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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5949728" data-attributes="member: 2067">The question then becomes:Do you want a Warlord class?If you want a warlord class, strategy, tactics, inspiration, and quick commands are obviously the warlord's schtick. Leadership, charisma, and empowerment are warlord things. The fighter might be able to dip her toes in but, as a class, she'll need something else. If you ditch the warlord (or make it a theme, or whatever), you open up that space for the fighter to take. If you want to keep the warlord around as a unique class, you need the Fighter to do other stuff.Some ideas:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Fighters Know Their Opponents: Fighters know that red dragons breathe fire, that basilisks shouldn't be looked at, and how to heal snake venom. They know the fighting style of the Free City Assassin's Guild and the haunt of the Lost Island Pirates. They have their ears to their ground, and their knowledge network is vast. If you want to know about troglodyte mating habits, ask a wizard. If you want to know how to stop them from killing your townsfolk, ask a fighter. He knows about their stench. He knows about their low technology. He knows about their aversion to sunlight. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> A Fighter Has An Armory: Wizards have their libraries of tomes. Fighters have their armories of equipment. Rods, maces, hammers, axes, cudgels, swords, bows, gauntlets, daggers, and more...exotic equipiment are at a fighter's disposal. Much like a wizard might choose a particular spell for a particular enemy, a fighter will choose a particular weapon or armor. The fighter knows before she leaves her tower that the shield is going to be useful against the Medusa, and that the morningstar will crush the undead. The Fighter can work her sword to pierce dragonhide, or forge a spear to hold enough heat to burn a troll, or to add plating to her chainmail that protects against a dragon's breath. Any halfling can whip around a sling, but it takes a fighter to know that a sling is best employed against giants, since their soft heads are vulnerable to small stone wounds, and, if she aims it right, she can knock the creature over effectively, with only the stone. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> A Fighter is a Hero of the People: Arcane magic takes "The Talent" and divine magic takes "The Calling," and those rogues are disreputable, dishonest, and dispicable, but a fighter...regardless of her actual Charisma...is honored. They are respected for who they are and what they represent: that anyone can become powerful, with enough drive and dedication. The Warlord might marshal troops to his side, but a Fighter will control villages and kingdoms with a sheer force of heroic might. The people are loyal to her: she is one of them. The reason the half-orc crushing the goblet is intimidating isn't because the half-orc is Very Strong, it is because the half-orc is a Fighter, and just displayed that fact, earning instant respect.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> A Fighter Is Never Unprepared: "That rust monster dissolved my armor? Screw that. I wrestle it to the ground, wrap a leather leash around it, and make it take me to the biggest source of metal within its' weird antenna-scent." Fighters aren't easily surprised, and aren't easily disarmed. A wizard without their book is useless, a cleric with their symbol is handicapped, a rogue without a dagger or tools is a sitting duck, but a fighter without a sword, or without armor, or without a magic belt? Heck, all you've done is turned your death into one delivered by slowly by naked fist, rather than quickly by cold steel. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> A Fighter inspires loyalty in others: It is just difficult to betray the trust of a Fighter. This might lead to loyal mounts, loyal dogs, loyal allies, loyal sidekicks, etc., but it might also just mean that when a fighter goes to sleep, it's hard for the party rogue to stab him and take his pouch, and it's hard for the assassin who has him convinced that she's his old childhood friend to kill him, and it's hard not to want to follow him into the darkest dungeons on earth, even if you hate his guts. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> A Fighter is a Courageous Trailblazer: When exploring a dungeon, a fighter either already knows the answer, or has such power that the "wrong" answer doesn't pose much of a threat. The fighter is the first out the door, the front of the line, the one for whom the darkness holds no trepidation. Some may consider this the confidence of the uneducated, the bliss of the ignorant, but a fighter knows himself, and he knows that he can handle any unexpected trap or pitfall or goblin that he encounters. The Warlord might "lead from the rear" (heh), but it's the fighter whose steadfast reliable courage makes it possible to go down into the dark below.</li> </ul>Possible mechanics:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Fighters automatically know one true bit of combat lore against any enemy they are fighting. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Fighters can customize their equipment during an extended rest in certain limited ways (think things like Materia Slots: they get to add elements, attacks, and statuses to their attacks)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Fighters get options with weapons and armor that other characters don't get (only Fighters get extra crit with a Pick, only Fighters can topple with a sling stone, only Fighters deal extra damage on a charage with a spear). </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Fighters get Advantage on any Charisma checks when dealing with "common folk."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Fighters can Inspire Trust or Inspire Fear in any one NPC, once per day. That NPC will not willingly take hostile action against the fighter for that day. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Fighters gain Advantage on any Strength or Constitution checks they make as part of a stunt. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Fighters gain Advantage on saves against fear. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Fighters gain Advantage on any save that they are the first in the party to make. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Fighters can ignore the consequences of one failed save once per day. </li> </ul>It still flirts with some Warlord territory, but I think it's pretty distinct.</blockquote>

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