Ultimate Battle Lord (PFRPG) PDF

Now available!

Sweet. This is my Battle Lord class, originally written for Amora Games' Liber Influxus Communis. Drawing some inspiration from a combination of my own time in the military and the Marshal class from 3.5, the Battle Lord gets Auras and Drills, teamwork focused abilities that allow him to buff allies on and off the battlefield. In addition to sharing various bonuses and teamwork feats with allies, the Battle Lord selects a military specialty, such as Artillerist, Medic, Scout, or Soldier, which further customizes him and gives him tools to fill a specific role in addition to his general roles of primary combatant and party buffer.

All of the Battle Lord materials (class, feats, and archetypes) from Liber Influxus are included in this .pdf, as well as materials from the upcoming Liber Influxus: Expanded not yet released anywhere else.

The Battle Lord is an intelligent, full BAB combatant who enhances the entire team's performance and capabilities, and which Endzeitgeist referred to as "a thing of beauty".

If any of that interests you, but you're looking for a lower price tag than the complete Liber Influxus collection, you can grab the Battle Lord here and now for slightly less than I typically spend on my morning coffee.

As a big fan of the Battle Lord from Liber Influxus Communis, this release has me excited!

First review!

Thank you for the excellent review!

I am totally buying this next time I get paid.

I am totally buying this next time I get paid.

I designed the Battle Lord a little after I'd done the Vizier and while I was still working on the Guru and Daevic, and I really wantes to do something fun and non-magical, or at least extremely low magic (the Battle Lord does have a couple Su options and a caster archetype).

It's one of my favorite bits of work, and every time I go back and read through it again or sketch out some additional materials, I still get really caught up in imagining all the characters I could potentially make. I was really in to Glen Cook's Black Company and Erickson's Malazan Book of the Fallen when I was doing the initial design, so soldiers who challenge wizards and demons with little more than their wits and military expertise was a theme I wanted the class to be able to fully embody.

When you pick it up, please let me know what you think! Also, as Andrew mentioned in his review, if you like the Battle Lord, he's designed to have a lot of synergy with another low price point supplement I wrote, The Genius Guide to Bravery Feats from Rogue Genius Games.

Well I'm totally not buying this if its going to be in Liver Xpansion. I guess this for people who don't want all the classes from LIC.

Well I'm totally not buying this if its going to be in Liver Xpansion. I guess this for people who don't want all the classes from LIC.

Yeah, if you're already getting LIC and LX, there's less value in this particular product since the materials it contains are compiled from those two products.

It could still have some value even if you plan on getting those two products, depending on how you value having all the Battle Lord materials compiled together in one printer-friendly document.

***Edit***

I was trying really hard not to comment because I know it's a simple typo, but I can't help giggling about "Liver Expansion", which sounds like a fairly serious medical condition.

Malwing wrote:

Well I'm totally not buying this if its going to be in Liver Xpansion. I guess this for people who don't want all the classes from LIC.

Yeah, if you're already getting LIC and LX, there's less value in this particular product since the materials it contains are compiled from those two products.

It could still have some value even if you plan on getting those two products, depending on how you value having all the Battle Lord materials compiled together in one printer-friendly document.

***Edit***

I was trying really hard not to comment because I know it's a simple typo, but I can't help giggling about "Liver Expansion", which sounds like a fairly serious medical condition.

That's what I get for answering on my phone.

I imagine that the LX would have a print copy so I'll probably just wait for that since it's mentioned to be on the horison.

Medical term for liver expansion is hepatomegaly. The more you know~!

Medical term for liver expansion is hepatomegaly. The more you know~!

Okay. How do we turn that into a game mechanic.... I'm picturing a monk/battle lord hybrid class that uses pressure points to inflict various conditions on opponents.

....

Which is basically another class I already wrote, the Guru. Hmmm....

I want an excuse to use the word "hepatomegaly" in a game mechanic. Maybe I'll make it a disease.

Except I just looked it up and apparently it's basically a symptom of other illnesses, like heart conditions, not a specific ailment. Ah well, at least I learned something.

There is a whole set of them. Cardiomegaly, splenomegaly, even cytomegaly. I think playing a Battlelord will at least give players a chance to say these kinds of words, provided they choose the right specialty.

