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I'm trying to figure out how many levels of BaH to take for a PFS build and I think it's going to be determined by how many different Inspiring Commands are worth taking. Here's my take:
Battle Magic*: Only useful if you find yourself facing a battle that may be decided by proper use of a debilitating spell against resistant creatures. Only affects one ally so you will need to be paired up with a caster whose powers you understand.
Inspire Hardiness: This is a big part of the survivability of a barbarian and the BaH can match their DR up until later levels. A good choice.
Inspired Tactics: Very situational and not terribly useful. Better with someone who uses many combat maneuvers to great effect, or has a large crit range.
Keep Your Heads: Concentration check bonuses for everyone, but more importantly a bonus to Will saves. A useful later choice for when you're fighting baddies who can mess up the whole party with Will save spells.
None Shall Fall*: Very slow healing, but it could make the difference in a long battle. The bit about poison saves seems mostly useless.
Pincer Maneuver: A bonus to attack and damage can be had with Inspire Courage. Depending on how many levels of bard you took before BaH, you may find that this provides a better bonus than Inspire Courage, but it will catch up again. Probably not worth it.
Rally: This is another useful one for getting around fear. However, I imagine most BaH's will be Arcane Duelists and Rallying Cry will work better if you optimize your intimidate. On the other hand, your bardic performance will probably take a standard action, while Inspiring Command moves quickly from a move action to a swift and later immediate action.
Reveille: Too situational. If it was any fatigue, it might work if you party up with a barbarian, but since it says saves, it won't work.
Scatter*: You're planning on running away? Maybe in the right build, or in a fight against lots of archers.
Shake It Off*: Can pull your BDF out of a confusion. Good to have.
Sound the Charge: Strictly better than Pincer Maneuver, but still probably not worth taking.
Sound the Retreat: DM likes archers and spell hurlers? Maybe...no, not worth it.
Stand Firm: Only good if you know you're going to face save or die.
Teamwork: If your DM throws really hard to hit monsters at you, it may help, but you should be better off without having to attack to aid. Tough skill challenges may make it worth it in the right campaign.
Tuck and Roll: Just take the fireball and respond in kind.
So in summation:
Good - Inspire Hardiness, Rally, Shake it Off
Ok - Stand Firm, None Shall Fall, Keep Your Heads, Battle Magic
Not worth it - The rest...
Please disagree; this is a discussion.
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I too have been working on a PFS Battle Herald. The eventual goal is to go Cavalier 6 / Arcane Duelist 2 / Battle Herald 4. Perfect? No, but with only twelve levels to work with and the desire to have two levels of bard for the bonuses, it's a fair trade-off.
Here are my feelings
Battle Magic*:
I rate this one significantly higher than you do. The bonus on concentration checks is nice, but it's the bonus on caster level checks that really make this ability useful. Eventually Spell Resistance becomes a problem, as does trying to make a caster level check to remove disease, poison, etc or to dispel magic. Any source of bonuses to caster levels are pretty rare and can be quite powerful (at a bonus of two you've increased the odds of a check succeeding by 10%). Maybe not useful to the selfish battle herald, but your wizard will love you.
Inspire Hardiness:
Useful, but with a caveat. I'm not sold that the four points of DR this provides will be earth-shaking in terms of its impact. Additionally, nowhere does it say that this stacks with any other DR, which is unfortunate. A good choice, but I don't think it's a spectacular choice. I would put it off until later though if you're eying it.
Inspired Tactics:
This one can range from semi-useful to tremendously useful. Maybe the bonus on the critical hits will eventually be outshined by the BAB bonuses of most classes, but the bonus to the CMB can be absolutely fantastic if your group has anybody who is a CMB fighting type The improved AC vs. AOOs is just icing on the cake and allows everybody to be a little bit more mobile around the battlefield or more importantly, it allows builds that are not based on using combat maneuvers to actually use them (with both the bonus to have it hit, and a bonus to the AOO that they'll take when they attempt one).
Keep Your Heads:
A bonus on Will saves (typically the weakest save for battle heralds themselves and the fighter types) is pretty significant. I agree, easily one of the best.
None Shall Fall*:
I really don't like this one. The fact that it's a non-scaling heal doing only 1d6 every time and it only hits a number of targets equal to your bonus means it never will be hitting for that much. You're better off using your actions for other inspirations or abilities (I'd argue even using a wand would be a better action).
