Class Compendium: The Warlord (Marshal)

[Incenjucar]

This is basically PHB: Final Form. After this I expect they won't be touching these classes again directly. Which is fine because there's SO much else to work on.

 

[Aegeri]

Overall I like the build - having read through it. It makes a competent "Marshal" that will do exactly as advertised: Help his allies beat monsters senseless. It's not like there isn't a whole heap extra material in MP1 and MP2 for players to get if they want more as well.

I actually really approve of it being free as well. For a multitude of reasons, but mostly because I don't think Wizards can earn enough goodwill back (and this IMO certainly deserves to). The Warlord also remains the best leader for essentials martial classes by miles.

 

[Mengu]

I thought they would at least take the opportunity to fix ranged powers out of PHB like Knight's Move and Shake It Off to be one creature in burst X. For a melee class, warlords have a lot of carelessly written utility powers that provoke opportunity attacks, mostly from PHB (and now in the CC_Warlord). If you look at the later melee leaders like runepriest, they don't make this mistake.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Oh, what do you know... it's NOT "ESSENTIALIZED"!

I can't wait to hear the cries from the anti-Essentials peanut gallery now. I hate to say "I told you so" but, oh who am I kidding...

I TOLD YOU SO.

How do you not see it as essentialized?

It has the hideously ugly formatting.

It has the ridiculous tables for each tier.

True, it does not have the MBA at-wills and lack of dailies and varied encounters

So essentials format, maybe, but not essentials build. I guess I can live with that.

But more on topic, I do hope to see larger changes for other classes. I have really been looking forward to this series of articles. I wish they had put the warlord-only feats in there, if any from PHB were changed, I do not remember. Maybe they will withthe wizard feats, some of which I know were changed.

 

[Aegeri]

I actually like the new formatting and it's much easier to follow for new players (and getting used to a new class). Even if more page intensive. When people use the term "Essentialized" it's usually to refer to an entirely different build with incompatible parts compared to the previous class. EG Fighter and Slayer. Wizard and Mage.

This is a Warlord. It has new format, but nothing else is different. Pretty much what Wizards said they were doing.

 

[Obryn]

I actually like the new formatting and it's much easier to follow for new players (and getting used to a new class). Even if more page intensive. When people use the term "Essentialized" it's usually to refer to an entirely different build with incompatible parts compared to the previous class. EG Fighter and Slayer. Wizard and Mage.

This is a Warlord. It has new format, but nothing else is different. Pretty much what Wizards said they were doing.

I really, really hated the Essentials class format when I first ran into it.

Even today, I still have trouble grasping the class overview when it's presented like this. But - I've learned that yeah, it is pretty great to use when leveling up a character over time.

So now I don't hate it. I'm just fine with it, I suppose.

-O

 

[Tony Vargas]

First two things:

1) Kudos for not hiding it behind a paywall, and...

2) 'Marshal?' Really? Warlords everywhere are hanging their heads in shame.


Aside from that, like the 'Weaponmaster' preview (exactly like that preview, really, including getting a dumb name), there are few substantive changes:

- Right of the bat, Tactical presence got 'clarified' hard. Rangers, Wizards, and other multi-attackers are no longer the Taclord's best friends. Unexpected and disapointing. Given that nerf, it could have made the bonus to hit equal to INT bonus, no need to halve it.

- Commander's Strike OTOH, less nerfing than expected. Just the obvious one: it's explicitly a Free Action for the ally. Not made a power bonus or anything. There are a number of powers that recieve a 'free action' clarification, which is fine.

- Own the Battlefield not sliding into hindering terrain makes sense. Reducing it to close burst 5 doesn't, not at that level.

- OK, Stir the Hornet's Nest probably deserved it.

The other powers changed weren't egregious nerfs or entirely uncalled for. I agree that Knight's Move and several others should have been changed from Range to Close Burst/1 ally. But, WotC tends to errata only things that are too powerful or very unclear. If it's too weak, it'll just be oviated by something else, later. (OK, except for Wizard encounter powers, they were 'too weak' and got updated to be more powerful - 'exception that proves the rule,' or 'pattern of discrimination?').


We'll see how the Weaponmaster (gag) and Marshal (barf) - sorry, the names are litterally leaving a bad taste in my mouth - stack up to the re-toothed Warlock rumored to be coming, and the already errata'd-to-be-more-powerful Wizard, who is also receiving 5 new builds in Essentials+.


Finally, one critical question. Is this Warlord considered 'Essentials +' content? Will there be a 'Marshal' (hrrmph) pre-gen at the next season of D&D Encounters? Will it even be allowed there?

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

How do you not see it as essentialized?

It has the hideously ugly formatting.

It has the ridiculous tables for each tier.

True, it does not have the MBA at-wills and lack of dailies and varied encounters

So essentials format, maybe, but not essentials build. I guess I can live with that.

But more on topic, I do hope to see larger changes for other classes. I have really been looking forward to this series of articles. I wish they had put the warlord-only feats in there, if any from PHB were changed, I do not remember. Maybe they will withthe wizard feats, some of which I know were changed.

Pretty much this:

I actually like the new formatting and it's much easier to follow for new players (and getting used to a new class). Even if more page intensive. When people use the term "Essentialized" it's usually to refer to an entirely different build with incompatible parts compared to the previous class. EG Fighter and Slayer. Wizard and Mage.

This is a Warlord. It has new format, but nothing else is different. Pretty much what Wizards said they were doing.

I made that post, half in jest and half in vindication over the amount of incessant whining concerning this "update" and how "WotC was going to turn all the PH1 classes into Essential classes" with modified MBAs, one spammable encounter utility, and no dailies.

All along I said that wasn't what was going to happen and that this wouldn merely be a formatting change with minor updates. The usual response was skeptical and often snottily-toned, hence a similar response here. I admit that it was petty of me. I try to be a good forum citizen, but I had a moment of weakness.

 

[Tony Vargas]

If the Class Compendium articles don't count as Essentials+ material, it might still conceivably happen - an E-build of the warlord reduced to basic-attack monkey, that is.

More likely, and in a way just as bad, it won't receive any post-E build or support, and will just be left to gather dust.

 

[I'm A Banana]

As expected, but I'd still like to see a variant warlord build without the uninspiring Inspiring Word and sans dailies.

It was obviously a really good idea for them NOT to try and sell me this thing for $25, though.