Level Up (A5E) Swift Strategist Marshal Nimble Troops Ability

[hipster_benches]

So this came up in our session last night, and I'm looking for some opinions now. Our Swift Strategist Marshal got stunned by a Vrock. The encounter required some Acrobatics checks, and the Marshal player reminded the other players that they got a bonus because of his Nimble Troops ability. As the GM I asked if that still worked while he was incapacitated, and he said that neither Commanding Presence nor Nimble Troops say anything about them being inactive when unconscious or incapacitated. This surprised me, but I wanted to keep the game moving.

After the session I looked into it more, and Commanding Presence usually uses an action which would preclude it from working while incapacitated, but Nimble Troops just works on creatures in the Commanding Presence area, no actions needed. All the other Marshal abilities that reference Commanding Presence either specify they don't work while unconscious, or the Marshal has to use some kind of action to use them so you couldn't use them while incapacitated. It seems very weird that you could help someone with an acrobatics check while unconscious or stunned. Did Nimble Troops just slip through the cracks during editing/play testing? Would it be a bad idea to change all Commanding Presence abilities to not work while incapacitated?

 

[W'rkncacnter]

my impression of these sorts of passive buffs is it's less the marshal actively helping the party and more simply being there as an inspiration. so like, nimble troops isn't the marshal telling everyone how to navigate the environment, but more just being there with them helps them do better. it's morale, basically.

 

[Selganor]

The troops of a swift strategist just know that their commander wants them to hurry up. And if they are within his commanding presence area they feel "compelled" to do so. If they start the turn outside the presence it's chill and they don't have to hurry

Edit: Although the above was written for the "Fast feet" feature, something similar applies to Nimble Troops

These features just require the marshal be there (and close enough) and his mere (commanding) presence is enough to motivate his troops.

 

[hipster_benches]

Right, the Marshal player had a similar rationalization for why it still worked while he was stunned. And that's fine, I guess you could say he led some training sessions during some downtime or something like that. But it doesn't really answer my question of why Nimble Troops and apparently Fast Feed are different. All the other abilities in the Adventurer's Guide that reference Commanding Presence specify that the Marshal needs to take some kind of action to activate it, or the Marshal must not be unconscious. It just seems really weird that these don't.

To add to the weirdness of Nimble Troops, the text just says "creatures in range of your Commanding Presence," rather than friendly creatures or creatures you choose. So at high levels when that range gets pretty big, even enemies should be getting a bonus on Acrobatics and Athletics checks. That definitely feels like a mistake or an oversight.