Sword Marshal - 4e Warlord for 5e

[Oerlaf]

Sword Marshal

As a sword marshal, you are accomplished and competent battle leader, standing on the front line, issuing commands and bolstering your allies while leading the battle with weapon in hand.
You have extensively studied the use of slashing weapons, and your weapon of choice has become a symbol of your power and leadership. You never enter a battle without your blade in hand, and your allies know to look for the gleaming weapon when they need help or inspiration.


Inspiring Word
Starting at 3rd level, when you take this archetype, you can call out to a wounded ally and offer inspiring words of courage and determination to help that ally heal.
As a bonus action you can choose one willing creature within 30 feet of you that you can see. That creature rolls 1d6 plus its Hit Die and regains a number of hit points equal to the total of the rolls. Thereafter the creature loses one Hit Die.
Once you have used this feature for a second time, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Disciplined Blade
Starting at 7th level, when you miss with a melee attack with a heavy weapon that deals slashing damage, you gain a +2 bonus to your next attack roll against the same target.

Skewer the Weak
Starting at 10th level, when you score a critical hit with a melee attack with a heavy weapon that deals slashing damage, you and all creatures friendly to you gain advantage on attack rolls against the enemy you hit until the end of your next turn.

Heart of the Titan
Starting at 15th level, you can level your weapon at your enemies and utter a grim threat that leaves them fearing for their lives. With great words, you turn yourself or an ally into a battle-hardened juggernaut.
As an action, you can choose one willing creature that you can see within 60 feet of you. The creature gains a number of temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier plus its Hit Die roll. While the creature has those temporary hit points, it adds your Charisma modifier to damage rolls and can’t be paralyzed, restrained, stunned or moved forcedly.
You must then finish a long rest before you can use this feature again.


Warlord’s Disposition
Starting at 18th level, you can tell the DM to treat the result of a d20 roll he just made as a 1. No rerolls are possible. You must then finish a long rest before you can use this feature again.

[GalacticAxekick]

I don't see how heavy slashing weapons are related to leadership. By tying them together, you're forcing every fighter who wants leadership features to either (A) be medium creatures usong heavy blades and heavy armour or (B) miss out of their leadership features.

Why can't a small creature be a leader? Why can't leaders use one-handed weapons and shields? Why can't leaders use light weapons to two-weapon fight? Why can't leaders use dexterity-based weapons and armour?

[Composer99]

Sword Marshal

As a sword marshal, you are accomplished and competent battle leader, standing on the front line, issuing commands and bolstering your allies while leading the battle with weapon in hand.
You have extensively studied the use of slashing weapons, and your weapon of choice has become a symbol of your power and leadership. You never enter a battle without your blade in hand, and your allies know to look for the gleaming weapon when they need help or inspiration.

Disciplined Blade
Starting at 7th level, when you miss with a melee attack with a heavy weapon that deals slashing damage, you gain a +2 bonus to your next attack roll against the same target.

Skewer the Weak
Starting at 10th level, when you score a critical hit with a melee attack with a heavy weapon that deals slashing damage, you and all creatures friendly to you gain advantage on attack rolls against the enemy you hit until the end of your next turn.

I must admit, when I saw the title of this thread, I was expecting to see a full class, rather than a fighter subclass. I mean, you could go either way with a warlord. Tying it into the 4e full class (with its suite of powers and feats that could all potentially be translated into class features) does make it sound like a full class was forthcoming, but no worries.

I've split the above features out from the rest because they're covered by GalacticAxekick's query, which I should like to put a different spin on:

What is it about the warlord concept that made you think it should be restricted to wielders of heavy slashing weapons? The 4e warlord had several builds, not all of which fit into such a restricted concept. If you're "advertising" this archetype as the "4e warlord in 5e", what justifies "you must wield a weapon this tall to enter"?

On with the other features:


Inspiring Word
Starting at 3rd level, when you take this archetype, you can call out to a wounded ally and offer inspiring words of courage and determination to help that ally heal.
As a bonus action you can choose one willing creature within 30 feet of you that you can see. That creature rolls 1d6 plus its Hit Die and regains a number of hit points equal to the total of the rolls. Thereafter the creature loses one Hit Die.
Once you have used this feature for a second time, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Making someone use one of their own Hit Dice to power this feature makes it pretty underpowered, I have to say even if the amount of healing on the spot, the bonus action use, and the range are all decent/good/great qualities. It also doesn't scale at all.

