D&D 5E Here it is! Version 5 of my hombrewed Warlord class!

[Undrave]

Is there a Pike weapon listed in the game? Did I miss it?

Yeah, in the PHB. It's a Martial Melee Weapon, costs 5gp, inflict 1d10 piercing damage, and has the Heavy, reach and two-handed properties.

First time seeing it and the biggest thing that stands out to me is Veteran's Poise at level 11. That's the level where every class gets a big combat boost and this one gets a social boost that only works against against specific people.

Well I based my progression on the Rogue, and the Rogue gets Reliable Talent at 11th ( and the Ranger and Monk get archetype features)... Admitedly, Reliable Talent is much better than Veteran's Poise. Originally I had Seasoned Instructor at that level and Veteran's Poise at 6th, but it felt like Seasoned Instructor would be more appreciated early on in your career... I should probably add something else at 11th but I already feel like there's way too many feature so I'd need a replacement and I am at my wit's end trying to find something that could rival Reliable Talent...

OOH! How about I go with 'Improved Seasoned Instructor' and make it like a limited Reliable Talent? When you help someone to do an ability check, Prof. Bonus times per day, you can make rolls below 10 a 10? Or maybe even just a 8? Wait no that wouldn't be useful if they already have advantage... hmm...This is haaaard...

Otherwise my only real criticism is how multi-attribute dependent it is. Otherwise it looks pretty cool and I'd like to play one if it wasn't MAD.

It's only MAD if you try to be good at everything... Think of your secondary as your Warlock Pact and your subclass as your patron: it's a mix and match system and designed for characters to specialize in 1 secondary ability and the other two be potential third places. Note that all of them that have stat based bonus in the base class say 'min.+1' so you can just dump the other mental stats. The subclass you pick will have more influence on your stat line up.

It's, admitedly, a very 4e design paradigm. Don't think of it as Monk MAD (where you need high DEX, high WIS and good CON to survive), but more like how a Cleric can be blasty with lots of WIS or melee with lots of STR.

The class can also support a Lazylord build where you don't care about your attacking stat. You can take the standard array and put, for exemple, 15 CHA, 14 INT, 13 WIS, 12 DEX, 10 CON and 8 STR before racial bonus and be perfectly fine. At least, that was the design goal and I know it's a bit crazy.

 

[Tinker-TDC]

Well I based my progression on the Rogue, and the Rogue gets Reliable Talent at 11th ( and the Ranger and Monk get archetype features)... Admitedly, Reliable Talent is much better than Veteran's Poise. Originally I had Seasoned Instructor at that level and Veteran's Poise at 6th, but it felt like Seasoned Instructor would be more appreciated early on in your career... I should probably add something else at 11th but I already feel like there's way too many feature so I'd need a replacement and I am at my wit's end trying to find something that could rival Reliable Talent...

OOH! How about I go with 'Improved Seasoned Instructor' and make it like a limited Reliable Talent? When you help someone to do an ability check, Prof. Bonus times per day, you can make rolls below 10 a 10? Or maybe even just a 8? Wait no that wouldn't be useful if they already have advantage... hmm...This is haaaard...

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It's only MAD if you try to be good at everything... Think of your secondary as your Warlock Pact and your subclass as your patron: it's a mix and match system and designed for characters to specialize in 1 secondary ability and the other two be potential third places. Note that all of them that have stat based bonus in the base class say 'min.+1' so you can just dump the other mental stats. The subclass you pick will have more influence on your stat line up.

Don't know how to put multiple quotes in at the same time so one at a time:
First-
Rogue gets reliable talent and also gets an extra damage die at-will. Fighter gets another attack. All the full-casters get 6th level spells. Going off Fighter progression I might say give a free Shout in addition to the attack action. Maybe move Master's Insight to 11 and then make the 14th a "You always get 10 minimum on social checks or 15 minimum against soldiers. Maybe since expose weakness requires an action currently making the Help action a bonus action at 11 is flavorful and a good combat boost.


Second-
Sure, it's only MAD if you try to be good at everything but what if Abjuration and Divination used Wisdom; Evocation, Necromancy, and Transmutation used Intelligence, and Conjuration, Enchantment, and Illusion used Charisma?
Cool and flavorful? Yes.
Easy to make a character that does what your class sets out to do? Maybe but you really gotta build around it.
Now I do think all three mental stats can pretty easily be justified for Warlord but maybe something like choosing at early levels and then leaving archetypes as specific stats so if you know you're going Chosen One you choose Charisma or if you know you're going Borderlands Marshal you choose Wisdom?

 

[Tinker-TDC]

That is to say, 5e classes that focus on mental abilities tend to have only one because you can't exactly dump CON (or DEX if you don't have heavy armor access).

 

[Undrave]

Rogue gets reliable talent and also gets an extra damage die at-will. Fighter gets another attack. All the full-casters get 6th level spells. Going off Fighter progression I might say give a free Shout in addition to the attack action. Maybe move Master's Insight to 11 and then make the 14th a "You always get 10 minimum on social checks or 15 minimum against soldiers. Maybe since expose weakness requires an action currently making the Help action a bonus action at 11 is flavorful and a good combat boost.