There is a whole set of them. Cardiomegaly, splenomegaly, even cytomegaly. I think playing a Battlelord will at least give players a chance to say these kinds of words, provided they choose the right specialty.

i.e. Play a Battle Lord, choose Medic as your specialty, then show off your vocabulary of medical terms every time you make a Heal check :D

Could use hepatomegaly as some sort of ability in Secret Sands with a canopic jar themed thing, where you expand the powers given by the Imset jar.... though that might be a stretch.

Could use hepatomegaly as some sort of ability in Secret Sands with a canopic jar themed thing, where you expand the powers given by the Imset jar.... though that might be a stretch.

I think for the time being, I'll set that idea aside, though I am glad that I got to learn something new.

Have you had a chance to check out the class yet?

An updated version of this title is now available.

Added last line to warchief archetype ability Tactical Insanity "Rage powers normally usable once per rage are instead usable once per minute."

That is the only change that has been made.
~Greg

An updated version of this title is now available.

Added last line to warchief archetype ability Tactical Insanity "Rage powers normally usable once per rage are instead usable once per minute."

That is the only change that has been made.
~Greg

Thanks for taking care of that Greg! I was using the UnC barbarian when I was playtesting that archetype and it slipped my mind that 1/rage powers needed to be accounted for.

Do zealots still have to be lawful?

Do zealots still have to be lawful?

Doesn't it say they must be within 1 step of their deity's alignment? Because I meant for their alignment restriction to be changed to require them to be within 1 step of their deity's.

Doesn't it say they must be within 1 step of their deity's alignment? Because I meant for their alignment restriction to be changed to require them to be within 1 step of their deity's.

The wording listed doesn't specifically replace the default so I originally thought that you might just not work with chaotic gods, where you have to fulfil both alignment prerequisites at once.

Ssalarn wrote:

Doesn't it say they must be within 1 step of their deity's alignment? Because I meant for their alignment restriction to be changed to require them to be within 1 step of their deity's.

The wording listed doesn't specifically replace the default so I originally thought that you might just not work with chaotic gods, where you have to fulfil both alignment prerequisites at once.

I'll double-check it and talk to Greg and see if we can push an update, but the Zealot doesn't need to be Lawful, he just needs to be within 1 step of his deity, like the Cleric. Consider this an official response if you have a GM who questions it in the meanwhile.

Basically, where the core Battle Lord uses an iron code of discipline to focus his mind and train his allies in drills, the Zealot relies on the tenants of his faith to guide him and almost teaches his drills the way a preacher would deliver sermons.

Well that is bizarre. Good catch. I don't see it on the original material but I think I just saw the discussion in an email we had. I will update the file this weekend as well as incorporate it in the next update of LX.

So far the Battle Lord is the third party class I've used most as an NPC while DMing. Looking for a chance to run a Warchief and his tribe against my players!

So far the Battle Lord is the third party class I've used most as an NPC while DMing. Looking for a chance to run a Warchief and his tribe against my players!

The big bad in a recent adventure I put together was an orc Warchief with the Metal-Clad archetype from the Advanced Bestiary. The "Iron Orc" was widely agreed to be the coolest bad guy the party had fought in some time!

I'm running a standard Battle Lord (Medic) in Legacy of Fire right now, and it's been a lot of fun to play with a Battle Lord that I'm not playtesting.

What Tier would this class be considered? 3, 4? I use Ssalarn's Akashic Mysteries classes, would the Battle Lord feel like it had enough utility alongside those classes? Is there anyone with experience playing this class in Paizo APs, and is it any good?

What Tier would this class be considered? 3, 4? I use Ssalarn's Akashic Mysteries classes, would the Battle Lord feel like it had enough utility alongside those classes? Is there anyone with experience playing this class in Paizo APs, and is it any good?

Yo! Always nice to talk to a potential repeat customer :)

So, (with the caveat that the Tier system is somewhat limited in actually gauging the quality of a class and is more a GM tool for assessing party options and compatibility) I would personally put the Battle Lord at a pretty solid Tier 3. He's got 4+Int skills, a specialization chassis that rewards him for investing in Int, and in addition to being a full BAB combatant with good proficiencies, he's got at-will Teamwork feat sharing for solid combat buffing and gains a Specialty that allows him to step up and customize where he fits in the group, with options like the Scout and Medic that allow him to make the whole party stealthier and less likely to be surprised, or to step up as a solid secondary healer.

