Example Character: Bard / Leader
The Leader Prestige Class — which will be part of the Legends of Prestige and Prowess compendium — is finally available as a full preview. Now that we’ve seen the most iconic of the example characters for the Leader, the Warlord, we can move on to some of the less expected (but just as desired) character themes it enables, such as one for Bard / Leader! The idea behind example characters for prestige classes is that just a small selection of character choices can illustrate the power, flexibility, and theming of a prestige class in ways that simply seeing the material often can’t.
This example character will go by “The Trickster” for this post. Their base class is Bard, but the Trickster, being level 10, has decided to invest 5 levels into Leader as soon as possible, finishing the prestige class. Simply having a Wisdom of 11 should be enough for the Trickster to meet the ability score prerequisites for being a Leader, since Charisma is the Bard’s main ability score. The skill requirement is easy for a Bard to meet, as is the narrative requirement. So how is this Trickster actually built?
To start, the Trickster is a Bard, and must choose a subclass at 3rd level. They choose Lore Bard, to make it easier to meet the Leader skill prerequisite, among other things, and because it helps create the theme for a character that doesn’t seem out of place in combat but isn’t themselves planning to be a combatant. They also gain expertise in two skills, and for the purposes of this example let’s say one of those skills is Charisma (Deception), and that they also have proficiency in Performance. The other choices for skills and spells are less important for the example at this point, and we will go over them later anyways. When the Trickster finally reaches 6th level, he puts that level into the Leader prestige class, gains proficiency in Persuasion, and chooses two stratagems:
A Clever Ruse
You can use a bonus action on your turn to attempt to fool an enemy and open them up for an ally's strikes. Choose a creature within 60 feet of you that can see and hear you (including via telepathy). You make either an Intelligence (Arcana) check, an Intelligence (Investigation) check, a Charisma (Deception) check, a Charisma (Performance) check, a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check, or a Wisdom (Survival) check (you choose). You have disadvantage on this check, but you gain a bonus to the roll equal to your leader level. The target must make either an Intelligence (Investigation) check, a Wisdom (Insight) check, or a Wisdom (Perception) check (they choose), but they have advantage. If your ability check result is higher than the target creature’s, you fool the target and can choose one ally within 60 feet of the target. That ally gains advantage on attack rolls against the target until the end of your next turn.
Positive/Negative Reinforcement
When an ally deals damage to a creature, so long as either the ally or the creature are within 60 feet of you, you can use your reaction to recognize your ally's accomplishment or add insult to the enemy's injury. You increase the damage that the creature took by 1d4 + your leader level. When you reach 3rd level, the die rolled increases to 1d6, and at 5th level it increases again to 1d8.
The first stratagem, A Clever Ruse, is the Trickster’s bread-and-butter stratagem. With expertise in Deception already, the Trickster can achieve +10 or +11 to this Deception check, making it reliably (sometimes more than 50%) useful for granting advantage to allies as a bonus action. As the Trickster levels and increases both their proficiency bonus and their Charisma modifier, the stratagem will only become more and more reliable. The theming here is simple but rich: the Trickster weaves distractions and lies to open their enemies up for the attacks of their allies lurking nearby. Of course this stratagem takes a bonus action, and so there are times when, due to using their bonus action on a spell like healing word or on handing out Bardic Inspiration, the Trickster will want to use the latter stratagem as it doesn’t require a bonus action. Positive/Negative Reinforcement uses the Trickster’s reaction to add a bit of extra damage to the efforts of an ally. The Leader using this stratagem can hold it for later in the round to ensure they don’t miss an opportunity for better reaction use (such as a good counterspell), but note that doing so risks missing your opportunity to use the stratagem that round at all! This stratagem represents the Trickster hollering words of encouragement to their allies as they strike their foes, or loosing jibes and curses upon the enemy as they take damage to literally add insult to injury.
