Warlord Variant Class Draft

[Khoram]

For no particular reason I wanted to take a stab at creating a warlord class for 5E. Maybe the PHB will have one, I'm not sure. Although I didn't ever play 4E, I thought the concept of the warlord was pretty interesting. In trying to translate to (admittedly my very basic understanding of) 5E, it seemed like it would be hard to retain the flavor of all that pushing around the grid and the use of at-will powers, etc. So instead I focused on what 5E does have: advantage and disadvantage, while hopefully retaining some of the flavor of healing in the form of temp hp and one case of movement enhancement. I'm sure I butchered how I wrote the skill checks and contested skill checks, but I think the underlying idea should come through.

Also I should mention that I was heavily influenced by Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Warlord series of novels and its main protagonist, Uhtred of Bebbanburg. So if something seems like "where the heck did that come from?" it's probably something that Uhtred does a lot in the book series.

Anyway just thought I'd throw it out here in case anyone found it passingly interesting.

 

[GreenTengu]

Hmm..

Okay, a few things off the bat.

The Tactician thing still has them relying on interrupts. I think 5E is striving to get back to a cleaner turn structure. So a class ability that is designed to interrupt actions between two other people on the battlefield is not something you want to go for.

You ought to affect the battle primarily when you use your own actions, otherwise you should have static defenses. Focus more on perhaps increasing the potency of your allies actions either through your actions or statically by your mere presence or grant them additional static defenses with your actions.

Intimidation is being leveraged as the skill way too often in this build. The class is unplayable without this particular skill. That might not be so good.

Are temporary hit points even a thing in basic D&D? Either make them hit points or don't, but there is no need to be wishy-washy about it. The Fighter can already restore its own hit points through the second wind ability, so you have your justification for healing through morale boost.

Most opponents don't have levels, they are measured merely by CR. Now, to be fair, CR is basically their level divided by 4 (so CR 1/4 is a first level, CR 1/2 is a second level and so forth). But as written, the battle renown has little effect.

And Combat Challenge is kind of iffy since the leader in encounters is not always clear.

Also, with no henchmen or animal companion module in D&D basic, the whole concept of Warband will get really dicey and troublesome.

Finally, of course, there is the issue that they just simply stop having features at all starting from 8th level. The fighter gains something of value every single level from 1st to 20th, even if the value of the ability isn't so great.

I tried making a Warlord myself two or three times during the D&D playtest. I'll tell you what could be helpful.

What you are going to want to do is lay out the Cleric and the Fighter. Keep hit points closer to the cleric, more or less use the cleric for your template. Trade out any blatantly magical or holy Cleric abilities for Fighter abilities (or possibly Rogue abilities!) of roughly equivalent level and power.

And as for their unique abilities, look at cleric spells that you think could be turned into potential abilities. Think about the level you want to give access to the ability.

If a Cleric can do it as a cantrip or more than 6 times a day, then just make it a standard action that can be done any time.
If a Cleric can do it about 4 times a day, then it is fine to be a short-rest rechargeable ability.
If a Cleric can do it only once a day then it should be a long rest rechargeable.

Of course, the advantage that the Cleric has is that those things that start off as once per a day end up becoming spells they can use without any real expense and those spells improve.

But when gaining a standard feat, it'll be extraordinarily hard to pull it off. You can do it to some degree (Fighter's Action Surge shows how to do it) but you don't want to do that with too many abilities. Instead you are probably going to want the potency to increase depending on level or proficiency bonus.

But... these are just my more or less unordered thoughts. I hope something among them can help you.

 

[Khoram]

Thanks for the thoughtful critique. Honestly, I really made this just for fun because I like the idea of the archetype. But your ideas have a lot of merit.

I'll try to re-think the tactician interrupt issue.

Intimidation is meant to be a major part of the build. In the Saxon Warlord series I referenced, Uhtred plays off his intimidating size, strength, force of personality, and renown very often, both in dialogue with people and before and during battles. At times his posturing borders on what would be considered a Performance, which is why I put that in the skills section. I had originally had some of the abilities use a Performance check instead of Intimidate.

