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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6088398" data-attributes="member: 42582">The only candidate I know is "captain" - which is the word that Tolkien uses to describe that sort of character in LotR.I'm not 100% sure what I'm supposed to be Manichean about.I've never played an RPG where "some dude can scream HPs back at you" - though I have played more than one where hit point loss can measure declining morale and energy, and in one of those systems the well-timed words of a battle leader can reinvigorate and restore courage. (Tolkien, and romantic fantasy more generally, is my background model for this. I wouldn't expect to find such a mechanic in a game whose underlying feel was cynical - like The Dying Earth - or "magic as technology" - like some contemporary fantasy.)I also agree with [MENTION=11821]Obryn[/MENTION] that the presence or absence of a mechanic can shed light on a game's "ethos" and the sorts of play and fiction it will support. I prefer to play a game that will support the sort of fiction I prefer, via the mechanical resolution that I enjoy.Consider Burning Wheel, for instance. Despite its generally gritty tone, it has PC (and NPC) morale as an important factor in combat resolution (via the Steel stat), has a Command skill that boosts Steel, and has second-wind type actions for shrugging off wound penalties. So in BW there are moments, in play, in which morale, and resolution, and the support of a battle captain, shape how things unfold.That is definitely something that appeals to me in a fantasy RPG.</blockquote>

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