F-111 Interdictor Long (200+ squares) distance ally teleporter. With some warlord stuff. Broken in a plot way, not a power way. Thought Switch Higher level build that grants upto 14 attacks on turn 1. If your allies play along, it's broken. Elven Critters Crit op with crit generation. 5 of these will end anything. Broken. King Fisher Does an excellent job at keeping an enemy disabled in a few ways. Strong. Boominator Fun catch-22 booming blade build with either strong or completely broken damage depending on your reading. Very Distracting Warlock Lot's of dazing and major penalties to hit. Overpowered. Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square. Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong. Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked. Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic. Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation. Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses. Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. Sir Robin (Bravely Charge Away) He automatically slows and pushes an enemy (5 squares), while charging away. Hard to rate it's power level, since it's terrain dependent. Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof. Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it. Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways. Battlemind Mc Prone-Daze Protecting your allies by keeping enemies away. Quite powerful. The Retaliator Getting hit deals more damage to the enemy then you receive yourself, and you can take plenty of hits. Heavy item dependency, Broken. Dead Kobold Transit Teleports 98 squares a turn, and can bring someone along for the ride. Not fully built, so i can't judge the power Psilent Guardian Protect your allies, while being invisible. Overpowered, possibly broken Unnamed Avenger|Runepriest/Hammer of Vengance Do lot's of damage while boosting your teams. Strong to slightly overpowered. Charedent BarrageA charging ardent. Fine in a normal team, overpowered if there are 2 together, and easily broken in teams of 5. Super Knight A tough, sticky, high damage knight. Strong. Super Duper Knight Basically the same as super knight, only far more broken. Mora, the unkillable avenger Solid damage, while being neigh indestuctable. Overpowered, but not broken. Swordburst Maximus At-Will Close Burst 3 that slide and prones. Protects allies with off actions. Strong, possibly over powered with the right party.
This is another case of a concept that IMO doesn't justify its own Class. It does step on the Cleric's role like the Assassin does on the Rogue's.
I agree however that in its current form Specialties don't cover what a lot of people like about the Warlord. I thik it should be an 'Order' within the Cleric class, and possibly a fighting 'Style' of the Fighters. Either that or they need to seriously change how Specialties and Backgrounds work, make them more than just skill and feat delivery systems. Which I would prefer.
I see a warlord as closer to a bard then a fighter. Inspiring shouts and encuraging words. But that still doesn't quite cut it. They should be thier own class.
Thats could cover a smallish subsection of the concept its why it wouldnt work as a cleric either... though I could take its divine aspect as the Divine Sanction of Kings ie the miracles are an aspect of his blood-line... and make sure to keep with subtle elements.
But the best warlords are the ones who don't have all that blood of kings crap, guys like Simone the Digger, or Charles Xavier, or Cyclops when he's not being emo, Captain America, Liu Bei, Sokka.
They're usually not the most powerful or dangerous member of their teams individually but possess the trust of their followers and the cunning or will to guide them through their trials.
Just like any peasant can pick up a stick and eventually figure out how to be a first level fighter or barbarian, anyone can rise up to become a warlord, often to the chagirn and eventual defeat of those who espouse a belief in the blood of kings.
Both please? I'd like there to be a warlord class, I can easily see the Warlord's gimmick being the primary thrust of a character and warranting the mechanical bredth, depth, and focus that only a class can provide. On the other hand, I'd also like for there to be a specialty that adds a bit of the 'battlefield commander' role to any class should a player want it. And why not?
Sure, there might be some conceptual overlap between a fighter with a leadery specialty and a warlord, but so long as they're mechanically distinct that's all the better, imo. That way players can have a variety of options for how to portray the same character idea in the game, letting them tailor their mechanical abilities to what would best serve the party, or what will give them their desired play experience, without having to sacrifice their character concept, or have their concept dictate those things to them.
I feel the same way about assassins, shadowcasters, necromancers, barbarians, rangers, monks, swordmages, warlocks, sorcerers, and all those other interesting character types through the years that could be done up as minimal thematic filters applied to existing classes, but could also be expanded into their own classes with their own novel and engaging mechanical structures.
