hello everyone and welcome to the mic
Merrill’s happy fun hour I’m your host
Mike Murrells I am the franchise
creative director on Dungeons & Dragons
and we’re here this week to talk about
the warlord subclass for the fighter
surfer with us last week we started
talking about the warlord and came up
with some basic concepts what we wanted
to do with it
we spent basically most of our time
talking that through and luckily I was
on a plane coming back from Lake Geneva
Wisconsin coming home from Gary Cohn so
I had plenty of time to sit on a plane
with my iPad open to mull over some
thoughts about how to execute this
character class
well this character subclass you know
having that time it always helps and I
think I talked about last week it always
helps to put a lot of thought into what
you want to do right it lets you kind of
work through some ideas so you come to
the table when you look at a sheet of
paper you’re not unarmed you’ve got some
ideas of where you want to go or even
maybe you you know where you don’t want
to go either of those two can help so
last week we talked about this idea of
we really wanted to make this a fighter
subclass that felt like the master
tactician the fighter who could see
advantages in the battlefield and take
advantage of them I kind of abused a
chess metaphor about what the warlords
all about being a sort of chess master
who sees the board and sees the moves
that are ahead of his opponents moves
and really wanted to build from there a
subclass that felt very distinct maybe
one that dealt more with intelligence
and that idea of cunning and it was one
in which I thought I really wanted to
take a design approach that this was
built off the chassis of the eldritch
knight the fighter who uses spell slots
and therefore is cazza a power economy
that recharges on a long rest so with
all that mind away we go a good place to
start would be with our notes from last
week which are over here on my right
okay blow these up a bit so you can see
a bit more what we talked about so this
is a reading that we went
went down last week and a lot of this
you know essentially stayed in place but
we’re gonna see you know actually I
haven’t looked at this since last week
so I did a lot of my thing my my
ruminating and now let’s take a quick
review I know what I want to talk about
so I put some lot of thought into it
so let’s see what we’re gonna stick with
and maybe things that have fallen to the
wayside so what we looked at was this
idea that the warlord if you can take a
look at our first paragraph here we want
a system of tactical gambits that
capture the idea of a cunning warlord
who leads the party to victory through
smart tactics so now I congratulated
myself by putting an exclamation point
on the end of the sentence that’s a good
idea
because I was very happy with it but
that’s essentially something that I
think is pretty key and after putting
about a week’s worth of thought into it
we want to keep that we want to get that
idea of tactics smart tactics and then
this idea of following for benefit the
warlord makes others better in a
tactical combat way this was important
because we already have the battle
master with the ability to hand out
extra attacks to other characters we
didn’t want this just to be purely
increasing the group’s firepower we
wanted to approach this in the sense
that you felt like the warlord had a
cunning plan that if you followed it
you’d get a benefit it would help turn
the tide against your enemy so we wanted
to decide the end that the warlord would
you know set up this idea of like this
is how we’re gonna do it and you’d
follow through and then this final point
here insight helps with teamwork and I
think that’s something which is well
you’ll see I had this idea and what
we’ll see where it goes I don’t know if
this is necessarily gonna stick around
but what we’ll see so let’s take a quick
look at our bullet points here we had
this idea of the warlord as an expert
tactician that teaming up attacks are
better this is something where you know
I don’t think we really kept this but
we’ll see my idea of thinking here was
that if the warlord could essentially
move the entire party as a group the
warlord could mess with initiative to
set up combos that this idea that you
could almost like a spell break the
rules like do things and otherwise
you wouldn’t be able to but this this
game you’ll see where we ended up but
this fell by the wayside a little bit
cuz I didn’t I felt like it would get
too predictable or too scripted for the
other players if it was very much like
you take control of their characters in
some way wanted to avoid buffs didn’t
want these things to feel like spells
didn’t want it just like okay you’re
throwing around numbers now this one is
again is one which it’s a little bit
hard to avoid because you really do want
to make people feel better for following
your plan but I didn’t want to just be
the warlord just gives an attack those I
wanted to have real strong flavor and
have it be something that really made
you feel like oh this is the warlord
feels like the tactical the tactically
cunning or insightful character but we
do want it to be spell like in that we
want it to do unique things so that’s my
next bullet point that you’re doing
things that no other character can do if
this was back to why I wanted to avoid
buffs I didn’t wanted to say you get +2
day see you get +1 d4 in your attacks
and saving throws because if I wanted to
do that as a player I could just play a
cleric I could just play I could you
know bard alright I can just grab spells
that do that
why am i playing a warlord and then this
idea that you know we want you to feel
like a commander you know that you feel
like the chess master you feel like
you’re setting up the board and in an
advantageous way now one thing about the
spell like element that I did like I
kind of capture you might see it in the
fourth the third bullet point here it’s
okay for these effects to be a little
more unique I’m sorry a little more
complex and that ties into my next point
was I thought about the warlord I wanted
to really think about the player who
would embrace this option and that’s a
very important part of your design
because if you understand who you’re
aiming us at that’ll help shed some
light when you’re making design
decisions which way do you want to go
what do you want to emphasize this helps
give you some answers there and as I
thought about it I thought this is this
is really a player who wants to use
miniatures to use a grid because that’s
part of like having a very deep tactical
experience it’s a player who likes the
idea of
tactical puzzle how can we use our
enemy’s numbers against them how can we
come up with a cunning plan to take down
a superior enemy how can we work
together as a team to win and focusing
on that and coming up with this idea and
saying oh I have a plan of an idea guys
here’s what I’m gonna do follow my lead
and really making that payoff and that
made me feel like we could go a little
more a little more complexity we could
go a little more tactical because I
think if you if you felt like I want to
play a fighter who’s attacked the
insightful guy but I really just care
for the story end of it I don’t care so
much about the actual tactics of
fighting you could just play the battle
master with a couple of the appropriate
maneuvers you could take a high
intelligence fighter and just roleplay
that you know nothing stops you I mean
something weird so they keep in mind
nothing stops me from just role playing
