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Everynone
2013-07-21, 05:20 PM
Warlord

"To me, my friends! This battle ends here!" - Rallying Cry of Antipater Eukleides, a Warlord

Leaders - true leaders - can be hard to come by in the adventuring profession. While most parties elect someone to speak for them or devise tactical appraisals (usually not both to one person), unconsciously or no, there are few classes wholly suited to providing an individual to turn to, and place one's faith in, when the going gets really rough. That would be where warlords step in. A warlord provides tactical advice, a stalwart presence on the battlefield, a party face, and a field commander with a slew of abilities capable of devastating the enemy or reinforcing the resolve of his allies, all in one form.

Traditionally, a warlord stays in the thick of battle, where he is needed the most. While they do not match the combat potential of a fighter themselves, their auras and special abilities are invaluable to an offensive of defensive effort. Given that a warlord can use these abilities on himself as well as his allies, he can turn himself into a true terror to behold.


Hit Die: d8


Class Skills

The warlord’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (warfare), Profession (Int), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Points: 4 + Int modifier (× 4 at 1st level)


Class Features

The following are class features of the warlord class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Warlords are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all armor, and shields (except tower shields).

Auras (Ex): A warlord has access to several Auras that he can use to bolster his allies' resolve in various ways. Activating an Aura is a standard action, but maintaining it is a free action so long as the warlord is not unconscious or helpless. At 10th level, activating an aura becomes a swift action. Each Aura's bonus is equal to 1 + 1/4 warlord levels the character possesses, and the warlord can only maintain one Aura at a time.

A warlord has a total pool of rounds that they can maintain an Aura per day. These rounds are replenished at a rate of 1 per 10 minutes spent at rest, or else they are replenished entirely by a normal period of rest like spells are. The round pool is equal to warlord level + 2 × Cha modifier. Thus, a 6th level warlord with 18 Charisma can maintain an aura for a total of 14 rounds per day. All uses of Auras are subtracted from the daily total, so switching Auras will not replenish the pool. A warlord need not maintain an Aura at all times - he can dismiss whatever Aura he is current using as a free action. Each Aura affects all allies within 30 feet that can see the warlord, including the warlord himself.

Aura of Might (Level 1): Add Aura bonus to damage rolls (including magical attacks) made by allies within the area of effect.
Aura of Competence (Level 3): Add Aura bonus to attack rolls (including magical attacks) made by allies within the area of effect.
Aura of Protection (Level 5): Add Aura bonus as a dodge AC bonus to all allies within the area of effect.
Aura of Intuition (Level 8): Add Aura bonus to all allies' Initiative (even if it has already been rolled) and twice this for bonuses to attack when making an attack of opportunity within the area of effect.
Aura of Resilience (Level 10): Add 3 × Aura bonus as damage reduction to physical damage or resistance to all elemental damage (chosen when the Aura is activated) and Aura bonus to all saving throws to all allies within the area of effect.
Aura of Legend (Level 14): Add one third (rounded down) Aura bonus to one ability (Str, etc.) chosen at the time of activation to all allies within the area of effect.


Commanding Presence (Ex): At 2nd level, the warlord instills a sense of respect towards him in almost everyone he meets, as a result of being so impressive a figure. He adds his Aura bonus to all Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate, and Gather Information checks he makes.

Charge! (Ex): At 4th level, the warlord can instill a sense of urgency in any companion he can see who can also hear him speak as a free action. For a number of rounds thereafter equal to his Cha bonus, they gain the listed bonus to their base land speed.

Rally (Ex): A number of times per day equal to his Cha modifier, a 5th level or higher warlord can bring disabled allies back in to the fight. The warlord selects one living ally he can see that is suffering from a hostile status effect (such as paralysis, sickened, exhausted, etc). They can then immediately reroll the saving throw that caused the effect with a +4 bonus. If they succeed, the effect ends or is halted from progressing further. Using Rally is a move action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Tactician (Ex): The warlord is a distinguished master of tactical appraisal, able to form plans and take advantage of weaknesses in the blink of an eye. At 6th level, for the purposes of any attacks his allies within range of his Aura (whether one is active or not) make, any enemy the warlord threatens is considered flanked and flat-footed. Likewise, if two or more allies aside from himself threaten the same opponent, the warlord and all of those allies gain the standard flanking bonus to attacks plus another 4 to attack that foe.