I thought I read something about temporary hit points over the weekend while perusing the basic rules but I may have gotten confused. I've read so much stuff in the last couple weeks just trying to absorb as much as possible.

I thought that the monster stat blocks I saw had something like "Level 4 - XP150" or something like that, but admittedly they are from the LoCS packet. I don't have the starter set yet so I wasn't sure how the final release looked. Will have to rethink that then.

I realize Combat Challenge and Warband may be situational / not covered. But I felt that a lot of the other abilities were kind of powerful so situational was ok (ie, there would be lots of times you couldn't use them). Maybe it's more RP-ey and situational than a straight up fighter, but that was kind of the point. I did not want it to be based on Cleric level hp, etc, because I figured it was more of a warrior. It already misses out on several pluses straight up fighters get, I didn't want to gimp it much more than that. I figure it should be able to get in there and fight almost as well as a fighter.

I stopped at level 8 for a variety of reasons: 1) I will probably never play past that level, and 2) I ran out of stuff . Also, depending on how multiclassing looks in the PHB, maybe this would be a good class to mix with fighter. F12/W8 would be a pretty powerful Lord of War.

I will take a re-look at the Tactician thing and see if I can clean it up so it doesn't disrupt combat flow so much.

 

[Khoram]

Here's v2 incorporating changes based on TheHobgoblin's suggestions. I realize this may not be a class that has mainstream appeal as several of the class features are somewhat limiting (only apply to sentient creatures, heavily roleplay centric, etc). However given the right sort of campaign or game world, it could be an interesting build.

View attachment Warlord Class Description v2.pdf

 

[GreenTengu]

Okay, hmmm... in some ways much better than your last version. Still a bit too swinging, still using the Intimidation skill where it'd be best not to use it (Half-Orcs and my version of one kind of Hobgoblin have advantage on Intimidate, you don't want them to have advantage on the class's primary features).

Remember, the whole purpose of the Warlord is to be an alternative to the Cleric without the really overt magical stuff, probably without the flexibility and diversity of abilities, but with a bit more fighting power. Similar to the Paladin, but more external than internal.

This isn't going to be laid out as nicely as it could be, but... here it goes...

Hit Dice: 1d8
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per warlord level after first.

Proficiencies
Armor: Light armor, medium armor, heavy armor, shields
Weapons: All simple weapons and martial weapons
Tools: None

Saving Throws: Constitution, Charisma
Skills: Choose two from Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Insight, Intimidation, Perception and Persuasion.

Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
* (a) chain mail or (b) leather, longbow, and 20 arrows.
* a martial weapon and shield
* (a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) any simple weapon
* an explorer's pack

Proficiency Bonus:
Level 1 - 2
Level 5 - 3
Level 9 - 4
Level 13 - 5

Ability Score Increases
Level 4, Level 8, Level 12, Level 16, Level 19

Abilities
Level 1
Inspire the Dying - You may spend an action to touch a humanoid creature who has been reduced to 0 hit points and speak some encouraging words. Even if they don't know they heard your voice, even if they can't understand you, the gesture is enough. The creature has advantage on death saving throws until they stabilize. At level 6, you immediately restore consciousness to the creature and grant them 1 hit point.

Words of Advice - When in battle, you may spend an action to give some advice to or cheer on an allied humanoid creature. Until the end of the battle, when the creature may once add your proficiency bonus to any attribute check or saving throw.

Level 2
Inspiring Actions - Each round you reduce an enemy creature to 0 hit points, an allied humanoid creature that bears witness to your prowess regains a number of hit points equal to 1d4 + your charisma modifier + your proficiency. At level 6, all allied humanoid creatures within 60' receive the bonus rather than one.

Protect the Flank - You may use your shield to protect a creature within 10' of you, granting your shield's AC bonus to them as well as yourself.

Level 3
Battle Plan - On the first round of the battle, you may lay out a battle plan as a free action. Until the end of the battle, all allied creatures who heard you may once add your proficiency bonus to any attack roll or saving throw.

