Undrave
Legend
Here I am again with a brand new version on my previously posted Warlord on the Rogue chassis.
Here's the Homebrewery link: Warlord V2
EDIT II: Okay so the presentation issues only seem to happen on certain browsers, so I'm not crazy. Homebrewery is designed for Chrome and the brew appears well on Firefox, just not on other browsers.
This new version modifies signals into three distinct chunks, fixes a few things here and there, and introduces the Ballistarius, Borderlands Marshall and Chosen One subclasses.
Here is some design notes, more to come later for the subclasses.
HD : I felt that I wanted the Warlord to be tougher than a Rogue, but the 5e Rogue is as tough as a Cleric too, however the 5e Rogue has a TON of defensive abilities that make its lower HP last longer, but I was going to trade those features in for support abilites! So a Warlord wouldn't be as hard to hit. At first I felt like d10 was maybe a little too much? It's the HD of Fighters, Paladin and Rangers after all... But then I considered that a Warlord would want good Mental stats and a good Attack stat so there would be less incentive to invest in CON and, eventually, the Warlord would have less HP over 20 level than the other more Martial types. So low defenses and low CON made it feel balanced and thus justified to go with the D10.
Armors : I felt like Heavy Armor was too much, but I also don't expect a non-archer Warlord to have much in term of DEX. The Shield is there to compensate for that and maybe push them towards a lower damaging weapon.
Weapons : This felt a bit difficult, but looking at how the Rogue got access to Rapier and the Monk has specific weapons. I decided not to give the Warlord access to ALL the martial weapons, just a handful. I wanted to give them damage type option, so I made sure to include piercing, slashing and bludgeoning weapons. I felt the Pike was the iconic phalanx weapon so a Warlord would be a good class to use it, but I'm still questioning removing it since I want to keep the Warlord as a D8 damage class at the first few levels. I decided I would keep Longbow and Heavy Crossbow away from the base class, however. I got a subclass in mind that gets it.
Saving Throws : I picked Wisdom as their 'Strong' Save since I figured a mental one would be better. There's a bit more support for CHA and INT in the class so far so Wisdom proficiency helps keep a decent bonus for investing in Wisdom. INT felt like the best 'Weak Save' to throw in, but CHA could have also been there.
Skills and tools : I wanted the Warlord to feel cultured and clever, but not be an actual skill monkey like a Bard or a Rogue, hence why they don't get as many skills as the Rogue. They do get a pick of different tools instead of just one. It's a bit annoying how the Rogue and Criminal Background double up on Thieves Tools ya know?
The tools I picked were the ones I felt match the image I had in mind of a learned warrior like the Warlord. Enough room to add some personality and not double up with your background too.
Skills wise I feel like I could have put Perception in there, and I know I'd have plenty of reason to put ALL the CHA skills in there. At the same time, Perception is a very desirable skill and I felt it would be a lot to have all the 'good' skills in the same class so I kept it limited to Insight and didn't put Deception in the list. If you can get all the skills you want just by picking a good class it lessens the impact of your background.
Equipment : This was a tough one. I looked at the Rogue, looked at the Ranger and Cleric as well to get a feel for the sort of load out that works. I don't know if anyone would ever pick the Javelins option but it's always there for STR classes so why not? Should I replace the Longsword and Shield option with Shortsword and Shield? Is that too good? What was important is that you could get a totally different vibe from a character just by what equipment options a player pick.
Battlefield Insight : I just really like the idea of generating the ressource you expend to do your Warlordy thing. One thing that was important to me from the get go was the concept that you could be Warlord-like on every turn. You don't need to rest to be a Warlord again, just as you don't need to rest to be do Sneak Attacks as a Rogue, nor do you need a rest to get the bonus from your Fighting -style, or to use a Cantrip. So taking the Sneak Attack mechanic and applying it to Battlefield Insight worked great for me. It forces you to be active and not just bark order from the back, gives you reasons to actually attack and be providing damage and would give rise to some interesting tactical choices: do I attack the guy next to the Barbarian so he can use an Insight Dice to gain advantage or do I think the Barbarian's got this on his next turn and I should help the Ranger get started on this guy who hasn't taken a hit? You can just keep piling damage on the same guy like with Sneak Attack or take your allies power into consideration (Overkill would basically be a waste of time here).
