If a Warlord class existed, what two saves would you give it, and why?

[Tony Vargas]

Of course there is. We've seen it, repeatedly, for years now.

We've seen a debate about whether it should be.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Dangit Mearls!!! It definitely wasn't that way historically.

This is just saves, which in 5e are very restricted, not relevant stats.

 

[Aldarc]

This poll is just one more datapoint in the "People can't even agree on what the Warlord is" debate. Is it an Intelligent warrior? A Wis warrior? A charismatic warrior? It's not going to be two or three of those, just one. We're not going to get subclasses that key off of different stats. But, people have fundamental differences in how they perceive the Warlord even down to this level.

Which once again proves no matter what WOTC goes with, some meaningful portion of Warlord fans will be disappointed.

This seems more like another drive-by shitpost in a warlord thread than any real meaningful criticism, which becomes clear when one looks more closely at the underlying debate at hand. Part of the issue stems from the nature of 5e saves rather than a disagreement of what the Warlord is: i.e., one primary save, one secondary save. In a system like 3e, the Warlord would likely have had strong Fortitude and Will saves. (And the 3e Marshal class did.) In 4e, the Warlord did receive a +1 Fortitude and +1 Will saves. But how would you express that in 5e? Strength and Wisdom or Constitution and Intelligence/Charisma?

You say that this reflects the "'People can't even agree on what the Warlord is' debate," but you would likely have similar issue with a number of classes in 5e if these verdicts on their saves did not come down from the Powers That Be. For example, do you honestly think that people would have picked Strength and Wisdom for the Monk without debate? I don't. Or what about the Paladin? Could it not also have been Constitution and Charisma instead of Wisdom and Charisma? Or how about the Bard? Why is not Wisdom and Charisma instead of Dexterity and Charisma?

So I don't think that this is empty talk about "no one agrees on the Warlord" - as I do think that a lot of the fundamental agreement is there - but, rather, how would one best express the Warlord in 5e, wherein one doesn't get both autoaccess to both Constitution (ex-Fortitude) and Wisdom (ex-Will) saves?

So what the results reflect, IMHO, are two camps of thought depending on how one leans on translating the strong Fort+Will saves of 3e-4e to 5e:
1) Strong Fort + Secondary Mental: Constitution + Intelligence/Charisma
2) Strong Will + Secondary Martial: Wisdom + Strength

Honestly, I think either Wisdom/Strength or Constitution/Intelligence would work.

 

[Tallifer]

A warlord is experienced in command and organized battle, so Charisma and Intelligence. However much that would suck in most situations, it is my vote.

 

[mellored]

Int, Cha, Con.

Yes, all 3. He get's to be a little special.

 

[Aldarc]

One option worth potentially exploring is that the Warlord could unlock another save at a later level, much akin to the Rogue (i.e., Slippery Mind).

 

[BookBarbarian]

To me it comes done to questions like:

Should the Warlord be particularly good at not being knocked down?
Should the Warlord be particularly good at not being roasted by Dragonfire?
Should the Warlord be particularly good at not being diseased or poisoned?
Should the Warlord be particularly good at not being brain-scooped by a Mindflayer?
Should the Warlord be particularly good at not being coerced by charm or fear?
Should the Warlord be particularly good at not being banished from this plain of existence?

It's definitely not about what stats should be high on a Warlord.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Should the Warlord be particularly good at not being coerced by charm or fear?

Any warrior concept should be particularly good at this, and, in 5e, isn't.

It's definitely not about what stats should be high on a Warlord.

Doesn't every PH class have save proficiency in it's traditional prime requisite?

Not that I don't agree, just that it's a little late to start doing saves right.

 

[Prakriti]

Int, Cha, Con.

Yes, all 3. He get's to be a little special.

I like it. You could also make it Con/Cha, and save Intelligence proficiency for level 3 or 4 to represent the Warlord's growing battle experience.

 

[Satyrn]

We've seen a debate about whether it should be.

I'm starting to think the debate only exists because Russian spies have hacked into some of our accounts