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Menacing Warlord

Some warlords lead the battlefield by inspiring your allies.  You don’t do that.  Instead, through your physical presence and the threatening manner in which you wield your weapons, you project an aura of menace that emboldens your allies and causes your enemies to hesitate.  Your menacing presence causes your allies to appear almost as menacing as you do, converting your entire team into an aggressive terrifying murderous pack.

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Commenting power by power

Mar 6, 2010 -- 7:36AM, wrecan wrote:

Menacing Warlord

Some warlords lead the battlefield by inspiring your allies.  You don’t do that.  Instead, through your physical presence and the threatening manner in which you wield your weapons, you project an aura of menace that emboldens your allies and causes your enemies to hesitate.  Your menacing presence causes your allies to appear almost as menacing as you do, converting your entire team into an aggressive terrifying murderous pack.

When you choose Menacing Presence, you can select the following options:

Menacing Presence: When an ally who can see you uses an Action Point to take an extra action and uses this action to make an attack, the ally can choose to take advantage of this feature before the attack roll.  The attack gains the Fear and Rattling keywords.

This Presence is useless for any party members who don't have Intimidate trained. There's also a weird interaction by making any non-damage effect into a Fear effect - it means that some stuff that isn't fear-related is now ignored by anyone immune to fear.

Mar 6, 2010 -- 7:36AM, wrecan wrote:

You're Next	Warlord Attack 1
With a baleful glare, and a murderous show of martial prowess, you let an enemy and everybody near that enemy know its days are numbered.
At-Will ♦ Martial, Weapon
Standard action Melee or Ranged weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength or Dexterity vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] plus Strength modifier damage and choose one enemy who can see the target and is not immune to attacks with the Fear keyword.  That enemy incurs a penalty to damage rolls until the end of its next turn .
Level 21: Initial Hit inflicts 2[W] plus Strength modifier damage.  All other effects remain the same.

No damage penalty is given. Warlords don't do Dexterity-based attacks. It's simpler to say "is not immune to fear".

Mar 6, 2010 -- 7:36AM, wrecan wrote:

Menacing Display	Warlord Attack 1
You kill an enemy so savagely that it causes your enemies to pause.
Daily ♦ Fear, Martial, Reliable
Immediate Reaction          Close burst 10
Target:  All enemies in burst
Attack:  Intimidate vs. Insight Trigger: You reduce an enemy who is not a minion to zero hp with a melee attack.
Hit: The target incurs a penalty to all damage rolls equal to your Charisma modifier.  This penalty lessens by 1 at the end of each of your subsequent turns, until the penalty reaches zero.
Menacing Warlord: The penalty to damage rolls does not fall below 1; it lasts until the end of the encounter.

As an immediate reaction, this power can't be used on your own turn, so it'll only work when you are granted an attack or make an OA. You'd do better to phrase this attack as was done with Shadow Hand Attack from the Ghost of Eventide (and give a normal Strength vs. Will attack as well). This also doesn't really feel like much of a hindrance. It's not better than weakened, which is already somewhat underwhelming, and it scales way too slowly. The buff for the particular build is also more annoying than it's worth - reminding the DM every time that some attacks are getting -1 to damage is going to be missed.

Mar 6, 2010 -- 7:36AM, wrecan wrote:

Intimidating Menace	Warlord Utility 2
Your physical presence is more persuasive than any words you can utter.
At-Will
Free Action - Area Personal
Effect: Use the higher of your Strength or Charisma modifiers for Intimidate checks.

This discourages menacing warlords from having a high Charisma, but the rest of the build goes the other direction. I'd consider making it a straight bonus. Speak with Spirits for the shaman is an encounter power, but it also can affect any skill. They seem roughly comparable.

Mar 6, 2010 -- 7:36AM, wrecan wrote:

Cull the Weak	Warlord Attack 3
When your allies are ready, you lash out at the weakest foes, whittling your enemies down to an appropriate size.
Encounter ♦ Martial, Weapon
Standard Action - Melee or Ranged weapon
Target: One minion
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: The minion dies and all allies who can see you make a basic attack (melee or ranged) against a minion.

