Remathilis
Legend
Remathilis is correct, using 5e framework a warlord would be built off the Paladin chassis in a nonmagical/nondevine way. Paladin is sort of a warlord with inspiring healer granting THP, save bonuses, Aura of Life, etc.
I still think 5e should use HD more to heal, even with spells. This makes a larger hit die more important then just the roll for HP and some out of combat healing, the side effect would make Durable feat more valuable. Since activating HD to heal is an untapped source, this could be used for Warlords. Its also limited, which is good.
From the old 4e, I always greatly preferred Bravura, especially with Brash Strike and such, risking something to get something.
Heh, if a nonmagical paladin became the chassis for a warlord, then it would actually better justify the *paladin* as deserving its own class.
So, warlord or tactician, the ‘neutral’ paladin? (True neutral, true good, true evil, lawful neutral, chaotic neutral.)
It is thinkable because the 5e paladin inspires by means of *ethics* (alignment) rather than by means of religion. So, there is conceptual space for nonmagical inspiration.
I'm meaning more in terms of mechanics than story...
Strip away all the fluff from a paladin, and you get a class that has the following features.
* martial weapons, all armors and shields
* d10 HD
* two attacks at 5th
* Fighting Style
* Smites
* Healing
* Defensive Auras
* Spells
* Minor Divine abilities (detect evil, channel divinity)
* Strength and Charisma focused
Now, we just do some switching around. The Spells and Minor Divine powers need to go; these get swapped to some manner of martial ability that creates its "warlordy powers". I'm a big proponent on using Superiority dice and maneuvers (with a warlord getting many more dice and maneuvers than a battlemaster). Superiority dice don't re-invent the wheel too much, synergize with the Martial Adept feat, and as a bonus new maneuvers that are invented for the warlord can be retroactively added to the battlemaster, which becomes the "eldrich knight" version of the warlord.
As for healing; lay on hands can easily be replaced by inspiring word. The mechanics of it be a pool of hp (like lay on hands) or a pool of dice (akin to the dream-druids summer balm healing pool). They could probably get some sort of kicker that lets HD be more effective (akin to a bard's Song of Rest) as well. A warlord isn't removing diseases, poisons, or raising the dead, but he can be a perfectly servicable hp healer and maybe grant some type of "morale" bonus to give advantage to saves to remove them.
Further a paladin can grant "auras" that grant protection against fear, charms, etc. Since the proto-Warlord was the marshal, I find it appropriate to give the 5e warlord a similar "aura" ability that grants minor bonuses (such as adding bonuses to damage or saves) or major ones (immunity to fear or charm at higher levels). These augment the abilities given by the maneuver/superiority dice and would allow for warlordy things on rounds the warlord chooses to attack or not use a superiority dice.
Smite seems to be a good way to model the extra-actions concept. A paladin's big ability is being able to trade spell slots for handfuls of d8s with an attack. Rather than a buffed out single attack by the paladin, the warlord could use some mechanic to provide his allies a buffed out attack. Rather than granting the ally a free "attack action", though, it would have to be worded to avoid abuse (no bonus SA, no bonus from GMW/SS, no stunning fist or paladin smite) but giving a character a bonus attack with extra damage would be a good way to have the warlord have his awesome attack.
The rest is fairly trivial. You could have the warlord be primarily Strength (for melee, as the warlord is still considered a melee character) and either Int or Cha as secondary (I personally would want Str/Int, as paladin already has Str/Cha).
In the end, I'd see...
* martial weapons, all armors and shields
* d10 HD
* two attacks at 5th
* Fighting Style
* Grant Attacks (with riders)
* Inspiring Word
* Commanding Auras
* Superiority Dice
* Maneuvers
* Strength and Intelligence focused
Now granted, he's more apt to replace a fighter than a cleric, but I think it would work to capture the flavor of the warlord while not radically altering the 5e design paradigm and would integrate into the game without introducing yet-another resource mechanic.