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Adventure Song: Warlord Concepts
Feb. 9th, 2014 01:02 pmSo, when I hit on my Adventure Song for the Sorcerer as being the streamlined Wizard, I kind of broke the seal on my resolve to limit it to the classic 4 classes to begin with. Leaving the Wizard out would be weird, but leaving the Sorcerer out would seem arbitrary when it adds so little overhead to the game.
But 5 classes seems weirdly unbalanced. I considered adding the Druid in since that's pretty far along conceptually, and then there would be two martial, two spiritual, and two arcane classes. I decided instead to go with Warlord, sharing the thinking of 4E's devs that there should be someone else who can do the Cleric's job of keeping the party on their feat during battle so that every party doesn't end up inevitably having a Cleric. This also creates a balance of three mundane/martial classes (Fighter, Rogue, and Warlord) versus three supernaturally-empowered ones (Cleric, Wizard, Sorcerer).
In 4E, pretty much every leader class has a nigh-identical healing ability: twice per encounter, as a minor action, they can let one relatively nearby ally spend a healing surge and receive some brief side benefit thematically linked to the class. They're so cookie cutter that three out of four of them in the first two PHBs were called "Something Word".
I've hewed pretty closely to that model for the Cleric, with an ability simply called the Word. But I feel strongly that each of the leader classes should be a little more distinctive. So instead of a word, the Warlord has a cry... a Rallying Cry. It's a once-per-encounter ability that lets *every* ally who can see or hear you do the equivalent of a healing surge. It also sets a buff for the whole group that lasts for the rest of the encounter: +1 to defense, or +1 to attack, or +2 to attack one specific foe, or +2 to defend against one specific foe.
You see the different dynamic here. The Cleric sees one particular ally in trouble and singles them out for aid, while the Warlord has to keep an eye on the group as a whole. The Cleric compassionately rescues an individual beset by troubles, while the Warlord sees the way the battle is going and tries to change it.
Another thematic difference between the Cleric's Word and the Warlord's Cry is that the Word is written as "recover HP and be healed" while the Warlord's is just "recover HP". This is a distinction that doesn't exist in 4E, but does in Adventure Song. Being healed ends certain conditions/debuffs, while recovering HP by itself just means you can fight on. Rallying Cry can return a dying ally to the fight, but they'll still be dying.
4E's Warlords had a raft of powers that allowed them to direct an ally to make an attack during the Warlord's turn. Adventure Song's Warlord can just do that. If you see that it's more advantageous for one of your allies to attack than for you to do it, you do it. Some of their combat powers have uses that allow them to direct allies to attack on other peoples' turn, as reactions to specific triggers.
The Warlord's favored flavor of combat powers are called Tactics. Unlike most mundane combat powers, Tactics don't represent special attacks; their basic use are situational buffs for the whole party, with their Silver uses basically being strategic blows and their Gold uses being meant to be turning points along the same lines as the Rallying Cry.
The Warlord has two general builds: Battle Leader and Master Tactician. If you choose Battle Leader, then your character is considered a Warrior, which gives you some of the same extra effects that Fighters get when you pick Fighting Techniques for your Combat Powers. If you choose Master Tactician, you get additional benefits when you direct allies to make attacks. Essentially, the Battle Leader is the frontline Warlord of the PHB and the Master Tactician is the informal "Lazy Warlord" build. A Master Tactician is more likely to pick two Tactics at level one, but they could also borrow from another class... control/area-effect spells being particularly useful.
But 5 classes seems weirdly unbalanced. I considered adding the Druid in since that's pretty far along conceptually, and then there would be two martial, two spiritual, and two arcane classes. I decided instead to go with Warlord, sharing the thinking of 4E's devs that there should be someone else who can do the Cleric's job of keeping the party on their feat during battle so that every party doesn't end up inevitably having a Cleric. This also creates a balance of three mundane/martial classes (Fighter, Rogue, and Warlord) versus three supernaturally-empowered ones (Cleric, Wizard, Sorcerer).
In 4E, pretty much every leader class has a nigh-identical healing ability: twice per encounter, as a minor action, they can let one relatively nearby ally spend a healing surge and receive some brief side benefit thematically linked to the class. They're so cookie cutter that three out of four of them in the first two PHBs were called "Something Word".
I've hewed pretty closely to that model for the Cleric, with an ability simply called the Word. But I feel strongly that each of the leader classes should be a little more distinctive. So instead of a word, the Warlord has a cry... a Rallying Cry. It's a once-per-encounter ability that lets *every* ally who can see or hear you do the equivalent of a healing surge. It also sets a buff for the whole group that lasts for the rest of the encounter: +1 to defense, or +1 to attack, or +2 to attack one specific foe, or +2 to defend against one specific foe.
You see the different dynamic here. The Cleric sees one particular ally in trouble and singles them out for aid, while the Warlord has to keep an eye on the group as a whole. The Cleric compassionately rescues an individual beset by troubles, while the Warlord sees the way the battle is going and tries to change it.
Another thematic difference between the Cleric's Word and the Warlord's Cry is that the Word is written as "recover HP and be healed" while the Warlord's is just "recover HP". This is a distinction that doesn't exist in 4E, but does in Adventure Song. Being healed ends certain conditions/debuffs, while recovering HP by itself just means you can fight on. Rallying Cry can return a dying ally to the fight, but they'll still be dying.
4E's Warlords had a raft of powers that allowed them to direct an ally to make an attack during the Warlord's turn. Adventure Song's Warlord can just do that. If you see that it's more advantageous for one of your allies to attack than for you to do it, you do it. Some of their combat powers have uses that allow them to direct allies to attack on other peoples' turn, as reactions to specific triggers.
The Warlord's favored flavor of combat powers are called Tactics. Unlike most mundane combat powers, Tactics don't represent special attacks; their basic use are situational buffs for the whole party, with their Silver uses basically being strategic blows and their Gold uses being meant to be turning points along the same lines as the Rallying Cry.
The Warlord has two general builds: Battle Leader and Master Tactician. If you choose Battle Leader, then your character is considered a Warrior, which gives you some of the same extra effects that Fighters get when you pick Fighting Techniques for your Combat Powers. If you choose Master Tactician, you get additional benefits when you direct allies to make attacks. Essentially, the Battle Leader is the frontline Warlord of the PHB and the Master Tactician is the informal "Lazy Warlord" build. A Master Tactician is more likely to pick two Tactics at level one, but they could also borrow from another class... control/area-effect spells being particularly useful.