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Fighter: High Level Options - Warlord

by Giampaolo Agosta

Nice write-up, Havard. I think the Eldritch Knight is reasonable, although it overlaps a bit with the Forester. The Knight and Champion are interesting, but I think skills should be left out of the equation, since they are an optional component of BECMI. Also, while the premise of removing land ownership is reasonable, I think there should be an option focusing on it -- and/or the Dominion/War Machine rules.
In this sense, it would be interesting to have a Warlord class option, replacing the Champion's extra skill slots with some relevant abilities, such as:

• Loyal followers: the warlord gets a +1 bonus on the Retainer reaction table, and can hire 2 more retainers than his Charisma score would otherwise allow.
• Noble administrator: the warlord add his Charisma score twice to the Confidence Level of any dominion he rules. If he is instead hired by a dominion ruler as a Seneschal, he adds his Charisma score to the Confidence Level of that ruler's dominion.
• Military leadership: the warlord adds 2 to the Leadership Factor of a force he leads.
• Military expertise: the warlord gets one (possibly more as he raises in level) special ability based on his experience in the field (a lot of this takes inspiration from the strategy computer game, Hearts of Iron):
• Terrain Expertise:
• Mountaineer: +5 to combat results in hills or mountains
• Winter specialist: +5 to combat results in snow or cold weather
• Desert fox: +5 to combat results in sand or hot weather
• Ranger: +5 to combat results in forests
• Doctrines (the following options are incompatible with each other):
• Offensive Doctrine: offset forced march fatigue penalty by -5
• Defensive Doctrine: additional +5 to combat result when applying a Terrain Modification
• Style (the following options are incompatible with each other):
• Cautious: -10% casualities taken, -5% casualties inflicted
• Reckless: +5% casualties taken, +10% casualties inflicted
• Arms:
• Cavalry Leader: +5 to combat results when leading an attacking force that gets bonus (b) to the BR
• Infantry Leader: +5 to combat results when leading a defending force that does not get bonus (a) or (b) to the BR
• Artillery Leader: -5% casualties when leading an attacking force that is Harassing or Assaulting with artillery
• Special Forces:
• Mixed forces Leader: +5 Special Troop Factor if the troops are at least 30% Elves or Dwarves
• Commando: +1/6 chance of foraging
• Political Expertise:
• Revolutionary: x2 effect of subversive activities (Spy Ring, Raiders from other Dominion, Assassination, etc.) on enemy dominion's Confidence Level
• Staunch Nationalist: 1/2 Confidence Level loss from enemy subversive activities
• Merchant Prince: +5% resource income (or from Trade Routes if using Bruce Heard Dominion Economics 101)
• Mandate of Heaven: +15 Confidence Level as long as the dominion sponsors a clergy
• War Hero: +5 Confidence Level, 1/2 Confidence Level loss from Border Skirmish events
• Populist: +10 Confidence Level, -5% resource income
• To be completed

So, here is an idea for the Warlord high level Fighter option.

At level 9, Fighters of any alignment can opt to become Warlords. They get access to the usual high level combat maneuvers, plus the Loyal Followers trait. He can also choose either the Noble Administrator or the Military Leadership trait.
Every 3 levels thereafter, the Warlord can add one more trait. All traits in the Military Expertise branch have Military Leadership as a prerequisite, and all traits in the Political Expertise branch have Noble Administrator as a prerequisite.

At most, the Warlord get a total of 10 traits plus the initial Loyal Followers one. These should compensate the Paladin/Avenger/Druidic Knight spells, and could be constrained to a minimum ability score, probably Charisma 13.