Class Compendium: The Warlord (Marshal)

[Mengu]

For the record the options available to Wizards in 4E are:

Tome
Staff
Wand
Orb
Nethermancer
Necromancer
Evoker
Pyromancer
Illusionist
Enchantment

They don't need more options. It's time to leave the Wizard alone. It really is. If you can't find something awesome to play out of that, you would never be satisfied with anything.

Warlocks, Sorcerers, Invokers are just more "wizards" with different mechanics.

And just to take a look at another offender in that department, here is a quick list of options for Fighter:

Heavy Blade
Light Blade
Spear
Hammer
Axe
Guardian
Greatweapon
Tempest
Battlerager
Brawler
Arena
Knight (Shield, Quarterstaff, Feywild)
Slayer
Weaponmaster (maybe this is a reprint of one/two handed weapon talent)

Players just like fighters and wizards that much. Designers probably see how frequently these two classes get played, and keep publishing more material for them.

 

[Aegeri]

There are way to many fighters as well.

I mean if you read back through the thread - or maybe one of the others - I've clearly stated I want to see no more Fighters/Wizards/Clerics/Paladins or pretty much anything else from the PHB again. There are other classes that Wizards could support.

The irony is that in a recent article Wizards were on about how some classes felt "Oversaturated", yet seem to have missed the blindingly obvious that they are contributing to that most (See the amount of bloody fighter and wizard build). Adding to classes that have virtually nothing would go a long way to making them better and not add to that "oversaturation" whatsoever.

Edit: I am indeed very consistent.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Well, Essentials was in a bit of a catch-22 for that when it came out. If the idea is you want an introductory product that always stays in print, it makes sense to hit the Big 4 classes (Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, Rogue), since that's what people will be expecting from D&D. I'm pretty sure one shouldn't expect Essentials to support the Runepriest.

That said, I am generally on board with them doing new things rather than treading the same water.

However, keep in mind what was mentioned in the Necromancer Design and Development article: If you make something a class, it walls off its powers and mechanics from any other character. Since Most D&D players don't need a lot of options they can never, ever use, supporting existing classes in new ways is probably a better idea than making brand new classes.

That still leaves a lot of space that's not "Lets make more Fighter Powers!!!!!", though.

 

[Aegeri]

Don't get me wrong, I love my fighters, wizards, clerics and such. They are fine. It's just that as they are, there is absolutely nothing wrong with them and they can happily stay that way. There are things CLEARLY wrong with other classes and these things are not insurmountable problems. They are "A bit of support and presto, fun and interesting class to play" territory. That we seem to have gone to a "Everything should be for PHB1 classes, screw everyone else" mode of publishing is immensely disappointing.

It's one reason I will shed no tears over the Class Paid for Erra- I mean Class Compendium being canceled. I don't need or want to be sold the same crap I already have multiple times.

 

[Argyle King]

I noticed that Commander's Strike still has the 'weapon' keyword. If I grant an attack, and my ally scores a critical hit, does it trigger the extra damage from my weapon to be added to the damage?

 

[Aegeri]

I noticed that Commander's Strike still has the 'weapon' keyword. If I grant an attack, and my ally scores a critical hit, does it trigger the extra damage from my weapon to be added to the damage?

No, because you never made an attack roll or rolled any damage. It's an effect line, so doesn't trigger anything to do with your criticals.

 

[RangerWickett]

See, this is why I like class permeable D&D. Have classes with preset stuff, but let people grab the stuff in other classes. I'm a knight, but at 5th level when I would get weapon mastery (which does some extra damage throughout a fight), I can pick a fighter daily power (which does some extra damage right now), or a wizard encounter power from a lower level, or a warlock's curse.

 

[kaomera]

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.

A lot of businesses (like, maybe all of them) are experiencing cash-flow issues right now, due to the economy. I think WotC probably had a decent idea of how many books they could sell before Essentials came out, which then proved to be no longer valid given that book-sellers and distributors where probably cutting back on orders at the same time that WotC was feeling the need to maximize their bang-for-buck on each product sold. Under better conditions I think that the Class Compendium would have been a viable product, but as it is we'll have to settle for the electronic version...

 

[Zaran]

Keep in mind this was original 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.

There was another reason for the compendium and that was to make ways for features of one style to be adopted by the other. This led people to believe that the warlord would not just be reprinted but have an essentials counterpart. I for one am glad there was not a new eBuild. I am interested in making my cWizard benefi from a school though.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I would have paid for the class compendium just for the form factor.