The Warlord, about it's past present and future, pitfalls and solutions. (Please calling all warlord players)

[Garthanos]

I'm sorry but I digress with this, IMHO Fighters are STR based and Barbarians CON based, no doubt, but Rangers are WIS based, Paladins are CHA based (or even MAD based), and Warlords are ANY based or NONE based. That is part of the cool factor of warlords, they can have almost any stat combo and still be usefull.

I don't disagree with your ideas on the warlord (except that I think it has to be a class), but the possibilities are way wider:

Grant damage reduction/parry or a bonus to AC as a reaction
Grant extra attacks.
grant extra reactions
Grant advantage on attacks or even attribute checks
Grant free disengage actions to allies

And that is without even getting the grid involved

Good stuff! And those thinking that somehow making the grid gone makes the Warlord less effective or less iconic just arent getting the possibilities.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Warlord Powers....

Warlord Management
All members in a groups that has rested with a Warlord start their day with temp HP equal to 25 percent of their HP Total (so a Fighter with 40 HP would start a new day with 40HP and 10 Temp HP). These temp HP do not expire but do not stack with themselves.

"Being a Warlord is all about making the group run better. It's making sure the Wizard goes to bed and gets enough sleep instead of staying up night studying. It's making sure the Cleric doesn't annoy everyone with sermons. it's ensuring that the Rouge doesn't steal from the party and making sure the party doesn't kill the rouge when they think he did. That way, when the fight comes, everyone can focus everything they have on winning."

Watching their Backs
As a swift action, select one enemy and one party member. The damage that enemy deals to that party member is reduced by 1d6.

"Hey, goblin on your six! Be ready!"

Grit those teeth!
In place of a regular melee attack, you may instead make an unarmed melee against an ally. It automatically hits that ally and they take 1d6 damage but gains 3d12 temp HP. Also, remove any moral penalties/negative effects on that alley. You may do this a number of times a day equal to your cha modifier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUNU993ijZA

 

[pemerton]

I don't think it's as simple as a keyword, as I mentioned above. A keyword or a sidebar aren't going to change the feel of the thing, and this is about the feel of the thing.

I'm not sure I follow this. At least as far as warlord healing is concerned, I thought the complaint was that it feels just like clerical healing except for having the Martial rather than the Divine keyword.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm not sure I follow this. At least as far as warlord healing is concerned, I thought the complaint was that it feels just like clerical healing except for having the Martial rather than the Divine keyword.

I think the missing nuance is that the Warlord's not meant to be a magical character. There's a clear and fill-able demand for a non-magical character that can fill the role of a cleric, so adding a magical keyword to it sort of defeats the concept. The conceit that's difficult for many players to accept is inspirational healing. This means that ideas like the Skald's aura work notably better than slapping a magical keyword onto the power -- the idea is to have a warlord who doesn't rely on inspirational healing, rather than turn a non-magical character into a magical character. As I've mentioned in the L&L thread, doing the same thing as a heal might not mean literally restoring hit points, either.

I think this points out another little nuance, in that I believe a significant chunk of the dislike of inspirational healing is related to the healing surge mechanic, perhaps more so than to the warlord in particular. But that gets deeper down a rabbit-hole than this thread probably wants to go. For now, lets just say that a better solution than inspirational healing should be possible without making the warlord magical (even if inspirational healing is also an option, for those who don't think it feels very magical).

 

[pemerton]

This means that ideas like the Skald's aura work notably better than slapping a magical keyword onto the power -- the idea is to have a warlord who doesn't rely on inspirational healing, rather than turn a non-magical character into a magical character.

Maybe I'm missing something, but how is the skald's aura radically different?

Flavour text: You chant, sing or otherwise inspire your allies with your words . . .

Effect: You activate an aura 5 that lasts until the end of the encounter. . . you or any ally in the aura can use a minor action to spend a healing surge . . . Alternatively, you or any ally can use a minor action to allow an adjacent
ally to spend a healing surge . . .​

What's the significant difference between the skald's chanting allowing me to rouse my adjacent ally from unconsicousness, and the warlord's words of encouragement rousing an ally 25 feet away from unconsciousness?

 

[I'm A Banana]

Maybe I'm missing something, but how is the skald's aura radically different?

I wouldn't call the difference radical (and someone with an issue with healing surges in specific or non-magical healing more broadly is probably still going to have an issue with the skald's healing), but the subtle difference goes quite a long way toward alleviating the problem in that the minor action used by yourself or an ally can be representative of actually performing some sort of quick first-aid. That is, it doesn't have to be inspirational -- it can actually be mending wounds (at least as much as spending a surge during a short rest is mending wounds), at least simply (aided, of course, by your party's Elan singing "Stop, stop, stop the blood! Stop from dying noooow!").

I understand that the distinction is fairly minor, mechanically, but that's the whole "psychology!" mantra I've been on about. Something as simple as requiring someone to spend a minor action and be adjacent to the target to be healed can go miles in the direction of making it more palatable for some folks. Not the full way, or for 100% of everybody, but it's quite a lot of bang for your fairly cosmetic buck.

 

[Jester David]

From Twitter:

@Slatefield
#dndnext Very concerned about @MikeMearls assertion that Cleric healing is required in a party, or at least unthinkable to be without.



@MikeMearls
@Slatefield Sorry if this isn't clear in the article - other classes can heal, too. Cleric is just the healer in the basic game.


‏@GX_Sigma
@MikeMearls @Slatefield But every party will need a healer of some kind?


@MikeMearls
@GX_Sigma @Slatefield Only if you want it that way - you can include HD or such if no one wants to play a cleric/druid/bard etc.


@sleypy
@MikeMearls @GX_Sigma @Slatefield Does warlord fall under etc?

@MikeMearls
@sleypy @GX_Sigma @Slatefield Warlord is looking like it will deal more in damage mitigation/prevention via defensive maneuvers.

 

[Bluenose]

@MikeMearls
@sleypy @GX_Sigma @Slatefield Warlord is looking like it will deal more in damage mitigation/prevention via defensive maneuvers.

I can already hear the screams of rage if a Warlord is able to reduce damage inflicted by magic, able to make multiple reactions so that an attack that affects multiple targets can have all the damage mitigated, and work at all ranges or on unwilling targets. Also, once your hit points have been reduced the Warlord is as useful to you as a chocolate teapot.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Disappointing. They should have at least made it an option. I thought Next was supposed to be all about options. Oh well, I have the option to keep doing what works for me already. I have the option to not support Next.

 

[Obryn]

Yeah, I'll be looking to see what options there are...


Rightly or wrongly, I'm still judging Core in the context of an OSR game, and I wouldn't expect an OSR game to have anything but cleric healing. It's Standard/Advanced I'm looking at.

-O