Level 4
Check Equipment - During each short rest, you may spend time inspecting and adjusting the equipment of your allies. All who allow you to give them a proper inspection go into battle feeling more alert and prepared. The first successful attack roll against each allied creature must be rerolled.

Show No Mercy - You may spend an action to spend chilling threats to enemies within 30 feet of you. Until the end of the battle, your melee strikes deal additional damage equal to your charisma modifier plus your proficiency bonus.

Level 5
Make an Example - Once per a battle, the first time you deal damage that brings an enemy down to 0 hit points, you may let out a cry of victory that shakes the enemies to their core. All enemies with equal or lower CR to the enemy that was slain must make a Wisdom saving throw equal to your charisma modifier plus your proficiency bonus or become frightened of you and allied creatures until the end of the battle.

Parlay - Through sheer determination and will you can get a creature to stop and listen. You may target one creature who must make a Wisdom saving throw equal to 10 + your charisma modifier + your proficiency modifier or find themselves willing to hear you out even in the middle of pitched battle until they are either attacked or one minute has passed, at which time they may resume their assault.

Level 6
Turn the Tide - Once per a battle when your hit points have been reduced to half or less, you may spend an action to let out a rallying cry that causes all who hear it to regain their composure. You and any friendly humanoid creatures within 30 feet regain a number of hit points equal to 2d8 + your charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus.

Level 7
Advise Caution
You may spend an action during battle to lay out a new battle plan to keep everyone safe. Your allies have advantage on saving throws and ability checks until the end of the battle as long as you remain conscious.

Level 8
Extra Attack
You are able to make two weapon attacks with a single action. At level 14, you may make a third weapon attack with the single action.

Level 9
Never Surrender
During a short rest, you may take aside an allied humanoid creature you are particularly worried about. After hearing them out and giving them advice, you can inspire them to push themselves beyond what they ever imagined possible. The first time this creature drops to 0 hit points, it is reduced to 1 hit point instead.
If the humanoid creature is targeted by a spell that would cause death without inflicting damage, the allied creature instead has advantage on the saving throw instead and the effects of your inspiration end.

Level 10
Loose Formation
During a short rest, you may go over some strategies to increase your group's mobility in battle. During the next battle, all allied creatures who listened to your briefing have their movement speed increased by 10. In addition, they have advantage on all saving throws or ability checks to avoid or escape being paralyzed, restrained or grappled.

Level 11
Victory Cry
After the last enemy has fallen or been routed in a battle, you may let out a shout of victory inspiring, soothing and restoring the will and stamina of all those around you. All allied creatures within 30 feet of you are healed 3d8 + your charisma bonus + your proficiency in hit points.

Level 13
Flash of Brilliance
When you score a critical hit against an enemy, you may either deal an additional 30 damage above and beyond your usual critical damage or restore 60 hit points to an allied creature within 60 feet.

Level 15
Spring the Trap!
Once per a day you may inspire a legendary assault upon your enemy. During the next turn, every allied creature may take an attack action against a number of enemy creatures equal to your charisma + your proficiency bonus within range of its melee or ranged weapons.

Level 17
Hail the Heroes!
During a battle you may spend an action give a quick rousing speech that drives those around you to become true legends. Until the end of the battle, you and every allied creature within 30 feet of you when you gave the rousing speech have advantage on all saving throws and enemies have disadvantage on attack rolls against them.

Level 20
Know and Fear Our Names
Once per a day you may spend an action to recount the victories and exploits of yourself and your companions. Reminding your companions of all you have overcome and all you have done and sacrificed to get to this moment, that far too much has happened to give up here and now. All allied creatures within 60 feet are restored to full hit points, any effects blinding, charming, deafening, frightening, paralyzing or restraining them are instantly ended. Effects of poisons and diseases are temporarily overcome until the end of this battle.
You and your companions fight full force with no regrets. After the last of the enemies has fallen, all allies affected by this ability collapse from exhaustion and are reduced to 5 hit points, desperately in need of serious rest.