I chose to make Battlefield Insight a D8 because I figured it depended on TWO attack rolls instead of one like with Sneak Attack. It's slightly easier (but not THAT much) to apply, but, since you need to decide to use them before swinging, if your ally misses, they expended the dice for nothing. I pretty much used the same progression as Sneak Attacks otherwise.
Shouts : Of couse I needed to get that Lazylord flavor in here. I didn't want to just copy Commander's Strike because, to many melee characters, a Reaction is precious. So I went with the way it is now where the Warlord essentially takes one of his own Attack and grants it to an ally with a small boost. When I hit on the idea of using the Rogue as a chassis I really wanted to take the challenge of a fully at-will support class, so Shouts, and later Signals, don't use any long term ressources. I planned on adding a subclass that can do nothing but Shouts on their turn and still get to apply a couple of Insight Dice and that's what the Chosen One is for.
SHAKE IT OFF is a bit odd because I don't think 'a condition a save can end" is actual 5e parlance, but there are plenty of conditions that CAN be ended by a save beyond the original affliction. Like Aboleth mind control. Technically this should work on a Grappled ally so they can get out of it on your turn.
I also decided I wanted the basic Shouts to represented the three mental stats since I already had two based off INT and CHA, but also Tactician and Inspiring Warlords. So I created MOVE. The whole thinking process is a bit odd... 4e had a Skirmisher Warlord and Skirmisher made me think of Ranger which makes me think of WIS so good move would be based on good WIS. Odd, but I think it works. They can all be useful even if you have a 0 in the mental stat, but they softly push you toward a playstyle depending on which stat you favored.
Also note I chose the term 'Shout' instead of the more obvious 'Command' to dissociate the concept with the 'Bossing other players around!' fear that some have whenever the Warlord is brought up. In this situation, fulff-wise, you don't order people to do a thing, you just show them an opportunity they missed and they get to choose to do it or not.
Student of Banners : Stole it from my previous Fighter subclass homebrew. I thought it made sense for someone properly trained in the art of war and I needed a ribbon ability to replace Thieves Cant. It's not really powerful but it adds some flare.
Warlord Presence : Again, I went with the softer push toward a playstyle thing, where a good INT, CHA or WIS isn't REALLY necessary, but still makes your precense more effective. I also decided NOT to attach this feature to Subclasses... mostly because I had trouble coming up with more presence. I'm also a fan of the Mix and Match style of the Warlock and I felt like you could realistically make, for exemple, a Steel Protector with any of the three Presence and they would be a drastically different character. Even White Raven could work with an Inspiring Presence. They're meant to compliment each other, but not clash with each other.
Coded Signal : This is where I wanted to give more options for what to do with Insight Dice and trading them in for effect, using your bonus action, felt like the best way to do it. You could, obviously, completely ignore them and still be an effective support that accelerates combat, but using Signals properly would probably be a lot of fun as well. I also wanted, unlike with Maneuvers, a scaling system, hence the idea that you need to sacrifice more damage for stronger effects. Originally I had a big list of effects with scattered number of dice as a gating system, but that felt a bit limiting so I eventually split them into three batches with not so dissimilar cost. Also created new signals, changed some around, and really played into the whole Mix-and-match aspect by having signals that would obviously synergize well with the themes of the different subclasses.
Admitedly this is the section that I feel is the fiddliest of the base class AND the one that would need the most playtest. I didn't come up with any sort of formula for attributing effects. I just looked at how many dice you'd get at the level I felt was appropriate for certain effects. And for the lower level ones I looked at what king of rider a Cantrip can have and I considered the Rogues own Cunning Action.
I'm not sure how to properly convey it, but the philosophy behind a lot of effects in this class and what you can do with Shouts basically boil down to "What if I played X class instead and just did Y action instead of having my ally do it when I do Z action." In other words, when I use the STRIKE! shout to give the Paladin another attack...what if I was ALSO a Paladin and just attacked one more time?
The only advantage here, then, is that I basically have this floating shapeshiting character who can be at different points of a battlefield during different round. One round I'm a Paladin attacking Goblin #1, the next I'm actually a Rogue using Cunning Action to disengage from Goblin #2, in the other I'm next to the downed ally using my action to give him a potion... and so forth. This flexibility is the real strength of my Warlord.
