D&D 5E Working on a Warlord Full Class

[Garthanos]

One has to be super careful with that.

A bonus or effect should be of at least a modest size to ve worth bothering, and then multiplying it by the party size makes it huge.

Nods big but bounded is one thought for instance "On your toes everyone" allows any party member to share initiative equal to the warlords roll (or similar). One of the 4e Warlord features was being able to get everyone to go first sometimes with too much certainty ... this is actualy weaker and bounded by the warlords roll.

The first form of everybody charge was an at-will people didnt get an extra attack just a buff if they charged the target of your focus (might alow allies able to use a bonus attack to attack if they use a dash and gain bonus damage of a CS die).

But when you get higher level ... it does mean basically your
allies each get an extra attack.. call it a level 14 or 15 in 5e

 

[Garthanos]

"Everyone makes an attack" is an action-surge scale feature, for example.

I think of it as a martial fireball....

 

[Garthanos]

@NotAYakk
I think you might notice this one is comparable in potency to an attack and a shove
The knockdown too is only useful to those who do not mind getting in close AND while it provides
advantage the following provides a boost to damage. A level 5 fighter can use one of his
attacks to shove and the other to attack A level 5 Warlord being able to attack and
boosting ALL ally melee attacks is similar. (no need for a resource that expends)

 

[NotAYakk]

Sure, but that is really close to a fiddly bonus.

At low levels, that is +2 or +3 damage per attacker.

4e isn't as bad as 3e, but fiddly small bonus tracking is one of the ways you can break a game of 4e and make fights really really boring and long.

I mean, bless in 5e is both OP and annoying to track at the same time; more of that is meh.

 

[Garthanos]

Sure, but that is really close to a fiddly bonus.

At low levels, that is +2 or +3 damage per attacker.

Sounds just like adding a d6 AKA ... adding a CS die

 

[NotAYakk]

Yep, except now it is communication between two players and tactical requirements to get that bonus.

The Warlord I wrote above, it is the Warlord who says "roll an extra d6" (or whatever) and says the DC (that is why I use the Warlord's DC, not the target PCs; less communication), and it happens after the player does what they do, and it doesn't generally require that the Warlord boss the Player around to get the max yield from it.

At 1 die at level 1 up to 3 dice at level 9, you are going to have plenty of chances to use the dice; and at level 5+, you can reasonably efficiently burn 2 dice on your turn (giving 2 other people an attack) if you didn't find better things to do on your off-turn.

I mean, I played a lot of 4e. Powers that granted small, conditional, wide bonuses where often mechanically sound, but they where a pain to deal with. I started talking about the differences between "damage per second" and "damage per turn"; small, stacking, conditional, fiddly bonuses and multiple attacks generated more damage per turn, but did not generate more damage per second.

So they led to combat being both easier and more boring.

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I mean, I guess we could have

"Focus Fire": hit a creature, burn a die. Everyone other than you who hits the creature gets to roll the die and deal extra damage (per player? per attack?)

That has the nice property that it encourages tactically optimal play on the part of your teammates.

 

[Garthanos]

I mean, I guess we could have

"Focus Fire": hit a creature, burn a die. Everyone other than you who hits the creature gets to roll the die and deal extra damage (per player? per attack?)

That has the nice property that it encourages tactically optimal play on the part of your teammates.

Nod the concept doesn't have to require the movement AND yes focus fire is the concept making it slightly more generalized you might say makes it easier to use.

Regardless arranging for the need for MELEE allies to get to the target of focus is also the Warlords schtick.

This is also reason I want some charge enablers (and even at some point disengage like movement with an attack as a bonus action). Charge has been a part of D&D since before it was D&D and it really sucks 5e requires house ruled to actually have it.

The more flush variants are as I said really just martial fireballs... the Wizard needs no allies for his of course.

 

[NotAYakk]

Also, unlike 4e, "ally count" is less controlled than in 5e.

Summoners can have 20 allies all deployed and attacking. If we have an ability that states "any ally who charges deals +X extra damage", that ability will be weak in a typical party and crazy OP in a summoner party.

Which leads to us stating "the first X allies who".

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The "every round you have dice" is an attempt to make the Warlords primary contribution to combat be those dice, and the Warlord always Warlords.

They aren't Fighters who also Warlords. (That is the BM).

Extra Attack takes up a lot of power space. And the "give up your Extra Attack to give someone else an attack" always feels like you are actively sucking so others don't.

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So, a less abusable "focus on this":

Take it Down (1 command point): As a bonus action, expend a supremancy die and you pick a target you have hit this turn and isn't hidden from you to focus fire on. They take your supremacy die in psychic damage, your turn ends, and any of your supremacy dice damage done to the target by anyone else are doubled until the end of your next turn.

(Wording improvement needed)

We could require charge, but I don't think Warlords should depend on an optional 5e rule.

This remains bounded by your damage dice pool, and encourages the party to swarm the target.

 

[Garthanos]

Extra Attack takes up a lot of power space. And the "give up your Extra Attack to give someone else an attack" always feels like you are actively sucking so others don't.

The Battlemaster maneuver costing the ally a reaction I find problematic to be honest...

 

[Garthanos]

Also, unlike 4e, "ally count" is less controlled than in 5e.

If large numbers were treated as Swarms they count as one ally and gain a bonus as a single one So my 4e Warlord can be allied with a group of NPC soldiers and his boosts still affect them but not as well as heroic companions.