has been heeded. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /></p><p></p><p>Preliminary: As others have said, right now things are a bit on the wordy side compared to many or even most other 5e classes. This is probably more a "first draft, needs an editor pass or three" kind of thing than a true "issue" per se, but it's worth keeping in mind. Also, I'll echo the reccomendation to avoid too much multiplication, but I'll add a caveat: I don't think it's bad to multiply, but don't multiply numbers that are difficult to keep track of, like "half the ally's level times your ability mod." I'll address individual cases as I go.</p><p></p><p>Also, I've noticed some varying support for the three different mental stats (Int, Wis, Cha). In 4e at least, all of them COULD be important to a Warlord--technically I think Cha was always valuable, but Int or Wis could be secondary or even co-primary depending on build. I think it's a laudable goal to make it possible to be a (say) Str/Int Warlord as well as a (say) Str/Cha Warlord, or even a double-mental-stat one (e.g. the "lazylord" of 4e fame). So, for some things, it might be best to say "highest mental stat modifier." One possible option would be to have the Warlord choose a mental stat--call it their Leadership mod--as part of their Subclass selection (preferably at first level); nicking specific names from 4e, you could have "Bravura" (Cha), "Tactical" (Int), "Resourceful" (Wis). That is, presuming you intended to include subclasses at all; it's hard to tell from this collection of mechanics.</p><p></p><p><u>Command Presence</u></p><p>We can trim the fluff description to a single sentence, maybe two. For example:</p><p><em>"The mere sight or sound of a commander boosts confidence and focus, as allies trust the plan and each other more. Even the reckless benefit from the confidence that having a commander beside or behind you provides."</em></p><p>Mechanically, I agree with the "violence punctuated by committee meetings" issue. I say make it akin to the Bard's inspiration dice--you pre-select who gets it on your turn. This reflects the "planning" side of the Warlord, that sometimes things don't go according to plan, and sometimes a chancey plan works great. Consider:</p><p><em>"At the start of each round, as long as she can take actions, the Warlord selects one ally who can see or hear her to Command. While Commanded, that ally may apply advantage to any single roll they make during the round, before it is rolled. If this benefit is unused at the start of a new round, it is lost."</em></p><p>("can take actions" is an attempted shorthand for things like "you can't be incapacitated, surprised, petrified, etc." There may be better ways to phrase this.)</p><p></p><p><u>Inspiring Word</u></p><p>I do like the fluff, but it might also be amenable to trimming. Perhaps:</p><p><em>"Warlords must know their allies just as well as their enemies. With just a few words, they can hearten their comrades' resolve."</em></p><p>The multiplication here is cumbersome. My suggestion, using the "any mental stat" idea above, would be: <em>"ally's Hit Die size times Warlord's Leadership modifier."</em> This scales, up to a point, though it would be a LOT of healing early on. Alternatively, you could do something like Leadership modifier times the ally's Proficiency bonus, as that gives a solid and level-based scaling effect (6 HP at level 1, 8 or 12 HP at level 4, 12/16/20 HP at level 10, depending on whether the Warlord takes feats or not). It *would* be nice to have bigger effects for larger Hit Dice sizes, but I'm not sure how to handle that. Maybe...I dunno, HD size * half proficiency + Leadership mod? You'll want to spend some time tinkering with different formulas to find something that will hopefully be simultaneously simple, effective, balanced, and scaling.</p><p>I'm not sure whether the per-Warlord's-short-rest is better than per-ally's-short-rest or not. I don't mind it at all, but it might go over better with people on the fence/not inclined to like Warlords if it were per healed ally's short rest. Number of uses per rest could also be linked to half proficiency modifier.</p><p></p><p><u>Call of Restoration</u></p><p>I agree with the suggestion to at least rethink the name--not only does it sound a bit magical, I'm not sure the name communicates what it means. Perhaps something like "Battle Cry" or "Exhortation"? Fluff text is pretty good though: short and sweet.