a character you want what we’re doing
when we design something and give it
this very definitive place in the game
is we’re saying this is big enough that
someone wants to play this and someone
wants to be this character and for me
what that means and I’ve talked about
this in relation to the Acrobat subclass
for the rogue it means to me that you as
a player want to engage with the rules
and with the game and your characters
mindset you don’t want to just portray a
tactician you want to be a tactician you
want to think like one you want to look
at the game and say here’s something I
can do that that pushes me to think like
someone who’s tactically planning things
out and so I put a lot of thought into
that like how could I make you feel that
and one thing that occurred to me you
know we’re building this on the elder
the eldritch knight chassis and yeah
I’ll call it up our handy-dandy DD
beyond Paige if we take a look at the
marshal archetypes and go down to the
Eldridge tonight we can see this is a
character who is meant to feel like a
spellcaster you know right at third
level when you take this choice you’re
getting a couple can trips you get two
can trips at third level two first level
spells this is what your characters
about this is gonna make you very
dramatically different from other
fighters and just like giving you access
to spells you didn’t start thinking like
spell caster which is a distinct way to
think when compared to thinking purely
as
a battle master and on top of that when
you look at some of the class features
here you know when we take a look at war
magic beginning its seventh level when
you use your action to cast a can trip
you can make one weapon attack as a
bonus action in my mind I love this
class feature because it is literally
telling you think like a wizard
cast like a wizard swing your sword like
a fighter you can do them both at once
and then higher level not just a can
triple then you can eventually do this
with a spell so I really like that
because it really makes you think like a
spell caster but a warrior mage you’re
going to use spells that let you get up
close and mix it up as opposed to other
wizards you may want to stay back so
it’s very important to me the subclass
really gives you this way of looking at
the world of looking at the game that is
really smoothly transitions into your
role-playing and your character’s
mindset so what I thought of was that
the warlord warlords aren’t geniuses for
a few moments a day they’re always smart
they’re always tactically cunning they
always have a plan they don’t just you
know fight like fighters and
occasionally say wait is that guy
suddenly had this bolt of inspiration
this is what we can do that just doesn’t
feel like the cunning general to me I
feel like a cunning general is always
coming she’s always thinking she’s
always seeing the opportunity she’s
always seizing it so that came down to
what I see is the three pillars the
three mechanics we’re going to use for
the warlord now keep in mind three
mechanics that’s a lot but this is also
something where I’m comfortable with
this class subclass being a little more
complicated because it’s aimed at
players who I think want some of that
mechanical complexity to play with
because you’re depicting a character’s
probably high intelligence so taking a
look at our notes here I’m just gonna go
well here’s what I’m gonna do I want to
put this over to here bring up oh you
see is an Excel spreadsheet hiding back
there we’ll get to that later I want to
take a look at the eldritch Knight and
sort of show you what are the class
features that we’re gonna build it for
the warlord so the three main ones as I
thought about okay what does this
tactical cunning person I’ll do the easy
one first we’re gonna give you some sort
of you know inspiring or
insightful he’ll and so I’m just gonna
call it you know you’re the tactical
cunning person we want to be able to
heal because that feels like as a
commander that’s how you keep your
troops in the fight now this kind of
strays a little bit toward more charisma
but I thought about you know just in
terms of I’m inspiring but then I
thought well what if instead of healing
this was healing or damage so I can
either give you a heal or I can give you
a big boost of damage to your next
attack so this idea is I’m giving you
may be defensive inside maybe I am just
like being an inspiring figure even the
most insightful intelligent leader has
to at times be that inspiring person so
it’s a feature but it’s not the main
piece and then the other idea I had and
I figured you know it if we’re gonna
have this idea of the fighter who heals
how do I make this sit alongside the
clerk cuz I don’t think this replaces
the cleric
you’re still a fighter but what I
thought was over healing which means
basically I healed you above maximum
that becomes temporary hitpoints so what
this means is if a cleric in the party
this is pretty cool because I can give
you a bunch of temporary hit points in
addition to the healing you’re
eventually going to get if I don’t have
a cleric in the party I don’t have to
worry about if I’m using a bigger effect
on you that’s not gonna come they may be
completely heal you and then some you’re
gonna get temporary hit points now the
drawback here is rather than say now go
through and say okay now I need to give
you a lesser restoration ability I need
to give you a raise dead ability you
don’t get that as the warlord because
that’s really more the purview of a
character who’s more focused on healing
and support you are still a frontline
fighter but it does mean that in the
course of a typical battle if you just
read your swords on swords this is a
huge advantage like you can give your
allies big pools of temporary hit points
essentially preemptively heal which can
be a very useful advantage it lets you
save actions that you’re using in battle
you can use those before the fight give
a bunch of temporary hit points and then
go charging in it does mean against
something that’s throwing spells you’re
not quite as well prepared because you
don’t deal as well with conditions but I
felt like that made sense that when I
thought of this character I think it’s
useful for every character to have that
gap
in their skills because DNA is all about
teamwork and we’re still talking about a
character who’s a fighter just like the
eldritch Knight doesn’t replace the
wizard or the sorcerer or the warlock
the warlord shouldn’t replace the cleric
they should really augment that cleric
and so that’s why I felt like condition
removal just isn’t part of this unlike
say the paladin who does have some
element of it but this character as
you’ll see when we open that spreadsheet
delivers a lot more healing than the
paladin coming to the table unless the
paladin’s willing to sacrifice a bunch
of eldritch smites a knight Eldridge
divine smites which they probably aren’t
knowing how most paladin’s are played so
I’m giving you some really nice healing
some very efficient healing because you
never wasted but the cost of your not so
good at removing conditions from people
you can give them that buffer but the
things that really just take them out
you’re not so good at but we’ll get to
and then the next sort of element of
this class how you might be able get
around that all right so that’s piece
number one piece number two your own
fighting ability we see the eldritch
Knight can cast as cantrip and then make
an attack we see the other fighter
subclasses all get some sort of
