D&D 5E Yes, No, Warlord

[ChrisCarlson]

Nope. It didn't even grant temp HP unless you took a separate feat. Best it gave was 1-4 points of DR/- (as a major aura).

I thought so. Just wasn't sure. Given that, why is it "essential" that a 5e warlord be able to do so? The claim seems based on precedent, yet the real precedent people keep touting, to give the warlord pre-4e legacy and validity, is a class that could not do it?

 

[Yunru]

Classes evolve. The Marshall turned into the Warlord, and people want a balance, 5e version of the Warlord. What's wrong with that?

 

[mellored]

Actually "Why do we need an eldritch knight when there's a wizard?" We don't - Arcane caster, Divine caster, Fighting man and Rogue are the main classes. Everything else is a mixture of these.

You just renamed it.... but i can use your words too.

Why do we need an arcane caster if we have an eldrich knight?

Having 4 (5,6) superiority dice per short rest is perfectly fine. Every special ability in 5e is limited. If you wanna disarm, trip or heal every round... I reckon you picked the wrong edition.

You can already disarm and trip every round. Those are basic actions anyone can take. Heck, a fighter can trip 4 times per turn.

No one is asking to heal every round. Though there are several ways to heal every short rest.
Though Everyone can get damage reduction each round, and there are a few ways to get THP each round.


But, let's do some math.
If you consider that a eldrich knight is 1/3 wizard, then you can consider the battlemaster to be 1/3 warlord.
Thus a full warlord would have 3x the dice, giving you 12(15, 18) dice per short rest.
Divided by 2 combats * 3 round each = 6 rounds of combat per short rest.

= 2 (2.5, 3) dice per round.

2 dice per round is balanced. Going to 3 dice at some point, like level 11.

And that still leaves room for a few extra features. Like letting someone spend a hit die.

 

[Remathilis]

Question: does warlord healing HAVE to be akin to healing word (at distance, bonus action) or can it be like cure wounds (action, adjacent target, maybe more potent?)

The latter might allow more leeway in description, which might be more palatable for non-fans of shouty-healing...

 

[Yunru]

You just renamed it.... but i can use your words too.

Why do we need an arcane caster if we have an eldrich knight?

You can already disarm and trip every round. Those are basic actions anyone can take. Heck, a fighter can trip 4 times per turn.

No one is asking to heal every round. Though there are several ways to heal every short rest.
Though Everyone can get damage reduction each round, and there are a few ways to get THP each round.


But, let's do some math.
If you consider that a eldrich knight is 1/3 wizard, then you can consider the battlemaster to be 1/3 warlord.
Thus a full warlord would have 3x the dice

Not to nitpick, but that means a full warlord would have 3x the dice progression (one die ~every 2 levels vs. one die ~every six levels).

 

[mellored]

I thought so. Just wasn't sure. Given that, why is it "essential" that a 5e warlord be able to do so? The claim seems based on precedent, yet the real precedent people keep touting, to give the warlord pre-4e legacy and validity, is a class that could not do it?

Personally i could take or leave the healing.
1-4 (1/2 proficency?) DR works fine for me. Though aura's still feels more ardent then warlord.
So more like cutting words (use your reaction and spend a die to give -1dx to an attack roll).

But there's no balance reason why you couldn't squeeze a healing word in there.


Actually, for the pro-healing fans.
Would it be enough to have a "1/3 cleric" sub-class so you could take healing word as a spell?
(i suppose 1/3 bard would also work).

 

[Remathilis]

Not to nitpick, but that means a full warlord would have 3x the dice progression (one die ~every 2 levels vs. one die ~every six levels).

I could see 6-12 dice per short rest (dependent on level) as a fair amount. Assuming 3-4 battles per rest, a low-level warlord can use 2-3 dice per fight (which most fights don't go more than 5-6 rounds) so that seems like a sweet spot. Other rounds can be spent moving, attacking, etc.

 

[mellored]

Not to nitpick, but that means a full warlord would have 3x the dice progression (one die ~every 2 levels vs. one die ~every six levels).

That still 2 dice per turn at level 3, and 3 dice per turn at level 15.

Though, i would probably go with a progression like...

Level 1: 1d4
Level 5: 2d6
Level 9: 2d8
Level 11: 3d8
Level 13: 3d10
Level 17: 3d12
*per turn.

(dice size increases with proficiency bonus, extra die at key levels 5 and 11).

Which the warlord can spend on either a maneuver, or to simply boost his own damage.

Simple maneuvers cost 1 die (trip, cutting words).
Advanced maneuvers cost 2. (grant 1 free attack, bonus to save).
Expert maneuvers cost 3 dice. (mass rally, mass charge).

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Question: does warlord healing HAVE to be akin to healing word (at distance, bonus action) or can it be like cure wounds (action, adjacent target, maybe more potent?)

The latter might allow more leeway in description, which might be more palatable for non-fans of shouty-healing...

Given the high mobility of 5e combat, I could buy a healing thing that required adjacency. Perhaps it also requires a round of being "weakened" in some sense--perhaps Incapacitated, or something like, "The target is Incapacitated for one round, except that it may take the Dodge or Disengage actions." You're recovering from a system shock--shaken, unable to fight properly, but still alive. So you're able to avoid threats and dodge out of the way of a big nasty, but you can't really do much of anything.

 

[El Mahdi]

Question: does warlord healing HAVE to be akin to healing word (at distance, bonus action) or can it be like cure wounds (action, adjacent target, maybe more potent?)

The latter might allow more leeway in description, which might be more palatable for non-fans of shouty-healing...

I'd be cool with adjacent. It actually fits the narrative examples I've used much better than doing so from a distance. However, I expect that some Warlord fans will take issue with it being limited to adjacent.