Hm... I hadn't taken into account the bump to Sneak Attack and I did recalibrate the Insight dice progression. I do like your suggestion but I think what I could do is split Master's Insight into two and have the bonus reaction at level 11, move a modified Veteran's Poise to 14, but also keep the 3d6 on attack improvement at level 14. Do you think that would be big enough of a bonus at 11?

Now I do think all three mental stats can pretty easily be justified for Warlord but maybe something like choosing at early levels and then leaving archetypes as specific stats so if you know you're going Chosen One you choose Charisma or if you know you're going Borderlands Marshal you choose Wisdom?

That's the plan yes. It's why I went and made Presences buff a second Shout that's not normally based off their secondary stat, so that you can basically have 2 'good' Shout and 1 regular shout. The Presence orients your build (but it is not, actually, impossible to pick a sub-optimal presence that doesn't use the same ability as your sub class). Currently, INT/CHA/WIS modifiers only come into play, in the base class, in the Shouts and the Presence... I could remove them from Shouts entirely so that Presence is what gives your character its direction (but the idea was that you would favor the shout(s) that better match your stats, giving rise to a different play style depending on which secondary you favor).

As a side note, the Ballistarius is fairly neutral, the Borderlands Marshal only has 1 feature that uses WIS mod, and the Chosen One is leaning to Charisma but doesn't actually use your mod for anything beyond Cure Wounds and gets a free bump to it. I don't think I quite made INT/CHA/WIS as crucial to the Warlord as a Spellcasting ability is to a Paladin or a Ranger.

That is to say, 5e classes that focus on mental abilities tend to have only one because you can't exactly dump CON (or DEX if you don't have heavy armor access).

I actually took the lack of CON into account when I gave the Warlord d10 hit dice. I expected the class wouldn't be able to invest in CON as much so, event with a hit die comparable to a Fighter, they would have lower HP more in line with a d8 class. I also gave them shield to help with AC. I didn't want them to be too frail, but also not as tough as a Fighter without cost.

 

[Quartz]

First time seeing it and the biggest thing that stands out to me is Veteran's Poise at level 11. That's the level where every class gets a big combat boost and this one gets a social boost that only works against against specific people.

It gets a feast at 10th level.

 

[Undrave]

Battlefield Insight (Improve Damage): Just confirming, as written this does not consume any insight, so the Warlord can just apply the bonus round after round if they aren't spending that bonus on anything else. Just making sure as its the only ability I've seen that does that.

Improve Damage needs a bigger cost than a Reaction. It’s better than a battlemaster manoeuvre and doesn’t have the -5 of the feats.

I was thinking on it and what if it removed 1d6 from the pool afterward?

And again, I based my class off of the Rogue so Battlefield Insight is the Sneak Attack replacement, only it costs a Reaction and you can't use it yourself... and you have ways to deplete it. It's why the basic application doesn't expend dice. If a Rogue with a Rapier and a Barbarian with a Greataxe each land a hit, then it's the same thing as a Warlord attacking with a Longsword, and then boosting the Barbarian's hit with Battlefield Insight. It's the same ammount of damage, just with a different spread. If you spend your action doing a Shout or Exposing Weakness, you then bring your party's overall output down but you've made the party more effective at other things and probably saved someone some HP. Taking all that into account, I felt it was fair that Improve Damage didn't cost anything. But maybe I'm wrong in my analysis?

 

[Undrave]

It gets a feast at 10th level.

I think you mean feat

 

[Quartz]

I think you mean feat

I did indeed. I blame autocorrect.

 

[Quartz]

I was thinking on it and what if it removed 1d6 from the pool afterward?

Yes, that feels good.

And again, I based my class off of the Rogue so Battlefield Insight is the Sneak Attack replacement, only it costs a Reaction and you can't use it yourself...

That you can't use it yourself is actually a net positive: you can use it from safety. Sneak Attack with a melee weapon requires getting up and personal.

In general, I like your ideas; I just think that they need a little toning down. If you were to base everything off the generation and consumption of insight dice, that would be a very good start.

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

Battlefield Insight's option Improve Precision should probably be triggered by an ally targeting a creature not them attacking
Otherwise they attack, you shout, they get advantage and retroactively hit

The Shouts should probably grant their bonus tied to something reliable, like half proficiency rather than pushing the character to try and have Wisdom and Intelligence and Charisma as high as possible. Or all the class' options should use the same secondary stat. As written a character will have one effective shout, one that grants a minor bonus, and one likely with a penalty
Rise Up should target a creature under an effect a save can end rather a condition. There are some effects that aren't conditions that cause conditions

Under Expose Weakness, Distracted should probably just prevent the target from taking reactions. It's simpler to say and manage
Under the secondary ability to increase the range you can Help it could be 10 feet per die. Insight dies are big and increase slowly

Advanced Signals, Exposed Nerves. There no mechanic in the game called an "attribute"

The second benefit of Master's Insight could be cleaned up. Perhaps "The first time in a round you use your Battlefield Insight it doesn't use your reaction." Or a bonus reaction that can only be used for Battlefield Insight

Tempered Body should say "you gain proficiency in Strength and Constitution saving throws."

Ultimate Awareness is odd. A +10 bonus means the character is always rolling a natural 20 for Perception and Investigation

Peerless Insight should add 1d6 to your Insight Pool at the start of EACH of your turns. Otherwise it's just once.