essentially damage boost this is kind of
a brute-force I’m just putting this here
for now maybe it’ll work maybe it won’t
but we’ll see is this it’s really this
this mechanic isn’t as important as the
other ones but I still want the warlord
to feel like an effective fighter so I’m
just gonna put tactical smarts and just
add you’re in bonus to your weapon
damage roles that might be a little too
good but that’s just the entire intent
behind this ability is you’re the smart
fighter so when you’re fighting an
opponent this is just represents your
constant back background tactical acumen
you’re good at spotting the points on
someone’s armor where there’s a gap
you’re good at seeing while you’re there
using this fighting style or they’re a
wild animal here’s what I expect this is
how you take advantage of that use your
intelligence to pick out your opponent’s
weakness and so that translates into a
damage bonus it could’ve been an
accuracy bonus but you know I wasn’t as
excited about that because being
consistent but lower damage especially
at the higher levels you really your
damage role is what’s really important
there are enough other things flying
around where
and as you’ll see in the abilities of
the warlord starts to get big one coming
up that’s where we get start getting
some more accuracy okay so these two
abilities are here to kind of just help
you keep up now tactical smarts might
come in at a higher level – I’m not what
it did this as being the first thing you
get but your healing ability you need
that at third level it’s important so
what is your your main thing well by
request we’re gonna call a cutting plan
for now and here’s what I thought of I
really wanted to start with this idea
that you are the tactically cunning
character and the way I thought about
applying that was what if you could
essentially create terrain effects now
before you think I’m gone crazy I may
have gone crazy but not for that reason
what I really thought it was I had a
roommate years ago who really loved
JRPGs and he really loved the tactical
games you know this the grid based
combat a lot of them have and a lot of
those characters could do things like
mess around with the terrain just sort
of you know stop enemies or incentivize
you know attacks so what if what if
but the warlord has was this idea of a
tactical focus so it’s how you have a
tactical focus November I’m assuming
using miniatures or if you’re dam is
okay with it you don’t need miniatures
but it helps you pick four squares for
five by five squares each must share a
side with one other without with one
other and that is your area of tactical
focus what that means is during the
battle you only have so much attention
to go around you’re taking a look around
keeping your eye out for enemies but
this is the spot where you’re like hey
that’s this is the key part of the
battlefield like a good general you’re
aware of the Train and you aware of the
disposition of your enemies and so
that’s like okay I got a plan for this
spot in a dungeon it might be the
dungeon doorway and the area around it
and an outdoor fight it might be hey
here’s our exposed flank I’m gonna keep
an eye on that there it might be or
where you expect your enemies to go so
you’ve picked up this area and then this
is where we start to kind of have some
parallel design between yourself as the
warlord and that eldritch Knight chassis
we’re building you essentially get some
can triple
ladies and these are your always on
tactical insight so these could be
things like and I have my notes here I
did take notes in the flight I’m not
trying to fit it all up in his head
because you know as the hair comes out
more mayor more more memories leak so
the yeah but here’s a very simple one
right enemies can’t copy characters
moving out of those squares simple thing
right you’re keeping an eye on area
shutting warnings to your companions
watching your enemies so you know just
the right time to shout a warning
provide a quick distraction now the
thing about these squares is they can be
now I didn’t write this up make a note
of this so this is any square you can
see let’s say let’s say with an under
feet and allies need to hear you to gain
benefit
so we’ll just that’s kind of our basic
physics engine stuff but yeah so you if
you want to have a retreat you can pick
out a few squares that make a path to
the enemy your friends can just walk
right down there and they’re safe
another example ability we had was this
idea that let’s see hit an enemy enemy
in that space move them five feet kind
of the opposite ability we have an area
we need to clear out you know monsters
are in the doorway we need to escape the
ogres blocking the way the warlord
focuses says hit him in the knee right
or he’s just giving them that tactical
insight every time you hit it foe in
those areas you bounce them out just
happens and that’s why I said hit I’m
not gonna bother with a saving throw
because you hit congratulations you hit
I don’t need to then make it make you
throw saving throw on top of that the
let’s see what are some of the other
ideas I had here oh the this could also
be some basic trigger things so an
ambush right reaction when enemy enters
a square move half your speed so you
have your ambush set up in the dungeon
room or in the alleyway the warlord
keeps an eye out the enemy walks in get
them right suddenly all your allies can
hop in and surround that guy now the
important thing remember here is it’s
using your reaction so if you
taking a turn yet it’s not as useful so
this is something that you might use the
middle of a fight and you might use it
when you’re setting up a fight you might
use it when you know hey we have an
exposed flank there’s some goblins
coming on the side okay well in case the
goblins start closing in on with the
wizard if that happens then I can use
this ability and suddenly the fighter or
the barbarian or even the warlord can
make a quick move to block that now you
are using your reaction so maybe that’s
blocking the way or maybe we’d say maybe
we need to put something in here let’s
you still op B I just wanna make sure
you’re not moving infinite squares but
we’ll take care of that in the ability
the idea here though is to give you some
basic gambits
that let you cover your ground and make
you feel like you’re planning something
that’s the important thing for me was as
the warlord I wanted you to think I am I
have a plan and it’s not something just
as simple as hey you know like the
battle master does where I can let the
robe make another attack you know things
like that it’s a little bit more
intricate than that and it can involve
the entire party so I’m basically making
this zone of opportunity where it once
this happens the other players maybe get
to make a choice you know hey do I want
to move over and help block off access
to the wizard or am I gonna stay over
here it’s my choice I still as a player
as the person playing with the warlord
now have new options opening up by it’s
not shutting down my ability to maybe if
I just want to do my own thing
I’m the rogue hiding over here I don’t
want to make an attack yet I’m moving
the position you know I’m playing you
know the sort of lone wolf I can still
do that I just have a new option I just
choose to not use it the let me see you
take a bit of safe in my notes I had a
couple other ideas but I think that I
think that those three give us some
ideas of the scope of what we’re looking
at these are things that are essentially
cantrip level bonus damage because they
