Design & Development: Warlord Article UP!

[KarinsDad]

But, in the short term, seems like many of us are going spend more time going "huh?!?", which is hardly desirable.

And that's the cruz of the issue.

It is not that some of us are trying to be difficult or obtuse or anti-4E. Many of the people who have these disconnects are excited to try 4E.

It's that game mechanics without good rationals is cool for the sake of cool, and for no reason that lends itself to a good believability framework. And that framework is needed by some of us to get a good mental handle on some aspects of the game.

It's great that some people can ignore it or even embrace it. Some of us have different horses in the race (i.e. different motivations for playing, different ways to have fun, different design elements that suspend our level of disbelief, etc.).

For me, the main thing is plausibility. The 1 1 1 diagonal rule, or the insta-heal overnight, or some of these martial powers will become bothersome.

I really don't think I'll have much of an issue with the arcane powers or the divine powers (magical elements can be weird and non-plausible by definition) or racial abilities or any of that stuff.

Just the mundane stuff not being mundane.

And, I do not really have an issue with mundane stuff becoming fantastical by high level. The Rogue has so much skill in avoiding traps that he pulls off Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon moves at level 20.

I just have a real plausibility or believability issue with it at level one.

Mundane stuff (like martial powers) should be relatively believable, explanable, and mundane at low level. And I don't mean mundane as in boring, I mean mundane as in "it can happen in the real world with real martial fighting techniques".

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Which is why I am hoping WoTC will invest time in Lexicons and general Combat-Fluff for each class. It may not give fluff for each power, but it will give the players/DM the general feel for how each power works in-game thanks to each classes combat fluff.

That could solve some of the "huh" problems.

 

[tomtill]

imagination

I can't imagine why there's so much trouble imagining rationales behind some of the powers available to the players to help narrate the character's activities.

I mean, we are talking about adding role playing to tactical battle scenes!

What could be better than that?

This is a game about.....IMAGINATION!

The explanation for a particular power does not have to be the same each time.

The event occurs by the rules.

It's up to the player/DM to narrate the description of the event--this is role playing.

Does the warlord use his superior tactical skills to expose an opening? Does he inspire his allies, intimidate his foes? Does he cause an (abstracted) grievous wound hampering the opponent for the encounter? Yes! As needed or desired by the narrative.

The powers ARE gamist: ALL rules are, by definition. It's a game.

The narrative can be as gamist or as simulationist as your table desires.

Want it more simulationist? Use your IMAGINATION to come up with a suitable narrative.

Remember it's a game about IMAGINATION!

Challenged? Ask for help.

Contrary by nature? Unwilling to suspend disbelief, even for a(n otherwise) really good movie/book/game? Somehow convinced that another game system is more "real"?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Well, you know.

 

[CleverNickName]

Do we know what it means for a power to be "reliable?" I don't think I've seen it before...or if I have, I didn't notice it until now.

Anyway, about the warlord. I don't like it...too much emphasis on moving other creatures around, too flashy, not front-loaded enough, lame power names. I want a class that will make an enemy bleed from the ears, not move him around the room. Now, I may not like it, but that doesn't make it a "bad" class. After all, there are plenty of award-winning movies out there that I can't stand, and I still have no idea why Justin Timberlake's music is so popular. (shrug)

If I had to rank the characters in order of most-to-least favorite, based solely on what we have seen so far, I would rank them thusly:

Rogue (most favorite so far)
Fighter
Ranger
Cleric
Paladin
Wizard
Warlock
Warlord (least favorite so far)

Doubtlessly, I will be revising this list once my 4E PHB comes in.

 

[Fifth Element]

Do we know what it means for a power to be "reliable?" I don't think I've seen it before...or if I have, I didn't notice it until now.

It means it's not expended on a miss. You can keep trying until you hit with it.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Reliable means that even if you miss that Daily Power isn't gone. So a fighter can miss with his Reliable Daily 5-times in a row then hit on the 6th.

Damn ninjas.

 

[small pumpkin man]

Do we know what it means for a power to be "reliable?" I don't think I've seen it before...or if I have, I didn't notice it until now.

It means that it's not expended if you miss, I believe all Fighter Dailys are like that, but I could be as wrong as I'm slow, I'm very very slow.

 

[Fifth Element]

I want a class that will make an enemy bleed from the ears, not move him around the room. Now, I may not like it, but that doesn't make it a "bad" class.

Okay, but that's not the point of the warlord. If you're trying to make foes bleed from the ears, this is not the class you're looking for.

 

[CleverNickName]

Okay, but that's not the point of the warlord. If you're trying to make foes bleed from the ears, this is not the class you're looking for.

Exactly. That's why it's at the bottom of my list. I'm not saying it sould be at the bottom of everyone's list...

 

[FireLance]

I'm thinking everyone in the party plays a warlord and takes Iron Dragon Charge as thier daily.

That way, whenever one of us charges, we all charge! Twenty-five attacks per round. It will rock.

I think the limit of one immediate action per character per round will still apply, so that's a maximum of 10 attacks per round. The characters will also have to fulfill the requirements of a charge, so they must move at least 2 squares and cannot move through enemies. Depending on the current tactical situation, this may impose a further limit on the number of viable charges. Finally, the characters may provoke opportunity attacks if they are already in melee or must move through an opponent's threatened area in order to charge. While the character could still charge, he may be better off not charging.