Power Source and Role: The Responsibilities of Glory
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Your power source is Martial, and your role is Leader. The Martial power source is famous for the Striker tendencies (heavier damage and a more aggressive mindset that others of the same role) permeating it, and you are no exception. While you are a Leader to the core and are thus responsible for managing the party's resource expenditure, you believe the best way to save resources is to hit hard and not get hit back. To that end, you are probably the most aggressive of the Leader classes, providing abilities that help kill monsters more quickly and efficiently. Here's a look at how you stack up with what is expected of a Leader:
Buffing - We define "buffing" here as the ability to grant bonuses to your allies' offensive and defensive abilities, especially if they're tied to d20 rolls. While most Warlords builds are actually very good at this, most notably the Tactical Warlord, you will find most Warlords lack the overall buffing muscle of some other Leaders, making them good, but not great at this. A notable exception are builds like the Battle Captain and the Battlelord of Kord; they're truly great at this.
Debuffing - This pertains to the ability to disrupt the opponent, be it through penalties to attacks, damage or defenses, or by applying harmful status effects. The Warlord is sneakily good at this, with a decent array of powers that inflict mobility denial effects (such as knocking prone), action denial effects (such as dazing), and abilities that affect the opponent's ability to inflict harm upon you.
Enabling - Now we come to the meat of what the Warlord is truly good at: "enabling" consists of allowing allies to do things they otherwise couldn't do (or would have a hard time doing). Abilities such as granting extra actions (especially attacks) and altering positioning fall within this realm, and they are the Warlord's unquestionable area of expertise.
Healing - This is actually the low note for most Warlords; despite being the characters that are most able to use their default healing ability, not even the most healing-oriented Inspiring Warlord has a toolbox to restore HP and remove adverse conditions like the Cleric's, especially a Pacifist Cleric. While you're certainly not bad at this (especially if you're an Inspiring Warlord), this is not your area of expertise.
Hawk's Note: This seems unnecessarily gloomy to me. If Cleric is the gold standard, I feel a dedicated Inspiring Warlord is a reasonable second place and definitely outpaces Shamans, Artificers, Bards, and Runepriests especially on days with a few really tough fights where that extra heal/encounter really matters.
Survivability - Given that the absolute worst-case scenario for any party is the Leader going down first, your ability to take one to the chin as a Melee character is very important. You have solid armor proficiencies, and most (if not all) of your healing abilties can target you as well as an ally. With that in mind, you're actually reasonably tough to bring down.
Secondary Role Effectiveness
Controller - With your solid array of status effects and general "make your opponent miserable" type of effects, you can make a decent fill-in for this role. Tactical Warlords are especially good at it.
Defender - While this may be the easiest role for some Warlords to fill (especially Bravelords, who tend to draw attacks to themselves quite easily with their risk-heavy powers), it's also very hard for some Warlords (like the Skirmisher) to do, so it's more of a build-dependent secondary than anything else.
Striker - Possibly the hardest role for any Warlord to fulfill because of the emphasis it places on getting things done yourself. There are few builds I feel can fulfill this role with any kind of regularity, and those are Bravura and Skirmishing Warlords with an emphasis on taking powers that can help you as well as your allies. Not what I'd be looking for in my Warlord, frankly.
Baseline Mechanics: The Face of Glory
As is the norm in 4th Edition D&D, you belong to the "A-class" group, which is a shorthand for characters who share the same primary ability score for all builds, but have different secondaries for each one. This helps to differentiate between the builds, and it's also worth noting that most riders are build-specific anyway, so you likely won't have to worry too much about any other ability scores.
The things that stand out about your class features are your Aura-like Leader feature, which provides a static boost to everybody in your party, and your Commanding Presence, which provides an AP benefit (more reason to go for nova); everything else is pretty much standard.
Game Mechanics
Hit Points - 12 + Con score at 1st level; 5 at each level thereafter. Your HP is fair enough; you’re no Wizard, but you sure are not a Fighter, either.
Healing Surges - 7 + Con modifier. About right for your role, and they won't grow much unless you're Con-based, so get used to them.
Defense Bonuses - You get +1 to Fortitude and Will, which is nice to have, especially for Intelligence-based Warlords, since their Will defense progresses very slowly due to not having a key ability score to buff it with.