I have had the opportunity to play the Battle Lord in the Legacy of Fire AP, and he's done really well so far. I built him pretty tanky and made sure that one of my drills was the Infantry drill, which grants the Battle Lord and all allies within the Drill's area an enhancement bonus to speed and the Swap Places feat. In combination with the Medic Specialty, it made for a fun character who could quickly shore up weak areas in the party by rushing in and covering a wounded ally's retreat, then helping patch everyone up after the fact. I know I wrote it, but I still consider it one of the most fun combatants I've ever played.

What Tier would this class be considered? 3, 4? I use Ssalarn's Akashic Mysteries classes, would the Battle Lord feel like it had enough utility alongside those classes? Is there anyone with experience playing this class in Paizo APs, and is it any good?

I feel that the Battlelord fits into tier 3. Not only does the base class provide a lot of customization, but the archetypes bring it to the next level. My favorites are the charisma based archetype (Warchief) that shares Rage Powers instead of teamwork feats, and a wisdom based archetype (Zealot) that trades aura/drill radius and a few drills known for channeling energy and gaining channel smite.

I am just wondering, what else is it you want from the Battle Lord? It definitely brings utility, but it can bring more than that.

Desha wrote:

What Tier would this class be considered? 3, 4? I use Ssalarn's Akashic Mysteries classes, would the Battle Lord feel like it had enough utility alongside those classes? Is there anyone with experience playing this class in Paizo APs, and is it any good?

I feel that the Battlelord fits into tier 3. Not only does the base class provide a lot of customization, but the archetypes bring it to the next level. My favorites are the charisma based archetype (Warchief) that shares Rage Powers instead of teamwork feats, and a wisdom based archetype (Zealot) that trades aura/drill radius and a few drills known for channeling energy and gaining channel smite.

I am just wondering, what else is it you want from the Battle Lord? It definitely brings utility, but it can bring more than that.

I guess the two big things I am worried about are the fact that teamwork feats seem to be largely regarded as being fairly terrible, and the class itself getting boring to play after a while. I like the Akashic classes because I rarely take the same action twice in the same combat, and if I get bored playing a class one way, I can switch up my veils and play a very different style.

What makes the Battle Lord better than a Cavalier or another class that gets Tactician? How do Specialties compare to the Cavalier's Orders? How flexible is the class itself, both during an adventure and between one adventure and the next?

@Ssalarn

Thank you for the input and response! I'd like to know what a couple people who didn't write the class think before picking it up though. No offense.

If I may: The Battle Lord is currently by far the best martial commander class out there. Its versatility surpasses the Warlord and every single Talented Cavalier build I can come up with. Good skills and full BAB maintain flexibility and allow you to be the group's face, front-line fighter and buff-battery. The draw of the class lies not in teamwork feats, but in its class options, which greatly enhance the tricks available at your behest. In my review of Liber Influxus Communis, I covered the base class in excruciating detail; Liber Xpansion still will take a bit.

That being said, few classes can match the versatility/amount of options/player agenda of Akashic classes, so I don't think the battle lord reaches that level of customization/flexibility. I do have a suggestion, though: Michael has written Bravery Feats for Rogue Genius Games that coincidentally work perfectly with the battle lord - if you add them to the fray, it'll take some time before things get boring - that I can guarantee, mainly since I've seen these guys in action for quite a while now. In my home-game, they're my go-to commander class...which should tell you something about the quality of the class.

Just my 2 cents!

I guess the two big things I am worried about are the fact that teamwork feats seem to be largely regarded as being fairly terrible, and the class itself getting boring to play after a while. I like the Akashic classes because I rarely take the same action twice in the same combat, and if I get bored playing a class one way, I can switch up my veils and play a very different style.

What makes the Battle Lord better than a Cavalier or another class that gets Tactician? How do Specialties compare to the Cavalier's Orders? How flexible is the class itself, both during an adventure and between one adventure and the next?

I won't disagree. Teamwork feats are hard to build around in most cases, due to requiring the whole party to use them. They are incredibly strong however, when you have good class features to support them (or give them out for free), such as solo tactics, or the Battle Lord's Combat Drills. Combat Drills take a move action to start, and share a teamwork feat with everyone participating in the Combat Drill. However, the drill also gives a scaling bonus to something, such as Blademaster's Drill, which grants a +2 morale bonus to melee damage that scales upwards, while also giving the participants the Precise Strike teamwork feat (+1d6 damage when flanking). At 8th and 16th level, they get the ability to maintain 2 and 3 drills at a time, allowing even more bonuses and feats to be shared. There are drills that benefit the party in most combat situations, providing mobility, defenses, and ranged/melee offense to the party depending on what you need.

