Example Character: Wizard / Leader
The Leader Prestige Class — which will be part of the Legends of Prestige and Prowess compendium — will be previewed in its entirety on this website in the coming days (EDIT: It’s up!). Before that, though, I’ve got another example character for you. As stated in the post for The Warchief, the Leader will have an example character for every official published class. Today we’re looking at an example Wizard / Leader, which we’ll be calling the Spellbinder for this post (its a pun).
To start, the Spellbinder is level 12, and they’re 9 levels of Wizard with only 3 levels of Leader. As the Spellbinder gains additional levels, they could choose to finish Leader, take more Wizard levels, or even multiclass into a third class! But for now, the Spellbinder reaches its thematic completion with just these levels. The Spellbinder is a Leader that makes use of their spellcasting to charm enemies into allies and use magic to make it easier to communicate with allies. They might have gained their knowledge of tactics from their intense study as a wizard, and might have gained their talent at commanding others from their time spent magicking around in peoples’ heads.
First, as a Wizard, the Spellbinder chooses to take the School of Enchantment, since most of their favorite spells will be charming spells. The Spellbinder reaches 6th Wizard level before taking any Leader levels (as the prerequisites require), and then uses their skill proficiency in Investigation and their Intelligence score to meet the other prerequisites. For 7th level, the Spellbinder takes their first level in the Leader prestige class rather than continuing to level Wizard (and gaining 4th level spell slots), chooses to gain proficiency in Persuasion (for the charming theme), and chooses two stratagems in addition to the skill proficiency:
Command of Caution
You can use a bonus action on your turn to set your comrades on alert for danger, granting one ally the ability to instantly make one Wisdom (Perception) or Intelligence (Investigation) check with a bonus to the roll equal to your leader level. Alternatively, you can use an action to warn your friends of a particular foe's threat. Choose one creature that you can see within 60 feet of you and choose up to a number of allies equal to your leader level. The target creature has disadvantage on the first attack it makes against any of the affected allies, or the affected allies have advantage on a saving throw that was caused by the target creature, whichever comes first. This effect ends at the start of your next turn.
Warlord's Strike
You can use an action to grant one ally the option to use their reaction and make one weapon attack against a creature of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of you, with a bonus to the attack roll equal to your leader level. If the ally has an Extra Attack feature, they gain a bonus to the damage roll equal to your proficiency bonus.
The first stratagem, Command of Caution, warns allies of nearby danger. It can be used as just a bonus action, which as a Wizard the Spellbinder rarely uses, but in cases where the Spellbinder is already concentrating on a strong spell and has little use for other actions, they can use the action-based option to protect allies against a dragon’s breath weapon or other threats while still getting value out of all their spellcasting levels through concentration. The other option, Warlord’s Strike, serves a similar purpose as the full action option for the first stratagem, but is a great option to use when Command of Caution isn’t useful, especially with other party members like a barbarian, a rogue, or a fighter with a flametongue weapon.
The Spellbinder could have any number of spells in their spellbook, but there are a handful that matter for the multiclass build with the Leader. Minor illusion for one cantrip will enable the Spellbinder to replicate the sound of their voice or their image, to help achieve the requirement that most Leader abilities have to be seen and heard. That will become more important when the Spellbinder reaches Leader 3. They’ll also probably want to have charm person and crown of madness, given that they’re both Enchantment spells and they charm their targets. Stratagems require that the target ally be willing, but they can also be charmed instead. Thus, the Spellbinder can use their Warlord’s Strike stratagem to gain more attacks out of their mind-controlled enemies before the spell duration runs out. When dealing with strong enemies, this can be even better than giving bonus attacks to your fellow PCs! The Spellbinder knows how to get the most out of enemies that they enchant. Efficiency!
Then, the Spellbinder decides to reach Leader 3 before taking more Wizard levels. They invest their next two levels into the Prestige Class, and upon reaching the 3rd Leader level they must choose a 3rd stratagem and a Leadership Expertise. The Spellbinder could select one of many skills, but let’s suppose they select Persuasion for their expertise (for the charming theme), and they choose Versatile Communicator for their bonus option, enabling them to activate their leader abilities with just hearing or just sight. Now minor illusion enables the Spellbinder to reach allies even more effectively, and the Spellbinder can choose to cast invisibility on themselves and use their action on Warlord’s Strike when in danger, commanding their allies without breaking invisibility by making an attack themselves. The Spellbinder selects a 3rd stratagem that will be easy to activate and make use of when enemies hide behind cover:
Guiding Magic
You can choose to use this stratagem at the start of your turn. Until the start of your next turn, whenever you hit a creature with a spell attack from a spell you cast or force a creature to make a saving throw which they fail using a spell you cast, that creature is highlighted by your magic until the start of your next turn. Allies of your choice ignore the effects of cover and three-quarters cover when targeting a highlighted creature with an attack, spell, or ability, ignore the effects of light obscurement for Wisdom (Perception) checks made to detect highlighted creatures, and gain a bonus to those checks equal to your leader level.
After this, the Spellbinder decides to spend their 10th, 11th, and 12th levels in Wizard again, finally reaching 5th level spell slots. With these, the Spellbinder can fully realize their concept by casting powerful spells like charm monster and dominate person before commanding their new thralls masterfully in battle using their stratagems!
The Spellbinder likely considered taking other stratagems, such as Inspiring Word. Though granting temporary hit points as a bonus action with the additional option to use an action fits into the same action economy as Command of Caution, and fits the Spellbinder well for the same reasons. We’ve decided against it simply because it doesn’t synergize with charmed opponents, as you likely want enemies to take damage, even if you have them currently charmed. Fall Back and Assemble could also be fitting for the mechanical play of the wizard / leader combination, but it might not always be something a backline combatant wishes to use, and once again the temporary hit points don’t work well with charmed enemies, so we decided against it as well.
Now the Spellbinder is level 12, but is only a level 9 Wizard. Those 3 levels have gone into the Leader prestige class, and they give the Spellbinder a bit more durability (three hit dice are 1d8 instead of 1d6) in addition to another skill, skill expertise, and stratagems, along with a few other more minor Leader class features. With another wizard level they will gain their 10th level School of Enchantment feature, a very powerful ability, but only when other non-multiclass wizards would be unlocking their 7th-level spells. When the pure wizards reach 9th-level spells, the Spellbinder will still be one wizard level away from 8th-level spells. And if the Spellbinder finally reaches 9th-level spells as a wizard, it will be when pure wizards have finished unlocking the powerful Spell Mastery and Signature Spell capstone features.
But even when they aren’t commanding the allies they mind-control, the Spellbinder can make great use of their Leader class features by supporting their fellow PCs. They can make better use out of the more limited spell slots that they have, and when those spell slots run out they can still use their Leader abilities. Of course there are plenty of other ways to build a Wizard / Leader character, including one of my favorites: a necromancer who uses Leader abilities on their undead! These are great example of how the Leader isn’t just intended to build 4e-style weapon-based warlords, but are designed for any kind of character, and how the prestige classes in D&D Unleashed enable you to build around your favored playstyle as you level.
