Alternatives for Leadership in Combat

Based on a comment elsewhere by TrippyHippy, instead of an additional initiative bonus, could a leadership check instead allow the leader to give out (Effect) boons to his compatriots over the course of the combat?
 
It will certainly result in much more use of the leadership skill, and it it is a mechanic that can also be applied to non-combat situations.
Would the full effect be applied or would it act like a task chain?
 
Ok, so right now it says:
"A Traveller may make a Leadership action in combat, which increases the Initiative of one ally within contact by the Effect of the Leadership check."

So are you thinking it would now read something like:
"A Traveller may make a Leadership action in combat, which will allow the Traveller to give out (Effect) boons to any allies." ???

Or are you thinking something else?

If I have the intent right, is there any other limit? Only one per ally for example? No stacking boons?
 
-Daniel- said:
Ok, so right now it says:
"A Traveller may make a Leadership action in combat, which increases the Initiative of one ally within contact by the Effect of the Leadership check."

So are you thinking it would now read something like:
"A Traveller may make a Leadership action in combat, which will allow the Traveller to give out (Effect) boons to any allies." ???

Or are you thinking something else?

If I have the intent right, is there any other limit? Only one per ally for example? No stacking boons?
I assume it would be DMs to the value of the Effect that can be distributed to anyone being lead who is in contact with the Leader. As to stacking, the DM could be +n, but any character can only have one leader in a situation.

Didn't a previous version of Traveller have a rule like this? I skimmed MT last night and couldn't see it. I ask not to try to give historical weight to the suggestion but to see if anyone has experience of using it in practice.
 
Well, I suggested it for a couple of reasons - one of which is that we already have a skill that enhances initiative (Tactics) and secondly, it just gives more things for a Leader to contribute to. We did playtest it in last weeks Traveller campaign session, and it worked fine.

The rule suggestion is that the effect of a Leadership roll can be distributed as bonuses to other character actions during combat. Roll a +3 effect, and you can give a +1 to three different PCs, a +2 to one and +1 to another, or a straight +3 to one person. Negative effects act as penalties, and MUST be distributed too (bad leadership). These bonuses are spent in one round only and the Leadership roll is a Significant action, but may be declared at the start of the round so that the impact on other's actions can be made.

Over to you, Matt!
 
Ok, but the original post said Boons and in context to the Beta that is an added die to the roll. Now you two are talking a bonus (DM). Not that either is better or worse, just different impacts. One fixed and one random.

So to quote TrippyHippy, "Over to you, Matt!"
 
Whether it's a +DM or a Boon, either would be a great option. For that matter, making the current use affect all allies is worth a look. As it stands, the utility of spending a turn to maybe boost one ally's initiative by a small amount is near-zero except in very specific circumstances. A skill that only exists for niche application should be a specialty, not a skill.
 
-Daniel- said:
Ok, but the original post said Boons and in context to the Beta that is an added die to the roll. Now you two are talking a bonus (DM). Not that either is better or worse, just different impacts. One fixed and one random.

I did mean boon dice in the original post, but either would probably work for this idea, depending on how the boon dice discussion comes out and how you saw this modifier...
 
FallingPhoenix said:
-Daniel- said:
Just following up on this, Did we get any feedback on Matt's thoughts on this suggestion?
Unless it snuck in somewhere else, I don't think so.
Too bad, I thought this was a fun idea for the skill. Maybe polish it up and add it to my house rule tool box. :mrgreen:
 
Sometimes, you just know when an idea is right :)

This one will be in the next revision. Basically, Tactics stays the same, but you can make a Leadership check and hand out the Effect in Boons. However, if the Effect is negative, the opposition hands out Banes :)

Oh, and making it a minor action.
 
msprange said:
Sometimes, you just know when an idea is right :)

This one will be in the next revision. Basically, Tactics stays the same, but you can make a Leadership check and hand out the Effect in Boons. However, if the Effect is negative, the opposition hands out Banes :)

Oh, and making it a minor action.
Wonderful. :mrgreen:
 
msprange said:
Sometimes, you just know when an idea is right :)

This one will be in the next revision. Basically, Tactics stays the same, but you can make a Leadership check and hand out the Effect in Boons. However, if the Effect is negative, the opposition hands out Banes :)

Oh, and making it a minor action.

Sweet! I'm adding my name to my personal list of co-authored gaming books! ;)
 
msprange said:
This one will be in the next revision. Basically, Tactics stays the same, but you can make a Leadership check and hand out the Effect in Boons. However, if the Effect is negative, the opposition hands out Banes :)
I like the ruling, but now the rules are giving out Boons/Banes, so that means the referee can't add another one for any other reason.

Hmmm, if we only had stackable Boons/Banes... :wink:
 
Wizard said:
I like the ruling, but now the rules are giving out Boons/Banes, so that means the referee can't add another one for any other reason.

That did cross my mind and, initially, I was going to make it DMs. However, it will usually be a player handing them out, so it sort of skips past that...
 
msprange said:
Wizard said:
I like the ruling, but now the rules are giving out Boons/Banes, so that means the referee can't add another one for any other reason.

That did cross my mind and, initially, I was going to make it DMs. However, it will usually be a player handing them out, so it sort of skips past that...

Howso? Doesn't it just mean that the referee can't stack any more on top?

I regard this new ruling a generally good thing by the way!
 
Back
Top