Multifaceted Command: Starting at 7th level, the warlord can maintain two Auras at a time. The time necessary to activate the Auras does not change, and the cost from the round pool remains on a 1:1 basis.

At 17th level, the warlord can maintain a total of 3 Auras at any given time.

Aura Improvement: At 7th and 14th level, the warlord can choose a permanent improvement to the function of his Auras. Once chosen, the bonus cannot be changed.

Empower Aura: The warlord's Aura bonus number is considered to be 1 higher than normal.
Extend Aura: For every round spent from the warlord's round pool, the Aura lasts for 2 rounds.
Enlarge Aura: The Aura's area of effect increases to 60'.
Intensify Aura: At the warlord's discretion, he can quadruple the round cost for an Aura in order to double his Aura bonus for as long as he can maintain it.


Undermine Opponent (Ex): As part of his normal Aura, the warlord can, at 9th level and up, choose one Aura effect that he is using and apply the reverse effect to any opponent within the area of effect.

At 18th level, the warlord can select 2 of his Auras currently in effect to apply in reversed form to his enemies.

Signal (Ex): A 10th level warlord can use hand motions to bring about his point as easily as his voice. He does not need to be able to speak to activate abilities such as Charge! and Rally - an ally only needs to be able to see him.

Improved Rally (Ex): An 11th level warlord does not need to rely on his allies' capabilities in order to assist them. He can target a living ally suffering from a hostile status effect as a move action that provokes an attack of opportunity a number of times per day equal to his Cha modifier, as with the normal Rally. However, rather than allowing his ally a reroll, the warlord makes a roll of 1d20 + his Cha modifier + his class level against the caster level of the creature who caused the effect. If the creature does not have a caster level, it uses its HD instead. If the warlord wins the opposed roll, the effect is immediately negated. The warlord can attempt to remove up to two effects per use of Improved Rally in this manner, and if there are more than two, he decides which ones are removed.

Charismatic Command: A 12th level or higher warlord adds half his Cha modifier to his Aura bonus.

Reliability (Ex): Of what use is a warlord who is incapacitated in the middle of battle? At 13th level, the warlord can use Improved Rally on himself (if he has uses left) as an immediate action after being successfully affected by any status effect that would render him incapable (unconscious or helpless) of using his Auras.

Ineffable Presence (Ex): A 15th level warlord had learned to exude his Auras in such a way that his companions can feel him, even if they can't see him. Any ally within the area of effect of an Aura is affected by it, whether or not they can see or hear the warlord. Enemies, however, are unaffected if they cannot see him.

Greater Rally (Ex): The warlord, at 18th level, can expend a use of Rally to make a single roll of 1d20 + Cha modifier + half his class level. He then applies this as an opposed roll (as per Improved Rally) to all allies affected by a hostile status effect against the creature who caused its caster level (or HD) within the area of effect of his Aura (whether his Aura is active or not). In effect, his single roll becomes the DC a creature must beat with their opposed roll. If the creature fails, one status effect of the warlord's choice is removed.

Example: Antipater is an 18th level warlord with a 20 Charisma. His companions are Ember and Dalius. Ember has been paralyzed and poisoned by a 17th level kobold sorcerer. Dalius has been frightened by the same kobold. Antipater rolls a 10 on his d20, making his DC total a 33. The kobold rolls a 19 on his opposed roll for Dalius' effect, for a total of 36. Thus, Antipater fails to remove the frightened status of that companion. However, the kobold rolls a 3 on his roll for Ember's status effects, not nearly enough to succeed. Thus, Antipater can immediately remove either the poison or the paralysis, but not both. Jessica, another companion affected by fright, was outside Antipater's Aura radius, and was thus unaffected by his Rally.

On My Mark (Ex): Three times per day, a 19th level warlord can take a move action to grant all allies within his Aura's radius an immediate standard action or move action as chosen by the individual character. These actions take place outside the standard initiative order, and a move action used to move into or out of a threatened area is not met by an attack of opportunity.

