D&D 5E (2014) Would you prefer warlord or psion as a new class?

[Garthanos]

Self-selection: 99.99% of players aren't going to vote in this post, and lacking a strong opinion probably dissuades most of the indifferent who see the poll.

Basic fundamental issue on online polls indeed.

 

[Mecheon]

There's no purpose to this except pandering to the handful of 4e fans out there. It won't work well outside the edition it was designed for, it doesn't add anything to the game except more arguments about 4e, and there's no product to place it in - unless you all want "Xanather's II: a collection of misc. S*(tuff) 99% of you will never use".
Oh and it has a laughably bad name.

Yeah, I'm gonna nah on this one
1: Battlemaster, PDK and Mastermind show there's a demand for tactical characters
2: Battlemaster, PDK and Mastermind show it can work as all three touch on it, but don't go full into it
3: It adds exactly as much as a prospective Psion would add, in that it adds a new class. Hell, its a far more setting neutral sort than the Artificer for sure
4: Plenty of products could have 'Tactical leadership type character". Go like 3.5 did and focus on big armies or something. Plus that Dragonlance thread that showed up did make a good case that it'd be a suitable thing for Dragonlance

5: Arguing about names is going to end up with us pointing out most class names are bad.


But yeah, I like my psion and my warlord, but Warlord just have that edge of a bit more usable in more places that gets me voting on it

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Wot? Not Both?

I addressed that in the OP. If you want to see a preference "both" just muddies the waters. Voting for one does not preclude also getting the other.

Including every possible option makes a poll worse, not better.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

There's a difference between not caring and active malice.

Well, shall I say, reading the forums suggests there is a lot more "active malice" than is indicated by the poll....

 

[Hussar]

Well, so far, we've only got 60 votes (as I write this), so, it's not exactly a burning question. I usually don't start taking these kinds of polls seriously until we get over 100 votes. And, even then, it's so self selective.

Speaking for me personally, I want to see a warlord over a psion for a couple of reasons.

1. The psions that people have talked about all follow the same vein as earlier editions - a completely new subsystem complete with a new class and multiple subclasses. Similar to Complete Psionics in 2e or the 3e psionics system. For me, that's a hard no. I have zero interest in a class that requires me, as a dm, to read several hundred pages of rules for one player at the table to use. If the psion doesn't fit into existing mechanics and preferably existing classes, the way they've been doing it in the UA's, then I have zero interest. I'll pass on it the same way I did in every other edition.

2. Warlord is THE iconic class from 4e. It sends a very clear message to 4e players and fans that we are welcome in the big tent and that WotC isn't taking sides in the edition war. We're all D&D gamers and it would mean a lot if my preferences were recognized as being equal to anyone else's.

3. There is, in my mind, an open design space for a warlord in the game. We have FIVE classes capable of magical healing. But, no one capable of non-magical healing. There are several support subclasses - cleric, bard, etc - but almost all the support is magical in nature. 5e has doubled down on the magic level of the game to the point where virtually every round of every encounter features multiple spells being cast. Adding a warlord counter balances this by giving us specifically non-spell/non-magic features. A psion, of whatever flavor, is just another caster in a game that has 33 out of 36 base sub-classes already casting spells.

 

[Iry]

There is nothing essential about Psionics that cannot be represented by reskinning an existing class. But since some settings have gone out of their way to make people think "Psionics" should be in the game, and Warlords have no heavy associations with any settings, then Psion it is.

I'm also generally like the idea of "One New Class Per Setting."

 

[Argyle King]

What if the Warlord was a Psionic class?

It can buff allies via kinda hacking into their minds and bodies.

 

[Mistwell]

I would rather a class that can think your arm back on rather than one that can shout your arm back on.

I'll see myself out again.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Well, shall I say, reading the forums suggests there is a lot more "active malice" than is indicated by the poll....

Maybe take the results as a hopeful sign, then?

 

[generic]

It seems Psion is winning so far.

As much of a 4E-apologist as I am, I must say that the Psion deserves the throne. If you want to play a Warlord in 5E, you can play a Paladin multiclassed into battlemaster, or, even, just a paladin. The Warlord's main abilities have already been so spread-out and cannibalized that a Warlord class would seem underwhelming if released now.