Pincer Maneuver:
IMHO the worst of the bunch. Likely, because the levels stack for bard song, your inspire courage will be at about the same bonus as the bonus you would get, but only on a flank. Add to that that your inspire can be used for bardic music, and the two cannot stack, and I can't imagine an instance where I wouldn't rather have Inspire Courage on providing a bonus each round vs. an ability that's only activating on a flank. The small AOO bonus to AC is nice, but really, this one seems to be the worst of the bunch.
Rally:
Maybe its my home games, but fear isn't that prevalent of an effect. Getting extra saves each round (if you restart the command every round) is handy, but I don't think it's that handy. I agree that most Battle Heralds will be Arcane Duelists and this power will be redundant as well. Situational and better than some, but not stellar.
Reveille:
Far, far too situational unless you're running a massive overland campaign with lots of forced marches. Sure there are couple of spells as well that it can help remove, but frankly this one is far too situational.
Scatter*:
I really like this one. Wind Stance works at any point when you move more than 10'. If you have any distance to close to the enemy, or a group of players who try to maneuver to a more effective position in combat, that small amount of movement can be handy. It also protects against ray spells or any ranged touch attacks.
Shake It Off*:
Wow, this one is stellar. The ability to shake off confusions, paralyzing effects, or any of the rest of horrible save or suck spell effects is pretty significant. A keeper for sure.
Sound the Charge:
Another reason I don't get Pincer Maneuver. A bonus on flank and a small AC bonus...or a bonus on all attacks and greater movement speeds on charge. I know which one I'd do. I feel it's better than Inspiring Courage as long as the bonuses are equal as well. A pretty solid power.
Sound the Retreat:
I would see this far more useful in situations where you need to close a distance and double move more than I would see it useful in a retreat. Let's be honest though, most players rarely retreat (especially in Society play) so its use is significantly reduced for that reason alone.
Stand Firm:
I think Stand Firm is another of the top-notch abilities. To a lot of classes, the CMD is really their Achilles heel. Any kind of bonus on the ability to resist a grapple in particular are welcome in my groups. I've seen heavily armored fighters with low AC struggle at times against the CMB of their opponents, and we know how vulnerable the spell casters are. I'd seriously consider this one. I consider the fort save just icing on the cake.
Teamwork:
Potentially useful but still situational. In the right campaign with the right GM this could be extraordinary useful, but honestly the in-combat use of aid other is severely lacking in most games. I want to like this one more than I do.
Tuck and Roll:
Like the will and fort save abilities, I like this one as well. I've seen plenty of times where the fighter types have trouble against abilities that require reflex saves. Again, the bonus to acrobatics (and the ability to tumble through threatened spaces better) is just icing on the cake.
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That's a hard question.
I think some are particularly good (like Shake it off and even Stand Firm) and solid for any build. However, my decisions would be influenced by both the flavor of the commander I was aiming for, and the makeup of the group.
I would seriously consider something like Battle Magic to a pretty high priority in a mage heavy group, and in a fighter type group things like Keep Your Heads and Sound the Charge are pretty important.
I think for a "general" build such as in PFS where I'm limited in both level and in the knowledge of who I'm playing with I would pick the following:
- Shake if Off: I don't see how any Battle Herald wouldn't want this one. It's a nice catch-all, near dispel magic ability that allows you to attempt to "cure" a lot of negative status effects and still act (as your inspirational abilities are at most move actions).
- Stand Firm: It's pretty much guaranteed that your non-full-BAB classes will have lower CMDs. Nothing stinks worse than getting grappled and then constricted (or worse) every round. I still keep grease at high levels not for the trip attack but for the +10 on CMD to resist grapple. The bonus to fortitude adds additional protection against poisons, which is a pretty common effect or creature ability.
- Keep Your Heads: As I mentioned before, a lot of the save or suck spells are WIL based. Any kind of additional resistance will be welcomed by nearly everybody in the group.
After that things start getting situational based on group make-up and it's hard to answer without seeing who I'm playing with.
Dot for later.
(Even though it's a necro, I'm guessing responses will be forthcoming...)
Battle Magic: Maybe, if it affected every ally, I'd consider taking it just in case we faced a high SR foe, but, yeah, no way in its current form.