Extra Attack : Extra Attack is mostly there so that, at later level, the Warlord can do both an attack (thus generating Insight) and a Shout. It replaces Uncanny Dodge, a defensive ability, from the Rogue chassis. I think it a also help keep the Warlord a decent-ish combattant on its own. The Ranger and Paladin get extra attacks and they have a bunch of spells and a Fighting style.
Veteran Poise : Another ribbon stolen from my old Fighter. Its not much but I really didn't want to leave the Warlord with just basic proficiencies outside of combat, even if they weren't meant to be a skill monkey. Continued Education and Seasoned Instructor continue this trend. Continued Education adds breadth to the Warlord's skill, if not the same high number (AKA Depth) as a class with Expertise. Seasoned Instructor in the meantime is meant to make the Warlord a good support outside of battle as well, meaning that pairing them with a proper Skill Monkey makes everybody more effective.
Tempered Body : The Rogue gets WIS saves so I felt giving the Warlord CON save was good. I also figured throwing the STR save in there wouldn't do much but would paint a more interesting picture so here it is. I think a Rogue's DEX+WIS saves make for a stronger set of saves since I feel like they come up way more often. Keep DEX as a blind spot for the Warlord felt like a good way to differientiate it from, say, a Bard.
Ultimate Awareness : Since this is an 18th level ability, I'm way less worried about balance. At that level, your abilities should feel like big deals and if they don't break something they're not a big deal, you know? It's also how I designed the subclasses capstones. I don't think there is much that add to passive scores and since you don't get Peception or Investigation proficiency with the class (unless you take it with Continued Education) it's possible that the +5 mostly helps you keep up with proficient allies. I thought it made for a good extension of the whole concept of Battlefield Insight.
Peerless Insight : Improving on previous class features is always easier to do than come up with brand new ones. This one feels a bit underwhelming but at the same time the reason I made Insight Dice stronger than Sneak Attack Dice is because you needed two attacks to activate them... this capstone ability essentially removes that caveat. The Warlord can basically let ANY of his ally attack with a D8 Sneak attack so I think it's a good DPS bonus.
Here's the Homebrewery link: Warlord V2
EDIT II: Okay so the presentation issues only seem to happen on certain browsers, so I'm not crazy. Homebrewery is designed for Chrome and the brew appears well on Firefox, just not on other browsers.
This new version modifies signals into three distinct chunks, fixes a few things here and there, and introduces the Ballistarius, Borderlands Marshall and Chosen One subclasses.
Here is some design notes, more to come later for the subclasses.
HD : I felt that I wanted the Warlord to be tougher than a Rogue, but the 5e Rogue is as tough as a Cleric too, however the 5e Rogue has a TON of defensive abilities that make its lower HP last longer, but I was going to trade those features in for support abilites! So a Warlord wouldn't be as hard to hit. At first I felt like d10 was maybe a little too much? It's the HD of Fighters, Paladin and Rangers after all... But then I considered that a Warlord would want good Mental stats and a good Attack stat so there would be less incentive to invest in CON and, eventually, the Warlord would have less HP over 20 level than the other more Martial types. So low defenses and low CON made it feel balanced and thus justified to go with the D10.
Armors : I felt like Heavy Armor was too much, but I also don't expect a non-archer Warlord to have much in term of DEX. The Shield is there to compensate for that and maybe push them towards a lower damaging weapon.
Weapons : This felt a bit difficult, but looking at how the Rogue got access to Rapier and the Monk has specific weapons. I decided not to give the Warlord access to ALL the martial weapons, just a handful. I wanted to give them damage type option, so I made sure to include piercing, slashing and bludgeoning weapons. I felt the Pike was the iconic phalanx weapon so a Warlord would be a good class to use it, but I'm still questioning removing it since I want to keep the Warlord as a D8 damage class at the first few levels. I decided I would keep Longbow and Heavy Crossbow away from the base class, however. I got a subclass in mind that gets it.
Saving Throws : I picked Wisdom as their 'Strong' Save since I figured a mental one would be better. There's a bit more support for CHA and INT in the class so far so Wisdom proficiency helps keep a decent bonus for investing in Wisdom. INT felt like the best 'Weak Save' to throw in, but CHA could have also been there.
