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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 7979078" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/KjOOKJ1.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Say what you will about 4th Edition, the warlord was one of the cooler concepts it brought to the table as a core class. When 5th Edition came around it was jettisoned like so many other concepts from that era. Barring the Commander’s Strike maneuver of the Battlemaster Fighter, a spell-less martial leader type of character wasn’t really a thing you can do in terms of raw class features of immediate combat use.Enter Robert J. Schwalb. Already an old hand at writing D&D content for Green Ronin, he decided to self-publish 5th Edition content under Max Press. One of the line’s first products was a spiritual successor to the 4th Edition Warlord. As I am not well-read enough on the original class, I cannot tell you how faithful it is in the transition but will instead judge the class on its own merits.The Warlord is a spell-less martial class which follows most of what you expect: d10 hit die with proficiency in all armor/weapons/shields, although in terms of skills and saving throws it’s a bit closer to the Paladin in being proficient in Wisdom and Charisma and has more cerebral choices such as History, Medicine, and Persuasion. The class is a bit MAD* in that most features are keyed off of Charisma, but for more physical pursuits a good Constitution and Strength/Dexterity is required to mix things up physically with enemies. The Warlord gets an Extra Attack like other martial classes, but interestingly gets a third one at 11th level.*Multi-Ability Dependency, when a class needs at least three high ability scores in order to be effective in its ideal role. Counterpoint is SAD: Compare the Monk to the Wizard, the latter of whom is SAD.Most of the Warlord’s core class features and those of its subclasses do not require an action to activate: most of them use a bonus action, reaction, or trigger automatically in response to specific conditions and attacks. Battlefield Commands are their first and perhaps most important class feature: they can give allies a number of d4s which they can apply in addition to a d20 roll before or after the die is rolled but before success/failure is known. The die’s size increases by one as the Warlord levels up, and can be applied to other things depending on their subclass. The other major feature is Commanding Presence, where characters within 10 to 60 feet (level-based) of the Warlord gain access to special perks.Beyond this the Warlord has other means of aiding teammates, such as adding the Commanding Presence die (but not spending any actual die) as a bonus to allies’ initiative rolls, foregoing any number of their own attacks to grant allies the ability to make bonus attacks as reactions,* grant temporary hit points and even allow others to spend hit dice to deal without a short rest via inspiring speeches, and being able to use the Help action at range as a bonus action which can also end fright/stabilize a dying creature/grant temporary hit points. The Warlord’s 20th level capstone ability makes all allied creatures add the Warlord’s Charisma modifier to their saving throws within range of Commanding Presence, and allies can roll a Battlefield Command die twice and use either result.*A callback to the Lazylord build.Military Stratagems are the Warlord’s archetypes/subclasses, and we can choose from a generous six in this book. The Daring Gambler is all about getting greater risk vs greater reward, and includes such choices as granting allies a pseudo-Power Attack where they take -5 to attack but add 2d6/3d6 bonus damage, or roll a saving throw vs a damaging effect with disadvantage to take no damage instead of full. The Golden General* focuses more on the Warlord themselves doing things to grant boons by leading by example, such as granting advantage on a future attack made against an enemy they successfully hit, or doing a noble sacrifice where they grant advantage on a saving throw to an ally while suffering disadvantage themselves vs an effect hitting both of them. Stratagem of the Hordemaster is about mobility, where the Warlord grants themselves bonus movement if they don’t equip medium/heavy armor or a shield** while also gaining boons and imposing disadvantage on enemies who attempt to opportunity attack them and their allies when they move. Resourceful Leader allows the Warlord to shift Battlefield Command dice among allies as a bonus action, as well as limited-use abilities to add proficiency bonus or command dice to certain d20 rolls. Shrewd Commander’s features are a mixture of offense and defense, the former allowing the warlord to mark a target to grant attack rolls and damage and the latter expending Battlefield Command dice to impose disadvantage when said marked target attacks. The Supreme Tactician gets a unique d4 Tactics Die which can be stored round by round to increase it one die type, all the way up to d12 until the Warlord or an ally chooses to roll it, at which point it resets to a d4. Later features of Supreme Tactician include adding half a Battlefield Command die result to AC for one turn, and another being able to reroll said die until it’s a 3rd or higher.*That’s a Dragonlance reference: Laurana the Golden General was Tanis’ love interest who would later go on to lead the forces of good in battle against the wicked Dragonarmies.**a big weakness considering the warlord gets no “add DEX + other ability score to AC” to make up for this as a martial.In terms of overall appeal and usefulness, the Hordemaster is focused on a more specific party make-up, but the others are quite broad in being useful for various types of classes and roles. The Supreme Tactician’s core feature reminds me of 13th Age’s escalation die, in that while it is optimal for boss-style and longer fights it may not shine as much in volume-based dungeon crawls composed of many smaller fights. Daring Gambler is more optimal for players who have a better sense of their own and their enemy’s capabilities, as many of their features are risky to use if you don’t initially know the opposition’s save DCs/AC right off the bat. The rest of the Stratagems are broad in appeal, and I can see the Golden General being a favorite as it seems the most quintessentially “leader of men” type while also having an initial 3rd level ability (attack foe, next ally attack has advantage) as an appealing option.Existing Class Comparisons: Valor Bards and Paladins are perhaps two of the closest leader types in the Core 5th Edition rules. The Bardic Inspiration die mimics several of the Warlord’s damage and AC boosting tactics. However, the Bardic Inspiration is more limited in that it refreshes every long rest, while a Warlord’s Command Die refreshes every short rest but activatse in more specific circumstances. The Battle Commands die starts out smaller at a d4 and reaches its max value later, but is more or less near-equivalent: the Warlord’s progression is d4 and grows in size every 4 levels, whereas the Bard starts at d6 and increases every 5 levels. The Warlord can also use defensive measures which allow their allies to resist damage once they’re hit or retaliate, whereas Bardic Inspiration with a Valor Bard only increases the initial roll/AC value but does nothing upon a failure or enemy hit.For a Paladin comparison, much of the paladin’s teamwork-based abilities center around their spells and Channel Divinity. They have constantly-active auras, but they are limited in the types of resistances and immunities said can grant. As said abilities eat up the Paladin’s actions in most circumstances, they’d be less ‘active’ in combat than a Warlord who are more likely to have a proper Action of their own.In terms of weak points, the core classes have a large advantage due to their spellcasting. While not as supplement-heavy as prior books, bards and paladins gain access to more things with the release of every new sourcebook containing spells. There’s also the fact that the bard has more general out of combat utility, and in terms of healing their allies’ wounds the Warlord is inferior.Final Thoughts: In spite of the above, I’d allow the Warlord as a Dungeon Master. They do a good job in making the rest of the party do their iconic features better. As initiative is highly important, adding anywhere from 1d4 to 1d12 can make a large difference in the initial tide of battle.Join us next time as we get all Council of Wyrms up in here and review In the Company of Dragons!</blockquote>

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