I'd suggest letting the target roll a Hit Die without spending it, and starting off allowing this to be used once per short or long rest, and increase the number of times you can use this feature between rests at some point - to twice at 10th level and three times at 18th level, perhaps.

Increasing the number of times you can use this feature adds scaling without having to make the feature itself more powerful. It certainly wouldn't be overpowered: even if you used it 9 times in a day on a barbarian, you're healing on average 90 hit points, or just 20 more than a single casting of heal.

You should probably specify that your target must be able to hear or see you - and even to understand you - to benefit from your inspiring word. As written, the party's tame gelatinous cube, your horse, or the rogue who just got blinded and deafened by a trap could all benefit from this feature.

Finally, I think the 5e convention for wording a feature you can use multiple times in between rests is something like this (adapted for your feature as written):

You can use this feature twice, recovering expended uses after you finish a long rest.



Heart of the Titan
Starting at 15th level, you can level your weapon at your enemies and utter a grim threat that leaves them fearing for their lives. With great words, you turn yourself or an ally into a battle-hardened juggernaut.
As an action, you can choose one willing creature that you can see within 60 feet of you. The creature gains a number of temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier plus its Hit Die roll. While the creature has those temporary hit points, it adds your Charisma modifier to damage rolls and can’t be paralyzed, restrained, stunned or moved forcedly.
You must then finish a long rest before you can use this feature again.

The flavour - which suggests you're making your enemies afraid of you - really doesn't match up with the mechanics. The mechanics themselves are okay, although:
(1) Presumably, your target does not have to spend a Hit Die, just roll one, yes? (It would make this feature pretty sucky if you spent a Hit Die to get temporary hit points.)
(2) With the damage that monsters put out in encounters suitable for 15th level characters, those won't be enough temporary hit points unless you can guarantee the person you're targeting can take its turn with the benefit of the temporary hit points before losing them to damage.
(3) As with Inspiring Word, it should probably be clear that the target must be able to hear or see you.
(4) I don't think this feature is so powerful that you have to limit it to once per long rest. Once per short or long rest should be fine.



Warlord’s Disposition
Starting at 18th level, you can tell the DM to treat the result of a d20 roll he just made as a 1. No rerolls are possible. You must then finish a long rest before you can use this feature again.

This ability (a) doesn't really seem very warlord-ish, (b) feels more like a feature that belongs to someone who plays with time, destiny, fate, chance, that sort of thing, and in a magical fashion to boot, and (c) should just refer to other creatures' rolls, instead of "the DM".

[theshadowcult]

I made a Warlord in 5e too, based on the Fighter Battlemaster. As it's the closest to the warlord. I changed parts of both class and subclass though.

Basically the only subclass change was to change Student of War to the Warlords combat leader.

Then i changed the base fighter class in the following ways.

At 2rd Level i replaced action surge with Inspiring word: As a bonus action you inspire an ally within 30 feet who can hear or see you to spend 1 hit die and regain 1 hit die (plus con) plus 1d6 worth of health. Increased by 1d6 at levels 6, 11, 15, and 19 respectively. This ability can be used a number of times equal to int modifier per short or long rest.

Then replaced Indomitable with a changed Inspiring Presence: As an action, you unleash your Inspiring Presence to bolster all allies within 30ft, granting them your fighter level plus Charisma modifier temporary health, as well as a plus 1 bonus to ac and saves until the end of your next turn. You can use this once per short or long rest. Gaining extra uses of this ability and a +1 bonus to ac and saves at levels 13 and 17th respectively. Temporary health gained increases to 2 x Fighter lvl plus charisma modifier at 17th level.



I'm playing this in a campaign now and using just these three changes plus the battlemaster subclass feels a lot like the warlord that i used to play in 4e. Not the same, but pretty goode. Also, im higher level as a 5e Warlord than i was as a 4e one, so i don't know how well the warlord continued to work as a spell less cleric in 4e, but from the 7 levels i played in 4e, to this, feels really goode.




If you wanted to make the warlord more of a tactician, instead of the healer i played him as. I would change the healing powers and initiative bonus to another set of warlord power in a similar vayne. Or increase the battlemasters ability to use dice and maneuvers.


Either way, i posted this incase it gives you any kind of ideas to help with yours. Also because already play it in a campaign.

Also, i agree with other about not tying the class to a weapon choice. Especially as it was pretty much a sword and board class in 4e.

[JNAProductions]

Yeah, this doesn't seem broken or anything, but it does seem to be mismatched from the indicated flavor.