D&D 5E Warlord Name Poll

[Sword of Spirit]

It could also be said that over 50% of respondents did not favor the name "Warlord".

 

[EzekielRaiden]

So I guess we can say, definitively, Warlord is the best/most-accepted name for the class. (Though I'm sure someone will feel compelled to take issue with that conclusion - cue "It's not scientific."; "It's self-selecting."; "It's....etc, etc, etc...")

Allow me to be the person to do that then. Because, as much as this poll would validate my feelings, it still is "unscientific." Rather, it suffers from cripplingly severe data-collection flaws that render its pertinence questionable, but that's a half-decent shorthand word.

The only meaningful data I can see from it is that it tells us that, even here on ENWorld, where people frequently and vocally complain* about the "military rank" and "political" significance of the class's name, such terms--Warlord, Marshal, Captain, Commander--remained the vast majority of the "preferred" terms, being 4 of the top 5 selections, or 7 of the top 10 (allowing "Warduke" as a fantastical-history variation on Warlord). And of the three remaining, one is already taken as a subclass name, so you couldn't make a new class or subclass by that name (which, of course, could be the intent).

It seems clear, when wanting to select a name with the broadest base of support--at least here on ENWorld--you should select something which, in common usage, clearly connotes being somewhere in a chain of command with other people following your orders, and which avoids a perception of being overly linked to a single culture or non-Medieval historical period. You can't pick a name that will definitely make everyone on ENWorld happy, but one of the four names I listed above will probably be acceptable to a majority of people who want to discuss the class-concept (even if some of those who would accept any of those four names would still prefer a different name from the same list).

If wanting to select a name with the broadest support among the D&D-playing population generally? You're on your own. :S

*That, actually, is one other potentially-interesting point this thread may support (again, biased data-collection noted). "Warlord fans" are almost always characterized, on this forum, as being a tiny vocal minority constantly stirring the pot. Given that ~48% of posters actually like the name "Warlord," even if they don't care for its specific mechanical implementation in any specific system, it would seem that the vocal opponents are also a minority constantly stirring the pot.

It could also be said that over 50% of respondents did not favor the name "Warlord".

It could also be said that over 48% do--which, for many things far, far more important than the name of a TTRPG class, is often considered sufficient. For example, neither of the "main party" candidates in the 2000 US Presidential election won 50% of the vote; same goes for the 1996, 1992, 1968, 1960, 1948, 1916, and 1912 (where the 'winner' had only 41.8% of the popular vote) elections. Many, many contests where multiple options compete but only one can win will result in something like this. If we accept it for such elections (and for similar, though not identical, 'majority party' elections in parliamentarian systems e.g. Great Britain) I fail to see why it should be even remotely stigmatized for this subject.

With a topic as contentious as this one, getting any result within spitting distance of 50% is a substantial achievement, and reflects--among those who voted, anyway, aka ENWorld posters who actually know this subforum exists and saw this poll--a fairly broad base of support.

Edit:
It's also worth pointing out that, because I did this on my phone, I thought it was single-choice, not multiple-choice, which would bump things up a tad
Edit II:
And upon updating my votes to reflect my complete preferences, rather than voting purely for humor (who says Warlord fans don't have a sense of humor?)...
Edit III:
It would actually be kind of interesting to see what happens if we take, say, the 10 most popular results from your analysis, [MENTION=6795807]elma[/MENTION]hdi, and made a new poll based on just those and nothing else. See where votes fall when they aren't resorting to "other" as much--and when certain options like Harold Herald are on the list.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

I'd be curious to see, assuming australian type 50% +1 voting and preferential voting, if the warlord would still win?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

...such terms--Warlord, Marshal, Captain, Commander--remained the vast majority of the "preferred" terms
...
but one of the four names I listed above will probably be acceptable to a majority of people who want to discuss the class-concept (even if some of those who would accept any of those four names would still prefer a different name from the same list).

When I read that last part I figured I would be in the minority that wouldn't accept any of them (not liking the military connotations). Then I looked back up at which names you referenced and realized that it includes Captain, which I'm fine with.

*That, actually, is one other potentially-interesting point this thread may support (again, biased data-collection noted). "Warlord fans" are almost always characterized, on this forum, as being a tiny vocal minority constantly stirring the pot. Given that ~48% of posters actually like the name "Warlord," even if they don't care for its specific mechanical implementation in any specific system, it would seem that the vocal opponents are also a minority constantly stirring the pot.

It might also be highly unrepresentative of posters in general. This is the sort of thread that people without any interest in the topic aren't going to click on (unless they just like taking surveys), or even see, being in the warlord subforum. The only reason I knew of its existence was because of the tag-vitation at the beginning. So it's a reasonable guess that we're looking at a sample that includes an above average number of those who have a strong opinion.

It could also be said that over 48% do--which, for many things far, far more important than the name of a TTRPG class, is often considered sufficient.
...
With a topic as contentious as this one, getting any result within spitting distance of 50% is a substantial achievement, and reflects--among those who voted, anyway, aka ENWorld posters who actually know this subforum exists and saw this poll--a fairly broad base of support.

