Intelligence Warlord with a focus on Healing, damage mitigation and action enabling

[Miladoon]

That's what I thought, but it shows up as a first level and a second level feature. Does this Warlord have two fighting styles by level two?

 

[Psikerlord#]

Is the download file the same as the scrollable pdf? I looked over the pdf and did not see any archetypes. Maybe I missed them.

I am not aware of a Fighting style at second level being part of the standard fighter.

I would like to see a spell-less support class but why not build a solid support class and then put Warlord and Bard in there as subclasses? That seems like the way 5 is doing it and it should save you the work of building your spell-less Bard.

At level 12, Warning Shout reduces ~22 points of damage to someone every time you use a reaction. (reactionary action = reaction). That is pretty significant healing. The long rest cooldown is a little disjointed. "Sorry man, I couldn't warn you this time because I warned you last encounter."

Combat Medic is a common mantra for Warlord builds but it is something that never made sense to me. In my mind a combat medic is less of an authority/leadership/enabler focus and more of a run through bullets to get the fallen kinda guy.

Fantasy Commando and Green Berets is a valid playstyle but I think a spell-less support class would get more play if it was designed with the same space as the cleric but not tied to military application like the typical Warlord draft. That way, players that fight lots can have a support class focused on combat or a support class that has a clear advantage exploring, or one that is a socialite. There are players that play clerics to support their mates, but begrudgingly because they don't want the religion factor or spells.

Thanks for your thoughts Miladoon, I appreciate your feedback.

The files are the same - there is only the single rolled up class and subclass. I should have made that clearer at the outset, I'm not trying to tackle the entire 4e warlord in all it's forms - too hard!! I agree that the typical 5e approach is multiple subclasses and ideally a new class would reflect that. I guess I've intentionally restricted it to just the one Intelligence warlord class/subclass all in one, because it's easier/simpler! I agree a new support class base, then subclasses of bard and warlord, could work very well. When I wrote up this warlord I was not thinking too much about the bard, although I did have an idea of where I wanted bard to go. In future I might have a go at combining the two as your suggest. Certainly a more a standard 5e approach.

On the other hand, separate classes allow for more differentiated in abilities and themes, and as a player the more unique abilities I have the happier I am (usually).

Yes I agree warning shout and combat medic at higher level mitigate or heal a lot of damage. The reason for that is this intended to be a replacement for the cleric in a low magic world. I agree there is a bit of a "gamist" aspect to the limit of once per short rest, but it's obviously there for balance reasons, and as El Mahdi suggests I think there are ways to explain it roleplaying wise.

Yeah combat medic is a central ability for this version of the warlord. Again that's because I mean for this class to substitute for the cleric's healing capabilities.

I hear what you're saying about a support class not necessarily tied to a military theme. I can certainly see the attraction. I am hoping to do a spell less bard variant next for more choice. For me, I think that will cover the two main alternatives to magic healing in a low magic world. So for bard I'm thinking charisma based, temp hps bolstering, song of rest healing, expertise, and legend lore style knowledge. Something like that anyway..?

Thanks again for your input Miladoon. Given me a few things to think about and how to tweak things further.

 

[Psikerlord#]

I would make the abilities "warlord level".

Warning shout: should be per short rest, putting it more on par with second wind. Also probably add "if this reduces damage to 0, it's a miss".

Ah yeah thanks Mellored. I don't use multiclassing so I forgot about that.

Yeah I thought about warning shout and the comparison to second wind. I purposely went for a more generous approach, mainly because (i) the ability only helps allies, not the warlord himself, and (ii) because this warlord is intended to be the party's primary healing/damage reduction source.

I personally agree on the "if reduced to zero hp, it's a miss" approach. I expect most DM's would probably rule that way, but I'm happy to leave that a bit open/flexible in interpretation.

Thanks very much Mellored for your comments, good stuff.

 

[Psikerlord#]

That's what I thought, but it shows up as a first level and a second level feature. Does this Warlord have two fighting styles by level two?

Sorry no - the table is correct, there should be no second reference to it in the write up - I'll delete that tonight!