The aura in a fight
Inspiring changes two combat values:
- Leadership aura +0.06. A hero’s aura starts from their Leadership (0.02 for each point above 10, capped at 0.28) and helps allies standing near them. Inspiring adds 0.06, twice what Born Mentor adds. Allies within reach hold their nerve longer as the fight turns and make fewer mistakes when hurt, because the aura is subtracted from their misjudgement chance and added to their effective courage.
- Protectiveness +0.18. The combat AI weights covering, guarding and aiding allies more. For scale, Loyal and Team Player add 0.4, Field Medic 0.42.
The game uses the strongest aura nearby rather than adding them up. Two Inspiring heroes standing together do not double the effect, and position matters: an Inspiring front-liner covers the people in the thick of it.
Standing and the leader’s seat
Guild standing decides who a party looks to as leader. Inspiring adds +7, the second-highest trait bonus after Child of the Halls (+8). An Inspiring hero is likely to end up in the leader’s seat, where two more effects apply:
- Free detours. When a leader takes a side room at a dungeon fork, the rest of the party normally loses 2 morale for the risk. With an Inspiring (or Charismatic or Stoic) leader there is no morale cost.
- The aura sits where it matters, beside the heroes the leader is directing.
Inspiring gives no lean of its own at a fork; as leader they take side rooms at the default odds.
Forming mentorships
When a bond reaches +10, the game can turn it into a mentorship between an experienced hero and a rising one. Normally the elder must be Seasoned, Veteran or Twilight and two levels above the pupil, or four levels above at any stage. An Inspiring hero, like a Born Mentor, can take a rising hero under their wing at any level gap.
Around the hall
- Compatibility +1. Inspiring is on the game’s list of easy personalities, so bonds with this hero grow more readily.
- Festivals. +3 in both the valour and the crowd disciplines, which makes an Inspiring hero a good festival all-rounder. See Crowd-Pleaser for how festival scores are built.
- Council roles. When a retiring hero joins the Council, Inspiring adds 4 toward the trainer’s post (Born Mentor adds 8).
- Flavour. On pair duty the hero speaks with the “warm” voice.
The hero card links the trait to Leadership and Teamwork. That link is descriptive and does not raise either attribute.
A worked example
Two heroes have served the same seasons, sit at the same veterancy and have similar bonds. One is Inspiring and Charismatic: +13 standing from traits. The other is Arrogant: −7. The first stands 20 points higher, and the guild will look to them to lead. At a festival the same hero would add +8 in the crowd discipline and +3 in valour.
Earning it
Inspiring can be earned. A hero who keeps a vow sworn for a people and then swears it again gains the trait, with the usual kept-vow rewards of +15 morale and +3 loyalty.
Conflicts and rarity
Inspiring can never appear with Vain.
- Rarity: rare, positive · draw weight 14 of 6,365 · about 1 recruit in 180
- Founding draft: only on the wildcard card.
- In the wiki’s archive: present in the earliest archived build, 1.9.6.
Recruiting
A strong positive. It is worth most on a hero you want to lead parties, especially a front-liner whose aura reaches allies in the thick of the fight.