D&D (2024) Chance for a warlord?

Remathilis said:

I think the biggest drawback to the Warlord making it to 5e is that no setting requires it. Eberron and the artificer and Dark Sun and the psion are linked in such a way you really can't do the setting without that class. I don't think Warlord is linked enough to any setting (maybe Nentir Vale?) enough for them to say "we need a new class for this setting or fans are gonna riot" Though who knows.

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Yes and no...

Birthright would be a amazing setting for the Warlord/Marshal. But also: Adding a class to a book that is otherwise largely DM-Exclusive in it's design encourages players to buy it, expanding the target audience for that book which increases sales beyond just the DMs who aren't designing their own settings, or who do and just wanna pick up the setting for another reason.

Remathilis said:

I think the biggest drawback to the Warlord making it to 5e is that no setting requires it. Eberron and the artificer and Dark Sun and the psion are linked in such a way you really can't do the setting without that class. I don't think Warlord is linked enough to any setting (maybe Nentir Vale?) enough for them to say "we need a new class for this setting or fans are gonna riot" Though who knows.

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Which also means they can toss it into any book.

Including something like a Xanathar's.

mellored said:

Which also means they can toss it into any book.

Including something like a Xanathar's.

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On the positive, yes it can go anywhere. On the negative, there is less need for them to devote resources to it. You can't do Eberron without the artificer. You can't do Dark Sun without psionics. Thus, resources get devoted to them. I just think that those two classes were going to have to be covered eventually if they were to do those settings. Warlord? I don't know if the same necessities are there.

Please don't take that as my not wanting the class, but pointing out psion and Artificer have settings that give them extra weight.

Remathilis said:

On the positive, yes it can go anywhere. On the negative, there is less need for them to devote resources to it. You can't do Eberron without the artificer. You can't do Dark Sun without psionics. Thus, resources get devoted to them. I just think that those two classes were going to have to be covered eventually if they were to do those settings. Warlord? I don't know if the same necessities are there.

Please don't take that as my not wanting the class, but pointing out psion and Artificer have settings that give them extra weight.

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The main benefit the Warlord has its like one of the 5 things from older edition that hasn't been converted that has fans.

The Warlord and Psion are the only old classes that can be reintroduced as new that a lot of people care about.

I'm A Banana said:

I think the biggest obstacle to this is less the superiority dice design and more the fundamental friction with non-magical healing.

If you add magic to a warlord, you get a bard. If you keep it non-magical, healing wounds is going to be a problem.

We'll hit another "Hit Points are purely narrative contrivance!" vs. "Hit Points are diegetic!" debate in about a page or two, I'd wager.

Which doesn't mean that WotC could never do a warlord, just that it would be difficult to do one with the non-magical healing that I'd wager many believe is core to a warlord's schtick.

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I agree this is one of the major sticking points historically with the Warlord. I just don't think it needs to be. I don't think most people viewed Healing Others as a major theme of the Warlord, and now that we have temporary hit points as a pretty common mechanic in the game, I think switching that portion of the Warlord to granting non-magic based temporary hit points would work here without rekindling that debate as much as it did years ago.

UngeheuerLich said:

I don't paricularly like the marshal.

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How do you feel about the deputy?

Mistwell said:

I agree this is one of the major sticking points historically with the Warlord. I just don't think it needs to be. I don't think most people viewed Healing Others as a major theme of the Warlord, and now that we have temporary hit points as a pretty common mechanic in the game, I think switching that portion of the Warlord to granting non-magic based temporary hit points would work here without rekindling that debate as much as it did years ago.

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And of course the other way to look at it is that the new members of the design team just might not have an issue deciding that for this one specific class that is being introduced 12-14 years into the game's lifespan (at the time of its eventual release) that "hit points are a narrative contrivance" is something they are fine with suggesting this one time. And thus they could be good with just saying that yeah, Warlords can return other character's hit points. It wouldn't be "magical healing", it would be the same sort of morale or energy that Second Wind and the like use as their narrative conceit for it happening. And if a portion of the D&D audience doesn't like that idea? Too freaking bad. They've had 12-14 years of getting their way, so if they don't like this new way of suggesting hit point return... they don't have to use the class.

We are at the point now, more than a decade in, that worrying about "re-establishing the Dungeons & Dragons game" is no longer really on their radar. So they can afford to go further afield with their design choices and aesthetics than they might have done back in 2014. And if that annoys some people? Whelp, people have been annoyed by all kind of things they've done now for the lifespan of 5E, so what's a few more?

What would Subclasses for a Warlord be...? 4 distinct Subclasses seems like the floor for a new Class.

Parmandur said:

What would Subclasses for a Warlord be...? 4 distinct Subclasses seems like the floor for a new Class.

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Tactician, Inspiring Voice, Resourceful combatant, and Medic (to name just a few inspired by the 4E Warlord types.)

Tactician moves allies around the battlefield and grants them actions or activities.
Inspiring Voice buffs allies and makes them better at doing what they are doing.
Resourceful combatant controls the battlefield with various tricks, traps and debuffs to get the enemies into bad situations and make mistakes.
Medic is primarily about defending allies and keeping them on their feet.

If we think of the Ranger as a Fighter intermixed with Druid, and the Paladin as a Fighter intermixed with Cleric, the Warlord would be the Fighter intermixed with Bard (with just the 'magic' serial numbers filed off.)

Mistwell said:

How do you feel about the deputy?

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10/10. Would not shoot.