General Prestige Class : Legendary Leader
"Hold your lance up, keep your shield steady, and follow me to victory!" - Henrik Yensen, of Henrik's Horseriders
Legendary leaders are the stuff of bards' tales come to life. Their heroic exploits bring followers to their side, and they create groups that embody their ideals. Members of this class represent not only the knight in shining armor atop the battlefield hill but also the cunning prince of thieves leading his own guild and the swashbuckling privateer captain with his hand-picked crew. Legendary leaders recruit like-minded individuals to their cause and become familiar with the politics and intrigue of running a small organization.
Any character with an above-average Charisma score can enter the legendary leader prestige class at 7th level if he has taken the leadership feat at 6th level. A high Charisma increases a character's leadership score, allowing him to recruit even more followers; hence, bard is an effective entry path for becoming a legendary leader. Paladins and fighters also make good legendary leaders, gaining a significant number of benefits for the sacrifice of a bit of base attack bonus. Rogues are effective as well when focused on interaction skills such as Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive, but their ability to get past locks and traps will suffer (spending skill points cross-class mitigates the problem). A member of the marshal class also makes a fine legendary leader. Few spellcasters enter the class; the sacrifice of spell progression is seen as too high a cost for most, even though sorcerers make excellent leaders.
Charisma (for interpersonal skills and leadership score) is a key ability for the class, but the other high ability scores a legendary leader could have depends on the type of leader the character is best suited to be: the mighty warrior, the plotting master spy, the outgoing bard, and the wise mentor are all examples of legendary leaders.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Legendary Leader, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Feats: Iron Will, Leadership.
- Special: Base Leadership score of 7 or higher.
Class Skills
The legendary leader's class skills are Bluff, Craft, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (nobility and royalty), Profession, Ride, and Sense Motive.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
As legendary leaders advance in level, they gain abilities that help them perform deeds worthy of the songs of bards. The confidence a legendary leader exudes is manifested in the loyalty of his allies. Many legendary leaders are more capable than other leaders and commanders in recruiting cohorts and followers.
Fearless (Ex): Because of their supreme confidence in their own abilities, legendary leaders are not subject to effects that would shake others' resolve. When you enter this class, you become immune to fear effects.
Hero's luck (Ex): Upon becoming a legendary leader, you gain a +1 luck bonus on all saving throws. This bonus improves to +2 at 3rd level and to +3 at 5th level.
Natural Commander (Ex): As a legendary leader, your commander rating equals your class level (unless your rank would normally grant you a higher commander rating). See morale.
Legendary Reputation (Ex): As you advance in the prestige class, tales of your exploits begin to circulate. When people match your face with your reputation, they are more likely to be friendly toward you. You add your class level to any Diplomacy check you make to influence the attitude of any NPC who is not already unfriendly or hostile.
Greater Command (Sp): Beginning at 2nd level, you can focus your powers of persuasion to use greater command (as the spell) once per day (save DC 16 + Cha modifier). At 4th level and higher, you can use this ability twice per day.
Quick Rally (Ex): Starring at 2nd level, you can perform a rally check as a free action once per round.
Bonus Feat: At 3rd level, you gain a bonus feat from among the feats with the leader type. You must meet the normal prerequisites for the feat.
Heroic Success (Ex): When you reach 4th level, your deeds become truly legendary, and you demonstrate your ability to beat the odds even when the situation looks bleak. Once per day, you can choose to automatically succeed on a single saving throw instead of rolling the dice.
Additional Commander Aura (Ex): At 5th level, you can select a secondary commander aura, which can be any commander aura for which you qualify (see information on commander auras). Your followers benefit from both commander aura effects, though any bonuses granted follow the normal rules for stacking. If you further increase your commander rating at another time and choose to gain a new commander aura, you can replace either of your existing commander auras.
To Hell and Back (Ex): Your followers will accompany you to the ends of the world, and beyond. When you reach 5th level, any followers or cohorts gained from your leadership feat are immune to fear effects (including morale checks) when they have line of sight to you.
| Legendary Leader | Hit Die: d8 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special |
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Fearless, hero's luck +1, natural commander, legendary reputation |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | Greater command 1/day, quick rally |
| 3rd | +2 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Bonus feat, hero's luck +2 |
| 4th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Greater command 2/day, heroic success |
| 5th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Additional commander aura, hero's luck +3, to hell and back |
Legendary Leader Lore
Characters with the Gather Information skill can research a legendary leader to learn more about him. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.
- DC 10: This result provides only hints that a legendary leader has recently been nearby; any described exploits could be those of any heroic adventurer.
- DC 15 Characters with this level of success hear tales of specific legendary leaders and might discover the names of the organizations they run.
- DC 20: The character learns that the legendary leader consistently performs heroic exploits and that the loyalty of the leader's followers is reinforced by these actions.
- DC 30: With this measure of success, a character can learn the story of a legendary leader, piecing together bits that comprise the tale, from his origins to his current whereabouts and activities.
The stories of a legendary leader's heroic exploits are the staple of bardic tales. Therefore, a bard gains a +5 bonus to uncover legends or tales of a legendary leader on these Gather Information checks. Depending on the type of leader involved, a Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), or Knowledge (nobility and royalty) check might also provide the same information at the given DCs. Every legendary leader can be researched using the legend lore spell, since they are all aptly considered "legendary."
Source: Heroes of Battle