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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JohnSnow" data-source="post: 5132095" data-attributes="member: 32164">I suggest you read comic books - lots of them. Some of the greatest archetypes for "leaders" are characters in comic books. Some characters, in particular, that I recommend reading up on:Captain America (Steve Rogers) - various runs of AvengersCyclops (Scott Summers) - various runs of X-Men and its spinoffsHawkeye (Clint Barton) - West Coast Avengers or ThunderboltsColonel/General Hawk - G.I. Joe, especially the old-school '80s issues.Some other good models that come to mind for leaders are characters like Horatio Hornblower, Kirk, Picard, Aragorn, Master & Commander's Lucky Jack Aubrey, Firefly's Malcolm Reynolds, Stargate SG-1's Colonel Jack O'Neil, or Dragonlance's Tanis Half-Elven. And if you really want to go nuts, there's at least 4 in Kingdom of Heaven - Norton's tragic King Baldwin of Jerusalem, Neeson's Baron Godfrey of Ibelin, Bloom's Baron Balian of Ibelin, and, of course, Massoud's Saladin.There's some traits all of these characters have in common. Generally, they tend to think first of others and only secondarily of themselves. They also tend to be "lead from the front" types. Their primary goal is not glory, but something larger. And in a pinch, they're always the guy fighting the rear-guard action. They're always the guy willing to make sacrifices for everyone else. And they're the ones who make the hard choices and live with the consequences.The biggest problem with leader-types in games is what I like to call "D&D Paladin" syndrome. By contrast to most leaders, most D&D Paladins are annoying. They're more about talking than doing. They're likely to execute suicidal frontal assaults that get everyone else killed. A well-played paladin is the opposite. He'd be humble, modest, and inspiring. Like Captain America at his best, he's the kind of guy that makes you want to follow him into a seemingly hopeless battle, and convinces you it isn't hopeless. And then somehow he goes about making that true. It helps if you're a smart tactician, because then you can offer good suggestions in combat.And when the situation seems hopeless, you ask someone else to do just what they can do, while you take it on yourself to do the impossible.As a result of this tendency to risk themselves, properly played leaders often have short life-expectancies. Unless the characters with them back them up. Firefly is a great example of this kinda thing in action. Mal has no problem dying for his crew..."'course that ain't exactly plan A." And they just won't let him do it. You want to be a non-annoying leader? Just be a noble self-sacrificing SOB. Assuming it doesn't get you killed, everything else will fall into place.</blockquote>

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