The Warlord by @
jodyjohnson.
This 8 page document has a 1 page cover, 1 page intro, 1 page class chart, 1 page class features, 2 pages of sub-classes, 1 page of maneuvers, and 1 page of feat and new items.
The class is powered by friendship. Where you need to "bond" with an ally for them to get the full benefits. This does solve the whole "respect" issue since other players need to preemptively buy in to accept your commands, but it also makes the class nearly unplayable if you don't have any willing party members (unless your academy of beast, where you can make NPC's your friend). It's also a bit unclear on how many bonds you can have at a time.
1d8 hit dice, with all weapons, medium armor and shields.
Ability score increases are 4, 8, 12, 14, 16, 19, with an extra at 14.
Extra attack at level 6.
The class is structures similar to a battlemaster, with a few commands (3 give, your choice out of 9 others) and command points that refresh during a short rest, and several light healing features sprinkled in to fill in the gaps, including the ability to spend your own hit dice to heal someone else at level 5. Though how much it heals is a bit unclear.
About 1/4 of the class is sub-class which seems a bit haphazard in it's collection of abilities. With Calvary (mounted combat), Diplomacy (Cha extra command points, help as a bonus action), Beast (Pets), Medicine (Healer), Music (+Int to damage, Cha extra command points), and tactical (Inspiring leader).
The mechanics are a bit scattered, and unclear in a few places. It takes a bit of flipping back and forth between to see what your final ability actually is.
The attack granting has a nice solution by making 2 different Orders. 1 is takes an
action/reaction that allows sneak attack/rage/smite. The other takes 1
attack/reaction but does not allow sneak attack/rage/smite, so you can grant an attacks to 2 different people (at level 6+).
The rest of the balance is also a bit haphazard, though nothing terribly off. Many features tend towards the underpowered side, a few are overpowered, and a few depend on how you read them. It also doesn't follow the general flow of power curve of the other classes, being heavily front loaded at level 3, leaving it ripe for dipping. For instance, Academy of Music 3 / Bard would be very overpowered.
With regards to the classic board bugaboos:
1. Ranged inspirational healing from unconscious – yes
2. Background as a class – no.
3. I’m in charge here – If your not my friend you don't get full benefits.
4. Healing by spending Hit Dice – Your own.
5. Full action granting – no.
6. At-will attack granting – Yes.
Overall it's a nice class if your playing a lighter, more roleplay centric game, allowing you to play with the power of friendship trope. The balance issues is mostly covered by the fact that it's a support class, and doesn't compete for spotlight or glory. Though having 4 pets can potentially steal much of the spot light. But i wouldn't take it for a dungeon crawl or with any char-op in the groups, the balance just isn't tight enough.
