Example Character: Ranger / Leader
The Leader Prestige Class is designed to work by supporting the other party members in a group, but those party members don’t actually have to be player characters! Leader abilities never require the targets to be humanoid, to be intelligent, or to understand your language, so they can affect not only humanoid NPCs who might be assisting you in combat, but also summoned creatures like undead or beasts. The fact that Leader abilities can be used to support the Leader’s animal companion is core to the idea behind the example character for the Ranger which we’ll be calling “The Herald” for this post.
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. The Herald is similar in theming to the Warlord, with some differences — its ranged, its got ranger spells, and it has animal friends that it can support just as well as its fellow player characters. In this case, we’re looking at a level 10 character with 7 levels in Ranger and 3 levels in Leader. With a 13 in Wisdom and an 11 in Charisma, the Herald should have little trouble meeting the prerequisites for the Leader prestige class. So how is The Herald actually built?
The Herald’s first 7 levels go into the Ranger class, and they choose the Beast Master archetype for their subclass (For the purposes of this example we don’t need to decide whether The Herald is using the Player’s Handbook Ranger or the UA Revised Ranger, though the build has slightly better synergy with the Reviser Ranger). Because the Herald focuses on supporting the attacks of their allies and beast companion, they could choose the Defense fighting style which will help them even when they do not attack on a turn. Archery is another viable option, since it increases the likelihood that the Herald’s attack-based stratagems can be used. The 7th Ranger level gives the Herald access to their second beast companion-based class feature, which they don’t want to delay since its part of their synergy with the Leader class in the first place.
So when the Herald reaches 8th level they finally take their first level in the Leader prestige class, two levels later than they first could have possibly done so. They select a skill proficiency (such as Persuasion) and choose two Stratagems of Command. To increase synergy with the Ranger abilities, the Herald selects:
Direct the Assault
You can use a bonus action on your turn to draw attention to one creature that you can see which you already hit with a weapon attack this turn. Until the start of your next turn, when an ally hits the target with a weapon attack, they gain a bonus to the damage roll equal to 1 + half your proficiency bonus. This can only affect up to a number of weapon attacks equal to 1 + your leader level.
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.
These two stratagems are both used after the Herald hits with a weapon attack (hence the utility of the Archery fighting style). Direct the Assault works well with the aid of the beast companion whenever the Herald can get them in a position to make attacks on their own (much easier done for the revised ranger, but still possible for the PHB ranger), with the additional bonus of aiding the Herald’s other weapon-wielding allies. Their arrows strike the foe, and their allies weapons follow suit, using the opening created by the shot. When the Herald needs to lock down a particular foe, they can use Subtle Misdirection to direct attacks toward their beast companion instead of themselves or their other allies, hiding their arrows behind the threatening swipes of their (hopefully tough) companions. This tactic enables the Herald and their animal companion to swoop into reach of an enemy (especially easy for the PHB ranger using their bonus action) that is threatening an allied PC (such as a PC at low health or a squishy wizard), and force the enemy to attack their beast companion instead — a potent defensive option for the pair and their group.
The second Leader level grants Stroke of Genius, which enables the Herald to use both stratagems at once on a single turn or to use Subtle Misdirection on two enemies at the same time occasionally. Then when the Herald reaches 10th level, they gain their third Leader level. They must choose a skill and option for Leadership Expertise. For flavor reasons, let’s assume the Herald chooses either Animal Handling or a musical instrument. They’ll also choose Formation Master, so that their beast companion and other allies never get in their way even in cramped quarters, and choose their 3rd stratagem:
Formation Master
You can move through friendly creatures' spaces without treating them as difficult terrain, and when you provoke an opportunity attack by moving into a friendly creature's space, that opportunity attack has disadvantage.
Fall Back & Assemble
You can use a bonus action on your turn to signal one ally. They can use their reaction to move up to half their speed in your direction, and they gain a bonus to AC against opportunity attacks provoked by this movement equal to your leader level. Then, each ally of your choice within 5 feet of you gains temporary hit points equal to half your proficiency bonus, which disappear at the start of your next turn.
Because it can be used to redirect both the Herald’s animal companion’s movements and their allied PC’s movements, Fall Back & Assemble is easier for the Herald to consistently make good use of than many other Leaders. With the addition of the animal companion, the multi-target temporary hit points granted by this stratagem will often hit three or more allies when it’s used. It’s also still usable on a turn when the Herald doesn’t hit with a weapon attack, whether because they cast a spell, ordered their beast to attack, or just missed with their weapon.
There are different ways to build the Herald, of course. The Revised Ranger especially has some different mechanics for its beast companion (most notably that the Revised Ranger animal companion will take actions on its own), and so it works well with some other stratagems too. Wolf Pack Tactics enables the Herald to reposition their animal companion, and Warlord’s Strike enables the Herald to trade their action for an animal companion attack, both things that the Revised Ranger cannot easily do. These stratagems both also make the animal companion’s attack much more likely to hit. Some may even take Soothing Comfort if they tend to use healing spells for their Ranger spell slots. With stratagems that have range limitations, the Herald (who often wants to be far away from danger) would also make good use of Battlefield Conductor at 3rd level for extra range. We eschewed those choices for this example character so that it could be used for either version of the Ranger.
It’s worth noting that the Herald’s ranger spell slots have implications beyond just the ability to make use of Soothing Comfort in some builds. Some ranger spells can be used to conjure additional allies, such as conjure animals, and a pack of wolves can easily trigger all the bonus damage hits from Direct the Assault or gain a lot of value from temporary hit points on all of them using Fall Back & Assemble. The beast bond spell grants the Herald’s animal companion advantage on attacks for the duration, which is even more potent with some of the support abilities they can gain from the leader class. There are even more combinations for spell effects when combining ally abilities, ranger spells, and leader abilities.
Now the Herald is a level 10 character, but only a level 7 ranger. Those 3 ranger levels would give the Herald two 3rd-level spell slots, a 6th ranger spell known, the Land’s Stride feature, an Ability Score Improvement, an upgrade to Natural Explorer, and the Hide in Plain Sight ability. They also have fewer hit points, because the ranger has d10 hit dice, but the leader’s hit dice are only d8s. They could begin catching up on those ranger levels, but they are far away from their important 11th-level subclass feature even still. The 3 leader levels they gained, however, lets them use their animal companion almost as well as an additional full player character, and lets them support their allies in the same way if (or when) their animal companion eventually falls to 0 — without losing the ability to shoot enemies from afar themselves.