-----------------------------

And... that's it. You'll notice that a lot of this stuff mimics Cleric spells almost exactly or with slightly reduced effect (there might be a few that are technically better, but only if they are more difficult to use). They might be able to use some of these abilities more often, but often with an opportunity cost, while other abilities require circumstances to arise that are beyond the player's control while a Cleric can cast the spell at the ideal moment.
Now, the main trade-off here is that the Cleric has a whole host of spells they can cast while these abilities are pretty much set. The class doesn't have a lot of the more fantastical Cleric spells and though it may be able to restore hit points just as well, it cannot bring people back from the dead which one could argue alone makes them a poor replacement for the Cleric.

 

[Khoram]

LOL ok thanks. I don't know what you mean by "too swinging", and thanks for telling me my custom homebrew class shouldn't use intimidation. As I said, this is a warlord variant that replicates some of what the 4E warlord did (some healing, temp hitpoints, movement, extra defense) mixed with an implementation of a fictional Saxon warlord from the time of Alfred the Great in Bernard Cornwall's books. The whole point of the concept is that it relies on intimidation; the warlord is someone that immediately draws the eye on the battlefield because of his swagger, his obvious prowess, his rich adornments of armor, valuable weapons, and bracelets/torcs/whatever other spoils of war. I don't really care if half-orcs (which I haven't seen yet) or your custom hobgoblin have advantage on intimidate. I'm not trying to replicate a non-magic Cleric at all. This is a warrior (d10 HD, extra attacks like a Fighter) that is made to be a leader on the battlefield. That's all.

But thanks for looking.

 

[GreenTengu]

ooooh. I see.

You see, I understand where we have a misunderstanding. Here I thought you actually wanted to make a Warlord class that people could actually use. That people should want to use.

And that you created it and posted it here because you thought that maybe you could open a conversation about creating one that worked within the 5E system with the 5E rules. Because, you see, when I create things and post them I want, I expect people to point out my mistakes and oversights and over up alternatives.

Now I understand better.
It was more your special little snowflake, your darling pet-- really for your eyes only. Posting it on a public internet forum was more an act of self-gratification than opening a dialogue or looking for help.

You don't care if it opens itself up to wild abuse (Half-Orc Warlord/Rogue with intimidation checks that break all sorts of rules and never fail, turning battles to their favor with ease without spending an action-- the ONLY way to play this class.)
You don't care that it uses bad 4E logic (oh! we violated the unstated rules of solo combat! all enemies get free attacks).
You don't care that you are utilizing a standard in the game (hirelings) as a class ability when one can be pretty damn certain that within the PHB or DMG, hirelings are going to be something all classes can access and use without silly little restrictions placed on them about only recruiting 2 per a month, them all starting at level 1 regardless of your own level, being limited in what classes you can choose and abandoning you if you don't adventure often enough.... one can be fairly certain that the hirelings that all classes can hire without it being a standard class feature are going to come with considerably less restrictions.

But, again-- its your special little snowflake, for your eyes only that no one else could imaginably criticize because you made it and its all so perfect for you to use solely in company of yourself in a total vacuum of whatever anyone else is doing.

Okay, sure. Cool. I got you now.

 

[Khoram]

Uh ok. I used some stuff that isn't out yet (hirelings...) and you're complaining about stuff that isn't out yet (half-orcs...). All I have is the Basic Rules. Once more official stuff is out, maybe I'll change it, you know? But to complain about how I did things in a way that made sense to me because of what you think may be in non-published rules is counter-productive.

So on the one hand you are criticizing me because I took a crack at hirelings in a way that makes sense from a role-play perspective, then complain because they aren't as powerful as what might be in the official rules. I would rather have it be less powerful than overpowered.

I was hoping to open up dialogue. Instead you keep telling me it's too swinging (what does that mean?), it should be more like a cleric (I don't want a cleric-substitute, I want a fighter-esque leader of warriors), and that it's both too powerful and yet so restrictive it's underpowered. Then you capped it off with a description of your cleric-substitute. This isn't 4E; warlord doesn't necessarily have to be a "leader" role (as there aren't any "roles" defined in my copy of the Basic Rules...), d8, cleric-substitute class anymore.