are taking place in addition to your
attacks I’ve really tried to keep the
damage down and I think maybe this is
even something like this might be the
Warlord’s reaction you know what that
might be a good way to you know move you
know allies of your choice or you know
allow other choice may
something like that we need to clear
that up so you can still make an
opportunity attack but any case this is
the idea that the opportunity attack you
know the important thing there is it’s
extra damage only if the Goblin keeps
moving so and this is important to keep
in mind for our balance we don’t want
this to generate extra attacks because
I’m assuming you’re doing this on top of
your regular attacks and I would
probably go so far as to say you know
use these as part of the attack action
so it might say something like whenever
you take the attack action I have to go
back in the text make sure I’m getting
the words right but I don’t want this to
be a rider on top of your attacks and
what I would like to do is to say okay
when it’s your turn at some point party
to turn not a bonus action because I
don’t want to shut down to up and
fighting but you get to pick your space
you get to move it can you get to pick
the effect you want to add to it
this is adding a lot to the game right
this is something that’s gonna affect
potentially every character every player
so I am adding to your company overall
complexity load but keep in mind this is
something where I’ve decided hey this
player wants that complexity they’re
okay with it I wouldn’t make this the
fighter that’s the default you know in
the basic PDF we make available it’s a
little more tactical ideally it’s
something where up that player I mean
there’s always the element of the player
who actually isn’t very good at complex
rules choosing this and trying to use it
but what I’m hoping is like if we can
get the mechanics right that kind of
solves itself by that player just
forgetting to remind the other players
hey you can do this you know things like
that which is disappointing but like in
general if complexity is ignored and you
lose an opportunity to do something
that’s better than complexity that’s
always present and is getting in the way
so hopefully it’s just what it does get
executed it’s very quick or for that
player who has mastered it it’s just a
fun extra part of the game the other
players are excited they get to get to
do more stuff that’s fun so it’s kind of
were aiming for especially these cantrip
level abilities because they are going
to be present in every round of the
fight all right so that’s our starting
point we have our strategists we have
our warlord the warlord says this is the
important part of the battlefield and
here’s I want to deal with it maybe I
need to set an ambush to Brent to flank
maybe I need to clear the path maybe I
need to get my friends the ability to
move around and safety that’s how I’m
going to handle this
but that’s our camp trips what about are
boosted attacks well I’m glad you asked
or at least maybe I asked on your behalf
so this is where we actually get to have
fun because now this is essentially
where we start getting we start diving
into the what is essentially spell
design surfer Murr from last week we
took the look and I was told there was
just a they did an update to the
database though there was a slight bug
in the system where this table wasn’t
showing up it’s back now we get to take
a look at the number of spell slots that
the Eldridge site gets access to at each
level and then say hey this is raw fuel
for our warlords power we can keep these
two classes on balance ground by saying
hey what’s two first double spell slots
worth what does that translate to into
the warlord and the nice thing is since
the warlord is always getting those
cantrip level abilities I can just make
these pure bonuses I don’t have to worry
about well this is happening every round
so I need to sort of account for that in
the power and you need to curl it back I
can give you tactical things that are
just as good as these spells if not
better so what does that what does that
look like well here we go I’m about to
open a spreadsheet and here it is I’m
gonna boost this up so you guys can see
it and you get to see I have done some
real violence to the math so this is
fake math this is not where we’d end up
this is just us playing around but the
starting point is if you remember in the
Dungeon Master’s guide there is a table
that shows you what’s the raw damage
value of a spell slot well we take a
look and say – first of all spells each
first level spell with a single target
and I chose the single target damage
because I’m assuming you’re using a
weapon so that’s equivalent of a weapon
attack it’s worth living points of
damage I get two of those I’m getting 22
damage worth of effect off of my spell
slots I did that for all of the spell
slots at all levels and I slide that all
together into what the total damage is
for the deck now if you can see here
that’s it’s fussing at me I’m just gonna
no Kay yes thank you excel please do
that no no no I was what we ignore the
error whatever it’s getting everywhere
excels convinced we’re making a mistake
maybe we are maybe knows more than we do
I hope not and so yeah the course of the
venturing game 22 extra damage to my
spells great
now this is where we start getting into
very suspect territory this is just me
this is what I like to do when I take a
look at all these big numbers I mean xx
have all 209 points you can imagine this
could be some ability where I spend one
point at a time to create an effect so
at xx level you have a pool of 209
points you’re spending one point at a
time you might like that I am NOT gonna
bag on you bag on you if you like that
but I think most players would just get
frustrated and irritated so what I did
here is I just converted that all back
and I could have saved a step probably
by just treating these as D tens because
that’s what it was I decided now okay in
terms of D tens I did all this math and
realize this is nonsense I just care
about the number of dice you’re getting
and then I just took a pretty basic and
you know I think it may have had to do
some rounding here I shouldn’t have
because these are all D tens but any
case I ended up with a number of dice D
tens this represents and then I just
looked for you know what can I buy us
down to smaller number of uses that had
gives you a reasonable consistent number
of dice per use now keep in mind again
this is fake math this might be a
completely wrong headed path but it
starts to give us some sense of like
what is the profile this ability look
like and so what we end up with is just
a pretty simple progression of uses
progression of dice but this is
something which very common when you’re
dealing with this subclass that’s being
built off of a spell casting one you’re
just looking for a way how do i bridge
from spell casting the power of that
into some other mechanic or some other
ability this doesn’t line up perfectly
nicely if you crunch this math I think
somewhere in here it starts to diverge
so again this is just a starting point
the idea here is really just to get a
sense of how many uses per data I want
to give you of this and what’s the
magnitude of those uses I like the idea
of just making it all one pool because
that would make our tactical ability a
little more flexible like you just get
an ability than you fuel it
it also means we don’t have to kill
ourselves by coming up with a billion
different stratagems and how they might