Skills and tools : I wanted the Warlord to feel cultured and clever, but not be an actual skill monkey like a Bard or a Rogue, hence why they don't get as many skills as the Rogue. They do get a pick of different tools instead of just one. It's a bit annoying how the Rogue and Criminal Background double up on Thieves Tools ya know?
The tools I picked were the ones I felt match the image I had in mind of a learned warrior like the Warlord. Enough room to add some personality and not double up with your background too.
Skills wise I feel like I could have put Perception in there, and I know I'd have plenty of reason to put ALL the CHA skills in there. At the same time, Perception is a very desirable skill and I felt it would be a lot to have all the 'good' skills in the same class so I kept it limited to Insight and didn't put Deception in the list. If you can get all the skills you want just by picking a good class it lessens the impact of your background.
Equipment : This was a tough one. I looked at the Rogue, looked at the Ranger and Cleric as well to get a feel for the sort of load out that works. I don't know if anyone would ever pick the Javelins option but it's always there for STR classes so why not? Should I replace the Longsword and Shield option with Shortsword and Shield? Is that too good? What was important is that you could get a totally different vibe from a character just by what equipment options a player pick.
Battlefield Insight : I just really like the idea of generating the ressource you expend to do your Warlordy thing. One thing that was important to me from the get go was the concept that you could be Warlord-like on every turn. You don't need to rest to be a Warlord again, just as you don't need to rest to be do Sneak Attacks as a Rogue, nor do you need a rest to get the bonus from your Fighting -style, or to use a Cantrip. So taking the Sneak Attack mechanic and applying it to Battlefield Insight worked great for me. It forces you to be active and not just bark order from the back, gives you reasons to actually attack and be providing damage and would give rise to some interesting tactical choices: do I attack the guy next to the Barbarian so he can use an Insight Dice to gain advantage or do I think the Barbarian's got this on his next turn and I should help the Ranger get started on this guy who hasn't taken a hit? You can just keep piling damage on the same guy like with Sneak Attack or take your allies power into consideration (Overkill would basically be a waste of time here).
I chose to make Battlefield Insight a D8 because I figured it depended on TWO attack rolls instead of one like with Sneak Attack. It's slightly easier (but not THAT much) to apply, but, since you need to decide to use them before swinging, if your ally misses, they expended the dice for nothing. I pretty much used the same progression as Sneak Attacks otherwise.
Shouts : Of couse I needed to get that Lazylord flavor in here. I didn't want to just copy Commander's Strike because, to many melee characters, a Reaction is precious. So I went with the way it is now where the Warlord essentially takes one of his own Attack and grants it to an ally with a small boost. When I hit on the idea of using the Rogue as a chassis I really wanted to take the challenge of a fully at-will support class, so Shouts, and later Signals, don't use any long term ressources. I planned on adding a subclass that can do nothing but Shouts on their turn and still get to apply a couple of Insight Dice and that's what the Chosen One is for.
SHAKE IT OFF is a bit odd because I don't think 'a condition a save can end" is actual 5e parlance, but there are plenty of conditions that CAN be ended by a save beyond the original affliction. Like Aboleth mind control. Technically this should work on a Grappled ally so they can get out of it on your turn.
I also decided I wanted the basic Shouts to represented the three mental stats since I already had two based off INT and CHA, but also Tactician and Inspiring Warlords. So I created MOVE. The whole thinking process is a bit odd... 4e had a Skirmisher Warlord and Skirmisher made me think of Ranger which makes me think of WIS so good move would be based on good WIS. Odd, but I think it works. They can all be useful even if you have a 0 in the mental stat, but they softly push you toward a playstyle depending on which stat you favored.
Also note I chose the term 'Shout' instead of the more obvious 'Command' to dissociate the concept with the 'Bossing other players around!' fear that some have whenever the Warlord is brought up. In this situation, fulff-wise, you don't order people to do a thing, you just show them an opportunity they missed and they get to choose to do it or not.
Student of Banners : Stole it from my previous Fighter subclass homebrew. I thought it made sense for someone properly trained in the art of war and I needed a ribbon ability to replace Thieves Cant. It's not really powerful but it adds some flare.