Your first critique was very helpful - you pointed out I was using abilities that disrupted the intended action mechanic, so I changed that.

All enemies get free attacks - the intent of that was to dissuade the dishonorable breaking of the single combat. I'm open to suggestions on other ways of preventing abuse.

I didn't put this up as an act of self-gratification (though it's hard to see how you wouldn't say the same about 95% of the stuff posted on a homerule/homebrew/fan creation forum...). I put it up because I thought I had the kernel of an interesting warlord-type class based on a concept from popular historical fiction (rather than 4E's "pushin'-n-pullin' round the combat grid non-magical cleric wannabe"). You don't like it, fine, don't use it. I posted it in case someone else saw something that interested them. Is that ok?

 

[GreenTengu]

Hmm... it seems I might have tried to end the dialogue too soon.

Okay, maybe I simply didn't explain things properly.

You need to be aware of loopholes when you are creating something. Because a nasty, vicious loophole sinks just... everything.

Now, when you base your main class features on a particular skill, you run into an issue. Skills can be boosted by things that you wouldn't want the class's main power focus to be boosted by.

You should realize from the Basic D&D you have right now that "Advantage on skill X" and "Advantage on Save Y" are some of the default racial features in the new D&D 5E.
Furthermore, there is a Rogue feature that allows you to get double your skill bonus on checks.

Now, imagine if you were going to play a mage and yet by multiclassing in another class for a level or two or selecting a specific race, suddenly all opponents are rolling at a disadvantage on their saves against all their spells.
That is a "well damn, this is broken" moment for you there. Even if the class was perfectly balanced in all other ways, that little combo there is going to shatter it-- and in the case you have, in many ways what you have created is dreadfully underwhelming except that when you pair it with that particular combo suddenly some of the "uhhh... okay... kind of weird" skills become "automatically defeat every encounter" or close to it.

And you are right that 5E isn't 4E. Which means you can't base things on MMORPGs or video game logic.
What outside of video game logic (or maybe card game logic?) would allow you to make sense of "okay, so this character is going to challenge the enemy 'leader' (a painfully ill defined term) to a one-on-one battle and if ANY other party member decides to do anything but sit there silently, then all the enemies get a free attack against the party"...
I mean... what is that? Come on. Surely you know better than that. You've got to know better than that.
How do you imagine that playing out in a cinematic scenario? The Warlord says "Hey!! I challenge you!!" and the "leader" says "OOooohh yesssss..." and the entire rest of the party and suddenly a big arena drops down around the two and all the rest of the party and everyone on the villain's side all of their own accord go and fill the stadium's stands and begin cheering their side.
Oh, and if anyone else in the party throws something from the stand then the party says "aww... okay, we're caught." and stands there and let's the enemies all punch them?
Maybe that's a strawman, but the way you have that ability written-- that's how it sounds it should work. Some sort of weird world-breaking, reality altering meta-ability that is utterly inconsistent with the entire way the game works.

And the hireling thing is unnecessary. You've got to be aware that the PHB is out in a month and that traditionally ALL classes have access to hirelings. Why build into the class a high end ability that basically gives them a worse version of what all classes are going to get for free soon enough anyway? And what does it even do, really? A high level ability that lets you get a level 1 idiot a month who isn't going to survive a single attack from your level 10 allies? That's your idea of a class's supreme ability? You want to compare that to what other classes get at that level?

But, I also get the idea that.. well, maybe you don't actually get what the Warlord was supposed to be about in the first place.

Maybe 4E codified the "roles" in a strict sense and built their classes around it, but it was merely acknowledging what had always already existed. Perhaps not in the form they were in 4E.

But, in any edition from 1st-3rd, you had a basic party set up. The Fighter ruled at low levels and had the best armor and equipment which allowed them the best survival-rate. If the party was hit with a big blast, the Fighter was the most likely to survive it and was ideally the one who the enemies directed their attacks at as the other party members (buffs aside) would drop quickly if they became the main focus of enemy attacks. Of course, at the highest levels spell caster abilities were just so over-the-top and enemies did such insane damage or were so liberal with save-or-die that Fighters were no longer needed. On the other hand, the Fighter's damage has usually been so painfully low that well.. they kind of suck the higher your level goes.