change so it’s a good starting point and
it’s the kind of thing where this might
be the first pass in the design this
might end up working really well it may
end up being that there’s enough space
that we want to be more precise and have
more of a spell like you know first
level
tactical plans to fourth level will see
we’re even bigger range we don’t know
yet we haven’t tried to actually
designing it yet but this is a good step
where you can get a sense of what’s the
size what I’m dealing with and if I was
just to try to really simplify this what
would it look like and so what that does
mean though if we go back here to our
warlord notes and here all this handy
dandy thing shrink this down a little
bit so we can kind of see a bit more
what we’re looking at that’s still
readable in fact you know what I’ll do
here I’ll just hide these you get to
watch me use Excel and forget here we go
hi this is all we really care about is
your level and this just very simple
shorthand uses per day and what I use is
worth in terms of detents what I do know
is I probably want to tie this to the
same pool of affect as the healing or
damaged ability and I also want to tie
it to that tactical cunning the one nice
thing is I have three very different
mechanics one of which that intelligence
bonus to damage is just kind it’s own
thing the other two the healing and the
tactical abilities if I can fuse those
together in some way that can be very
useful and so my thing on this is that
when I want to heal someone or inspire
them or whatnot I have to do that
against someone who’s standing in my
area of tactical focus and then I can
give them a damage bonus and a heal and
then you know maybe I didn’t want to say
that this activates some flashy effect
so I can kind of capture this all at
once the drawback to doing it that way
is that the mechanical effect on top of
that rod dice output has to be kind of
small because I’m already accounting for
the dice so that’s one way I could do it
another way I could do it is it cost so
many dice and that starts to get a
little complicated so I’m not gonna
worry about that right now instead what
I want to do is take a look at what
could my more powerful powerful spell
like abilities look like and I think
once I get a sense of a few of those
that will help give me a sense of how
does the healing and damage boost you
know I need to translate these dice that
represent the spell slots the Elder
tonight is getting I need a change
transfer those into effectiveness how
exactly I’m going to move that from the
character to the battlefield in a way
that makes me feel like I’m the
tactical genius so let’s give I hide a
bunch of ideas I went through so I’m
gonna throw some of these out there and
we’ll see some of these might actually
end up being like oh actually these are
more cantrip level we don’t we actually
need to you know and if that’s where we
end up and that’s an argument in favor
of making this just its own thing I put
it on top of these cancer of style
abilities rather than being it’s being
its own thing so what I wanted here was
these are you know effects that oh sorry
I don’t think that what I wanted to say
is that the actual abilities so let’s
say one thing right here I had let’s see
where was overs my list
oh here get down right so characters can
move out of an AoE this one since is
preventing damage potentially someone
fireballs an area then you’re actually
able to move out of that area completely
and ignore the damage this is something
we need to account for so that starts
moving more into the it’s like expending
a spell slot rather than being that
freak and Contra bubble effect so I
imagine here was an AoE you’re in the
tactical focus you get caught in AO e
you can move up to let’s say half or
even your full speed as a reaction
then we see are you still in the AoE do
you take the damage so this idea of like
ever to get down move out of the way so
but again it’s mitigating damage
potentially a lot of damage so we need
to charge you something for it a very
simple one would be in a help I call
this call down death basically a bonus
on damage against targets in area so
this starts to say hey yeah we’re kind
of is this just the generic one am i
giving you a damage bonus am i spreading
it out maybe our uses over here like
starting at to scaling up to six dice
going from two to 70 10 does this clash
against this maybe maybe not we’ll see
let’s throw down some more ideas and
let’s the start start seeing what the
color on the shape of it is on the
screen
oh the we also can put in some control
effects so it could be force movement
you could charm someone right the idea
being that you can confuse an enemy and
get them to treat you as charm because
you’ve confused them they’re not sure
which way the attacks coming from my
enemies are swarming around me so I get
confused maybe I attack and and one of
my allies maybe I forget to attack an
enemy because the group has done some
sort of maneuver
that throws me off for a moment and this
might be something would give you a
wisdom save because it’s just something
is just happening then we’re okay with
that it’s forced movements a very common
thing we’d also restrict movement you
just can’t move into the area now again
because this is something that might
completely block off attacks we do have
to again charge you a spell slot for it
if we just said look enemies can’t move
into those squares and their sentence
well what’s the thing you do you take
your range characters the freighting
against a size medium enemies you put
those squares right in front of them
your enemies can’t move up and attack so
we have to make sure we’re counting for
that since essentially we’re denying
attacks contrast that with shutting down
opportunity attacks that’s something
you’re opting into a player doesn’t you
know character doesn’t need to move they
might want to move but when we design
monsters we don’t assume that they’re
making opportunity attacks we don’t say
well this guy is obviously you’re gonna
make is it this orc warrior will attack
with his spear and then obviously make
an opportunity attack cuz players love
running around we don’t we don’t assume
that so we actually you’re gaining some
flexibility but it’s very situational
and it’s not at the cost of any of the
assumed power of a monster same thing
with a 5-foot move it’s useful but again
the nice thing about this is it’s really
useful if you plan well and turn it into
a big advantage but by default it’s not
necessarily gonna help you too much and
again same thing with the ambush this is
just well the system doesn’t know if the
Barbarian is overextended or no one’s
protecting the wizard we kind of assume
you are so in some ways this is like
letting you either make a mistake or be
very aggressive then quickly respond to
block off an avenue of effect but in all
these cases we’re shutting down things
that could happen not things we assume
happen so for instance the ambush
ability is a great good example the
goblins are moving in to attack the
wizard the warlord uses this the paladin
swings around to block off the attack
well now the goblins are attacking the
Paladin monsters are still getting their
chance to fight nothing is just shutting
that down all right so so that’s the
main thing to think of like why is
Abaddon ability in one category as a
canned trip as I pose to these spell
like abilities so the another one could
be like some sort of spot weakness
ability
you know it could drop AC against
targets are in there or our give
