From my cursory reading, it seems like the intention behind the Banner is that a given Commander will only be using one at a time. He trains with his squadmates using one specific banner during prep time, and then in actual combat, that banner is what all of his abilities key off of.
But are you actually limited to one? What's stopping you from making four or five of the things and strapping one to your back? Putting another one on your shield? And another on your sword? And another on a pole specifically for planting in the ground? And another on your horse?
I guess I'm wondering if there needs to be language specifying what happens if you use more than one. OR, language specifying why only one banner is THE banner in use at a time, even if you have others ready to go.
This is a very good point. Especially with something like plant banner.
"Oh no, the enemy took my banner, let me just pull a new one from my Spacious Pouch and we're good to go."
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Having explicit rules language about only having one Banner would be good.
I am thinking something like how a Thaumaturge can only have one of their Implements - such as a Regalia Implement. Sure, you could have more items that could qualify as a Regalia Implement, but if you lose the one that is actually your Implement at the moment, it takes you a day of downtime to switch a new item to being your Implement.
I think this is something being intentionally left vague, minimally for the playtest.
If you can only have one banner and you plant it, it can be taken with an uncontested interaction action by an enemy, and easily destroyed. That is a massive setback to a commander who might have almost nothing to do without a banner. And any time you have a banner taken or destroyed, you’re whole party gains frightened 1, which makes taking planted banners easy and automatic debuffing. That is a pretty heavy incentive against having too many and being careless with them.
They probably want to see if players try to exploit having more than 1 or not in the playtest.
I think the destroyed/taken leads to potential metagaming questions. Are enemies going to be making Warfare Lore checks to recognize that they can benefit from snatching it?
I don't think it's a great leap to think that the thing the Commander is waving around and placing prominently is an important item even if they don't know it's exact effect.
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Reminds me of the discussion about whether the hissing cat on the battlefield (Resentment Witch's familiar) is appropriate for enemies to attack or not.
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For humanoid enemies stealing enemy standards for glory/demoralization purposes is an ancient practice. If you're up against a group I see one of the scrubs taking the action. But against a boss I don't know that it's a good use of an action very often, and of course the whole concept should be alien to most nonhumnoids or those not trained in Society.
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Having explicit rules language about only having one Banner would be good.
I disagree.
A fighter might be disarmed and have their weapon taken, so they will pull out a backup.
Why wouldn't the commander be allowed to do the same?
Having explicit rules language about only having one Banner would be good.I disagree.
A fighter might be disarmed and have their weapon taken, so they will pull out a backup.
Why wouldn't the commander be allowed to do the same?
That is one class.
Now compare it to some others. I recommend Witch (familiar) and Thaumaturge (implement) be included. Probably also Druid/Ranger (animal companion).
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Having explicit rules language about only having one Banner would be good.I disagree.
A fighter might be disarmed and have their weapon taken, so they will pull out a backup.
Why wouldn't the commander be allowed to do the same?
That is one class.
Now compare it to some others. I recommend Witch (familiar) and Thaumaturge (implement) be included. Probably also Druid/Ranger (animal companion).
Witch can still cast without a familiar.
Thaumaturge can still find weakness without an implementat.Animal companions can take multiple hits.
But a commander who took all the Banner options could be stuck.
Witch can still cast without a familiar.
Thaumaturge can still find weakness without an implementat.
Animal companions can take multiple hits.But a commander who took all the Banner options could be stuck.
And you are actually serious about this? This is your argument?
That a Commander's Banner should be treated as replaceable as a Fighter's weapon rather than something unique like a Thaumaturge's Implement, a Witch's Familiar, a Druid's Companion, a Wizard's Spellbook, ...
And that if a Commander is separated from their special thing that they are going to be more hampered in their abilities than a Thaumaturge, Witch, Druid, Wizard, ...
Witch can still cast without a familiar.
Thaumaturge can still find weakness without an implementat.
Animal companions can take multiple hits.But a commander who took all the Banner options could be stuck.
And you are actually serious about this? This is your argument?
That a Commander's Banner should be treated as replaceable as a Fighter's weapon rather than something unique like a Thaumaturge's Implement, a Witch's Familiar, a Druid's Companion, a Wizard's Spellbook, ...
And that if a Commander is separated from their special thing that they are going to be more hampered in their abilities than a Thaumaturge, Witch, Druid, Wizard, ...
There is already a penalty for them being separated.
And it makes plenty of narrative sense to carry an extra as well. It's not a magic banner that you need to attuned to.
Though there would be a Bulk reason on how many you could carry.
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I would have said that choosing what is your banner as part of your daily preparations would have made the most sense, but Unicore's point about a destroyed banner making the Commander potentially useless for the rest of the day is a good point. So maybe 10 minutes to make make a replacement while everyone is refocusing/medicine checking? To me that feels like a decent balance between barely an inconvenience and devasting if your flag is destroyed. Maybe even reduce it to a 3-cost action if your really worried about it making the Commander useless.
Personally, I'd start with the 10 minute replacement period at low levels, so losing a banner hampers for the rest of that fight, but doesn't hamper you for the rest of the day. Then, as you get higher level (with potentially more class feats depending on the banner), I'd introduce an option to replace the banner more quickly (getting rid of the morale penalty and letting you go back to using the rest of your banner feats).
Maybe include some kind of check to deceive your allies that that rag the enemy stole was never the true banner and you, clever commander that you are, secured the real one the whole time!