A lot of Warlords?

[Particle_Man]

Has anyone seen a party where you have a lot of Warlords, each giving standard basic attack actions to the same character, allowing that character to attack 8 times a round?

I envision a cheerleading squad.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

If we had a group big enough for that...

We'd probably still not doing it.

But it reminds me of the OotS comic where Durkon and the female Dwarven Cleric are fighting some monsters and heal each other instead of directly attacking it. The monster gives up in the end since it doesn't achieve anything.

There must be a Warlock Scene that could work similar.

 

[Wik]

Yeah, I can see it being a problem if you only play RAW. But since it seems like there's a bit more emphasis on Rule Zero this time around (my personal impression only, please don't debate this ad naseum), that'd quickly be over-ruled. Though, even if you did...

essentially, you're trading an at-will to give an ally a basic attack. If that's the case, why didn't everyone just make fighters? And, since there's more than one baddie on the table, you're letting the fighter beat on one guy, while the rest of the monsters eat your face, unopposed.

 

[Spinachcat]

The question over multiple Warlords depends on whether the Initiative bonus to the group stacks or not. One Warlord gives +2 Init, so do two Warlords give +4 Init to everyone?

Is there an official answer? I can't seem to find discussion on stacking inside the PHB or DMG.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Yeah, I can see it being a problem if you only play RAW. But since it seems like there's a bit more emphasis on Rule Zero this time around (my personal impression only, please don't debate this ad naseum), that'd quickly be over-ruled. Though, even if you did...

Isnt' that the opposite of 'just say yes'?

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

It's a nice little one-trick party, but that's about it.

 

[Wik]

Rodrigo: Yeah. But, in my mind, there's a difference between "hey, this is a cool idea - can I do this!?" to "Hey, I can abuse a loophole in the rules, and the GM can't stop me!".

Besides, look at my next point. I'd let them do it... because it's sub-optimal anyways.

Spinachat: No, they don't stack. It's even mentioned in the PHB, that only unnamed bonuses stack, or unnamed bonuses from different sources. Two Warlord init bonuses do not stack.

 

[Victim]

That trick is actually a lot more useful for the DM. Take a high level monster with a good basic attack, and combine it with a number of low level warlord NPCs or apply the template to low level monsters - with a low level base, the XP increase for being elite won't be very much. With Commander's Strike as their warlord at will, the weak enemies make the tough one much more dangerous.

But I don't see this as being particularly useful for a group of characters. The characters will generally be around same power level. Warlords also tend to have high STR scores so they can hit with their other powers. So it's not like the group is replacing crappy attacks with good ones. The warlords will have good attacks too. It just doesn't seem like a good idea most of the time. And it requires a heavy melee group that will be all bunched up.

 

[Dog Moon]

My group has two Warlords in the party and I think that's good enough, especially since I'm focused on Int and the other one is focused on Cha. That way, people get slightly different benefits, but any more than that would sort of overlap, so there's no real point.

We've joked about having one fighter in front and like 100 Warlords behind him granting an extra attack, but I think having more than two, and you're missing out on benefits of having other classes in the group.

 

[Caliber]

The Warlord's Init bonus is spelled out as having Power type, so it shouldn't stack.

Likewise, the Warlord's At-Will requires him to be in Melee range (although I guess its arguable who he has to be in range of) so it isn't like all those Warlord's get to sit in the back and give orders (otherwise, a Half-Elf Wizard would be well served picking that particular Warlord power!)