Rogues began as Thiefs. Skill monkeys who (even though at low levels they sucked at everything) had exclusive access to basically every single ability needed to be able to properly navigate a dungeon or whatever. They alone could sneak, climb walls, spot and disable traps, pick locks, etc. Without a Thief your party was pretty screwed-- although eventually the Wizards could pretty much do every one of their abilities better with a spell, they supposedly had an important role in the party (saving the wizard's spell-slots I guess).

And then you have the Wizard who has the game-breaking abilities that allow them to do well... everything better than the Fighter and Rogue/Thief. But primarily they are focused on doing crazy amounts of damage. On the other hand, you target them and short of contingency spells that make them invincible, they die so quick that all that game-breaking cosmic power hardly seems worth it.

Then finally the Cleric. The Cleric has the role in the party, refined each edition from 1st to 3rd, of extending the party's ability to fight and saving them from defeat primarily by restoring hit points. They can be focused on damage and compete with the wizard or focused on buffing and make themselves the Fighter's rival-- but, the main exclusive job they have is to keep everyone alive and keep those hit points from hitting 0-- and reviving people, even from death, if they do.

Now, there are crazy amounts of Fighter alternatives - Monk, Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger. It is really easy to do a class with good AC and good hit points that can take a crazy beating and keep going, or can otherwise keep the enemy from reaching the party.

The Wizard has alternatives - Sorcerer, Warlock, Witch, Necromancer, Artificer, Psion. Again, lots of classes with crap armor and terrible hit points that can do crazy damage and bring death to anyone they meet.

The Rogue has some alternatives - Bard, Illusionist, Assassin. Again, classes that can just handle all the basic maintenance tasks of exploring the dungeon.

But the Cleric? Well... Druid. Maybe Shaman? Basically if your party is basically REQUIRED to have someone devoted to a god and going off on religious rants or they are going to run out of hit points so quickly that they will be lucky to handle two encounters a day.

The entire point of the Warlord was to be able to have a non-magical, non-deity-focused Cleric. The other point was to have a class that could use Intelligence and Charisma without being magical. Because plenty of people in fiction are successful being primarily charismatic and intelligent without needing magic, but it has never been possible in D&D. Unless one was a spell-caster, those were dump-stats. That's the sole purpose of the class being born. As you can see, there are WAY too many Fighter stand-ins as it is. It and the Wizard need no more "alternatives" because we have way more of those than we ever needed.


Again, surely you know these things already. You can't have been utterly unaware of them. Just think it more through carefully. Instead of building into the class the crazy abilities you would want the class to have while utterly ignoring how it interacts with every other player and every other class in the game, you need to consider it within the focus of the game and look for any loopholes you might be accidentally building in.

I spent 4 hours creating a version here for you that is far more closely based on abilities that already exist in the game. Of course, I am hardly satisfied with my version either as it has a few too many abilities and gains way too many at any given level. And I am not even sure I should have given it the multiattack, but... with some work I could refine it into something that would be well-balanced with other classes.

But... maybe I am being too harsh. Maybe this is your first stab as a project. So, you know-- keep at it. Besides, the PHB IS going to have what you call a "Warlord" as a subclass of Fighter. There is also going to be a subclass of Bard that will be much closer to what I want except that their abilities will still revolve around playing a piano and singing lounge music in the middle of a fight.

 

[Khoram]

Hmm... it seems I might have tried to end the dialogue too soon.