 

Feels too situational for an encounter power. This is your second encounter power - are you going to take something which doesn't come up in most combats to do something about as effective as a real controller?

Mar 6, 2010 -- 7:36AM, wrecan wrote:

Bloody Display	Warlord Attack 5
You toss a portion of a foe you just slew into the fray, sowing dissension and fear.
Daily ♦ Fear, Martial, Zone
Immediate Reaction Type - Area burst 1 within 5
Target: All enemies in burst
Attack: Intimidate vs. Insight Trigger: You reduce an enemy who is not a minion to zero hp with a melee attack.
Hit: Slide the target to an unoccupied square adjacent to the burst.  This forced movement may provoke opportunity actions if the target leaves a square adjacent to an ally.  This power does not grant extra opportunity attacks.
Effect: The burst becomes a zone that lasts until the end of the encounter.  All squares in the zone require one extra square of movement for your enemies. Menacing Warlord: After all attacks have been resolved, make a melee basic attack against each target whose forced movement ends in a square adjacent to you.

Same problem as Menacing Display with regard to action type and attack. There's also been a focus on cutting down on infinite slides. Changing it to "slide two squares" would be enough to cover all cases. I'd consider changing it to "the targets must move to a square adjacent to the burst" to get past the forced movement causing OAs.

Mar 6, 2010 -- 7:36AM, wrecan wrote:

Horrific Blow	Warlord Attack 7
You hit your target with such savage force that it knocks all your targets’ allies for a loop.
Encounter ♦ Martial, Weapon, Rattling
Standard Action - Melee or Ranged weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 2[w] plus Strength modifier damage and push creature up to three squares.  Then make a secondary attack against every enemy adjacent to the target at the end of the forced movement.
Secondary Attack: Charisma vs. Will Secondary Hit: 1d6 plus Charisma modifier psychic damage.  The target is also Rattled.

Why is the secondary attack done with Charisma? Strength vs. Will is seen in other places. I don't think you need to say the secondary attack is also rattling (it's also martial and weapon).

Mar 6, 2010 -- 7:36AM, wrecan wrote:

Triumphant Display	Warlord Attack 9
You eviscerate your target with such vigor that you and all your allies let your enemies know they are next.
Daily ♦ Fear, Martial
Immediate Reaction          Close burst 10
Target:  Each enemy in burst who can see you
Attack:  Intimidate vs. Insight Trigger: You reduce an enemy who is not a minion to zero hp with a melee attack.
Hit: 1d8 psychic damage and any ally who can see the target can make a basic attack (melee or ranged) against the target as a free action.
Miss: Any ally adjacent to target can make a basic melee attack against the target as a free action. Menacing Warlord: Any target hit by your ally is also marked by that ally.

Again, Immediate Reaction and Intimidate vs. Insight. This allows way too many attacks. Assuming you're in a five-man group who all have ranged basic attacks, you're allowing for four attacks made against any enemy within 10 squares. Even in a normal battlefield (and a less ranged group), you're still going to be granting a ton of attacks. The Menacing Warlord kicker gets confusing, since every ally could be making an attack. The timing of the attacks then matters. It's also not given as a choice - the ally must mark the target if it hits.

Mar 6, 2010 -- 7:36AM, wrecan wrote:

Strength in Numbers	Warlord Utility 10
Acting as a horde, you and your companions gain strength from the strength of your companions.
Daily ♦ Healing
Standard Action          Close burst 10
Target:  You and each ally in burst
Effect: You spend a healing surge.  Each ally in burst may also spend a healing surge as a free action.  Instead of recovering hit points equal to the usual healing surge value, you and your allies who spent healing surges gain hit points equal to the highest healing surge value of the healing surges expended plus 1 hit point per healing surge expended in this action.  However, your non-dwarven allies who choose to spend a healing surge cannot perform a standard action in their next turn (unless they expend an action point).

This power is almost always worse than Defensive Rally. Better range, it targets you, and it gives a little more healing, but it doesn't grant a saving throw, doesn't give give defensive bonuses, and costs a standard action for those allies. It's also missing the Martial keyword.

I'll say this, wrecan - I love those feats. Both full of flavour, both specific enough that they don't kill the game. Gotta love foul-mouthed, especially! So cool.