accuracy let’s see oh we could also we
could we could negate cover even say
like not total cover cover to the point
where you just can’t attack but cover to
the point where I’d like maybe like you
shoot back through arrow slits you know
the your enemies are in the castle
firing down through murder holes and you
are able to still hit them the so these
are all things where you know and that’s
what would be a big swing right you’re
turning misses to hits so again we want
to account for that so let’s see what
else we got here outside I’m getting
some direction we can’t see oh we can’t
see him like what my head sorry my big
melons right there thank you
learning as we go right there AHA now
you can see all right there we go seeing
it was like what what’s going on so okay
there we go
learning as we go right yeah it’s all
about Damon sign you take feedback and
you improve all right so so negating
cover let’s see what else we got down
here no cover you know I had this idea
of maybe shifting positions but maybe
this could be right here in place of
move swap positions in the area of focus
so or in place of say 10 feet of
movement so this you can imagine be
something where you have the doorway
blocked off and you want to keep that
really defensive fighter up front but
you want the someone else get an attack
they can spend some movement swap places
make their attack then spend moving in
swap places again again the system
that’s not really changing anything
because also you are gonna take an
opportunity attack for that because you
are moving unless you have something
that otherwise shuts that down but it
does let you maybe pull off a tactical
gambit like ideally you’re doing this
with the rogue who at least the rogue
doesn’t have to worry about opportunity
attacks and maybe you’re doing with a
character with a really nice AC who
doesn’t mind taking an extra attack so
that’s another one I thought I would add
but that really goes again to cantrip
level cuz that’s not that’s not denying
damage it’s not generating extra
like you know the road could always just
make a ranged attack in that case though
presumably the enemy might have a cover
it’s a doorway let’s see what else we
got here oh and then we could also do
just something simple as you know
defensive formation has gained AC bonus
while in the area so again that’s
another thing which we’d have to account
for because that is turning hits into
misses again mitigating damage so this
is to me is like a kind of a good
starting point and because what I’m
really trying to do here is get a sense
of how are my resources over here on the
right going to interact with the
abilities I’m building on the left the
cantrip ones are pretty simple you’re
just always gonna get those and what I
imagine is the spell like ones like
you’re healing you’ll choose to activate
it ideally it’s something that’s pretty
straightforward it you might instantly
you resolve it or it might be something
which is a bonus that you just thought
the track over the course of one round
maybe for the course of the rest of the
battle you know that’s another
interesting thing to think of too I mean
that might be where we add a
concentration
you know the spell mechanic use that
here to say look one when you pick one
of these it’s an ongoing benefit and I
kind of like that because I think the
more I think about it the more I think
we’d wanted decoupling we don’t want to
say you use this you heal someone and
get this benefit there are some game
mechanics I know in 4th edition we did
some of that where you kill someone they
get a benefit in addition to the heal I
think we want to keep these heals
separate and I think I want you as the
warlord to kind of think do I want to
heal some on do I want to get them a
generic damage bonus or do I want to do
something a little fancier but it also
makes me feel like maybe I don’t want to
roll these through the spell slots you
know isn’t kind of thinking about it if
I had a way to regulate these you know
maybe I just want I’m gonna write this
down and I don’t know exactly how we’re
gonna do it but we’re just gonna say it
once per battle
maybe these are abilities that just once
per battle it gives you some nice damage
mitigation or gives you an advantage and
oh that’s it like that’s essentially
kind of the measure like you’re smart
you’re smart you’re pretty smart all the
time we get those contra
benefits but you’re not so smart you’re
getting these big benefits and maybe
this dice pool you know maybe that just
is really the really simple benefit of
you can give people a damage boost or
you can give them some healing I could
go either way you know this is something
where it’ll take some more design time
to figure out what feels right cuz this
is really new you know we haven’t really
done something like this before the but
I think that giving it that extra
benefit yeah yeah I mean I’m kind of
struggling with that a little bit I’m
not exactly sure because I don’t think I
want these to compete with your healing
resource because then you’re just you
can have a lot of pressure from the rest
of the party to just heal people like
healing or you’re gonna say look I can
throw out a big damage benefit to a
character I really want to do that to
finish off a monster like it’s kind of
cute shutting down a ohi’s and things
like that but it’s very hard to compete
with just putting down a monster so this
might be something where you get your
can’t chip level abilities and then at
some rate let’s say once per battle
we’ll figure out what that looks like
you can do this special enhancement to
it or you know at some point you get to
kick this in and that sits on top of it
does it sit on top of it maybe again
it’s good now getting a little more
complicated I have two effects sitting
on top of my area of tactical focus I
might instead want to say it lasts for
around I think that feels right to me
it’s that moment where you can give the
team that boost they need to seize an
advantage so it feels like it should sit
on top of it but it shouldn’t overstay
its welcome you know I feel like having
two effects there would just be too much
to track I think would really slow the
game down so I think that’s we’re gonna
look at right now
you know tentatively let’s say these
smell like abilities you get you pick
one and you apply it and it lasts for
one round I already have a lot going on
up here are these cantrip level
abilities so I don’t think I want you
like throwing out tons of extra things I
kind of like the idea that the warlord
can build up a sort of typical bag of
tricks one of the nice things complexity
wise is it means as you play the
character you’ll learn these the other
players will learn them and it’ll be
those those will get faster as you go
because once you understand
three or four options that the warlord
and your party can use you can learn
those over time and if new ones come in
slowly enough that you could absorb
what’s gone before and then absorb the
new one and have it down really well
before the next one comes in that’ll
help us manage our complexity and if
these things are special I like I like
that if yelling get down and like boom
right I get to do that once and for the
next round or it’s a reaction you know
some really cool thing happens and maybe
that’s one thing we should look at to
like maybe these are reactions maybe
that’s not the way to make them very
distinct we talked earlier especially in
the rogue of really wanting to silo
these things so that they are separate
you know the silo our abilities so each