Master and Commander (Ex): A 20th level warlord is an awesome sight to behold, capable of almost godly feats of inspirational and tactical proficiency. On this level, the warlord gains a permanent +4 to his Charisma, an extra 10 rounds added to his total Aura round pool, and he can always take 10 on his opposed rolls when using Improved or Greater Rally.


Table: The Warlord
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Refl|Will|Special
1st|+0|+2|+0|+2|Auras, Aura of Might
2nd|+1|+3|+0|+3|Commanding Presence
3rd|+2|+3|+1|+3|Aura of Competence
4th|+3|+4|+1|+4|Charge! (+10ft)
5th|+3|+4|+1|+4|Aura of Protection, Rally
6th|+4|+5|+2|+5|Tactician
7th|+5|+5|+2|+5|Multifaceted Command (2), Aura Improvement
8th|+6/+1|+6|+2|+6|Aura of Intuition
9th|+6/+1|+6|+3|+6|Undermine Opponent (1)
10th|+7/+2|+7|+3|+7|Charge! (+20ft), Aura of Resilience, Signal
11th|+8/+3|+7|+3|+7|Improved Rally
12th|+9/+4|+8|+4|+8|Charismatic Command
13th|+9/+4|+8|+4|+8|Reliability
14th|+10/+5|+9|+4|+9|Aura Improvement, Aura of Legend
15th|+11/+6/+1|+9|+5|+9|Ineffable Presence
16th|+12/+7/+2|+10|+5|+10|Charge! (+30ft)
17th|+12/+7/+2|+10|+5|+10|Greater Rally, Multifaceted Command (3)
18th|+13/+8/+3|+11|+6|+11|Undermine Opponent (2)
19th|+14/+9/+4|+11|+6|+11|On My Mark
20th|+15/+10/+5|+12|+6|+12|Master and Commander[/table]

Palanan
2013-07-21, 08:21 PM
A few minor comments, from just glancing through:

From your first paragraph: "While most parties elect someone to speak for them or devise tactical appraisals (usually not both to one person)...." This needs to be rephrased within the parenthesis, to clarify what is "usually not both" to a single individual--usually not given, delegated, assigned? You need a verb here.

Also from the first paragraph: "A warlord provides tactical advisory..." should be "tactical advice."

From the second paragraph, the second sentence is a bit of a run-on sentence that should probably be split into two.

Heal seems an odd skill for a warlord to have, and feels very out of place--especially since he doesn't seem to have any class abilities directly relating to this. Not sure why a master strategist and celebrated warrior would be binding someone's injured toe.

The pool of rounds for auras is a somewhat oddball mechanic, and the rest/recharge rate is a little confusing on a first read. Also, does an ally lose the benefits of an aura if a jumbo-sized foe steps in between him and the warlord, blocking line of sight? What about hearing the warlord's commands and exhortations?

The text for the Tactician ability is a little stilted and cumbersome, and could use some smoothing out.

Second sentence for Improved Rally needs to be reworded; otherwise it sounds like someone gets as many AoOs as the warlord's Cha modifier. This is clearly not what you meant, and its meaning should be apparent, but it really should be reworded.

And why not full BAB progression? If a warlord is going to be leading soldiers and allies into battle, he should be at least as competent a fighter as any of them.



Finally, as a dedicated Patrick O'Brian fan, I weep that "Master and Commander" seems to have nothing to do with frigates and post-captains.

Everynone
2013-07-21, 10:43 PM
Thanks for the general grammatical advice, that has now been edited. :smallsmile: Mechanical changes soon to come.

Overneath
2013-07-21, 10:57 PM
Thank you for the commentary, Palanan, I'll go over these in order.


Heal seems an odd skill for a warlord to have, and feels very out of place--especially since he doesn't seem to have any class abilities directly relating to this. Not sure why a master strategist and celebrated warrior would be binding someone's injured toe.

The original intent was to complete the image of 'dedicated to anything that helps his allies'. However, you're correct in that the addition of the skill is fairly absurd, especially with Rally.