And you are right that 5E isn't 4E. Which means you can't base things on MMORPGs or video game logic.
What outside of video game logic (or maybe card game logic?) would allow you to make sense of "okay, so this character is going to challenge the enemy 'leader' (a painfully ill defined term) to a one-on-one battle and if ANY other party member decides to do anything but sit there silently, then all the enemies get a free attack against the party"...
I mean... what is that? Come on. Surely you know better than that. You've got to know better than that.
How do you imagine that playing out in a cinematic scenario? The Warlord says "Hey!! I challenge you!!" and the "leader" says "OOooohh yesssss..." and the entire rest of the party and suddenly a big arena drops down around the two and all the rest of the party and everyone on the villain's side all of their own accord go and fill the stadium's stands and begin cheering their side.
Oh, and if anyone else in the party throws something from the stand then the party says "aww... okay, we're caught." and stands there and let's the enemies all punch them?
Maybe that's a strawman, but the way you have that ability written-- that's how it sounds it should work. Some sort of weird world-breaking, reality altering meta-ability that is utterly inconsistent with the entire way the game works.

And the hireling thing is unnecessary. You've got to be aware that the PHB is out in a month and that traditionally ALL classes have access to hirelings. Why build into the class a high end ability that basically gives them a worse version of what all classes are going to get for free soon enough anyway? And what does it even do, really? A high level ability that lets you get a level 1 idiot a month who isn't going to survive a single attack from your level 10 allies? That's your idea of a class's supreme ability? You want to compare that to what other classes get at that level?

Hey thanks again for not understanding anything I wrote. I don't need the history lesson on classes, I've been around since 1e. You seem to have missed all the places I mentioned this was a class variant (see, it's right there in the thread title) based on a person called a warlord in a popular, New York Times bestselling historical fiction series, with a dash of 4e style "warlord" thrown in. It's something I thought sounded fun, to translate a fictional character into 5E rules. You know, the kind of thing people have been doing since the dawn of D&D? Sorry it doesn't suit you. I didn't make it to do so. You don't like it, or you think there's a bunch of stuff that doesn't suit other people's D&D games - guess what? Like every homebrewed, house-ruled creation, the DM can just decide not to use it in his game.

We're just talking past each other now but a few final words to address some inaccuracies in your depiction of what I have.

So there are races and classes that get advantage on intimidation? So what? Did you even read what I wrote? My class only gets advantage on intimidation when wearing certain armor and wielding certain types of weapons. So even if you had a half-orc warlord, guess what? There would be situations where he would be even more effective than a non-half-orc warlord. Say the group is captured and their armor and arms taken away. That half-orc still gets to use his other warlord abilities with advantage on the rolls.

Don't like the interplay between other classes and this one? Don't allow multiclassing with them. This class is designed for a low- or no-magic style world anyway. You know people use D&D rules to play all kinds of campaigns, right? I could play a Norse or Saxon campaign and this would fit well.

Enemy leader is "a painfully ill-defined term", eh? Let's crack open LMoP for a moment, shall we?

Page 10, area 6: goblin den: "six goblins inhabit this den, and one of them is a leader with 12 hp."

page 12, area 8: "The leader of the goblinoids..." (talking about Klarg).

page 35, thundertree area 13: "the leader of the group..."

page 35, wyvern tor orc camp: "the marauders in this cave include Brughor (obviously the leader), six ordinary orcs..."

page 38, area 7: "7 goblins and their leader..."

page 39, area 9: named goblin and 2 ordinary goblins

page 40: king grol (think he is a leader?)

I stopped here and didn't even continue to the last section since it seems the WotC writers understand what a leader is from the examples given.

Now maybe not all of these leaders would have the sense of honor or warrior's code to understand or take up a single combat between warlords. Again, this is a class and a specific ability that may not make sense in every situation. It's intended for use in cultures where a warrior's code dominates - Norse, Saxon, Frankish cultures; Klingon culture; barbarian, dwarf, or some orc cultures to give it a D&D spin.

How do I imagine it playing out in a cinematic scenario? Exactly how it does in the books I keep referencing, over and over. You should read them, they are a fun read.

You must lack imagination. This class' warband followers could be used, I don't know, in addition to traditional hirelings? Did you miss the part where the power curve of 5E is flattened? So you wouldn't want an extra couple of 3rd level warriors following you around, in addition to your hirelings? Are your hirelings absolutely loyal to your cause? Maybe level 1-3 is too low - gosh, if only I could change and tune that ability. Sheesh, dude.