The Leader Character

[Drizheim]

I'd like to get peoples opinions their idea of a leader character. Emphasis on CHARACTER. I know being a leader at the table usually translated to being the leader of the group from personal experience, but let's ignore that for a minute and talk about a leader character.

The obvious choices, in my opinion, are bard, cavalier, and paladin. These are classes that all provide support, bonuses, and some sort of team synergy to the entire party. Really, their leadership styles are quite different, but it could be argued Bard is the most... cunning leader. While you could play a Order of the Cockatrice Cavalier and be the "do whatever it takes to fulfill my ambition," the bard can do many things through guile and trickery that a cavalier cannot while inspiring his followers to great feats.

So the question I've kind of been walking around is what are the options on being a leader in character? Paladin, Bard, Cavalier, and pick your preferred Archetype/prestige class off of them?

I'd be really happy to hear builds based on 1st to 13th level, assume one feat is spent on leadership, with the scores (rolled by me with my DM using 4d6 system):

17, 18, 13, 14, 14, 16.

And if you really can't get away from the leader at the table thing, I'm asking because I've kind of assumed that role in my group since I have the most experience, so I was just wanting to think of ways to possibly just play the leader/social character.

[Ashtathlon]

Any Character can be a leader..but not any player will be a good leader.

Just focus on a character that can support others, as well as be a example for the party..and be fun to play.

I.E. just make a character you will enjoy, enhancing your fellows is great..killing the enemies is awesome, but the playing of being a party leader is not really in the mechanics of your character, more in your play.

I usually always end up being a leader type (as a Player, Former career NCO, so a lot of confusion in game makes my head hurt), but I just make what I like to run.

The most recent game has again had me fall into the role of party Pseudo leader, and I had my fighter take a few levels in Cavalier, with the teamwork feats being nice...but not game changing, most of my "leader" skills is RP.

[Corvino]

Those are pretty great rolls, and having at least 13 in your mental stats should mean that acting as a fairly smart, wise and charismatic leader is well within your character's ability. Ashtathlon is right that any class can be a leader though, but it may well be more about who your party will accept in the role. A Paladin is unlikely to accept a CN Rogue as party leader and vice versa.

If you do want to choose a class or archetype to facilitate leadership then you could consider the Tactician archetype for Fighters which nets a number of benefits for allies and makes use of a decent Int modifier.

[Deadmanwalking]

Yeah, roleplaying has much more to do with it than stats. Heck, even based on stats any character with good Diplomacy can manage it...and that's a pretty broad spectrum of characters.

Bard, Paladin, and Cavalier are certainly all good classes, but it's as easy to have a Cleric as the party leader with the Paladin his good right arm and the Bard his herald. Or however else you want to do it.

So, which Class you should play really depends on what other characters the group has, and which you think will be most fun. I'd probably go Bard unless the party really needed a melee frontliner*, in which case I'd go with one of the other two...but that says more about my love of Bards than anything else.

*Note: I'm not saying a Bard can't melee...but being the only guy in melee is a pretty bad place for a Bard to be, especially since (barring a bunch of archers in the party) you won't be getting the most out of Inspire Courage.

[Rub-Eta]

The only thing you need is the other players confirmation. You having more Pathfinder or TTRPG means nothing in terms of roleplaying a leader. It could, infact, make the game more boring. And it's a terrible idea to try to boss around with the other players. Make sure you're not doing that. Never pull the "I am your leader".

To not make it confusing, think of it as "initiative organizer" or "party adviser" instead of leader. The group only needs someone who engages the rest of the players in the plot and do the talking when nobody else cares to take initative them selves. Be the party-face with the respect from the rest and not the scapegoat of awkward situations.

As for what class: Any that makes use of CHA would synergize well with the need of CHA a leader needs. You should also be able to stand your own ground. And no "You're doing it wrong", making Paladin hard if you're going to have CN characters in the party.

I'd say: Paladin if you're able, Oracle if you want spells. Cavalier if you want to fight with CHA and Bard if you can do an out of the ordinary one.

[Corvino]

Also, consider what you mean by "leader". The party face and leader can be entirely different people - think Hannibal and Face from the A-team. Some leaders are the charismatic ones who lead by force of personality (Bards and Paladins), some are strategists or manipulators who sit at the back and direct others to do the grunt work.

I'll second Rub-Eta's advice to have party consent before declaring yourself leader. If they want someone to take charge then fine, but you run the risk of mutiny if you don't take into account their concerns and motivations as well as your own.