The pool of rounds for auras is a somewhat oddball mechanic, and the rest/recharge rate is a little confusing on a first read. Also, does an ally lose the benefits of an aura if a jumbo-sized foe steps in between him and the warlord, blocking line of sight? What about hearing the warlord's commands and exhortations?

Fair points. We'll look over the mechanics for allies within the Aura's range.


The text for the Tactician ability is a little stilted and cumbersome, and could use some smoothing out.

Would a brief example for the purposes of clearing up the benefits, as per Greater Rally, suffice?


Second sentence for Improved Rally needs to be reworded; otherwise it sounds like someone gets as many AoOs as the warlord's Cha modifier. This is clearly not what you meant, and its meaning should be apparent, but it really should be reworded.

Indeed. My hunch is that judicious use of parentheses should solve that issue.


And why not full BAB progression? If a warlord is going to be leading soldiers and allies into battle, he should be at least as competent a fighter as any of them.

That one was intentional. The Warlord CAN join the fight himself (and, given he is the epicenter of his own Auras, he'll nearly always have some substantial bonuses), but he spends more time concentrating on the tactical aspects of combat and keeping his companions alive than pure combat training for his own benefit. That, and I decided early that with all the other bonuses the class gets, full Base Attack Bonus progression might be pushing it.



Finally, as a dedicated Patrick O'Brian fan, I weep that "Master and Commander" seems to have nothing to do with frigates and post-captains.

The name of that capstone was, in fact, directly taken from the novel of the same name. Though, in fairness, a Warlord could make an excellent ship's captain in a campaign of that focus.

Xulin
2013-07-22, 01:52 AM
Ok, let's try and address these abilities one at a time, eh?

Auras: The text for the aura bonus is only listed in the one place and I had trouble finding it. Maybe you should include it in your class table for easier reference. Aside from that, the round usage-recharge mechanic is too complicated. You should either have it always on, like a Marshal (which seems to be some inspiration for this class) or just give it a fixed number of rounds (3+cha rounds or something) usable x number of times per day.

Now for the auras themselves:
Damage ~ meh, 1 + 1/4 warlord level (max +5) isn't too bad.
Competance ~ same as above; so far, not much different from warlord major auras
Dodge bonus ~ Hmm... this is probably fine
Intuition ~ decent enough, initiative is pretty important, but are you really going to have this active at the start of a battle when you have limited rounds/day of using this ability? Also I see no reason to have a separate AoO bonus. We already got the attack bonus 5 levels ago.
Aura of Resilience - Now this is a big no-no. 3*aura resist all is completely out of the question. If you're going to have DR or elemental resistance, the abilities should be separate auras, the DR should be no more than 1.5 * your aura, and the elemental resistance should be a "choose one" option. As written, this ability does too much on its own.
Legend - So... I get to level 14 to give my allies +2 (max) to a single ability score? A cleric can do this at level 3, and better. You could easily stand to grant your aura as a (morale?) bonus to the ability score.

All and all, the aura's do not seem all that different from Marshal major auras - except that the marshal can choose from the list of all of his aura's at level 2, while these are staggered across 14 levels. So far, not much to see here.

Commanding Presence: Eh, this should really be a competance bonus, rather than untyped. Other than that, it's a fluff ability.

Charge! Ok... there doesn't seem to be any daily limitation of use of this ability, it's a free action to activate, yet it lasts cha rounds?? Why? You could just use it every round? Also, this seems similar to the speed aura of the marshal...

Rally This ability is more or less the spell Resurgance. I like it, but it should have some sort of limit on uses, and it most assuredly should be a standard action.

Tactician Yeah I don't think so. You should not be able to flank and flat-foot all enemies just by existing. I could see this maybe working if you spent a full round action to should out some sort of distraction or something which gave one enemy a save against it, but otherwise no.

Multifacited command 2 aura's at once does make them more useful. I see no real problem with this ability.

