D&D (2024) Chance for a warlord?

[Minigiant]

Personally, I think that healing doesn't need to be a priority with the warlord. 5e doesn't really put healing as something that is so gated that a healer is strictly needed for a party.

5e puts priority more on the reviver role in the healer role.

And the warlord telling people to get up or move feels more attuned with the lore and more attuned with this edition.

Really I think that the 2024 version of D&D has it opportunity of with its new inclusion of weapon masteries, the warlord could be the grantor of Weapon Masteries and new defenses.

Everybody's weapon has the push property
Everybody's weapon has the sap property
Everybody's weapon has the "exclusive" demolish property.

 

[SteveC]

Every 4e class had powers in the same manner as a spellcaster... So how is that a no-go?

You had high level powers for all the classes. The Battle Master gets maneuvers that don't level up. You won't see any of the high level powers that the Warlord (or other classes that don't traditionally have spells). Not that I wouldn't wish for it, but I don't believe you will. I suppose WotC might surprise me.

 

[Zardnaar]

Warlock kind of provides the chasis, artificer, paladin, cleric or bard desired power level.

Battlemaster I 1/3rd warlord. Half caster maybe 1/2 or bravura one. Pure warlord probably start stapling cleric and bard abilities onto a Warlock chassis.

At will attack granting won't work well but there's room to be better at it than
Battlemaster.

Beyond that shrug.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

You had high level powers for all the classes. The Battle Master gets maneuvers that don't level up. You won't see any of the high level powers that the Warlord (or other classes that don't traditionally have spells). Not that I wouldn't wish for it, but I don't believe you will. I suppose WotC might surprise me.

Yes. And I think the warlord should get those maneuvers. And a little less fighting prowess themselves. Maybe no fighting style (leading style instead), different subclass. No action surge or second wind and so on. There is a lot of room there.

 

[TheWriterFantastic™]

I'd much rather see a "Hai"lord, laying down 4E Marks left and right:

Almost all joking aside, I think the Battle Master subclass does a semi-decent job of emulating a certain type of Warlord (and if using the 2014 optional Marking rule, would represent the Hailord above well), but just off the top of my head, an actual 2024 Warlord base class could utilize the maneuvers inherent in the Battle Master to achieve some and/or all of the 4E Warlord features to great effect, maybe expanding the maneuver list with Warlord specific maneuvers (or other new Warlord features) to fill the gap, allowing it to do all the essential things, like granting actions, temp hit points, inspiration/buffs, and yes, even nonmagical healing - the whole healing system in 4E laid the groundwork for semi-believable nonmagical healing in 5E, since most types of healing utilized healing surges (in 5E, hit dice/hit point dice) as an inherent source of recovery, instead of miraculous healing - I could see a new Warlord using a new version of Inspiring Word to grant a character the ability to instantaneously use Hit Point Dice as a Reaction (or even without an action) to draw on their own reserves, and maybe add a bonus from both the target's Constitution, in addition to the Warlord's Charisma and/or Proficiency Bonus as if the Warlord were inspiring them to be even more efficient in using their reserve stamina to "rub dirt on it" and "walk it off," or even revive unconscious and/or dying characters with a "get up, that's just a scratch" rallying word. If the Warlord doesn't just instantaneously grant free hit point healing, but uses enhanced Hit Point Die healing and temp hit points, it can be the inspiring/rallying "healer" that doesn't magically heal.

 

[TheWriterFantastic™]

I'd much rather see a "Hai"lord, laying down 4E Marks left and right:

Oh god, now I can't stop visualizing this for Verminaard (Dragon Hailord) - his schemes for Ansalon are doomed...

 

[TorgoTheWhite]

Marshal | Level Up

a5e.tools

A5e already has it and better deserves your money than WotC!

Nice pull. I like this. Fighter shell means it is still competent in isolation as well

 

[TorgoTheWhite]

I would kill a thousand psions for a single Warlord.

I think there's some interesting space in martial support options. Though I don't know that any of it is currently unexplored. The only issue is that it's spread a bit too thin over all the martial classes/subclasses.

We have fear, disarming, forced movement, advantage, disadvantage, allied movement, temp hp, attack me or face disadvantage (essentially 4e style marking), even attack granting.

I don't believe at will action granting can be balanced in 5e, which after healing is the other line in the sand for warlord fans.

But there's also an additional problem for support martials in 5e, all their abilities need to make thematic sense in the broader game and that's not actually easy to do. Take action granting, haste does it, but what's a martial character doing that allows your allys another action that makes sense in the fiction. Well what is an action in the fiction? It's essentially what your character is capable of doing in a certain amount of time. How the heck is a martial supposed to have any effect on that, and especially round after round after round?

It's not just about cool mechanical abilities, it's about justifying them fictionally as well.

But I do wish you all the best of luck in getting one you all will be happy with (that's a third problem, all warlord fans want something different from the warlord). I'd like to see an official implementation and how they avoid all these potential pitfalls.

Drilled nonverbal cues trained into your travel companions Pavlov's dog style. Your advanced ability of singing "make a man out of you" - Mulan style to your party. The ability to train up anyone to follow your cues when you create an opening for them... the magic of battle

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The warlord is a class that should be design to control squads in the battlefield, not for dungeon-crawler. If the warlord has got class features to buff alies, then when more allies the effect of the buff is higher and this could break the power balance.

And battles aren't like a game in the sport league during the weekend. Armies need food, tents in camp to sleep and other things. Being a warlord isn't only to lead the troops in the battlefield or tell a nice speech before the speech but to worry about those matters. For example in the war of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) the conquest of Madrid failed because the soldiers were with (let's say it in a softer way) "sinner women" (or "women of distracted morality") who were infected with venereal diseases (and that contagion was intentional).

WotC has to choose if they are going to add the squad monster subtype, working like swarms for for pack of different creatures, for example a pack of wolves. Or the warlord should have got class features linked to rules from mass battles, for example morality checks.

Other point is WotC is willing for a warlord class but they would rather this to be designed by the next videogame studio what was working in a future D&D strategy videogame.

 

[TorgoTheWhite]

I would kill a thousand psions for a single Warlord.

I too would kill thousands of psions for this. Or at least give thousands of wedgies to them