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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 6729799" data-attributes="member: 87792">It's almost impossible to discuss the Warlord and why it's wanted without discussing what it actually brings to the game (and why the Battlemaster and the Cunning Rogue fail miserably).One of the key things about the Warlord is that it opens the game up massively in terms of what sort of party and in what sort of setting you play. Most D&D classes (including paladins and rangers) are utterly drenched in spellcasting. It's well known that <a href="http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=7338" target="_blank">even in AD&D Gandalf was only a fifth level magic user</a>. And even more importantly not only was he only about fifth level, a fifth level magic user could cast about as many spells per day as Gandalf cast in the entire Lord of the Rings. And Gandalf was, in the two parties that make up the Fellowship of the Ring, the DMNPC. (In 5e any wizard or cleric casts spells far more frequently than Gandalf, of course).So the default party or indeed any party with a single class wizard, cleric, bard, or in 5e ranger or paladin is unsuitable for high fantasy like Lord of the Rings, never mind the Sword and Sorcery you find in <a href="http://www.digital-eel.com/blog/ADnD_reading_list.htm" target="_blank">Appendix N</a>. (Jack Vance's archmages could memorise maybe half a dozen spells - or about the loadout of a 5th level A&D caster or 3rd level 3.X caster).There is, of course nothing wrong with a high spellcaster game. But if we want to have a chance of playing Sword and Sorcery or even high fantasy not inspired by D&D we are going to have to put almost all the spellcasting classes in the round file, which in 5e means we only get to keep the warlock. No more powerful spellcaster belongs on the PC side in ... just about any sword and sorcery. (Of course with the limits imposed on martial characters we can't play classic fantasy like Orlando Furioso, Outlaws of the Water Margin, or Romance of the Three Kingdoms at all).So. What happens when we kick out the wizard, sorcerer, druid, bard, ranger, paladin, and cleric? And instead go for a low magical group (basically leaving fighter, barbarian, rogue, and possibly monk and/or warlock)? The sort of conceptual group that makes up most sword and sorcery fantasy - or even classic fantasy.By losing most of these classes, we lose a lot of ready made solutions-in-a-can. That's fine. In my experience group creativity goes up when there aren't ready made solutions presented.But there's one class that's deeply embedded in the party makeup. One class that in 2e in particular people had to cajole each other to play. The cleric.So what happens when we remove the cleric? Quite simply, the party dies. A lot. And they die for two reasons.The first is that the mantra that the fighter can keep going all day is shown up for the rubbish it is. Fighters can keep going as long as they have hit points. Without Clerics (or 3.X style Wands of Cure Light Wounds) to keep them going fighters can fight until they run out of hit points. And the party can keep going until the first fighter runs out of hit points (or perhaps a little longer if you can give them a polearm or bow and have them drop back).The second is spike damage. A random crit or set of high rolls are going to unexpectedly kill. A cleric has the healing spells to drop spike healing on someone, taking the edge off that. If the dice are running hot against one PC in specific the Cleric heals them and it takes the edge off it.In order to play in most fantasy settings with D&D levels of focus on combat (you can play The Goblin Emperor all you like - D&D will have little to say about that) and without clerics you need either a huge grab bag of optional rules, or some way of taking the damage mitigation of the cleric and giving at least some of it to someone who isn't a spellcaster.You need to be able to do the following. <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Pick PCs on negative HP up off the ground and allow them to either join the fight or run away.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Prevent PCs being shafted by excessive damage spikes either through healing them after the event or through preventing the damage landing by means of an interrupt after the damage dice have been rolled. (Proactive healing like temporary hit points doesn't work unless used in overwhelming quantities due to not being able to predict when the dice will spike).</li> </ol>And this needs to be done without magic because otherwise D&D only actually works in worlds either that are excessively bloody (a problem given the levelling and power curve of any edition of D&D) or that are with a level of magic rarely seen outside D&D settings, World of Warcraft, or Harry Potter novels.The warlord ticks all the boxes that are needed to allow high fantasy and sword and sorcery.</blockquote>

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