Aura Improvement Uhh, this isn't really a choice. Aura +1 is always the superior option, and the doubling effects choice should not be an option at all. Also, it makes no sense to have this a "pick one" ability since you apparently apply this bonus to all of the auras you have. I would up the number of times you can choose this and have it apply to only one of your auras. An extend would be better for the initiative one, while the bonus up is better for the attack one.
Incidentally, the marshal aura's already extend out to 60 ft.

Undermine opponent No, this ability is no good. Again, you can't be a walking debuff machine just by existing. The enemies should, at the least, get some kind of save. Honestly though, I don't feel this ability is appropriate for your class - you're about leading your men.

Signal As awesome as this ability is (I'm imagining communicating orders to teammates like a baseball coach sending signals), it's also incredibly situational. Particularly when you need to Rally!, you're already in trouble, and yelling shouldn't matter.

Charasmatic Command As far as numbers increases go, this is really powerful. Too powerful, to be honest.

Reliability Yeah, I don't like this ability either. You really shouldn't be able to rally yourself.

Ineffable Presence I kinda feel bad to keep saying this over and over, but no. This is like giving bard the ability to inspire courage without playing music. The whole point is that his talking and being there are helping them out. Even spellcasters need line of effect to buff their allies.

Greater Rally Too complicated. At this level it's fine if you just give everyone a second save, really.

On My Mark Ah, this is a lot like the Grant Move ability of the warlord, except you can grant a standard action as well. Its not really overpowered, as this is 19th level. 3 uses per day feels light, but this ability can win encounters so it's probably fine.

Master and commander And the capstone ability is... +4 cha, more duration and taking 10 on his rally abilities. I don't know... this does make him better at doing what he's doing, but it doesn't feel like it was worth getting to 20th level just for this.

Throughout this, I've referenced the Marshal class multiple times. That's because this class is basically a Marshal with some bells and whistles attached: At the early levels, marshal wins because he has choice of all his auras, at the levels where you're getting stuff that's somewhat unique, its not enough to justify having stayed that long. The reroll saves mechanic is nice but poorly implemented, and the debuffs to enemies are completely unbalanced. 5.5/10

Overneath
2013-07-22, 12:58 PM
Xulin, thank you for your feedback, this has given us a lot to think about. Although, I do have a question about your interpretation of Master and Commander, myself. What, in your opinion, constitutes a 'worthwhile' capstone?

Just to Browse
2013-07-22, 08:54 PM
I enjoy battleworthy support classes, so I'll review as well. Overall, the class appears to be a weak ball of numbers--some of the abilities are standard fare, and others are ridiculous. The core ability (auras) makes me cringe.

Skills: Heal is not on this list. Why. Handle animal is on this list, and yet heal is not. In a standard party of four, this is the only support. Not having anyone capable of staunching blood flow is terrible. Spot is a skill but Listen isn't--that is weird.

Hit die: A d8 means the warlord is just going to get squished up at low levels, and will be taxed to heavily itemize in Constitution at high levels.

Armor: FULL ARMOR YES PLEASE.

Auras: Why why why does this has a per-day usage? It means nothing to high-level characters who will use it all fight and then rest back up, but it really ruins a low-level character's day if he can't use his only class feature (which only provides a +1 bonus to damage).

Also, a 30' aura is an interesting choice. It forces the marshal to stay in walking distance of his enemies. Not sure if that's good or bad.

The bonus is weird, and bad. At levels 1 to 2, it means a little... considering the warlord will need to max Con and Cha, his to-hit and damage rates are probably crap so the party would really rather have another barbarian... but at high levels the bonus is half to all of the RNG. Seriously, you get half your Cha (+5 to +10), a flat of 4 to 6, and an extra 1 for 9 to 17. And then you might have the ability to double that. Make the numbers bigger initially, and reaaaaaaaaaaaally drop the scaling. Like, don't add charisma and let it go from 3 to 6. Or maybe 2 to 5. No extra bonuses.

Damage Aura: Fine I guess. Seems weak.

To-Hit: Very boring and standard, but sure.

AC: At level 5? :smallsigh:

Init: With the aformentioned number stacking, your party is always walking around hopped on cocaine like FLAT-FOOTED AC PLEASE OH LOOK I ROLL 40 ON INITIATIVE GG NO RE. Strong, still a number, but very strong. If you get rid of the insane scaling this should be OK.