I still think its one of those statistics that can be spun either direction. It depends entirely on what the intended goal is. If the goal is to express approval of certain options, one presents how many approved of those options. If the goal is to express disapproval, you do the opposite. I'm not sure what other goalposts we have here, unless WotC had done name polls themselves and gave us the results. Then we could compare and say things like, "'Warlord' as a name has better support than 'Sorcerer' in this poll," or "name approval of class concepts for every other class was at least 30% higher than for 'Warlord'". But as it is, we don't know what to make of a 50/50ish split.

My generic "Other" vote wasn't really counted correctly, as "Herald" wasn't an option at the time, and I'm not even sure "Captain" was, which are the two I would have voted for. Apparently they were added later, but I didn't realize it until the final results were in. I'm sure the evolving nature of the options must have messed with other people's responses.

All that said, it was still a fun and informative exercise.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I still think its one of those statistics that can be spun either direction. It depends entirely on what the intended goal is. If the goal is to express approval of certain options, one presents how many approved of those options. If the goal is to express disapproval, you do the opposite.

Well, of course, that's what you do with just about any data. Data--or at least well-collected and honestly-presented data--is "objective." It simply is. Interpretation, the evaluative judgment about the data...that is not. See the SMBC about statistical presentation in politics: "our teen birth rate is skyrocketing" vs. "we have become a nation of sexual prodigies."

I'm not sure what other goalposts we have here, unless WotC had done name polls themselves and gave us the results. Then we could compare and say things like, "'Warlord' as a name has better support than 'Sorcerer' in this poll," or "name approval of class concepts for every other class was at least 30% higher than for 'Warlord'". But as it is, we don't know what to make of a 50/50ish split.

AFAIK, no such polls exist. The closest thing we have is that "what is your favorite class" poll, where the Warlord outranked several present-in-5e classes, but it didn't have anything to do with name preferences. Doing such a comparative analysis amongst all the variant names of all the various classes would be relatively complex statistical analysis, far beyond anything WotC has shown even interest in doing, let alone the expertise to do.

For me, I was looking at the raw numbers behind the percentages, more than the percentages themselves, for making that statement. Several posters--for example, [MENTION=48965]Imaro[/MENTION] in this post--characterize the entirety of the issue to be "roughly...the same 10 posters" throwing a fit. According to the above poll, however, some 50-ish posters are completely fine with at least one of the above-stated names, none of which exist (either as class or subclass) in D&D 5e. So, while it might in fact be only "the same 10 posters" making threads, there's four times as many people who aren't saying anything but still share some kind of positive opinion about the concept. They may be highly heterogeneous and agree on little beyond the name...but it's still halfway decent evidence that there's a "silent" support group in addition to the vocal one.

My generic "Other" vote wasn't really counted correctly, as "Herald" wasn't an option at the time, and I'm not even sure "Captain" was, which are the two I would have voted for. Apparently they were added later, but I didn't realize it until the final results were in. I'm sure the evolving nature of the options must have messed with other people's responses.

All that said, it was still a fun and informative exercise.

Yeah, the poll definitely suffered from (a) initially being half-humorous, and (b) generating measurably popular answers outside the provided set. For that reason, I'd be interested to see what would result from taking (say) the top 10 options plus Herald and making a single-choice follow-up poll; not being multiple-choice will bring all the responses down, of course, but that's a mixed bag (no option is likely to win even 20% of the overall vote, but conversely we can add together distinct but thematically-similar groups, like "Captain/Marshal/Commander/Warlord" which are really only shades of the same color).

 

[Miladoon]

How about a poll that had two choices: Marshal and Something Else.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

How about a poll that had two choices: Marshal and Something Else.

Why not 'warlord' and something else? lol. I mean, the topic here at least seems to be "do we keep the name warlord, or use something else?" I'm not sure why asking about 'Marshal' would be the most interesting choice...

 

[Tony Vargas]

Looks like this thread/poll has run its course.

The clear favorite appears to be: Warlord!

Here's the final chart, including ideas proposed within posts (the Other option).

One interesting thing is that the top results have all seen print in some form. The Warlord, obviously, in 4e and in PF/PoW. The Marshal in the 3e-adjacent Miniatures Handbook. Commander in 13A. Battlemaster, of course, being the 4e-style 'complex' Fighter attempt in 5e. (Battle) Captain was a Paragon Path, and banneret the non-Cormyrian PDK. Even Tactician has some close analogues in print, like the 4e Tactical build or 3.5 Tactical Soldier PrC.

 

[Miladoon]

Why not 'warlord' and something else? lol. I mean, the topic here at least seems to be "do we keep the name warlord, or use something else?" I'm not sure why asking about 'Marshal' would be the most interesting choice...

We are supposed to have fun with the poll. I originally typed Warlord but believe the result would be around the 48% mark. I thought doing it this way we would get about 40% for the Marshal. Just a theory.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

We are supposed to have fun with the poll. I originally typed Warlord but believe the result would be around the 48% mark. I thought doing it this way we would get about 40% for the Marshal. Just a theory.

Yeah, definitely have fun!