So I have this idea for a Battle Herald character that uses the Exemplar Brawler to qualify into it. The build would be Cavalier 1, then Exemplar 6, then Battle Herald the rest of the way. (Cavalier would be Standard Bearer to get the Banner ability at 1st level instead of a Mount, and would be the Order of the Dragon).
The idea is to use Exemplar instead of Bard (or another class that gets inspire courage) so as to keep the full BAB, and also to be able to grant teamwork feats to the party by way of Martial Flexibility. Thus, allowing him to take any teamwork feat he qualifies for on the fly and then grant that feat to the party.
My question is how do the various class abilities stack with the Battle Herald abilities.
In particular, the Tactician ability of the Cavalier, the Field Instruction ability of the Exemplar, and the Battle Herald's Voice of Authority ability.
Voice of Authority simply states "The battle herald’s levels stack with cavalier levels for the purpose of the cavalier's tactician ability." So clearly this increases the Cavalier's Tactician ability.
Field Instruction states "This ability otherwise counts as the cavalier's tactician class feature; feats and other effects which affect tactician (such as Practiced Tactician) apply to it." So for that I'm not entirely sure that Voice of Authority would advance it, but I'm of the opinion that it does.
However, Tactician and Field Instruction operate slightly differently. Tactician only permits granting the teamwork feat gained through the ability. Field Instruction permits granting any teamwork feat the character knows or has gained through Martial Flexibility. I'm inclined to think these are different abilities from each other due to this fact and would not stack together, but the language in Field Instruction suggest that they might.
So that leaves three possibilities in how these abilities stack:
1) All stack. Tactician and Field Instruction stack as far as determining the duration and number of times they can be used, and Voice of Authority advances this. The broader usage of Field Instruction would take precedence, but he would be treated as an Exemplar of his level for using this ability.
2) partially stacks. Voice of Authority advances both abilities, but they are two separate abilities and must be treated separately. Thus, with a Cavalier 1/Exemplar 6/Battle Herald 5 would have the Tactician ability of a 6th level Cavalier and the Field Instruction ability of an 11th level Exemplar. The argument for this is that Field Instructions is to be treated as Tactician for all feats and effects, so Voice of Authority advances it; but Field Instruction and Tactician are two separate abilities and do not stack with each other. This would also have an effect with the Practiced Tactician feat, as it would seem that it would add an extra use to both abilities.
3) Voice of Authority doesn't stack with Field Instruction. The argument would be that since Voice of Authority only advances the Cavalier's ability, the Exemplar's Field Instruction doesn't advance, as the language under Field Instruction only applies as far as feats and effects and not class abilities. This would basically ruin the build concept.
Any input on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
2
I am in agreement with Chess Pwn. Option 2 seems the most likely reasoning. The two abilities are similar but different enough that you can not combine them into one 'pool' of uses.
Yeah thats pretty much how I have read it too. Thanks for the feedback guys.