The problem: everybody keeps using their Heroes to give speeches to give "inspiration" to other troops so that the troops can do all the combat while the Hero sits around doing nothing. This is super un-Heroic. But leadership and inspiration feats are something cool that I want to preserve elsewhere, probably in one or more units who are more suited for it. There are three things I want to look into for chapter 11:
- 6. An Officer unit. This guy will be pretty common, not limited by Ego the way Heroes are; his job is to hand out those kinds of inspiration bonuses automatically. The current plan is that any Squad with at least one Officer will get a +1 die size Skill boost to everyone in the Squad automatically, up to 1d8. But this could be more varied - maybe they can choose between a +1 Skill size, a +2" Move, a +1 Momentum, etc. Maybe any Squad with an Officer gets an Instant Benny every turn, although those are better suited for individuals than for squads.
7. A Leader unit. As opposed to Officers, this role will be exclusive - only one guy can be Leader at any time, although maybe there would be ways to pass on the role if a Leader is killed. His job would be to hand out the kinds of general inspiration bonuses that we're currently getting from Heroic Feats, available to anyone, not just his own squad. He would be able to grant inspiration to one action per turn, but there's no limit to how many units might participate in that one action; this makes a Leader's bonus most effective when applied to a bunch of people working together rather than an individual action. (Examples: Everybody fire on that entry hatch, everyone brace for impact, everyone double-time it to the latrines, etc.) I don't like idea of making a new class of Leadership Feats - it just sits wrong with me for some reason - but that might be an option; I would also look at granting Blessing-style rerolls.
8. A Banner equipment item that serves to inspire nearby units, either within a certain range or within the squad that posesses it. Any inspiring symbol will do; holy relics, artifakt weapons, giant drums, whatever. These would be much more likely tied to specific bonuses - a trumpet of +1d6 attack damage, an icon of +1d6 Armor, a Leonidas's Mom of +1 Skill, etc. The bonuses are handy but, because it's an equipment item, it can be stolen and then you get the equivalent penalty when your enemies parade it around all desecrated or whatever.