Tony Vargas
Legend
The game you're in sounds brutal. Sometimes that's fun, but, personally, I find a little more variety in encounters - some tough, some comparatively easy, some movement/position heavy, some with controllers, others with brutes, etc, etc... When a DM gets into a rut, the players sometimes get in one, too, and you have a descending spiral. It sounds like your DM has somehow gotten the idea that big, long combats with lots of conitions are challenging or fun (maybe just for him), and the more you try to help your party recover and chew through them, the more of he piles it on.
I don't know if that's part of the problem with your character or not. It sounds like it might be, and there's no easy solution on that end. Backing off from the arms race could get you a TPK. Bringing it up to your DM could offend him.
OTOH, how you feel about playing a PC who 'gives away' his actions is a matter of play style. I'm also playing a 9th level Warlord (Tactical), and he has Commander's Strike and Knight's Move and (post-errata) Guileful Switch and uses all three in most combats. They're about my favorite powers (though Suprise Attack is occassionally awesome, too). While I don't see the point in rolling for them, I do have a proprietary attitude towards the actions they undertake at my behest. I think of the whole party as my weapon. I keep on top of all the action, what everyone's done, what shape they're in, what condition's they're under, what buffs or situational benefits they have going, and how I can maximize thier effectiveness. It's all about the tactical side of play - RP is fun, too, of course, but you can RP with any good concept regardless of class, the Warlord class really shines when you go deep into tactical play. That kind of 'give actions away' warlord build really models the kind of leader who actually gives orders, and I do not only tell the other PCs what to do with the actions I give them (even when the power nominally just gives them the action), but I very often give them 'orders' or 'advice' about which enemies to attack, how to position, when to ready or delay, and so forth. Not all (or even many) groups can put up with that, I suspect, but they do get a lot out of it in terms of the actions and bonuses I give them - and a few of the players genuinely benefit from and apreciate a little tactical advice and coordination, too.
Some players like the excitement of rolling the dice and hitting/missing, critting, or doing big damage. Some are in it mainly for the RP. Neither of those types necisarily are big into thinking deeply about tactics, so if we can take care of that for them - and enjoy it, ourselves - so much the better.
Since you've gotten bored with passing out actions, you can always retrain the powers that do that. Having both Commander's Strike and Opening Shove is probably a bit redundant, anyway. All the Warlord at-wills are good. Furious Smash is a serious buff if your CHA is 16+, and attacks a non-AC defense with a weapon attack, so lands pretty dependably, though it only affects one attack roll, it does work on /any/ sort of attack, not just melee. Wolf Pack Tactics lets you re-position allies before you attack, so you can even use it to shift an ally into a flanking position with you; you can use it to shift adjacent allies closer or further from an enemy (or zone or aura, if they're on the edge already), as well as shifting allies adjacent to the target around or away from it. Even Viper's Strike, which I don't personally care for, has it's uses: it sets up an ally to take an OA when the target shifts; if the ally is a fighter, his Combat Superiority feature can kick in with that OA, and he doesn't have to use up his Combat Challenge Interrupt, so he still has it available if a marked target attacks anyone else.
You could also trade in Knight's Move for Shake it Off, and one of your encounter save-granting powers for something more engaging.
I don't know if that's part of the problem with your character or not. It sounds like it might be, and there's no easy solution on that end. Backing off from the arms race could get you a TPK. Bringing it up to your DM could offend him.
OTOH, how you feel about playing a PC who 'gives away' his actions is a matter of play style. I'm also playing a 9th level Warlord (Tactical), and he has Commander's Strike and Knight's Move and (post-errata) Guileful Switch and uses all three in most combats. They're about my favorite powers (though Suprise Attack is occassionally awesome, too). While I don't see the point in rolling for them, I do have a proprietary attitude towards the actions they undertake at my behest. I think of the whole party as my weapon. I keep on top of all the action, what everyone's done, what shape they're in, what condition's they're under, what buffs or situational benefits they have going, and how I can maximize thier effectiveness. It's all about the tactical side of play - RP is fun, too, of course, but you can RP with any good concept regardless of class, the Warlord class really shines when you go deep into tactical play. That kind of 'give actions away' warlord build really models the kind of leader who actually gives orders, and I do not only tell the other PCs what to do with the actions I give them (even when the power nominally just gives them the action), but I very often give them 'orders' or 'advice' about which enemies to attack, how to position, when to ready or delay, and so forth. Not all (or even many) groups can put up with that, I suspect, but they do get a lot out of it in terms of the actions and bonuses I give them - and a few of the players genuinely benefit from and apreciate a little tactical advice and coordination, too.
Some players like the excitement of rolling the dice and hitting/missing, critting, or doing big damage. Some are in it mainly for the RP. Neither of those types necisarily are big into thinking deeply about tactics, so if we can take care of that for them - and enjoy it, ourselves - so much the better.
Since you've gotten bored with passing out actions, you can always retrain the powers that do that. Having both Commander's Strike and Opening Shove is probably a bit redundant, anyway. All the Warlord at-wills are good. Furious Smash is a serious buff if your CHA is 16+, and attacks a non-AC defense with a weapon attack, so lands pretty dependably, though it only affects one attack roll, it does work on /any/ sort of attack, not just melee. Wolf Pack Tactics lets you re-position allies before you attack, so you can even use it to shift an ally into a flanking position with you; you can use it to shift adjacent allies closer or further from an enemy (or zone or aura, if they're on the edge already), as well as shifting allies adjacent to the target around or away from it. Even Viper's Strike, which I don't personally care for, has it's uses: it sets up an ally to take an OA when the target shifts; if the ally is a fighter, his Combat Superiority feature can kick in with that OA, and he doesn't have to use up his Combat Challenge Interrupt, so he still has it available if a marked target attacks anyone else.
You could also trade in Knight's Move for Shake it Off, and one of your encounter save-granting powers for something more engaging.
Last edited:
