Class Compendium: The Warlord (Marshal)

[UngeheuerLich]

Just rename inspiring word to healing word...

edit: no, better the other way around!

 

[Zaran]

Class Compendium would have been more or less a revised PHB. They just realized that the community would balk at the idea of paying for the PHB again.

But if they are going to post this stuff for free they should go back to selling pdfs of their products instead of worrying about pirates.

 

[The Little Raven]

And thank goodness they didnt. We have enough shortbus martial classes. Time to spread the pain (or love, depending on your POV) of that design style to other power sources, and leave a few martials wearing big boy pants.

What gets me is that every official mention of the Class Compendium book and later the replacement articles is very clear about the 5 classes being covered being the PHB1 versions with any new errata needed written in the overly verbose Essentials layout, but people still jump to the conclusion (with no actual evidence, since they've been pretty clear on which articles/books will feature new Essentials-style subclasses and which will not) that it means we are getting new subclasses ala the Slayer.

People complain about WotC's lack of communication on some fronts, yet many don't pay attention to the actual information they do communicate and complain when their artificially constructed expectations are not met. Being disappointed by the Monster Builder not being a builder makes sense, since the name and advertisement email gave unmet expectations straight from the horse's mouth, but being disappointed by the Warlord article being exactly what they said it would be (the PHB1 Warlord reprinted) just strikes me as people actively seeking something to be upset about.

 

[MrMyth]

Okay, that's lovely, but I think I'm still missing the point of publishing this article. I guess it's nice of WotC to give away the Warlord class as a free bonus to anyone who wants it, and I guess it's nice to have it in the same layout as the Heroes Of... books to make it easier for players who only have those books to understand it. I'm sure the power tweaks and clarifications are nice, too.

I'm really glad that they're not charging for it, as there's just nothing new here, though. It feels really, really pointless to me. Why did WotC expend effort on this reformatting?

Keep in mind this was originally planned as a book release. As such, it would have served two real purposes:

1) Provided the 'updated PHB' that various current players have asked for, with errata included; and
2) Provided new players (who started with Essentials) with the earlier builds for classes, displayed in the format the recognize.

However, I'm guessing that they realized that even with the two target audiences, the book was unlikely to sell enough to be worthwhile. But, by then, they had already done most of this reformatting. So they decided to release it as online content.

I'm mostly in agreement that it is largely useless as such. We've already got the online Compendium that includes the full warlord class - adding a bit more errata doesn't change that. It sounds like this is available for everyone, so I suppose this helps provide the content to non-subscribers.

But yeah, overall, this does very little. But they already had the content created, so no real reason not to share it.

I'm mainly looking forward to getting to see Essentials multiclassing feats (which may be coming next month, it sounds like), as well as the content from the other cancelled books, which looked genuinely interesting and new.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Agreed. CC might have contained a few interesting things, feats mostly from the sound of it, but it is really the other 2 books that sounded interesting.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I was actually most interested in buying the book to get Essentials multiclassing feats/rules (however they were going to do it). I believe that earlier on (before it got canned) that they were going to also show the nuts and bolts of class feature interchange between builds of the same class. I could be misremembering that, but I do distinctly recall reading it. Now THAT would be interesting.

 

[chitzk0i]

...and Sword Marshal still sucks.

I was actually most interested in buying the book to get Essentials multiclassing feats/rules (however they were going to do it). [...] Now THAT would be interesting.

Good news!

Included in the Class Compendium series (in April) is an installment on feats to round out your character. For the most part, the feats included in Class Compendium are intended to provide characters built using the Essentials rulebooks with more options for using the Player’s Handbook material, as well as providing characters built using Class Compendium with ways to gain some of the class features presented in Heroes of the Fallen Lands.

 

[Droogie128]

So glad they didn't make it like the other essentials martial classes. I think they butchered them into being one-trick ponies. I really like how they did this one.

Warlord has always been one of my favorite classes. Not necessarily my favorite to play, but I just love having one in the group. Probably the best designed class in 4e.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Yeah, "providing characters built using Class Compendium with ways to gain some of the class features presented in Heroes of the Fallen Lands" is not exactly the same as "the nuts and bolts of class feature interchange between builds of the same class." For one thing, it sounds like it'll be one-way. Fine for the old classes, if they really want to sign up for a partial lobotomy, where such might be optimal; but keeping the 'simplicity' of the E-classes hardwired in (so, if you get bored with simplistic basic attack spamming as you get to know the game, your only choice is to change characters).

What would be really nice would be if more of the subtle, but significant, power inflation enjoyed by the Essentials classes were allowed to 'pass through' to the parent classes - like it already has for the Rogue (1/turn SA), and Wizard (miss & effects lines for Encounter powers). So, for instance, that would mean taking the Fighter's Combat Challenge form 1/round to 1/trn, like the Knights. That sort of thing.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

So glad they didn't make it like the other essentials martial classes. I think they butchered them into being one-trick ponies. I really like how they did this one.

Warlord has always been one of my favorite classes. Not necessarily my favorite to play, but I just love having one in the group. Probably the best designed class in 4e.

Please tell me, which class exactly was butchered? I don´t get it... And please show me your PHB with torn out and blackened pages...

it is the same old compains over and over again and you get the same answer: no one forces you to use essential classes. The old fighter is still valid and still gets support, despite what some people claim.


[MENTION=996]Tony Vargas[/MENTION]
And yes, the fighter mark punishment should become a opportunity action power. But you should consider IF it should get the wis bonus to hit or not. for ease of use I would allow it.

To the knight... i still find it mind boggling, that shifting near a knight is worse than just moving away...