one Maps is something different and the
Rogues case knowing that you’re using
cunning action with your bonus action
you’re using sneak attack with your
regular action and you’re using your
dodge effect on Canada what the one that
cuts damage in half with your reaction
don’t really have an action left to put
stuff on top of so that’s why you solve
the Acrobat we attach it to your
movement it’s a different part plus it
worked well with your on your your
cutting action options so maybe this is
a reaction we are then saying that this
is a fighter who doesn’t make a lot of
opportunity attacks so there’s that but
maybe these are more defensive so you
feel like well I could op e or I could
do this thing that also would really
really help save my team so that’s
something which we’ll have to think of
as we go forward I want to take a look
though at let’s question this right is
it we said earlier we want to avoid
buffs I wrote it down over here if you
can’t read that it’s what’s highlighted
avoid buffs then I buffed you is this
design underselling what we can do my my
inclination is to say no that I really
think that this fighter needs to be able
to heal it needs to be healed really
well because I think otherwise you know
I want this character to feel like they
can bali support a cleric and that if
you don’t have a cleric this is an
option you know for that can help fill
that gap not as well and not to the same
full depth because in that case you’re
just you’re duplicating the cleric like
what the spiders as good as a cleric and
as a fighter that might be too good but
I think that our our avoid buffs thing
why
I think we’re doing a good enough job
with it like these things over here
aren’t I think just the fact we have
this terrain based effect field doesn’t
feel like a buff it feels like this is a
plan right I like the idea that it feels
like go to this spot to get your AC
bonus because that’s where the warlord
is you know has put their plan down that
doesn’t feel like a buff to me in play
that feels like a Smart Plan I feel like
the warlord is shouting something like a
former shield wall or watch out for each
other you know things like that you
stand here stand there watch out you
know watch your flank you know things
like that it feels more like that’s
that’s that’s our defensive formation
rather than necessarily just we just
have plus two AC does matter where we’re
standing that’s more of a magical effect
so I think this is okay this is
something though again we would this is
one of the things where playtesting is
important yeah we can get these numbers
exactly right it might just not feel
satisfying it might not feel right to
players they just might feel too much
like yeah I’m just throwing around lots
of dice that might be fun but remember
go back to one of the keys of subclass
design does that make me feel like the
person that this subclass is trying to
portray so I think we need this but I’m
not sure if we have exactly the right
flavor for it yeah another way to look
at it might be to with those dice so I’m
gonna be this is something here you know
maybe you can spread dice across
tactical focus so I might say look let’s
say if we took these numbers is true so
at forth level I have three uses of my
inspiring or insightful heal whatever
ability each one is worth to D 10 maybe
I can break those dice out so I have two
allies in the air my area of tactical
focus I give one at one be ten heal I
give the other one a one D ten bonus to
damage not to you know maybe their next
damage role or whatever it is the now
another thing immediately as I describe
that do I just want this to be a flat
number that’s another thing we could
look at too rolling a d-10 for healing
can be well ten percent of the time it’s
really irritating timber so no time
you’re really happy so maybe this is
something that translates to a flat
bonus too it could be a die for damage
and a flat number of hit points if it’s
used as healing and again with the XS
turning into temporary hit points so
that’s another thing to look at – but I
kind of feel like if we tie the
we tie that into our area of tactical
focus and I do kind of feel like this is
the warlord keeping an eye on the
battlefield barking commands giving
insight lending advice inspiring people
and then obviously this would work here
at certain points I can you know give a
shout in a quick kick and get you up you
know pull you off from the edge of being
conscious but yeah I do you know the
other interesting thing about that too
if you’re the tactical player that does
mean that if the wizard in the back gets
hit and you need to heal them you’re
pulling your tactical focus from the
front line to the back where the wizard
is that might be something that is a
tactical player is now a fun puzzle to
solve that might be where you say okay
guys you know I was using this ability
where we can’t Oppie so we can move
around and keep that door covered but
the wizard just got skewered by a thrown
spear so I’ve got to put my tactical
focus back here so I’m swapping the
ambush so if a monster gets through at
least we know someone can pop over there
and try to keep that wizard protected I
have to admit this might be really bad I
get really nervous when I feel this
excited about something I just said
myself cuz it’s probably maybe something
that just really appeals to me and no
one else or maybe I just did say
something that’s interesting but I think
that yeah you you know applies only to
area of focus so you’ll notice something
to that as we’re talking through this I
started making references to rules we
haven’t written down yet like you can
move your tactical focus once per turn I
need to make sure I write that down
because that’s just something that feels
like if I let you move it as often as
you can
I’ve undermined a puzzle that the player
might want to solve so move once per
turn
that feels important to me because he
and that’s what you know the warlord is
a tactically cunning character but
they’re not invincible they don’t get to
just throw their weight around
everywhere there could be cases where
that lucky crit from the ogres thrown
spear the secret door that opens and a
goblin comes bounding through it turns
out that the the villager that you’re
escorting to the forest was a werewolf
right so when you’re dealing with the
enter cap Ambler suddenly he Wolf’s out
and what do we do now is the where
can attack the party is the word I was
gonna go bounding out into the woods who
knows but we have to be ready so now is
the warlord I’m I have to make what
could be a really interesting choice and
I think that’s what I’m aiming for for
this player interesting choices
interesting choices I don’t think are
right for every player some players just
want to bash a monster over the head
with the biggest weapon they can find
some players just I want the highest
armor class and I’m going to stand at
the front and protect the rest of the
party others are I just want to throw
the biggest heels those players aren’t
really interested in in interesting
choices they want fun choices they want
to have make a big impact on the game by
throwing that fireball or bringing that
paladin up from two hit points back up
to 98 in one action they feel like yeah
that’s how I feel like I’m a hero and
I’m contributing all the players want to
puzzle right it’s not just okay get to
my turn and throw that heal I’ve been
waiting all game to make the difference
they want to have the feeling of wait a
sec I saw something that other people
