doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
The only reasons we've heard for it 'not sounding good' is the kind of objections you called 'nitpicky.'
Of course, it's subjective. I'd heard "John Carter, Warlord of Mars" before I ever heard of D&D, for instance.![]()
But, it does have a fantasy cachet to it, even if, say, in Xena, it would've been applied to a villain, and the RL meaning actually fits much better than the various military-rank versions. Warlords lead & wield power because people follow them, not the other-way round. A D&D Heroic warlord won't follow the RL definition exactly, just as the D&D Cleric, Druid, Warlorck, Sorcerer, Thief, and Assassin (and most classes, really), don't.
Nod. The mechanics of the class could easily support that kind of character concept, something D&D had not done well (or, really, at all) before or since.
Those other class names aren’t supposed to sound heroic, they’re supposed to sound ominous, or shady, or dangerous, and these names match the themes of the classes.
Warlord has no positive cache, connotations, or associations, for most people, and also only means “someone who rules over others by force”.
Captain has broad cache in and out of fantasy, doesn’t apply a negative connotation to a class with no matching themes.
Warlord is jarring next to the actual class, while Captain fits it exactly and without explanation.