Warlord: STR-primary, not so much...

[keterys]

Having witnessed four warlords now, the one with the 14 Str is _woeful_ compared to the others.

Over the course of a campaign, that 1 will come up often, fwiw.

Also, the best solution is to have 18s in both (Genasi TacLord, Dragonborn InspLord, etc), clearly.

 

[Hawkeye]

Having witnessed four warlords now, the one with the 14 Str is _woeful_ compared to the others.

So you're agreeing that the 16 Strength Warlord is 100% better than the 14 Strength Warlord? that would mean that +1 comes up on every roll.

Hawkeye

 

[Obryn]

I play a tactical warlord and his primary stat is Intelligence, followed by strength and then con. I haven't had a combat yet where my attacks have missed by only a single point.

Hawkeye

As a DM, I've seen a single point make a difference quite a few times. Several times per session, if we have a lot of combat.

I agree that it won't make a difference for a single character all the time. But all things considered, if I were running a warlord, I'd want that extra 5% chance to land my Dailies.

With that said, I think a warlord with 16 strength and a higher intelligence/charisma is a perfectly viable character. I'd hesitate at 14 strength, though. That's only 1 less than 16, but it's 2 less than 18 - which is where I'd really prefer it to be.

-O

 

[Mengu]

I'll chime in for the 18 strength warlord. I'm playing an inspiring dragonborn warlord with 18 strength and 16 charisma. I can't imagine playing him with those stats reversed. I think 18's in both would also be good, but I like having a 14 Con (for the extra HP's on healing surges and future Combat Veteran) and 13 Dex (soon to be 14, and later 15 for scale specialization, evasion, and HBO). I even plan to spread out my stat increases, my strength will go up every opportunity, but my charisma will go up every other opportunity.

Unlike certain other classes, I think the inspiring warlord can actually get away with a lower than maxed out charisma. One less charisma typically just means 1 less temporary hit point, or 1 less damage, not a huge deal. Hitting on the other hand is always important, especially for encounter powers.

 

[Hawkeye]

As a DM, I've seen a single point make a difference quite a few times. Several times per session, if we have a lot of combat.

I agree that it won't make a difference for a single character all the time. But all things considered, if I were running a warlord, I'd want that extra 5% chance to land my Dailies.
-O

That +1 isn't 5% all of the time, though. It can be higher or lower depending upon the AC of your target.

Hawkeye

 

[Nail]

Given that, a warlord could skimp on STR.

"Could"

Hmmmm. Sure, I suppose. But lots of powers are pretty gimped when you miss. Hitting is better. Really.

For example, my taclord has inspiring strike. Sure, if I miss my ally still gets to make a save......but I'd far rather damage the opponent and allow an extra save.

In the PH, all 1st level encounter powers do NOTHING on a miss. It gets better at level3, but still.....

Hitting is better. Don't skimp on your Str.

 

[Caliban]

Agreed. While there are a handful of powers that don't require the Warlord to hit (and therefore require STR), Hammer and Anvil is not one of them. I might be able to change my mind if someone posted a non-attacking Warlord build, but I just don't see it.

The original post is referring to the Hammer Rhythm paragon feat, which let's you do damage equal to your Con modifier if you miss an attack using a hammer. Not the warlord encounter power "Hammer and Anvil"

I think you could do a low strength build, but it would take some patience and a lot of feats. Using options from Martial Power and the Forgotten realms book, you could do an Eladrin Warlord, Use Commander's Strike and possibly Opening Shove (to give you the option of shiftin an ally 4+ squares if it hits), take "Lead By Example" as your lvl 1 daily (if you miss, you grant two allies a basic attack), and multi-class into either Wizard, Swordmage, or Spellscarred to give you access to powers that use your Int rather than Str.

You can also take the Tactical Inspiration feat from martial Power that lets you add your Int modifier to the healing granted by Inspiring Word.

 

[cmbarona]

Gotcha. Doable, but I wouldn't say optimal.

 

[keterys]

So you're agreeing that the 16 Strength Warlord is 100% better than the 14 Strength Warlord? that would mean that +1 comes up on every roll.

I never said that - and it's not a very sensical statement. Do I think that a 16 Str Warlord is almost always better than a 14 Str Warlord? Yes. Do I think that a 16 Str warlord is twice as effective? Eh, probably not.

So which is meant by the 100% better? Better in 100% of situations or double effect?

 

[ThirdWizard]

This conversation keep happening in the game I DM:

Warlord: Okay, I'm going to use X ability. You get to do Y effect!
Ally: Awesome!
Warlord: *rolls* Oh... oh... nevermind... I missed.
Ally: Awww...

Eventually we had to tell him to stop telling people the benefits of his powers until he had confirmed that it was going to hit. The above just happened too often. Even Miss entries on dailies aren't nearly as good as Hits. Lead the Attack? Yeah, great on a hit, but pretty meh on a miss. No point in getting people's hopes up.

And, that's with 18 Strength. I can't imagine playing with less. Strength is critical to the warlord. If you want to pull off your good stuff, you have to hit.