D&D 5E My fighter-subclass warlord

[Satyrn]

Would you be open to having cleric spells be available to all classes without costing feats or stuff?

Simply worship a god, and you can cast their domain spells?

Yes, I would be open to that. That gives all the players an incentive to learn about all the religion-related setting detail that seems to get ignored by my players who aren't interested in playing clerics. That's not the same reason as why I like the idea of opening up the Warlord's tactics to everyone though.

I like the idea that anyone could grant an attack to someone else in a better situation (perhaps even going so far as a rogue directing the fighter to make a sneak attack, say). But that would be a Warlord module, so rather off topic here, I'd think.


(Man, this whole Warlord forum is just one giant, intermixed conversation I'd forgotten this is a fighter subclass thread)

 

[mellored]

And only this artificial construct of a warlord is capable of such things, I suppose. And you wonder why people are against such a core concept for a character class..

Anyone is capable of planning yes. Just like anyone is capable of getting angry, praying, reading a book, or sneaking up on someone and stabbing them in the back, swinging a sword, singing, make a deal with the devil, or punching someone with their fist.

So following your logic, only the sorcerer should be in the game. Since you actually need to be born special. It's not something someone else can pick up.

Cuz magic.

Meaning what exactly?

Besides that, there is nothing to say that a devout, acolyte fighter couldn't beseech his god in a time of dire need and the god answering his prayer. Welcome to D&D.

And a DM can let the barbarian come up with a plan that grants the rogue a free attack.

Not sure what your point is.

If only the game afforded an opportunity for any PC the capability of thought...

They can.
Just like anyone is capable of getting angry, praying, reading a book, or sneaking up on someone and stabbing them in the back, swinging a sword, singing, or punching someone with their fist.

There's a class that specializes in each of those things. No one that specializes in planning.

 

[mellored]

I like the idea that anyone could grant an attack to someone else in a better situation (perhaps even going so far as a rogue directing the fighter to make a sneak attack, say). But that would be a Warlord module, so rather off topic here, I'd think.

The help action is available to everyone. As is commander's strike with the martial adept feat.

Though i houserule marital adept to give 2 dice. It's a bit weak otherwise.

 

[77IM]

This has gotten way off onto a tangent...

ChrisCarlson, you're welcome to imagine a warlord character standing around twiddling his thumbs shouting blatantly-obvious non-hints, if you want. I think other posters have given several decent alternative ways to imagine the warlord character behaving. It may help to think of Commander's Strike as a souped-up version of the Help action. I may add more fluff text to this ability to make it less shouty. (Actually when I wrote that I was being kind of ironic, because the 4e warlord was often criticized for shouting a lot.)

I should clarify that my intention is for this version of Commander's Strike to only be usable once per round and since it comes in at 7th level when the fighter already has two attacks. So any round when the warlord is using Commander's Strike they are also going to be attacking too (well, I guess they could give up their second attack, but that's usually a pretty poor tactical decision for a fighter who is supposed to be smart...). So that should decrease the "lazy" aspect.

 

[77IM]

In many ways, i would like a tactician that is int/wis. Leave the cha and inspiration to the bard.

I thought about making two warlord archetypes -- like a tactician (Int) and a war-leader (Cha), or something. But then, I think there are a lot of characters in stories who have both abilities, and to me that's what an archetype is really about.

I did make it so that Cha is more "dumpable" than Int. The abilities that use Int mostly have a minimum bonus of +1, so getting Int to 14 literally doubles your bonus, and 16 triples it. Cha modifier is used only for healing and eventually is dwarfed by the fighter-level component of the healing. I mean, you'll still want a decent Cha (especially if you have Inspiring Leader too) but it's not as necessary.

 

[mellored]

I thought about making two warlord archetypes -- like a tactician (Int) and a war-leader (Cha), or something. But then, I think there are a lot of characters in stories who have both abilities, and to me that's what an archetype is really about.

I did make it so that Cha is more "dumpable" than Int. The abilities that use Int mostly have a minimum bonus of +1, so getting Int to 14 literally doubles your bonus, and 16 triples it. Cha modifier is used only for healing and eventually is dwarfed by the fighter-level component of the healing. I mean, you'll still want a decent Cha (especially if you have Inspiring Leader too) but it's not as necessary.

Well, great plans work better if you can convince people to go along with it.

 

[77IM]

I made some minor wording changes to Commander's Strike to make it clear that you can only give up one attack to help an ally. I also changed the fluff text to paint a clearer picture of how you are helping the ally get their extra attack. I also made one change to Lord of War, so that an ally loses the bonus if they can neither see nor hear you.