D&D 5E Warlord Name Poll

[Tony Vargas]

I know that's not what an officer of arms means, but herald does mean that quite literally: "from Anglo-French heraud, herald, from Frankish *heriwald-, literally, leader of an armed force,"

Cute, but that's not meaning, it's etymology. Frankish 'heriwald' may have meant leader of an armed force. English 'herald' doesn't, it means a messenger, perhaps even an ambassador, or someone officiating at a joust, or, metaphorically, anyone/thing that presages a coming event.

'Herald' as a class name would suggest a 'face' class of some sort, perhaps a character who speaks for the party the way a RL herald would precede and speak for someone of importance. 3.5/PF has had Bard PrCs that use 'herald' in their names or descriptions. That's where it makes some sense. In the more metaphorical sense, it could be used as part of a name for a class (probably sub-class or PrC) with a magical power that conjures or predicts things - a "Herald of Winter' with cold-based spells, a devil-summoning "Herald of Asmodeus" - that kind of thing.

If 'druid' can come to mean a "shape-changing nature priest" then I don't see why it's unfeasible for the herald's own meaning to be repurposed for D&D.

Shape-changing was a power attributed to the Druids of myth & legend. Though D&D diverged in other ways and over-emphasizes reverence for nature rather than for pagan tribal deities, some associated with nature, "shape-changing nature priest" isn't far off.

 

[Miladoon]

Herald is good. But I am not 100% on it. An outline of names might look like:

classW - A spell-less support class that equally supports all three pillars using the 5E subclass system

Warlord subclass - High Combat Pillar (CP), Medium Interaction Pillar (IP), Low Exploration Pillar (EP)
Consul - Low in CP, High IP, Medium EP
Hospitaller - Medium CP, High IP, Low EP
Exemplar - Medium in all pillars
Ardent - Psion flavor, medium in all pillars

EK/AT template (I know spells, but lets keep room for options)
War Mage - 1/3 Spellcaster (Wizard list), Medium in all pillars
Crusader - 1/3 Spellcaster (Cleric list)- Medium in all pillars
Warden - 1/3 Spellcaster (Druid list) - Medium in all pillars

 

[Tony Vargas]

classW - A spell-less support class that equally supports all three pillars using the 5E subclass system

Warlord - High (CP), Medium (IP), Low (EP)
Consul - Low in CP, High IP, Medium EP
Hospitaller - Medium CP, High IP, Low EP
Exemplar - Medium in all pillars

"Class W" sounds like the Warlord, high CP sounds like the Bravura build. The Resourceful build sounds all-medium, though, there's something troubling about seemingly valuing the pillars equally.

EK/AT template (I know spells, but lets keep room for options)
War Mage - 1/3 Spellcaster (Wizard list), Medium in all pillars
Crusader subclass 1/3 Spellcaster (Cleric list)- Medium in all pillars
Warden subclass 1/3 Spellcaster (Druid list) - Medium in all pillars

Wow, that's almost source-grid-filling, there.

 

[Miladoon]

The Warlord in this outline is a subclass. Players should like it because the classW/Warlord character could very well fit in as a feudal warlord or terrorist without committing the entire design to those two perspectives. The source-grid-filling might be enticing to players that dig source-role characters.

This fit is for multiple playstyles and not just attached to the teets of fightey D&D.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Warlord subclass - High Combat Pillar (CP), Medium Interaction Pillar (IP), Low Exploration Pillar (EP)

5e still seems to me, as D&D always has, to emphasize the combat pillar.

I'm curious how you'd rate existing classes in terms of the three pillars?

 

[Miladoon]

Good for you?

Seems to me, as summed up by my recent AL session, that 5E is less fightey than you might seem. 1 Fight that lasted 3 rounds. I threw two dice in the Exploration pillar and one dice in the Interaction pillar. 1 die to avoid role-playing a level of madness. It was real fun hitting that guy with a magic missile though.

Are you coming out and asking me to rate the 12 classes for your curiosity? Or are you asking me to rate the subclasses of the existing classes. That would actually make more sense.

But yeah, right.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Are you coming out and asking me to rate the 12 classes for your curiosity? Or are you asking me to rate the subclasses of the existing classes. That would actually make more sense.

A representative selection of the sub-classes, if that wouldn't be too much trouble, yes, or just a general explanation of how you think the pillars are covered. Because it seems like combat still gets the lion's share, and that some sub-classes are /very/ focused on that pillar...

 

[jayoungr]

I haven't voted because all the names are equally good or equally bad as far as I'm concerned. I would prefer a name that doesn't have any implication of rank, which knocks out most of the choices, and none of the options that remain seem to have quite the right descriptive flavor. But I could live with most of the names if one of them became official.

 

[Miladoon]

A representative selection of the sub-classes, if that wouldn't be too much trouble, yes, or just a general explanation of how you think the pillars are covered. Because it seems like combat still gets the lion's share, and that some sub-classes are /very/ focused on that pillar...

Nah, you set it up, then I will come in and wreck your idea. If you start with the evoker wizard, you will be busted...

But if you don't like the ratings I added for the classW subclasses you can just ignore them or rate them yourself all high CP.

To avoid further distancing from the OP I will post a new edition of the naming outline.

Herald - A spell-less support class that supports the 5E subclass system and low-high magic games.

Herald/X
Warlord - For whatever is not covered by BM or VB and 7-8 feats
Consul - Because El Mahdi is the man and fellow retired NCO
Hospitaller - That guy that needs to be a knight to save your bacon
Exemplar - Scroll master! Why not?
Ardent - For the Dark Sun fans

EK/AT template (I know spells, but lets keep room for options)
War Mage - Only for those that wish to cross the streams
Crusader - believing in source dash
Warden - grid is the answer

I plan on finishing up my ideas and posting a class and its subclasses in the near future.

EDIT: Low-high magic games

 

[Tony Vargas]

Nah, you set it up, then I will come in and wreck your idea.

Ah, I see your concern.

I just thought you might have had some worthwhile insight you'd want to share. If not, don't worry about it.