Out of combat, there are also plenty of Auras, which are non-combat drills. They provide scaling skill bonuses to the entire party, and even provide pretty powerful effects such as the Diplomat's Aura, which gives a scaling diplomacy bonus and also does the following: creatures within this aura must make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ the battle lord’s class level + his Charisma modifier) or have their attitude towards the battle lord instantly improved by one step. This step can only be improved once per individual. Quite a few of the later auras and drills also grant powerful magical effects. It is quite handy.

As far as the class goes, its probably the most flexible "non-magic" classes I've seen. It also has an archetype to get some spells.

This is much better than tactician because it is a move action, it gives additional bonuses, can give more feats at the same time, and has no daily limit of uses.

The specialties always give the class more options, instead of just making them better at what they already do. Medic Specialty for instance can heal a decent amount of HP per day, but also can remove almost all the status effects you'd need a cleric for (even drain and curses are covered). Artillerist Specialty allows the Battle Lord to competently use fire arms, gaining int-based grit, proficiency, and even gaining intelligence to damage with siege weapons and firearms. Additionally, the Artillerist specialty gains all the required tech to use siege weapons. The Soldier Specialty becomes increasingly durable and better at combat maneuvers, gaining CMD, CMB, save, and AC bonuses.

Just to kind of chime in and sum up on some of the points Adam and EZ were making-

The cavalier is a mounted warrior who has some leadership abilities. The Battle Lord is a combat-proficient leader, and and as such, he has both better action economy with his drills, and he isn't limited in how often he can use them. He's supposed to be leading, so he doesn't run out of leadership. His drills are always more than just sharing a teamwork feat as well, since every drill is typically a teamwork feat + a thematically matching scaling buff.

As Adam mentioned, the Cavalier's Orders generally just customize the way he does combat, whereas the Battle Lord's Specialties actually add a whole new role or set of abilities to the class, like the Medic's healing, the Scout's stealth and traps, or the Artillerist's Grit pool and siege leader abilities.

If I may: The Battle Lord is currently by far the best martial commander class out there. Its versatility surpasses the Warlord and every single Talented Cavalier build I can come up with. Good skills and full BAB maintain flexibility and allow you to be the group's face, front-line fighter and buff-battery. The draw of the class lies not in teamwork feats, but in its class options, which greatly enhance the tricks available at your behest.

That is very high praise! I think you may have sold me on the class. Are there any particular options you thought were either really good, or not up to the standards of the rest of the material? Ssalarn had mentioned medics and scouts and I know there are other specialties like the artillerist Adam mentioned, which have you played or seen played and how did they do at that job? Could an artillerist replace a Gunslinger in a group?

That being said, few classes can match the versatility/amount of options/player agenda of Akashic classes, so I don't think the battle lord reaches that level of customization/flexibility. I do have a suggestion, though: Michael has written Bravery Feats for Rogue Genius Games that coincidentally work perfectly with the battle lord - if you add them to the fray, it'll take some time before things get boring - that I can guarantee, mainly since I've seen these guys in action for quite a while now. In my home-game, they're my go-to commander class...which should tell you something about the quality of the class.

Just my 2 cents!

Thank you! I actually have Bravery Feats, so I may have to see how these play together.

An Artillerist could more than happily replace a Gunslinger.

The most common complaint I see of the Gunslinger is that it adds nothing to the group except for full-attacks. A Battle Lord Artillerist still has access to all the other cool class features.

The way I see it this story has two endings.

You buy this PDF and are extremely happy with one class or you buy Liber Influxus and find yourself extremely happy with numerous classes.

Endzeitgeist wrote:

If I may: The Battle Lord is currently by far the best martial commander class out there. Its versatility surpasses the Warlord and every single Talented Cavalier build I can come up with. Good skills and full BAB maintain flexibility and allow you to be the group's face, front-line fighter and buff-battery. The draw of the class lies not in teamwork feats, but in its class options, which greatly enhance the tricks available at your behest.

That is very high praise! I think you may have sold me on the class. Are there any particular options you thought were either really good, or not up to the standards of the rest of the material? Ssalarn had mentioned medics and scouts and I know there are other specialties like the artillerist Adam mentioned, which have you played or seen played and how did they do at that job? Could an artillerist replace a Gunslinger in a group?

