Playtest (A5E) Level Up Advanced 5E Playtest Document #9: Warlord

Welcome to the 9th Level Up: Advanced 5E playtest document. This playtest contains a candidate for the game’s warlord class. The warlord is a new class and — like our spell-less ranger — we have allocated two playtest slots for it. This is the first document; a revised playtest version may appear next week based on your feedback.

Note that this class references two rules elements which have not yet been previewed -- followers, and strongholds. Those will be revealed at a later date.

Level Up Playtest Document #9: Warlord — Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)

Welcome to the 9th Level Up playtest document. This playtest contains a candidate for the game’s warlord class.

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Download the playtest document here!

And take the playtest survey here:

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[Vinicius_Zoio]

It has been a long time since I last played D&D 5e, was never a fan of the edition. But if I were ever to return, it would be for things such as this pile of awesome right here! ^^

 

[Vinicius_Zoio]

[delete for accidental repeat]

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Heh it's fine. In 4e we often joked the Barbarian hits with their axe while the Warlord hits with their Barbarian. This kind of at-will synergy and the ability to go full Lazy-Lord is a feature, not a bug.

I loved that you could use the Warlord to build a character like Thufir Hawat or Piter De Vries. Which brings up a issue I have with this itineration, it seems to be designed (even the Tactician archtype) as a INT dumping class.

 

[Undrave]

I loved that you could use the Warlord to build a character like Thufir Hawat or Piter De Vries. Which brings up a issue I have with this itineration, it seems to be designed (even the Tactician archtype) as a INT dumping class.

I feel like, if there is a class that should the flexibility to chose its secondary stat, it's the Warlord! My own attempt at the class could be built to favour and take advantage of INT, CHA or WIS as secondary, or even dump STR/DEX altogether if you wanted to go all mental stat (not that I think my execution is any better than this one, I'm still an amateur and I still need to streamline it more). It's not the type of hard coded build you see in 5e (it was a very common design in 4e though), but I think Level-Up can easily go that way and it makes the Warlord stand out.

 

[Maxperson]

If one class can use a bonus action to grant an attack for a buddy the game is now Warlords & Warlords (because why would you not build the party to have double the usual action economy?) Using a bonus action for your buddy to attack sounds great as a player but it is nightmare town for game balance.

If the extra attack was also a bonus action then that would be a sufficient limiter in my opinion. The Warlord granting it could not then receive one back, since he already used his bonus for the round. Other PCs would have to decide whether the attack was better than their own bonus actions. It would be useful, but not broken.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

If the extra attack was also a bonus action then that would be a sufficient limiter in my opinion. The Warlord granting it could not then receive one back, since he already used his bonus for the round. Other PCs would have to decide whether the attack was better than their own bonus actions. It would be useful, but not broken.

This is true. Another limiter could be making the "free attacker" spend their reaction to make the out of turn attack, which for many classes would be a big ask and in some cases a usual no thanks situation.

 

[Maxperson]

This is true. Another limiter could be making the "free attacker" spend their reaction to make the out of turn attack, which for many classes would be a big ask and in some cases a usual no thanks situation.

Reactions are often a much bigger deal than bonus actions. It would work for sure, but I think the price is probably a bit steep.

 

[Morrus]

We have more uses for reactions in our combat chapter too.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

We have more uses for reactions in our combat chapter too.

I think that interesting reactions is a very open design space that could lead to a more interesting game and tactical combats.

 

[Mike Myler]

auuuuuuuugh kept trying to do my sneaky text face and just cannot get it to work in the forums

Playtest (A5E) - Level Up Playtest Document #9: Warlord v2

Welcome to the 9th Level Up playtest document. This playtest contains the second candidate for the game’s warlord class. The warlord is a new class and — like our spell-less ranger — we have allocated two playtest slots for it. This class scored well in our survey. We've addressed the areas...

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