didn’t see I want to spend that time
when it’s not my turn really thinking
and analyzing what’s going on in the
game and coming up with a smart plan so
this is a sub class which is aims to be
interesting in that sense that you’re
gonna make up you’re gonna weigh a few
factors then make your decision in some
ways you could think of it as the
difference between an option that has a
low skill scene ceiling versus one that
is a high skill ceiling something with
the low skill ceiling we’re saying is
it’s just here to be fun pretty obvious
how to use the abilities go out and
enjoy a high skill ceiling says if you
play this poorly you’re not gonna have
good results but if you start to see the
possibilities and start to make those
connections you could have a really
powerful character and so I think it’s
keeping in mind I think when we’re
talking about the warlord we’re talking
about that kind of player who wants to
think I want to work at this I want to
play this character and feel like I’m
getting better at this character as I go
up in levels because that to that player
is why I’ve solved a puzzle and now
dungeon master give me give me more
puzzles right give me more tactical
situations and that’s something that
gets that player to feel really happy
and engage with the game and then best
of all we’re doing this ready because
we’ve pitched the warlord as like the
hey I have a cunning plan it’s making
everyone else at the table feel like
they’re having more fun too it’s not
just hey I had the most powerful
character in the party and I just stomp
on everything it’s AI have a really
powerful character and
really what it’s doing is making
everyone else feel really powerful but
the Barbarian who if we use this ambush
ability who scoots across the
battlefield and then Wallops the you
know the orcs that tried to make the
ambush the warlord gets feel like the
hero cuz I had that idea the Barbarian
players like haha I did it I was the one
who moved over there and block that off
teamwork go right you have two players
feeling happy with that expertise rather
than just saying hey here’s the
Barbarian who deals lots of damage and
then here’s another higher skill ceiling
damage character who’s just dealing more
damage because this player solved the
game we want to try to avoid that you
know we’re thinking of low skill ceiling
versus high skill ceiling characters we
want to try to give them different
niches we want to make them feel
distinct we don’t want to just double
them up because this isn’t a competitive
game competitive game all bets are off
in that case right what we want to say
is hey you just started playing grab
that low skill see ceiling character
build that low ceiling deck because
right now you’re in the lower ranks of
skill your skilling up but as you get
your skills as they improve and you
start to feel like hey I’m kind of
bumping against my skill ceiling here
okay now’s the time I want to play
something that’s more tactical has more
options more moving parts and I’m gonna
slowly expand my ceiling and add in more
difficult options I mean I think that’s
why games like Magic the Gathering work
very well you can build your deck and
then all through deck as you play or opt
for a different type of deck team-based
games do this all the time you see there
are some characters that are great
dinners characters that are better for
more advanced players it’s to me it’s
great design because when a designer can
pull it off because you’re building a
nice roadmap for your players and you’re
letting them settle in at the point
where they feel like they’re having the
most fun and so yeah this is skin
especially as Dede ages right it’s um
where we’re approaching the 4th
anniversary of the launch of the game
the relaunch of the game so yeah I think
at this point people are starting to get
that those legs under them they wants to
be a bit more challenging doesn’t mean
we want to leave new players behind but
doesn’t mean we need to keep we need to
pay a little more attention to the
higher end of things while ensuring that
we’re not doing anything that shuts off
the lower skill levels of the game in
terms of mechanical mastery because we
know it’s all about keeping all the
categories
players happy and making everyone feel
like they’re getting fun stuff to play
with so that is where we are so you’ve
got essentially we’ve got our warlord we
have a few ideas we got this had this
idea of the the tactical focus always
another side to it expect the the the
tactical focus should grow with level so
it’s a good way to make you feel more
powerful plus gives you more flexibility
so I feel like that would make sense as
we become more skilled you come more
flexible and let’s see the I’m gonna
take a quick load over your chat if
we’re gonna see any questions that
popped up I may have missed one or two
but the yeah I think overall I’m happy
enough where we are with this that I
think I I’m gonna take a pass on doing
some more abilities and do a full
write-up and we can talk about next week
and kind of see where we end up the now
I think what’ll happen is as we design
more abilities that’ll give us real
insight into like are we on the right
path the proof really isn’t in the
design can you make stuff like we’ve
kind of built our structure we know
where our poles are where we get to put
stuff it’s like we just build our
shelves now do the books we’re going to
put in those shelves do they fit and are
we happy with them so yeah the other
capstone hundred 400 foot radius around
you counts through tattoo the area yeah
that’s that’s when now we go to like a
little school age that happens right
it’s everywhere the so yeah I think
that’s where we are with the warlord I
hope that was interesting I hope really
I hope this is a class that feels
interesting like I said this is really
what we’re aiming for some a it feels
interesting and is a puzzle to play and
yeah I’ll write this up for next week
and we’ll walk through a little bit more
detail on those special abilities see
where we ended up and see how is this
playing with our healing effect and are
we happy with how all these pieces are
working together yeah so that’s what
we’ll see so I’ll see you next week I’ll
have some more completed design probably
flesh out some of these abilities just
enough so I can start building out some
more specific tactical though these
cantrip level abilities and spell like
abilities and we’ll see what we ended up
with and we’ll see how it’ll works too
other so that was Mike Merrill’s happy
fun hour or happy fun 55 minutes as we
have 5 minutes to make our transition to
the next show I hope you enjoyed it I
know in the past I’ve asked if you have
suggestions for classes and subclasses
hold off on those right now I’m locked
into doing the warlord again for next
week
the following week then we’ll reopen it
to request we’ll see what comes in and
otherwise I keep designing keep gaming
and I’ll see everyone else I’ll see you
all next week
Turns out this flight was exactly what I needed to crack the warlord. It’ll be fun to talk about tomorrow on the Happy Fun Hour.

— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) March 13, 2018

For the curious, one of the moments I live for in game design was captured today when I talked about the warlord needing to move their tactical focus to heal the back rank wizard. Struck me something that might meld player and character thinking together in an elegant way.

— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) March 14, 2018