D&D 5E (2024) Chance for a warlord?

[TorgoTheWhite]

Funny you'd mention WOTC elves, I dislike their characterizations... also the cartoonish dildo-ears don't help... reminds me of WoW elves or something.. but that's me, I feel like less-is-more.... so I am happy with less WOTC Goliath, unless they did a good job I guess, but more likely they go all over-wrought with it

Wrong board. My + me = horrible

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

If you are imagining a warlord like a swordman with a harem of monster girls that isn't a true warlord. A warlord is the leader of a squad or legion. It is not only about giving orders in the battlefield but also taking care of logistics matters before and after the battle, for example to hire a local translator.

My mental image of a warlord is a class focused into the "demi-PCs", the companions or sidekicks of PCs, squirels and company. But if the group has got too many sidekics the fight could become slower, or traps, or boss' special attacks designed for high-level PCs could kill most of lower-level sidekicks.

Some warlord could work for solo-players games where the "DM" is an AI and the campaign is mainly mass battles or skirmishes like a miniature wargame. Some players would enjoy starting with a little squad and they are adding new members.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

Tales of the Valiant has put out a preview for their own take on the Warlord, called the Vanguard:

https://koboldpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ToV-Players-Guide-2-Preview-FINAL.pdf

I'm pretty neutral on the magic banners, but most of the Stratagems are what I would expect from a Warlord successor. I also see it has nonmagical healing, which has never been that important to me. The Combat Ready and Inspiring Leadership features of the Marshal subclass are also quite nice.

 

[Marc Radle]

Tales of the Valiant has put out a preview for their own take on the Warlord, called the Vanguard:

https://koboldpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ToV-Players-Guide-2-Preview-FINAL.pdf

I'm pretty neutral on the magic banners, but most of the Stratagems are what I would expect from a Warlord successor. I also see it has nonmagical healing, which has never been that important to me. The Combat Ready and Inspiring Leadership features of the Marshal subclass are also quite nice.

Thanks so much !!!

We're very excited about the Vanguard class and I hope everyone checks out the Player's Guide 2 Kickstarter and downloads the Free Preview PDF!

 

[Marc Radle]

In case folks would like to learn more about the Vanguard class

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuQNVJwt65U

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Wouldn't that helmet restrict his peripheral vision and hearing, and therefore not be appropriate for a battlefield commander?

 

[Marc Radle]

LOL!
Well, if we are going to want THAT level of realism for our fantasy art, everything falls apart

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Wouldn't that helmet restrict his peripheral vision and hearing, and therefore not be appropriate for a battlefield commander?

i mean, he'd probably want something with a flip-down visor - flip it up and out of the way to get a view of the field and issue commands, then flip it back down to protect your face the rest of the time.

 

[James Gasik]

Okay, so maybe I should have elaborated more. The reason it's bad fluff is because
1) it forces other players to go along with a narrative they may not want for their PC
2) it limits other players ability to roleplay their fighter or barbarian as a drill sergeant

Isn't this just the Ranger problem again? The Ranger existing doesn't prevent any other character from saying they are a survivalist/protector of nature/special forces soldier, even though the Ranger is the class that gets special features revolving around that.

One can be an expert dungeon explorer/treasure finder/master of finesse or skullduggery without being a Rogue. I don't see how a Warlord prevents one from saying "I am a charismatic leader of men"- if you have a decent Charisma and proficiency in Persuasion and Intimidation isn't that exactly what you are?

Not having mechanical benefits to buffer the kind of character you want to roleplay doesn't prevent you from playing that character. It may help, yes, but it doesn't prevent it, any more than a Fighter saying he belonged to a barbarian tribe prevents him from claiming to be a barbarian. Or a Bard claiming to be a priest, or a Sorcerer claiming to have psychic abilities.

 

[MoonSong]

i've definitely thought and said this before, it's not that the individual tools to create a good warlord don't exist in 5e, it's just that they're too piecemeal and scattered that's it's just not realistically possible to combine them into a greater whole on a single character.

And it becomes what I call the "one character problem". After all that effort to reproduce the experience of a class, you are left with only one character without much more room for individuality and further customization. What was a diverse pool of possible characters very different from each others collapses onto a one-time deal that already feels very generic. Worse of all, it takes a while to get there, so the actual mezningful play is minimal.