I'm going to say the warchief can't replace barbarian or skald, but it's a lot of fun to play.

I will also mention that I like to play marital that can cast spells. So yeah I would play a magus. But if I wanted a more marital with a chance of casting magic, I'll take the Eldritch Chevalier. A VERY limited number of spells per day, but it could be any spell he chooses to prepare. But it also takes this into account. Instead of learning a drill I can gain a spell slot. It's pretty well put together I feel.

I picked up my copy and have been looking at building a couple different battle lords. My GM has approved the class for our next game.

I am actually very interested in two of the archetypes, the eldritch chevalier and the cavalryman. Does anyone have experience playing either archetype?

The chevalier's spellcasting seems to work best with long duration buffing spells that she shares, but I am curious as to whether there's potential for her as a blaster or controller. Control spells in particular seem like there should be some good options for blending her Drills with a spell like black tentacles.

Does the cavalryman's mount really make up for not getting to add a stat to damage like the gunslinger? I thought maybe it would get to add Intelligence to damage, but it looks like it gets mostly defensive bonuses until Thunder and Steel is gained at 14th level. It also would have been nice if the archetype had a more gender neutral name, but I haven't been able to think of one that still tells you what the archetype does, so maybe you had the same problem.

Keep a tab on all your drills, auras and specialty with this brand new Battle Lord character sheet.

If you like it, please check out other sheets (and a new project!) by clicking on my name. Lots of stuff there.

Keep a tab on all your drills, auras and specialty with this brand new Battle Lord character sheet.

If you like it, please check out other sheets (and a new project!) by clicking on my name. Lots of stuff there.

Ragi, you rock man! I think you've now made a custom character sheet for every published class I've written. I'm actually going to transfer my current Battle Lord for our Legacy of Fire game over to your new sheet and give it a test run!

I picked up my copy and have been looking at building a couple different battle lords. My GM has approved the class for our next game.

I am actually very interested in two of the archetypes, the eldritch chevalier and the cavalryman. Does anyone have experience playing either archetype?

The chevalier's spellcasting seems to work best with long duration buffing spells that she shares, but I am curious as to whether there's potential for her as a blaster or controller. Control spells in particular seem like there should be some good options for blending her Drills with a spell like black tentacles.

The eldritch chevalier works best, in my experience, with a combination of buff and control spells. While you can certainly do a fair bit of blasting if you're so inclined, I don't think that route is likely to synergize super well with his other abilities, unless you're doing something like sharing save-boosting teamwork feats with your Drill and unexpectedly blasting foes who thought that being in combat with your allies would protect them.

Does the cavalryman's mount really make up for not getting to add a stat to damage like the gunslinger? I thought maybe it would get to add Intelligence to damage, but it looks like it gets mostly defensive bonuses until Thunder and Steel is gained at 14th level.

I'm going to go with "Yes". Mounts are serious force multipliers, even if you aren't playing a charger. The mount also synergizes really well with the base Battle Lord abilities, both boosting his mobility so he can more efficaciously deploy his Drills, and, since riders actually occupy all the squares their mount occupies, potentially increasing the area of Drills centered on the Battle Lord. You really don't need to add a stat to damage with the firearms for a cavalryman to perform effectively.

It also would have been nice if the archetype had a more gender neutral name, but I haven't been able to think of one that still tells you what the archetype does, so maybe you had the same problem.

I'm going to be honest, initially I did the same thing with the Artillerist, calling it the "Artilleryman" or something along those lines. While I fixed that and found a more gender neutral option, I just couldn't come up with an alternative to Cavalryman that didn't lose the historical and thematic flavor I wanted the archetype to convey. "Equestrian" lacked the proper combat-oriented connotations, and after about an hour on thesaurus.com I chose to leave the name as is.

Reviewed, for what is worth. Great class Ssalarn! Going to review the luchador and the bravery feats soon(tm)

Reviewed, for what is worth. Great class Ssalarn! Going to review the luchador and the bravery feats soon(tm)

Thank you for the review! As one of my earlier projects, I'm always happy to see that the battle lord stands the test of time (even if it does lack some of the bells and whistles I started incorporating into later products). I'm glad you enjoyed it and that it filled some needed roles in your campaigns.