This is more the mechanical side of it, since I can role play a good leader easily. And I'm not looking for someone that tries to steal the show. In my mind, a good leader knows how to inspire their followers and team members to greater things and supports them in what they lack. I have ideas of a good magical leader, cybered up leader, adept leader. But what skills should go into making them a good leader?

Also, what does the Leadership skill do, anyways? Is it useful for support in firefights and tactics, or maybe infiltration?

If you're talking about a good leader within the context of the Leadership skill, the strictly it's pretty much just a high leadership skill combined with a high charisma plus a tacking on of whatever bonuses to the check you can obtain. However, you will want skills that support your leadership which will vary based on what your character does. It could be knowledge skills. It could be artisan. It could be combat skills for a military officer. You probably will want to be above competent in skills related to what type of leader you want to be.



Out of SR4a it's mostly just a method to get people to go along with what you want them to do. Con attempts to get people to do what you want by deceiving them. Negotiation gets people to do what you want by brokering a deal that is amiable to both sides. Intimidation gets people to do what you want through fear. Leadership does it by using the sheer force of your presence.

At least in my opinion, I feel that Leadership > Negotiation > Con > Intimidation as far as how strong your influence is going to be.

I know War! has usages of the Leadership skill beyond getting people to do what you want them to do.

Ah, yes, the mastermind. A good tacnet and drones, that's what you need. Situational awareness and easy communication.

May I suggest considering the use of a Technomancer for this purpose? I built a bad-guy with this assumption in mind. You likely won't be a good hacker, but that's what sprites are for anyway.

despite the rest of the book, the War! rules for leadership are great. You can motivate underlings so they can better suceed at composre test, you can direct your team's fire to a specific target for dice bonus, you can inspire them for initiative bonus, etc...
the nice thing is, you don't need ridiculous pornomancer dice pools for these things.
I suggest some group grunt connections, which you can hire and/or ask for help. So you have more people to command.

A leader needs to be respected by the team. Therefore he needs to know what everybody is capable of and needs an average understanding of all their skills. So I guess, you should have a very broad skill set, but don't need to excel at anything particular. You will motivate your team members to do the job and stand in 2nd line for assisting and directing.
See Hannibal Smith. He's neither the techie, nor the face, nor the gunner (they all shoot equally bad, although he sometimes likes to man the big guns). He's the one telling people what to do and will then do the same.
Same for Nate Ford from Leverage. He's a decent con, but mainly he tells everybody what to do, because he knows exactly, what they can do. Well, he doesn't understand Hardison's hacking, but he knows, what Hardison can do with it. That's why they trust him.

Edit: The Gryphon Mentor Spirit is obviously awesome. You basically summon and command/lead even more team members with your spirits.

Off the top of my head, the first thing that comes to mind is a decent rating TacSoft. That would let you coordinate on an almost meta-gaming level (because a lot of that info would now be at your disposal IC) as well as adding a Tactical bonus to all applicable rolls.

I was trying to brainstorm other things, but could you go into a little more detail / some examples of what "leadership" means to you?

My best guess from what you've written so far is contributing to your team's performance indirectly (by augmenting their actions rather than taking actions of your own). In which case something that gave you extra free actions (like the adept multi-tasking power --SM p179) would let you spend more time communicating during the fight (probably also want the sub-vocal mic or trodes, then). Counterspelling comes to mind. Lot's of support magic (improve reflexes spell, improve attribute, conceal/movement spirit powers). Stick-n-shock ammo would drop a -2 on enemies rather than dealing a bunch of damage (like say high ex ammo). Same with spells like orgy. All of that, though, assumes "leader" means support.

Rigger with more super-spy type drones than combat-drones could help support a TacNet, providing indirect line of sight. High perception skill lets you know more of what's going on. Good contacts do the same in a social sense (maybe high connection data broker / spy).

Edit: I see you specifically asked for skills. Counterspelling seems like the main "support, not steal the show" one to me. First aid for after the conflict. Infiltration doesn't directly contribute, but helps you stay out of the limelight.

I also like to choose my skills after some of my teammates to directly supplement what they're bringing to the table.

I thought I'd check out the Leader role in RC and found "... a number of books have been written over many centuries about the specifics of this undertaking, and so they will not be detailed here."



In my youth I partook in a WWII RP and jumped at the chance to play the CO, having often felt overshadowed by the older and more experienced players and holding the naive belief that more power equates to more fun. Halfway through the game I whined to the GM about my subordinates having more effective firearms, in response to which he clarified that my role wasn't to do things but to have others do things.

So it will depend a little on your group's concept of Shadowrunners (in general or just the current team). If a team's leader is so appointed because he is good at leading you should avoid spending many points in the more physical and proactive skills such as those for combat. Look to skills that will benefit the team as a whole, such as Perception and Navigation. You might, on the other hand, run in the kind of shadows where the only way to become a leader is to 'rise through the ranks' and earn respect through leading by example, in which case you should aim more towards a physically and/or socially dominating character who has the dice pools to happily be the first jumping headlong into trouble every time.

On a related note, remember to bear Street Cred and Notoriety in mind. Though Street Cred is largely beyond your control Notoriety is affected by certain quality choices. If as a leader you intend to use Intimidation a lot then you want a higher Notoriety (achievable, bizarrely, through things like Incompetent and Combat Paralysis). If, however, you intend to use Leadership and Negotiaton more often then you can boost your DP with a negative Notoriety (as this turns into a positive modifier to Street Cred) achievable only from Blandness, First Impression, Lucky or by burning Street Cred, though that last option is only really beneficial for reducing Public Awareness and the justification for the GM to send the cops round to your gaff every other downtime.

Has anyone come up with or found a list of qualities from books other than the BBB that have a bearing on Notoriety?