D&D 5E How many fans want a 5E Warlord?

[Dausuul]

Rally only provides temporary hit points, by the rules it can't help someone at 0 hit points (a key point both of the 4E Warlord, and the narrative of what a Warlord's Inspiring Word does - read here , and the idea of being able to have mundane Hit Point restoration in a non-magical campaign).

Why is this so important? I played warlords in 4E and the ability to restore hit points was the least interesting thing about the class. Warlords were cool because of their tactical depth and their ability to support allies on offense. That's what I'd like to see in a 5E warlord. If WotC releases a warlord class that's just a healbot cleric in a martial suit, I'll be very disappointed.

 

[MoonSong]

@MoonSong(Kaiilurker)

I'm going to take a look at it (I can cough up a buck to do so...). But even if it fulfills the concept that fans want out of a Warlord, it can't fulfill the "Official" aspect that some want. We're trying to inform WotC of the feasibility of an Official version, so those in Adventurers League could play one also.

I hope it fills out even a little of the warlord players' needs and wants. The lack of availability is a problem, sadly. But at least now warlord players can point out the article to their DMs and ask nicely. Sadly all good things -like eladrin, the storm and favored soul sorcerers- aren't AL legal.

Gotcha. Though I don't see why WotC couldn't draw just as heavily from the En5ider version as a group/fan-made version, but the legal aspects of all that are way over my head.

It could help as inspiration, I didn't use any names they'd want to use, which I believe could only help.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

It is, but it's extremely limited (especially the part where it says "The creature can't regain hit points from this feat again until it finishes a short or long rest."). In and of itself, it's not enough to allow a non-magical campaign - not to mention it costs a Feat (as opposed to being a Class Ability), requires that Feats be used in the first place (an optional part of the game), and having multiple characters with the skill (as would likely be necessary for a non-magical campaign) doesn't garner any additional healing ability because of the aforementioned restriction.

It's equivalent to limiting a campaign to only allowing the 1st level Cure Wounds spell - no Prayer of Healing, Mass Healing Word, Mass Cure Wounds, Heal, Mass Heal, or Power Word Heal - regardless of campaign level - and only allowing it to be used once per short or long rest per character.

1d6+4+level plus unlimited popup heals per short rest is significantly better than Cure Wounds I, closer to Cure Wounds V at level twenty. HD healing on top of that is plenty. Inspired Leader is just gravy.

You could run a whole nonmagical campaign of Champions and Thieves and you'd still have plenty of healing power. You wouldn't heal as much damage per day as a magical party in a magical world, but you could focus on damage prevention and mitigation and be just fine, at least as far as HP go. In fact, I think I've RUN that scenario in 5E before by accident. I think there's been a grand total of about 55 points of magical healing in the whole last year of play.

The real problem of not having a healer is the lack of Greater Restoration. (And if you invent a "nonmagical" way of turning a petrified statue back into a live person by talking to it, it will not in fact be nonmagical at all, unless it is psionic or nanotech-based.)

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[aramis erak]

I don't particularly feel there's a need for one, but wouldn't object to an official one.

I do resent the "lemon curry" answer as bad form and essentially a group attack on those who don't want a warlord. Proper construction would be 3 answers: Yes, No, and other, possibly also Don't want but wouldn't mind.

The quality of polls on EnWorld is pretty low, and they tend to be blatantly slanted.

 

[jayoungr]

I don't want one for myself, but I want one for all the people who won't shut up about it not being in 5E. (And I mean that in the friendliest, most tongue-in-cheek possible way!)

 

[JackOfAllTirades]

5E already has one.

 

[Gadget]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "warlord". I kind of like the idea of the class, as someone who inspires and enhances the people around them, but I'm not sure that need can't be met by a fighter/paladin/whatever class with selecting the proper abilities, background & feats. Or more of said options added to game to round out the concept without a whole new class.

I don't really want a cleric-replacement-without-the-magic mechanical implementation that many people seem to want. I was fine with it in 4e, but I'm not sure it really fits or is needed in 5e.

 

[jayoungr]

From where I sit, 5e does have a lot of tactical options, so I'd honestly like to know what these huge amount of tactical rules are that are missing. I mean, it has to be a lot, otherwise people wouldn't be complaining that the tactical options section is missing altogether.

Also not speaking for Ezekiel specifically, and not to hijack the thread--but what I hear from a lot of 4E fans who want more tactics is that they miss the positioning and forced movement aspects, i.e. pull/push/slide.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Also not speaking for Ezekiel specifically, and not to hijack the thread--but what I hear from a lot of 4E fans who want more tactics is that they miss the positioning and forced movement aspects, i.e. pull/push/slide.

Positioning still matters in 5E due to opportunity attacks and especially cover. Slides don't really exist (unless the DMG Shove-Aside counts? I didn't play 4E much so am not sure if there's more nuance needed) but Battlemasters and Barbarians are quite good at the Push game. You can use it to escape opportunity attacks, to grant melee advantage and impose disadvantage, to disarm (e.g. the Wand of Orcus), and to control enemy movement. You could potentially use it to stop spellcasting even though the PHB doesn't have explicit rules for what constitutes the "free use of one hand" as required by Somantic spellcasting--but as a DM I'd say that two successful Athletics checks definitely lets you grapple both hands.

Did Pushing have more of an effect in 4E?