These two methods of portraying esoteric character concepts - specialties and full classes - needn't be mutually exclusive (after all, we've got 'fighter' and 'wizard' and 'rogue' classes, but we've also got specialties and backgrounds that are essentially 'fighter', 'wizard', and 'rogue' as well). Further, we're just coming out of 4e, and while some of us may have like the parity imposed by 4e's universal class structure and power progression, the biggest advantage of moving away from it is that different character concepts can each have their own structure and progression. Why confound that freedom by arbitrarily restricting the available class list?
And while option glut is always an issue, I'd imagine feat glut (which specialty glut is), which every character has to sift through, would be far less of an annoyance than class glut. After all, weren't feat glut, spell glut, and prestige class glut more bothersome in 3.5 than class glut or race glut were? For a race, you're either playing that race or not, and never have to think about it again. For classes, they're more involved by default, which naturally reduces the number designers can pump out, and for many players classes are like races, you make your decision at level one and never have to be bothered by it after that - you can just skip right past other classes after that.
I've never played Warlord & next 4e game I play I am going to try one out. That being said, what I've read of the class still seems like a militant bard. Showing off or barking orders to inspire/bolster/heal seems like Bardic abilities with a militant twist to the fluff. Now, I'm not saying that Warlord class doesn't deserve a place as I'm all for a Fighter that could be a top notch healer. i know they are wanting to put Warlord in and I hope it gets to be a quality class.
But the best warlords are the ones who don't have all that blood of kings crap, guys like Simone the Digger, or Charles Xavier, or Cyclops when he's not being emo, Captain America, Liu Bei, Sokka. .
Which is why I said small subsection. Generally speaking I prefer to think its a theme or specialization of the Warlord a cool one but not necessary to be awesome.
F-111 Interdictor Long (200+ squares) distance ally teleporter. With some warlord stuff. Broken in a plot way, not a power way. Thought Switch Higher level build that grants upto 14 attacks on turn 1. If your allies play along, it's broken. Elven Critters Crit op with crit generation. 5 of these will end anything. Broken. King Fisher Does an excellent job at keeping an enemy disabled in a few ways. Strong. Boominator Fun catch-22 booming blade build with either strong or completely broken damage depending on your reading. Very Distracting Warlock Lot's of dazing and major penalties to hit. Overpowered. Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square. Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong. Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked. Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic. Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation. Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses. Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. Sir Robin (Bravely Charge Away) He automatically slows and pushes an enemy (5 squares), while charging away. Hard to rate it's power level, since it's terrain dependent. Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof. Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it. Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways. Battlemind Mc Prone-Daze Protecting your allies by keeping enemies away. Quite powerful. The Retaliator Getting hit deals more damage to the enemy then you receive yourself, and you can take plenty of hits. Heavy item dependency, Broken. Dead Kobold Transit Teleports 98 squares a turn, and can bring someone along for the ride. Not fully built, so i can't judge the power Psilent Guardian Protect your allies, while being invisible. Overpowered, possibly broken Unnamed Avenger|Runepriest/Hammer of Vengance Do lot's of damage while boosting your teams. Strong to slightly overpowered. Charedent BarrageA charging ardent. Fine in a normal team, overpowered if there are 2 together, and easily broken in teams of 5. Super Knight A tough, sticky, high damage knight. Strong. Super Duper Knight Basically the same as super knight, only far more broken. Mora, the unkillable avenger Solid damage, while being neigh indestuctable. Overpowered, but not broken. Swordburst Maximus At-Will Close Burst 3 that slide and prones. Protects allies with off actions. Strong, possibly over powered with the right party.
I've never played Warlord & next 4e game I play I am going to try one out. That being said, what I've read of the class still seems like a militant bard. Showing off or barking orders to inspire/bolster/heal seems like Bardic abilities with a militant twist to the fluff. class.
It doesnt feel like one ... in fact the master tactician which I almost always flavor as creating openings and manipulating the battle field and bluffing and intimidating enemies even more than commanding allies doesnt feel bardic at all..
Early on I mentioned I could create a mute Warlord its major drawback would not be presentation of its class abilities. Its tough to play the rest of the character.