The Trickster puts their next two levels into Leader, reaching Leader 3, at which point they must select options for Leadership Expertise and a 3rd stratagem. The Trickster chooses their additional expertise, and selects Versatile Communicator, enabling them to affect allies and enemies with their Leader abilities even while those targets are deafened or the Trickster is hiding. This even lets the Trickster use their Leader abilities while invisible, or through sound-only or sight-only illusions! For their 3rd stratagem, they select Soothing Comfort to increase the potency of the healing spells that the Trickster casts (enabling them to get more use out of their fewer spell slots) and those cast by other party members. It can even be used on a single target when finishing a short rest:
Soothing Comfort
You can use a bonus action on your turn to touch one ally and grant them a boon to their healing by boosting their spirits. Until the start of your next turn, anytime that ally rolls dice to regain hit points, they can choose to maximize up to a number of dice equal to your leader level.
Finally, the Trickster puts their next 2 levels into Leader as well, finishing the prestige class. This puts them significantly behind other Bards in terms of spell slots, but gives them some worthy benefits in compensation. They must choose both a Leader’s Presence and a 4th stratagem. To fit the “trickster” theming, the Trickster selects Distracting Presence and along with vicious mockery, Cutting Words, and Positive/Negative Reinforcement, the Trickster now has 4 commonly used abilities that all contribute to the feeling of a character whose primary role in combat is to trick opponents with the help of friends and then laugh at them. To put a bow on the “trickery” theme, they select Subtle Misdirection as their final stratagem:
Subtle Misdirection
When you deal a creature damage, you can use your reaction to perform subterfuge that makes it seem as if an ally within 5 feet of the damaged creature is the real threat, and the ally can choose to mark the target. This effect ends early the ally is incapacitated or you dies, or if someone else marks the creature. A creature marked by this ability has disadvantage on any attack roll that doesn't target the ally while it is within the ally's melee reach.
This stratagem borrows the mark mechanic from the Cavalier in Xanathar’s Guide, but it might be more accurate to say that it replicates the mark mechanic from the Guardian prestige class, which will also be appearing in Legends of Prestige and Prowess along with the Leader and some other prestige classes. The Guardian actually borrows the mark mechanic from the Cavalier, and makes a few alterations for its more generic design. This stratagem doesn’t allow the mark-holder to make bonus attacks or anything like that, but it does apply the same disadvantage as the other marks, and it functions the same as the regular mark when held by a Cavalier or Guardian. Using this stratagem, the Trickster can damage a creature with a spell like vicious mockery or the new dark whispers and make it seem to the foe that it is not them, but the new mark-holder who truly threatens the foe.
There are other good options that the Trickster has passed up. Inspiring Word might be a good choice, especially given that the Trickster has the Charisma to pull off Inspiring Presence and could pick up the Inspiring Leader feat if they really wanted to be a temporary hit point master. But that stratagem competes directly with A Clever Ruse, so we decided against it for this example. Warlord’s Strike or “Look Out” could both be good choices for a Lore Bard to take as Leader, since they lack particularly damaging cantrips or weapon attacks, but we chose against that for the same reason in this example — to highlight A Clever Ruse and form the “trickery” and “vexing” theme more coherently, not because those options are bad.
So the Trickster is now level 10, but only a level 5 bard. Those 5 missing bard levels would give 4th and 5th (and soon 6th) level spell slots, along with an increase to Song of Rest, Bardic Inspiration, and more expertise, plus Countercharm. Even Magical Secrets and Additional Magical Secrets are missing. The hit dice for Leader and Bard are the same, so the Trickster at least suffers no loss of toughness for this multiclass. What they gain, however, is a character theme more defined by the effects of speech and wit and less by the power of magic than a full-class bard at the same level would be. Less of a mage, and more of a jester, but just as effective (though in different ways). It’s a great example of how D&D Unleashed prestige classes enable the player to define, among other things, just how magical their spellcaster character should feel to them!
