D&D 5E Why is There No Warlord Equivalent in 5E?

[Mirrorrorrim]

Indeed. It's like Eberron. Eberron was brand new in 3e, and precisely tailored to fit the edition like a glove. But it was so precisely tailored that as new editions have rolled out, with new mechanics and new features, Eberron is torn between having to revise large parts of the setting and introducing a long list of ill-fitting legacy elements to preserve the lore.

The Warlord was, for the most part, brand new to 4e and precisely tailored to the mechanics of the edition. Which meant it fit them very well and thrived under those conditions. But 5e is mechanically very different, and that previous precision tailoring means Warlords would need a great deal of revision to fit. And as several people have pointed out, deciding which direction to take those revisions is not something easily agreed on.

Maybe this all is a warning of the dangers of over-specialization. That when you purpose build something for a very specific environment, as soon as the environment changes it's left high and dry. Meanwhile something designed more broadly will be easier to adept to the new circumstances.

Interesting perspective. The 4E powers system allowed the Warlord to carve a niche because EVERYTHING was a niche. The Powers were essentially their own class subsytems.

That isn't the case anymore in 5E. There is a lot of overlap and universal subsystems, like spells are back to being less exclusive, as are many combat abilities. I do like the overlap more, as long as each class gets something unique and interesting.

 

[Mecheon]

No. I'd just add the abilities needed to the fighter. Why need another guy with a sword?

The Warlord's thing isn't "Guy with a sword". Why should the Warlord concept be weighed down with the weight of the Fighter class? The Warlord concept doesn't need any of what Fighter provides, and Fighter isn't generic enough you can use it to just, produce stuff off of. Fighting Styles? That's nothing to do with Warlord, but that's integral to Fighters. Second Wind? Irrelevant to what you're doing, Warlords are passing out healing and buffs to other people, not themselves. Fighter provides nothing Warlord would actually want.

Regardless though, KibbleTasty's Warlord is like, probably the second most popular homebrew class out there, just behind the Blood Hunter

 

[MockingBird]

I definitely wasn't a fan of the warlord. Saying that though, I'd be okay with a warlordy type class showing up in a supplement (so I don't feel bad about banning core classes). It still blows my mind how PF2 turned out. I would have never guessed they would lean toward 4e style design. Especially after they were very successful with 3e style design.

 

[ECMO3]

One other thing about Warlord that would be a problem in 5E is that leveraging or buffing allies is a central design element of it as a class.

I don't think that is flexible enough for 5E where classes are intended to be able to stand on their own. The only other class that carries this "need others to work right" baggage is Bard with Inspiration and the subclass options let you even use that for other things once 3rd level comes around.

Ask yourself this - Can a Warlord play effectively in a solo adventure or in a party full of only Warlords? I don't think so and for that reason I don't think it works with 5E.

 

[Shardstone]

One other thing about Warlord that would be a problem in 5E is that leveraging or buffing allies is a central design element of it as a class.

I don't think that is flexible enough for 5E where classes are intended to be able to stand on their own. The only other class that carries this "need others to work right" baggage is Bard with Inspiration and the subclass options let you even use that for other things once 3rd level comes around.

Ask yourself this - Can a Warlord play effectively in a solo adventure or in a party full of only Warlords? I don't think so and for that reason I don't think it works with 5E.

This warlord class surely can.

 

[Corinnguard]

By the way, as per usual, Laserllama -- a fantastic homebrewer on Patreon -- has created an amazing Warlord class for anyone that's interested in it.

If Laser Llama happily came out and told everyone they were collating all of their work into a single hardcopy book, how many of us here would buy said work? I know, I would buy it.

 

[Shardstone]

If Laser Llama happily came out and told everyone they were collating all of their work into a single hardcopy book, how many of us here would buy said work? I know, I would buy it.

In a heartbeat.

 

[Mecheon]

Ask yourself this - Can a Warlord play effectively in a solo adventure or in a party full of only Warlords? I don't think so and for that reason I don't think it works with 5E.

I mean, Kibbles' Warlord would do great in an all Warlord party

Buuuut, D&D ain't exactly designed for solo stuff so I'm not sure if "Can this class function solo" is the best thing given I'm not sure all base classes would survive if we turned that lens on them

 

[CreamCloud0]

The Class name was Warlord. It is not possible to get away from the connotations of that word. It means what it means.

I guess that means my rogue should start committing crimes and stealing from everyone including the party then, given its impossible to get those connotations away from the word that’s their class name too right?

 

[Tonguez]

Because of all those mass combat mechanics in 5e?

No, because of the character defeating hordes and commanding troops is part of the martial fantasy, that 5e isnt currently supporting