D&D (2024) How should the Warlord be implemented in 1DnD?

[CreamCloud0]

so what subclasses would people give the warlord? what would their specialisations be? the ones that immediately come to mind for me would be:
maneuvre use focus
healing focus
martial combat focus
1/3 caster support
protection focus

 

[Incenjucar]

so what subclasses would people give the warlord? what would their specialisations be? the ones that immediately come to mind for me would be:
maneuvre use focus
healing focus
martial combat focus
1/3 caster support
protection focus

Survivalist (camp counselor)
Coordinator (use the buddy system!)
Disruptor (anti-leader to the enemy)
Horde General (leader of leaders, all your pets unite)
Lancer (focuses on helping one character at a time)
Teacher (skill buffs for days)

 

[CreamCloud0]

Survivalist (camp counselor)
Coordinator (use the buddy system!)
Disruptor (anti-leader to the enemy)
Horde General (leader of leaders, all your pets unite)
Lancer (focuses on helping one character at a time)
Teacher (skill buffs for days)

honestly not sure if this is actually meant to a serious response or not? like, those descriptions do skirt the edges of what i would expect a warlord to do but at the same time the specific phrasing chosen makes them seem like they haven't been given in full seriousness.

 

[Undrave]

so what subclasses would people give the warlord? what would their specialisations be? the ones that immediately come to mind for me would be:
maneuvre use focus
healing focus
martial combat focus
1/3 caster support
protection focus

Here's the ones I had for my attempt at a Warlord Class:

Ardent Soul: Psionic Subclass that uses their emotion to power-up others. Granted the ability to turn Temp HP (that they could also grant) into fire damage (later cold and radiant)
Ballistarius: The ranged combat specialist (My Warlord didn't have Longbow prof as default) who could extend the range and accuracy of allies and had bonus extra synergy with the rarely used siege weapons (mostly for a bit of thematic flare).
Borderland Marshall: Bit of a Ranger MC class but without the magic. Gains survival and tracking skills, and specializes in simple or improvised weapons as the frontier is not well equipped.
Chosen One: Touched by divine destiny to lead others to a glorious goal. Perfect for a Princess build. Came with luck altering abilities, charisma skills and a few usage of divine healing spells.
Rabble Rouser: An underhanded subclass that can lead underdogs to victory, either as a bandit king or revolutionary leader. Gains roguish skills.
Silverblade Captain: An order of anti-magic specialists that can ward their allies from magical attacks and even know some rituals of their own, mostly aimed at tracking down enemy casters.
Steel Scholar: A subclass that marries intellect with pursuits of martial mastery. Bit of a Fighter MC subclass but with judo-like abilities that let them topple even the biggest foes to make them easier to handle.
White Raven Tactician: The sort of 'basic' subclass that simply improves and expends the base abilities of the class with a focus on a tactical and analytical mindset.

My Warlord could lean to INT, CHA or WIS as a secondary and, while all the subclasses had a favorable match up with a specific mental attribute, I made sure to make them so that you wouldn't feel obligated to favor one of the three, and that you could discover interesting synergies with the other stats. Still, Arden Soul, Chosen One and Rabble Rouser are mostly CHA subclasses, Ballistarius, Borderland Marshall are mostly WIS and the last three mostly INT.

 

[James Gasik]

honestly not sure if this is actually meant to a serious response or not? like, those descriptions do skirt the edges of what i would expect a warlord to do but at the same time the specific phrasing chosen makes them seem like they haven't been given in full seriousness.

Basically Warlord subclasses would fall into two main categories. The Tactician, who wins through superior planning and preparation, and the Commander, who wins through leadership and inspiration- though this is an area the Bard already covers (and to a lesser extent, the Paladin).

I would like to see a Professor/Sage, who isn't all that in combat, but uses his vast knowledge to help others win battles (and would have some out of combat utility as well). I imagine he'd have a better "monster identification" ability than the Battlemaster.

Some people might like the high risk/high reward playstyle of the old Bravura Warlord. I wouldn't mind seeing a build that specializes in shouting at people (I'd call it the Virago).

 

[Incenjucar]

honestly not sure if this is actually meant to a serious response or not? like, those descriptions do skirt the edges of what i would expect a warlord to do but at the same time the specific phrasing chosen makes them seem like they haven't been given in full seriousness.

I was being quite serious, just also jovial about it.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I think an ideal "Warlord that I'd like to see" would be a reintroduction of the the ToB Warblade, with the Warlord simply being one that chose mostly White Raven abilities. Other tactical warrior types would be available simply by choosing other disciplines.

Second would probably be an actual finished and polished version of the Warlord class that I put together for a player of mine. The mechanical concept was "what is there was a "full caster" version of the battlemaster in the same way that a wizard is a full caster version of the Eldritch Knight."

There were two main decision points in the class: The style, and the actual subclass. Style governed the size of superiority dice the number in your pool, and how you replenished them. Either Architect (pool refreshes on rest, dice size increases faster and larger pool) or Improviser (smaller die and very small pool, but refreshes continuously.)
Subclass mostly gave you bonuses to specific types of maneuvers, but any warlord that had the prerequisites could pick any maneuver.

 

[Vaalingrade]

so what subclasses would people give the warlord? what would their specialisations be? the ones that immediately come to mind for me would be:
maneuvre use focus
healing focus
martial combat focus
1/3 caster support
protection focus

Mobile Tactician, focused on moving the party around and enforcing good position. Bring back my boy, Wolf Pack Tactics.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

so what subclasses would people give the warlord? what would their specialisations be? the ones that immediately come to mind for me would be:
maneuvre use focus
healing focus
martial combat focus
1/3 caster support
protection focus

So it is the fighter.

My take: buff the fighter with what the warlord should get by default. Warlord and Fighter join forces to be on par with casters.
Done.

Maneuver focus: battlemaster
Healing focus: new subclass (edit: or much improved banneret/purple knight)
Martial combat focus: champion
1/3 caster: eldritch knight with 2 more schools.
Protection focus: improved cavallier

 

[doctorbadwolf]

so what subclasses would people give the warlord? what would their specialisations be? the ones that immediately come to mind for me would be:
maneuvre use focus
healing focus
martial combat focus
1/3 caster support
protection focus

Outlaw Captain (outdoors and dirty fighting)

Knight-Captain - heavy with a shield and heavy armor and noble bearing

Genius Scholar - info based subclass that is a bg nerd. Adventuring Da Vinci.

Vanguard - always first to the front. Initiative bonus, can bonus action shove after moving 20 feet, has a couple different battle cries that are used when charging that give allies who follow you into battle a specific buff

Something swashbuckler style

Swordmage - caster that can use the core class resource to fuel magic, has a spellbook, can share spell effects on allied weapon attacks