</p><p>I find it a little odd that you must be adjacent, yet it's a "call." As others have said, either allow it to be ranged with a limit or adjacent without, or tweak it in some other way. There's also a serious issue: being at 0 HP means you're automatically unconscious, which (per the description thereof) makes you "unaware of your surroundings," which I would argue implicitly means you can't hear. I would also suggest a simpler mechanic for the healing. For example, "ally's Hit Die size times Proficiency bonus," which (except at the very lowest levels). A very solid heal--Prof is about half your level (after level 3) until the teens, when it becomes about a third of your level, so it's a solid heal in those levels where you're most at risk of getting pasted and needing the pick-me-up.</p><p>Also, make it once per ally's long rest--perhaps give a condition, "tapped out" or something, which isn't exhaustion but reflects the inability to repeatedly revive the dying because they've already given more than they thought they had.</p><p></p><p><u>Tactical Leader</u></p><p>Honestly this one is a little beyond me. Not having much firsthand experience with 5e's action economy makes this hard to judge. It sounds a little crazy to my ears--handing out THAT MANY actions--but I honestly don't know. I'd listen very carefully to the input from other posters though. Certainly, the fact that this feature is easily twice as long as the next-most-complicated features (Strategic Leader and Inspiring Word) tells me that this might be overly complex, though that could be just a function of editing (as noted earlier). Particularly when the fluff text is relatively minimal. I'm not sure I care for the addendum at the bottom--it makes it sound like the other players can (intentionally or not) "take away" the Warlord's class features, which is kinda crappy, along the lines of "if you ever perform an act which is not good or lawful you lose your Paladinhood" (albeit not quite *as* punitive.)</p><p></p><p><u>Bonus Action</u></p><p>No complaints.</p><p></p><p><u>Action Inspiration</u></p><p>Seems okay. Bit limited compared to Bardic Inspiration, Portent, or Bend Luck, but I suppose that's intentional.</p><p></p><p><u>Strategic Leader</u></p><p>No comment. I have no idea how mass combat works nor what influence this could have. Honestly, it feels like it might be better suited as an alternate class feature or even a feat, since mass combat could be HUGELY important in one campaign and totally unheard of in others (I'd actually assume the latter is most common).</p><p></p><p><u>Rally the Troops</u></p><p>Good name. Good concept. Might want to tweak the numbers/formula, as my other comments have stated.</p><p></p><p><u>Command Actions</u></p><p>No comment--"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 6692457, member: 6790260"] Alright @[I][B][U][URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=59506"]El Mahdi[/URL][/U][/B][/I] : The summon has been heeded. :P Preliminary: As others have said, right now things are a bit on the wordy side compared to many or even most other 5e classes. This is probably more a "first draft, needs an editor pass or three" kind of thing than a true "issue" per se, but it's worth keeping in mind. Also, I'll echo the reccomendation to avoid too much multiplication, but I'll add a caveat: I don't think it's bad to multiply, but don't multiply numbers that are difficult to keep track of, like "half the ally's level times your ability mod." I'll address individual cases as I go. Also, I've noticed some varying support for the three different mental stats (Int, Wis, Cha). In 4e at least, all of them COULD be important to a Warlord--technically I think Cha was always valuable, but Int or Wis could be secondary or even co-primary depending on build. I think it's a laudable goal to make it possible to be a (say) Str/Int Warlord as well as a (say) Str/Cha Warlord, or even a double-mental-stat one (e.g. the "lazylord" of 4e fame). So, for some things, it might be best to say "highest mental stat modifier." One possible option would be to have the Warlord choose a mental stat--call it their Leadership mod--as part of their Subclass selection (preferably at first level); nicking specific names from 4e, you could have "Bravura" (Cha), "Tactical" (Int), "Resourceful" (Wis). That is, presuming you intended to include subclasses at all; it's hard to tell from this collection of mechanics. [U]Command Presence[/U] We can trim the fluff description to a single sentence, maybe two. For example: [I]"The mere sight or sound of a commander boosts confidence and focus, as allies trust the plan and each other more. Even the reckless benefit from the confidence that having a commander beside or behind you provides."[/I] Mechanically, I agree with the "violence punctuated by committee meetings" issue. I say make it akin to the Bard's inspiration dice--you pre-select who gets it on your turn. This reflects the "planning" side of the Warlord, that sometimes things don't go according to plan, and sometimes a chancey plan works great. Consider: [I]"At the start of each round, as long as she can take actions, the Warlord selects one ally who can see or hear her to Command. While Commanded, that ally may apply advantage to any single roll they make during the round, before it is rolled. If this benefit is unused at the start of a new round, it is lost."