Inspire Hardness: Worthless. 1-4 DR? Level 1 characters routinely land 16+ damage hits (18 Str, Power Attack, Greatsword = 2d6+9), so reducing 4 damage a hit when I am in my teens is a joke.
Inspired Tactics: This is insulting
Keep Your Heads: Eh. It's ok. Will saves are important. However, Inspire Courage is still better.
None Shall Fall: Horrible garbage
Pincer Maneuver: Why? Inspire Courage is better. Giving access to Inspire Courage has pretty much invalidated most of these commands.
Rally: Inspire Courage gives a bonus to saves vs. fear--just use that. Or take Battlecry. Junk.
Reveille: Could you have a more niche ability? I can't imagine this coming up.
Scatter: Nobody takes Wind Stance as a feat because it is terrible. Why would I waste a command on it?
Shake it Off: Holy crap, this is the only command worth having. It's practically the only reason this class exists. Damn, I wish Bards could get this without wasting 2 levels on Cavalier and Battle Herald.
Sound the Charge: Oh, so you mean, Inspire Courage without the save bonus?
Sound the Retreat: Ooh, if I take a worthless command, I can get this, even more worthless command?! Hooray.
Stand Firm: Eh, Fort saves are ok. I guess. I'd still rather have Inspire Courage.
Teamwork: Actually, this is secretly a gem. The beginning ability is stupid--nobody needs a bonus to hit a 10. But the second half is kind of awesome. Combat Advice, Swift Aid, and Bodyguard make aiding another pretty accessible, and the bonuses can end up pretty impressive with this ability.
Tuck and Roll: Reflex is the least powerful save, so, I mean, adding to a save is ok, but this is the weakest one to add to.
Overall, I think this class is pretty bad. I could imagine a Halfling Order of the Dragon making a nice build out of the Teamwork Command, but, you're basically wasting a level on Bard, then. Meanwhile, if you want to actually buff people with Inspire Courage and stuff, you're wasting a level on Cavalier.
I don't know, if you have to be a Battle Herald, I would take Shake it Off, Teamwork if you prepared for it, and otherwise, just grab the save buffs just in case, because 90% of the time, you'll be using Inspire Courage instead anyway.
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Teamwork looks like it would be really nice on an order of the dragon cavalier with the honor guard archetype. (Or just a battle herald with the bodyguard feat--and swift aid if you have the Int). If anyone else has similar abilities, it would become amazing. For a PFS battle herald or other battle herald who does not have a predictable party, that seems like a very solid general use inspiring command.
That leads to another way of considering inspiring commands. A lot of the good inspiring commands are highly situational.
Shake it off, for example, is something you are only likely to keep up for one round. Tuck and Roll, Stand Firm, and Keep Your Heads are likewise situationally useful. They're not things you will generally open a combat with, but you'll start them up if you recognize foes that cause reflex saves, fort saves/use combat maneuvers (especially grab), or cause will saves. Battle Magic is the same way. If you have it, you'll use it when you see enemies with SR; in other battles it will stay in the bag.
But what do you do in situations where there is no obvious save coming up and no-one has been effected by something they need to shake off? One answer is Inspire Courage. That's one option, but since you're committing your move action, what do you want to do with the rest of your actions? If the enemy hasn't moved up to engage you and you don't have a ranged weapon (and you probably don't unless you're an archer), you can't attack. If you took the bard 4 entry route, you could issue a challenge and cast bladed dash to move + attack and keep moving, but most people seem to prefer a cavalier heavy entry (or Exemplar/Sensei/Evangelist (the evangelist could cast bless)). Most Battle Heralds will be able to use tactician, but that's only 1/day and after level 5, it's a swift action.
But if you have lingering performance (or complex commands at level 10), you and a generally applicable inspiring command, you can specially if you have lingering performance, you can use inspire courage as well as a generally useful inspiring command to superbuff your group.
Inspire Hardness, and Teamwork seem like the leading contenders for that role. (Inspired Tactics would be as well with one or two combat maneuver users in the group). All of those abilities have a general benefit that can help in most combats. That would enable a buff of both bardic performance inspire courage (standard, move, or swift depending upon level but probably move), inspiring command (cease concentration on inspire courage but have the bonus hang around due to lingering performance--move action). At level 5+, the inspiring command becomes a swift action and you can use tactician with your last action to give your allies a teamwork feat as well.