Warlord Presence : Again, I went with the softer push toward a playstyle thing, where a good INT, CHA or WIS isn't REALLY necessary, but still makes your precense more effective. I also decided NOT to attach this feature to Subclasses... mostly because I had trouble coming up with more presence. I'm also a fan of the Mix and Match style of the Warlock and I felt like you could realistically make, for exemple, a Steel Protector with any of the three Presence and they would be a drastically different character. Even White Raven could work with an Inspiring Presence. They're meant to compliment each other, but not clash with each other.
Coded Signal : This is where I wanted to give more options for what to do with Insight Dice and trading them in for effect, using your bonus action, felt like the best way to do it. You could, obviously, completely ignore them and still be an effective support that accelerates combat, but using Signals properly would probably be a lot of fun as well. I also wanted, unlike with Maneuvers, a scaling system, hence the idea that you need to sacrifice more damage for stronger effects. Originally I had a big list of effects with scattered number of dice as a gating system, but that felt a bit limiting so I eventually split them into three batches with not so dissimilar cost. Also created new signals, changed some around, and really played into the whole Mix-and-match aspect by having signals that would obviously synergize well with the themes of the different subclasses.
Admitedly this is the section that I feel is the fiddliest of the base class AND the one that would need the most playtest. I didn't come up with any sort of formula for attributing effects. I just looked at how many dice you'd get at the level I felt was appropriate for certain effects. And for the lower level ones I looked at what king of rider a Cantrip can have and I considered the Rogues own Cunning Action.
I'm not sure how to properly convey it, but the philosophy behind a lot of effects in this class and what you can do with Shouts basically boil down to "What if I played X class instead and just did Y action instead of having my ally do it when I do Z action." In other words, when I use the STRIKE! shout to give the Paladin another attack...what if I was ALSO a Paladin and just attacked one more time?
The only advantage here, then, is that I basically have this floating shapeshiting character who can be at different points of a battlefield during different round. One round I'm a Paladin attacking Goblin #1, the next I'm actually a Rogue using Cunning Action to disengage from Goblin #2, in the other I'm next to the downed ally using my action to give him a potion... and so forth. This flexibility is the real strength of my Warlord.
Extra Attack : Extra Attack is mostly there so that, at later level, the Warlord can do both an attack (thus generating Insight) and a Shout. It replaces Uncanny Dodge, a defensive ability, from the Rogue chassis. I think it a also help keep the Warlord a decent-ish combattant on its own. The Ranger and Paladin get extra attacks and they have a bunch of spells and a Fighting style.
Veteran Poise : Another ribbon stolen from my old Fighter. Its not much but I really didn't want to leave the Warlord with just basic proficiencies outside of combat, even if they weren't meant to be a skill monkey. Continued Education and Seasoned Instructor continue this trend. Continued Education adds breadth to the Warlord's skill, if not the same high number (AKA Depth) as a class with Expertise. Seasoned Instructor in the meantime is meant to make the Warlord a good support outside of battle as well, meaning that pairing them with a proper Skill Monkey makes everybody more effective.
Tempered Body : The Rogue gets WIS saves so I felt giving the Warlord CON save was good. I also figured throwing the STR save in there wouldn't do much but would paint a more interesting picture so here it is. I think a Rogue's DEX+WIS saves make for a stronger set of saves since I feel like they come up way more often. Keep DEX as a blind spot for the Warlord felt like a good way to differientiate it from, say, a Bard.
Ultimate Awareness : Since this is an 18th level ability, I'm way less worried about balance. At that level, your abilities should feel like big deals and if they don't break something they're not a big deal, you know? It's also how I designed the subclasses capstones. I don't think there is much that add to passive scores and since you don't get Peception or Investigation proficiency with the class (unless you take it with Continued Education) it's possible that the +5 mostly helps you keep up with proficient allies. I thought it made for a good extension of the whole concept of Battlefield Insight.
Peerless Insight : Improving on previous class features is always easier to do than come up with brand new ones. This one feels a bit underwhelming but at the same time the reason I made Insight Dice stronger than Sneak Attack Dice is because you needed two attacks to activate them... this capstone ability essentially removes that caveat. The Warlord can basically let ANY of his ally attack with a D8 Sneak attack so I think it's a good DPS bonus.
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