D&D 5E Warlord Healing

[Mouseferatu]

Having seen a warlord played in 4E, and a warlord-esque battlemaster in 5E, by the same player, I've come to the conclusion that there's just no room for a warlord class in 5E. Not without overshadowing the battlemaster.

Now, some additional battlemaster options--a few more "ally-moving" maneuvers and maybe even a maneuver that lets an ally spend a hit die or otherwise heal a bit--would be doable, and should make the battlemaster a better fit for those who want a warlord. But it really is 85% of the way there already.

 

[tuxgeo]

Lemmon Currey.

 

[Campbell]

In order for hit points to work for me as a model of what's actually happening, they need to mostly represent physical exhaustion, muscle breakdown, and will to fight. That's why I consider martial hit point recovery to be so important. Otherwise, sleep restoring hit points among other things results in fiction that seems absurd to me. It's important to me that characters are largely flesh and blood humans.

As part of a martial healing warlord, I'd like to see options for mapping defeat (at 9 hp) to fictional events other than death.

To a certain extent most discussion of hp that I see feels somewhat like the tail wagging the dog. We've become so attached to the tokens and symbols that relate to what's happening in the fiction layer that we mistake it for the fiction.

 

[Ashrym]

I think the poll should have included "I think the battlemaster can cover the warlord style" as one of the options. I think a battlemaster fighter with healer and inspiring leader makes a suitable warlord style after adjusting for the mechanical paradigm shift to 5e from 4e.

Aside from that, true healing is possible via the healer feat so a similar class ability seems entirely reasonable.

 

[El Mahdi]

Having seen a warlord played in 4E, and a warlord-esque battlemaster in 5E, by the same player, I've come to the conclusion that there's just no room for a warlord class in 5E. Not without overshadowing the battlemaster.

Now, some additional battlemaster options--a few more "ally-moving" maneuvers and maybe even a maneuver that lets an ally spend a hit die or otherwise heal a bit--would be doable, and should make the battlemaster a better fit for those who want a warlord. But it really is 85% of the way there already.

Believe it or not, I actually agree with all of this. However, there are Warlord fans that will only be satisfied by a dedicated class - or at least that's how they feel right now - so that's what we are currently exploring.

The Warlord we're working on in the Warlording the Fighter thread is going to also explore an expanded Battlemaster archetype (utilizing the ideas generated by the dedicated class), and even explore the idea of making some of those abilities into Feats that any class could take - effectively Warlording any Class.

Once done, people will be able to do a side-by-side comparison.

 

[Mephista]

Where are you getting the idea that unconscious characters can't hear? They aren't consciously processing what they hear, but they are still hearing and the subconscious is incorporating it. Even some coma patients are known to have heard things.

Unless they are Deafened (the condition), they most certainly can hear...

And yet, I somehow still find the idea that non-magical shouting that can somehow not only break someone out of a deathly unconcious state, but magically stabilize them to be a large stretch. Its too magical. From a thematic point of view, its just doesn't work for me, and, if this survey is any indication, I'm not alone.

You can try to justify it, but its falling on deaf ears.

 

[Mephista]

In order for hit points to work for me as a model of what's actually happening, they need to mostly represent physical exhaustion, muscle breakdown, and will to fight. That's why I consider martial hit point recovery to be so important. Otherwise, sleep restoring hit points among other things results in fiction that seems absurd to me. It's important to me that characters are largely flesh and blood humans.

On the other hand, hit points also represent at least some physical punishment and damage. That's the whole justification for making CON the basis of Concentration checks - to keep focusing through the pain. Yes, there's luck and everything, but there's also physical pain.

 

[nomotog]

My issue with shout healing isn't that your healing someone by a shout. (Ya it's silly, but I'll buy it.) It's more that if you use healing, then you have to limit it to a number of times per day. That is a harder for me to buy that you can only shout encouragement so many times a day. I don't like that. It kind of brakes my narrative understanding that martial powers can be used as much as you want.

 

[Mercule]

My issue with shout healing isn't that your healing someone by a shout. (Ya it's silly, but I'll buy it.) It's more that if you use healing, then you have to limit it to a number of times per day. That is a harder for me to buy that you can only shout encouragement so many times a day. I don't like that. It kind of brakes my narrative understanding that martial powers can be used as much as you want.

If you've ever been part of a sports team in a big game or at a rally of some sort, it actually makes total sense. There's only so much that one person can do to rouse people. At a certain point, you really do get numb to it. Sometimes, you can have a different coach step in and top things off, but one person runs out of words and vocal gymnastics.

In D&D, the mechanic works great for a single party, where the Warlord is trying to inspire the same "team" the whole time. If the character was running around a battlefield, working with different groups, it might be a bit more of a stretch. You could still chalk it up to the Warlord running out of steam and losing the ability the pump himself up as much.

 

[Mercule]

And yet, I somehow still find the idea that non-magical shouting that can somehow not only break someone out of a deathly unconcious state, but magically stabilize them to be a large stretch. Its too magical. From a thematic point of view, its just doesn't work for me, and, if this survey is any indication, I'm not alone.

You can try to justify it, but its falling on deaf ears.

I totally agree with this. It's why my earlier post focused around boosting/using/adding Hit Dice. Those require the healee (?) to be awake, generally speaking.

I could totally see a Warlord who was right on top of his fallen comrade spending his action to slap her awake enough to cheer her on and strengthen her will to live enough to revive her. Not necessarily totally realistic, but it falls within cinematic bounds. From across the battlefield? Not so much.