DR/ER: 3x aura bonus makes this insane, and it's even strong for the standard bonus (which I'm fine with). I like the concept, but it seems no more powerful than something at low levels if you get the scaling right.

Attribute bonus: Gollee, a +2 or even +4 to one stat! That's almost 15% as good as the hit bonus I was getting! or 5% as good as the DR I had!

Charge: Weird that it has a lasting number of rounds but is a free action. This is identical to a one round duration, or a passive effect, but it's functionally identical. The bonus is swag, but the slow scaling makes it feel like the Dread Necro's DR. I mean, at level 10, people are flying at 60'/r with one spell, you could at least give let the dwarf move that speed on land. I recommend larger chunks at just slightly faster intervals.

Rally: Oh hello, you are the best feature in this entire class. +2 to hit, meet the capability to end dominate effects twice per turn. Holy crap is this class feature good.

Tactician: I don't understand... why is the given bonus to flanking twice as large as the warlord's current bonus to damage? Improved Flanking at 6th level for a d8 character could provide a +6 bonus, but if you're planning on making auras better (which you should) then this should really get bumped down to a +4.

Signal: This is probably the most interesting ability in the class. I love it because I haven't thought of it before. That said, it should come earlier because wizards have been capable of silencing their spells since level 3.

Multifacted Command: Hi I'm bob and welcome to the 15-minute workday.

Improved Aura: Everything but the range bonus here is unhelpful because of the 15-minute workday or because number stacking is toxic. Either make it only the range increase (at which point, why not just make that scale slower?) or switch the class feature.

Undermine Opponent: Holy crap this is too strong.

Improved Rally: What the eff this is the best feature ever. Now you pretty much succeed against level-appropriate opposition 90% of the time. Also 15-minute workday.

Charismatic Command: Welcome to the class breakpoint. All aura have gone from "meh" to "useful" to "GOD MODE".

Reliability: I like the concept, because now you need to try harder to put down the support monster, but RAW the warlord can pull himself out of negative HP. I also think it comes a mite too late.

Ineffable Presence: Comes too late.

Greater Rally: I didn't think improved rally could get more broken, but it happened. This is the best class feature ever to exist ever. Also I enjoy the fact that the only person outside the aura is the person with a non-fantasy name.

On My Mark and Greater Commander are fine at 19th/20th levels. I stop bothering with balance and just put cool stuff there anyways.

Overneath
2013-07-22, 10:24 PM
First let me say thank you for the feedback, Just to Browse. Rest assured that Auras (along with a few other things you and Xulin addressed) are in the process of a major overhaul. That being said, I'll move on to these two -


Skills: Heal is not on this list. Why. Handle animal is on this list, and yet heal is not. In a standard party of four, this is the only support. Not having anyone capable of staunching blood flow is terrible. Spot is a skill but Listen isn't--that is weird.

There's been some contention so far as to whether or not Heal fits the flavor of the class. Namely, whether it fits because it's a support ability, or whether the Warlord should focus on offensive support, not Band-Aid duty. I'll wait on this one to see if the pendulum sticks in one direction.


Hit die: A d8 means the warlord is just going to get squished up at low levels, and will be taxed to heavily itemize in Constitution at high levels.

Understood. Frankly, High Fortitude/Will and full Base Attack (not currently listed, but on the change slate) is already quite a lot for what's supposed to be a mostly-support character, nevermind the benefits of armor proficiencies. Ideally, the Warlord will want another melee character on the field to soak up damage while he handles the inspiration, so it should be a non-issue. Should.

JBPuffin
2013-07-23, 12:49 PM
I'd say that this class is okay right now; give it Heal and Listen and vote off Handle Animal and I say that the class is fine.

Where the fun begins to happen, though, is when you consider that there are such things as Charisma-buffing items, Wish spells, and other shenanigans (including te eventual custom item) that could create a "legal" PC with an effective Charisma modifier for aura abilities of around 20.

Imagine that: a warlord who literally leads demigods into battle with blade and battlecry...okay, enough fantasizing, the class is fine with some skill list changes. Good work.