Proficiencies:
Armor - You get a solid amount (up to Chainmail and Light Shields), but many of you will be looking for an upgrade here at some point.
Weapons - Military Melee and Simple Ranged are a good array, so you won't be hurting much for options.
Archer Warlord (MP 2) - This alternate proficiency feature is pretty decent. Skirmisher Warlords use two-handed Ranged weapons (so no need for Shields) and like Intelligence (so they'd pick Hide over Chainmail any day), so it's a nice boost for them (especially because it lets them use Strength for Ranged Basic Attacks if they favor a Bow). That said, most Warlords don't like Bows that much.
Class Features:Spoiler
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Inspiring Word - My favorite default Leader healing ability. Why? The feat support lets you use it more often than other Leaders can use theirs, and it can carry sizable buffs on certain builds. Enough said.
Commanding PresenceSpoiler
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Bravura Presence (MP) - Free attacks or move actions can turn any AP sequence into a winner (especially the former), and it works regardless of what your ability scores are. Comes with a disadvantage should you fail, but what’s life without some risk?
Insightful Presence (MP 2) - Defensive bonuses on an AP. Um, yeah... AP's are supposed to be geared toward offense. The least appealing presence ability here overall.
Inspiring Presence (PHB) - A decent surge-free healing effect.
Not as reliably useful as some of the others here, but not a bad idea.
Resourceful Presence (MP) - Effect if you hit, effect if you miss. Requires two ability scores, but you’ll always get something out of it, and neither effect is lame (the hit effect is actually pretty nasty). Nice.
Skirmishing Presence (MP 2) - A sizable shift on an AP that keys off of either Intelligence or Wisdom (if you want to use Archer Warlord, it behooves you to pick Intelligence). A solid effect overall.
Tactical Presence (PHB) - Attack buffing on an AP is just begging for your allies to bust out their best shots right then and there, and it can be made even better. Nice.
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Battlefront Leader (MP 2) - You allow yourself or an ally a free shift every encounter, and you get Heavy Shields as an add-on to your proficiencies. Pretty good, especially for those who spend more time in the frontline.
Canny Leader (MP 2) - While bonuses to skills are nice (and bonuses to Perception are particularly powerful), this benefit is just not as good as the other two features here.
Combat Leader (PHB) - Going first is never bad, and it has upgrades available if you favor Intelligence or Charisma. The feature of choice for most Warlords.
Skills: The Wiles of Glory
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You get a solid amount of skills (4), without any restrictions whatsoever as to what you may take. This can let you get a solid degree of out-of-combat utility, especially if you decide to serve as the party face or knowledge source.
Class Skills
Athletics - It keys off your main stat, and allows you to get a lot of things done. What's not to love?
Diplomacy - While it's most useful in the hands of a Warlord who favors Charisma, it's thematic gold for all of them, and Leaders are kind of expected to have some sort of social acumen.
Endurance - While this skill will likely be crucial in some situations, you have access to other skills that cover that same role on stats that are mildly more favorable to you. Consider it if you dumped Wisdom and/or have a racial bonus for it.
Heal - Most Warlords dump Wisdom hard, limiting its appeal. The ones that don't will like it.
History - This is the Intelligence-based equivalent of Diplomacy: you're expected to have it regardless of your build, so you might as well get it.
Intimidate - Can potentially be very useful, but requires a sky-high Charisma score for it. A very fluffy choice, though, especially for Bravelords, who actually can (and should) take advantage of it.
Recommended Non-Class Skills
Arcana - You're likely stepping on someone's toes by picking this skill, but if you're Intelligence-based and he isn't, your party will benefit.
Bluff - I don't know how this managed to elude the Warlord's list, but it's a very nice pickup for Charisma-based Warlords.
Insight - Another mysterious no-show on your class skills, this gives the Wisdom-based Warlords the ability to handle social situations without having to ask the party radar to sit next to them all the time.
Perception - If you're Wisdom-based, you want this, and you want it now.
Religion - More or less the same thought process as Arcana: your party wins if you're Intelligence-based and the party Divine character isn't (which is kind of the norm with regards to parties where Warlords pick up this skill).
Re: Rescued from WotC - Chasing Glory: The Warlord Handbook
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