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<blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 7042423" data-attributes="member: 37579">My problem is mostly the oxymoron. &quot;Apprentice warlord&quot; is like &quot;training archmage&quot; or &quot;rookie pope&quot; or &quot;inexperienced knight commander&quot;. A warlord is someone you expect to be leading armies, not just three other dudes. The narrative doesn't match the expectations. There's a disconnect. D&amp;D is a game of imagination. So when the scene you describe doesn't match the expectations it takes you out of the story. The &quot;hobgoblin warlord&quot; in the Monster Manual is CR 6 compared to the regular CR 1/2 hobgoblin. If as a DM, I describe the PCs cresting and hill and seeing &quot;the hobgoblin warlord and her forces&quot;, in your mind, what does that look like?You're likely not picturing one hobgoblin solider, a goblin shaman, and a bugbear. I mean, even if each of the other three is also CR 6 and it's a deadly encounter for a level 10 party... it's still not what you expect. And so it's disappointing. Almost anticlimactic.Picture it to new players at the game:&quot;What's your character?&quot; &quot;I'm a warlord.&quot;&quot;Cool! What do you do?&quot;&quot;Once per rest, I can let you attack an extra time.&quot;Does that meet the expectations the name brings?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jester David, post: 7042423, member: 37579"] My problem is mostly the oxymoron. "Apprentice warlord" is like "training archmage" or "rookie pope" or "inexperienced knight commander". A warlord is someone you expect to be leading armies, not just three other dudes. The narrative doesn't match the expectations. There's a disconnect. D&D is a game of imagination. So when the scene you describe doesn't match the expectations it takes you out of the story. The "hobgoblin warlord" in the [I]Monster Manual[/I] is CR 6 compared to the regular CR 1/2 hobgoblin. If as a DM, I describe the PCs cresting and hill and seeing "the hobgoblin warlord and her forces", in your mind, what does that look like? You're likely not picturing one hobgoblin solider, a goblin shaman, and a bugbear. I mean, even if each of the other three is also CR 6 and it's a deadly encounter for a level 10 party... it's still not what you expect. And so it's disappointing. Almost anticlimactic. Picture it to new players at the game: "What's your character?" [I]"I'm a warlord."[/I] "Cool! What do you do?" [I]"Once per rest, I can let you attack an extra time."[/I] Does that meet the expectations the name brings? [/QUOTE]

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