Basic D&D Warlord

[bryant]

I wanted to give the class creation system in Adventurer Conquerer King a spin, so I cranked out a Warlord class. This is untested.

Mirrored from Population: One.

Comments

[mneme]

Heh.

I'd probably do an adaption that was less tied to the 4e mechanics -- probably stealing some of the stuff back from the 3e Marshal. If the game is intended for minis play, I'd probably focus on moving allies around and granting them tactical defensive advantages (heh. I could see using a Tactic instead of the Aura from the Marshal, with tactics letting an ally cover/defend for allies, help allies gang up on a foe, aid one another's movement (for instance, one ally engaged with a foe could allow another to walk right past them to hit the enemy's back rank). I could even see tactics that made it easier for allies to heal or heal one another (through magic or potions) or even provided temporary hp. Commander's Strike and Inspiring Word are awesome in their concept, but they are expressly playing with the core principles of 4e that aren't shared by other D&D flavors.

But the Warlord is an awesome concept, and I love the idea of paying for tactical prowess with a hit die drop.

[bryant]

I am definitely splitting the hair here between tactical/morale and the healing element and perhaps satisfying nobody as a result. ACKS doesn't have minis play, alas.

I might try to do two focused versions next, if I get inspired: one as a healer/motivator, the other as a leader/motivator. I think the class needs more than one power in either regard to be really themed, hm.

The ACKS class creation system is my favorite part about the system, though. The ability to do things like pay for special powers with a hit die drop is awesome. It's very weird that you have to go through the Thief class to do it, but the hack is at least transparent. (Classes are built on 4 points; this build is 2 points in fighter, 1 point in hit dice, 1 point in thief. Then I traded all the thief specials out for powers. A fighter has 2 points in hit dice, for comparison.)

[mneme]

It's worth noting that even people who loved the 4e Warlord often hated the class's healing.

[bryant]

True. On the other hand, I loved the 4e Warlord much more than I liked the 3e Marshal.