Posts
This
supplement clocks in at 28 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page
SRD, leaving us with 25 pages of content, so let's take a look!
Okay, so
what is this? Well, in one short sentence, this is leadership for everyone.
Yeah. You take arguably the most powerful feat in the game and give it to
everyone, free of charge. Can this work? After an aptly-written piece of prose,
we are introduced to the mechanics - first each character has an LS, a
leadership score, which is equal to character level + cha-mod. If a check is
called for, roll 1d20 and add your LS plus miscellaneous modifiers as per the
table. Mythic characters also add their mythic tier to the LS. Now if you're
like me, you always considered the leadership modifiers provided by the feat to
be NOT enough - well, from frequent communication to taking decisive actions,
the new misc modification table provides much more diversity.
LS
determines cohorts, followers and here's the awesome thing - use LS to qualify
for mass combat boons, special leadership perks and the reputation of the
characters. In a cool alternate option, closely entwined parties may sport a
kind of party leadership. Now the way in which cohorts are obtained, their
maximum level, promotion options and recruitment - all of that is covered in
ample detail. Better yet, synergy with mass combat and downtime rules are
provided, filling a gaping hole in the regular leadership-rules. And yes,
interaction with the kingdom building rules and leadership therein can also be
found within these pages. Beyond rules, some great guidelines for building
cohorts that are FUN in game are also provided and advancing them (including
the advancement of monstrous cohorts) would be another point covered. Advice
for DMs handling cohorts and a massive list of sample monstrous cohorts along
their bestiary origin can be found within these pages.
Now in a
stroke of absolute brilliance, downtime follower recruitment is provided in the
book - and the book does not stop there. Training followers as army commanders,
as contacts etc. -all covered. Better yet, a concise table provides max ranks
for skills of followers, acting as a convenient and elegant balancing
mechanism. And yes, training followers as teams would be covered as well. 5 sample
followers would be provided herein, so let's move on to reputation, shall we?
The
reputation is tied to a sphere of influence within e.g. a kingdom - only within
this sphere, the effects are felt. Increasing the LS also increases the array
of hexes you can influence. This can go in both ways, however - you can also
gain infamy in certain hexes. Reputation effects utilizing fame/infamy, from
discounts to lynch-mobs, provide tangible, concise benefits to the characters
and both positive and negative effects are covered in a huge table. But that's
not where this pdf stops - party reputation, secret identities and alter egos
with completely different reputations - all covered.
Now if the
mentioning of fame wasn't ample indicator - the system thus also ties in
perfectly with the organization-rules, allowing you to spend prestige points
granted by your fame for different benefits.
As you
advance your level, you also receive so-called leadership perks -one at 2nd
level and one at every two levels thereafter. These perks can be used to
strengthen armies, cohorts, contacts, downtime, kingdoms, relationships,
reputations and titles. There also are loner-perks which provide a stronger
benefit, but these exclude you from attracting followers and cohorts. The last
8 pages of this pdf are completely devoted to a vast array of different perks
that allow you to make a kingdom into an economical power-house, modify
downtime effects...If you for example, would be the beloved heir of the throne,
there's no a perk for that. Same goes for being on personal quests, for being
essentially the martial law, for being just devoted and loyal...what about
filling two roles in the kingdom? What about being a one-man-army? Yeah, you
*can* see that, can't you? The one wizard/fighter before a whole army,
brandishing the weaponry and telling them to come get him? Oh yes. What about creating a group
reputation with your spouse? This is absolutely awesome...BUT.
Yeah,
there's a "but" - prepare for my dreaded nitpick-powers!
...
The
"o"s in the perk-header font seem to be a bigger size than the other
letters.
...
..
.
Yeah. I
know. Not really a weighty point of criticism.
Conclusion:
Editing and
formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. layout adheres to
a gorgeous, yet relatively printer-friendly 2-column full-color standard and
the pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience. it should also be noted
that the pdf sports numerous gorgeous original pieces of full-color artwork.
Ben
McFarland once wrote on the Paizo-boards that Leadership would be the greatest
gift a player can make the DM - it shows an investment into the campaign, a
willingness to engage in mutual worldbuilding beyond the norm. I tend to
concur.
With the
release of Ultimate Campaign, a certain discrepancy has crept into the most
beloved feat at my table (seriously, in my last campaign all but 2 players had
it!) - and now, it's gone. In order to playtest this book, I had to actually
integrate it into my main campaign. Just running a module or the like wouldn't
have worked and I have two characters with the feat there anyways, so yeah. We
made a bunch of modifications and ran with the system. Synergy with mass
combat, downtime, fame and reputation - this system is a perfect example of
ridiculously elegant design. Alexander Augunas takes all the distinct systems
and ties them together in elegant, awesome ways and offers options upon
options.
Okay, I
can't emphasize this enough - this book is a huge blessing, a godsend. It is
elegant and smart. It works exceedingly well in actual gameplay. It takes a
vast array of disparate systems and forges them into a significantly more
cohesive, functional entity. And it fixes the issues created by the relative
strength of cohorts that make other characters feel left out. It also sports
neat prose and provides advice for using these rules sans bogging down the
game/stealing the spotlight. The Leadership Handbook will never, ever be left
in any of my campaigns from this day on.
I cannot
fail to emphasize this enough: EVERY kingmaker-campaign should get this. Every
campaign using Ultimate Campaign as a book, any of its component-subsystems,
MUST get this. The systems benefit greatly from the inclusions of this book and
the system also perfectly works with Legendary Games' expansions.
Let me once
again make this very, very clear - the
Leadership Handbook is a humble, inexpensive, utterly awesome book that renders
leadership infinitely more streamlined - less like a half-baked feat-remnant,
but like a full-blown tie-in with all systems. This is pretty much what I
wished Paizo would do - tie disparate systems together with a concise frame, an
awareness for the functionality of them. This is utterly superb. My only regret
is that I wanted this to be SO MUCH LONGER.
It is
hereby awarded EZG Essential status, becomes a candidate for my Top Ten of 2014
and receives a final verdict of 5 stars + seal of approval.
You can get this glorious pdf here on OBS and here on d20pfsrd.com's shop!
If you like Alexander Augunas' designs, you may want to check out the Pact Magic Unbound: Grimoire of Lost Souls-Kickatsrter here - why? Because you can get a subscription for 2015 for a very low add-on-price!
Endzeitgeist
out.
No comments:
Post a Comment