[/I] ("can take actions" is an attempted shorthand for things like "you can't be incapacitated, surprised, petrified, etc." There may be better ways to phrase this.) [U]Inspiring Word[/U] I do like the fluff, but it might also be amenable to trimming. Perhaps: [I]"Warlords must know their allies just as well as their enemies. With just a few words, they can hearten their comrades' resolve."[/I] The multiplication here is cumbersome. My suggestion, using the "any mental stat" idea above, would be: [I]"ally's Hit Die size times Warlord's Leadership modifier."[/I] This scales, up to a point, though it would be a LOT of healing early on. Alternatively, you could do something like Leadership modifier times the ally's Proficiency bonus, as that gives a solid and level-based scaling effect (6 HP at level 1, 8 or 12 HP at level 4, 12/16/20 HP at level 10, depending on whether the Warlord takes feats or not). It *would* be nice to have bigger effects for larger Hit Dice sizes, but I'm not sure how to handle that. Maybe...I dunno, HD size * half proficiency + Leadership mod? You'll want to spend some time tinkering with different formulas to find something that will hopefully be simultaneously simple, effective, balanced, and scaling. I'm not sure whether the per-Warlord's-short-rest is better than per-ally's-short-rest or not. I don't mind it at all, but it might go over better with people on the fence/not inclined to like Warlords if it were per healed ally's short rest. Number of uses per rest could also be linked to half proficiency modifier. [U]Call of Restoration[/U] I agree with the suggestion to at least rethink the name--not only does it sound a bit magical, I'm not sure the name communicates what it means. Perhaps something like "Battle Cry" or "Exhortation"? Fluff text is pretty good though: short and sweet. I find it a little odd that you must be adjacent, yet it's a "call." As others have said, either allow it to be ranged with a limit or adjacent without, or tweak it in some other way. There's also a serious issue: being at 0 HP means you're automatically unconscious, which (per the description thereof) makes you "unaware of your surroundings," which I would argue implicitly means you can't hear. I would also suggest a simpler mechanic for the healing. For example, "ally's Hit Die size times Proficiency bonus," which (except at the very lowest levels). A very solid heal--Prof is about half your level (after level 3) until the teens, when it becomes about a third of your level, so it's a solid heal in those levels where you're most at risk of getting pasted and needing the pick-me-up. Also, make it once per ally's long rest--perhaps give a condition, "tapped out" or something, which isn't exhaustion but reflects the inability to repeatedly revive the dying because they've already given more than they thought they had. [U]Tactical Leader[/U] Honestly this one is a little beyond me. Not having much firsthand experience with 5e's action economy makes this hard to judge. It sounds a little crazy to my ears--handing out THAT MANY actions--but I honestly don't know. I'd listen very carefully to the input from other posters though. Certainly, the fact that this feature is easily twice as long as the next-most-complicated features (Strategic Leader and Inspiring Word) tells me that this might be overly complex, though that could be just a function of editing (as noted earlier). Particularly when the fluff text is relatively minimal. I'm not sure I care for the addendum at the bottom--it makes it sound like the other players can (intentionally or not) "take away" the Warlord's class features, which is kinda crappy, along the lines of "if you ever perform an act which is not good or lawful you lose your Paladinhood" (albeit not quite *as* punitive.) [U]Bonus Action[/U] No complaints. [U]Action Inspiration[/U] Seems okay. Bit limited compared to Bardic Inspiration, Portent, or Bend Luck, but I suppose that's intentional. [U]Strategic Leader[/U] No comment. I have no idea how mass combat works nor what influence this could have. Honestly, it feels like it might be better suited as an alternate class feature or even a feat, since mass combat could be HUGELY important in one campaign and totally unheard of in others (I'd actually assume the latter is most common). [U]Rally the Troops[/U] Good name. Good concept. Might want to tweak the numbers/formula, as my other comments have stated. [U]Command Actions[/U] No comment--"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer." [/QUOTE]
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