D&D 5E The Warlord shouldn't be a class... change my mind!

Exactly! Finally, someone says it! Including the warlord as a class would be a category error. It's like making "an evil stepmother class."
The Fighter and Warlord represent protagonist archetypes, the warlord, like the wizard (and, though quite uncommon as such in genre, the Cleric) also serves to represent supporting-cast sorts of archetypes, while the 'wicked stepmother" is strictly an antagonist archetype.

A fact you acknowledge in providing the definition:
Evil stepmothers thwart and actively oppose their stepdaughters.
That's an antagonist. Wrong category for a potential PC class.

I suggest you go back to the ingénue if you're looking for examples of archetypes D&D doesn't do at the moment, that might be represented as a class or sub-class, rather than a monster-style statblock...
 
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Warlords occupy a similar space to bards. However, bards support the party by making each PC better at that PC's job - through straight up numerical bonuses from bardic inspiration and through spells. A warlord approaches things from a different direction. A warlord doesn't make you better at your job, it grants you more opportunities to do your job. It's a design space that is touched on with a number of other classes - Battlemaster, Mastermind, a few others - but, is not specialized in by any one class. And, it's a pretty wide open space. Do you inspire? Do you think more tactically? Do you lead from the front? Whatever. There's more than enough room for multiple sub-classes.
Alright. So there's a style of play you enjoy that is missing from the current version of the game. The Bard comes close, but doesn't quite scratch the itch. I get that. It's an argument I understand. If D&D didn't have Wizards, I would feel the same way (I wouldn't accept Sorcerers as a substitute any more than Warlord fans would accept the Banneret or the Bard as a substitute).

I can definitely see room for another support class in D&D. But how important is it that it retain any of the warlord's flavor? Most support classes outside of D&D seem to be magical in nature. Mesmerists, enchanters, etc. Would such a class be accepted by warlord fans, do you think? Assuming it played just like a warlord but fulfilled its supportive role through magic?
 


Evil Stepmother. In a 3.5 Splat that would have been worth at least a 10 level prestige class.
Sure, monsters got classes in 3.5, and a monster- or antagonist-NPC oriented PrC would've been perfectly reasonable.
In 5e, as in the classic game & 4e, PC classes are their own thing, and monsters are their own, different things.

I can definitely see room for another support class in D&D. But how important is it that it retain any of the warlord's flavor?
Very. The class could be broadened, but the 6 or 8 various 'builds' (4e equivalent of sub-classes in 5e) possible with it should all still be made available.

Most support classes outside of D&D seem to be magical in nature.
You mean archetypes or tropes as 'class' in that sense is a D&D convention. And, no, outside of D&D, supporting characters are very often non-magical, as evidenced by the fact they exist in genres that do not include magic, at all.

OTOH, in D&D, support classes have been overwhelmingly magic-using, generally full casters. The Cleric was the first, iconic, D&D support class, relying exclusively on its spells for that function. Since then, Druids, Bards, Paladins, Rangers, Favored Souls, Artificers, Shamans, and Ardents have all provided magical (or, in the case of the Ardent, supernatural, if not technically magical) sources of support. Magic is profoundly over-represented in the role.

In that sense, the Warlord is badly needed.
 
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Why not the following classes:

Pie Thrower*
Giant vampiric rabbit
Robot powererd by a singularity in it's chest
Amnesiac Time Lord
Tax collector
Baatorian legal assistant.
Part-time Hell hound walker.
False equivalence wearing self-referential reductio ad absurdum disguise.

If we accept the Warlord as a class then we have to open the door to anything!

* I was going to make it custard pie thrower but then I realised that would be too narrow for subclasses - so this way we can have a different subclass for every type of pie.
 

I can definitely see room for another support class in D&D. But how important is it that it retain any of the warlord's flavor? Most support classes outside of D&D seem to be magical in nature. Mesmerists, enchanters, etc. Would such a class be accepted by warlord fans, do you think, assuming it played just like a warlord but fulfilled its supportive role through magic?

We have enough stinkin' casters so no. Being non-magical is part of the appeal. Not that you couldn't also make supernatural subclasses, like the Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster.

Pie Thrower*

We'll never forget you, Slappy!
 



In that sense, the Warlord is badly needed.
We have enough stinkin' casters so no. Being non-magical is part of the appeal.
Can you point me to any homebrew Warlords that you think are done particularly well then? I'm mostly curious to see how a warlord would play in 5E, and how the subclasses would differ from each other. I never played 4E.
 


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