Inspiring Leader 5e

Published on July 21, 2023

Boost your party’s morale and hit points like a true leader with the Inspiring Leader feat in D&D 5e!

Stephen Stark - Wizards of the Coast - Inspiring Leader

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What Is Inspiring Leader 5e?

If your character is the charismatic type, always ready with a rousing speech to boost the morale of your party, then the Inspiring Leader feat is for you. This feat allows you to inspire your companions, bolstering their resolve and granting them temporary hit points. So, ready your voice, it’s time to inspire!

How Does Inspiring Leader Work?

The Inspiring Leader feat allows your character to inspire others through a powerful speech. This feat allows you to spend 10 minutes inspiring your companions, shoring up their resolve to fight. The number of temporary hit points granted equals your level + your Charisma modifier. This feat is a fantastic way to provide a buffer of hit points for your party before a big fight.

Is Inspiring Leader Good?

In our 5e Feats Tier List, Inspiring Leader was given a B Tier rating, making it a niche feat that can improve some builds in D&D 5e.

There are plenty of ways to get temp hit points, but this is free and can be repeated every short or long rest. The fact that it takes into account your level plus Charisma modifier means that this feat will scale quite well as you level up. Even if you took this feat at 1st level and had a +4 to Charisma after character creation, this would still dish our 5 temp hit points to each party member plus you. If you have four party members, that’s 20 hit points, which is more than a 2nd-level aid can provide.

Which 5e Classes Make the Most of Inspiring Leader?

The color code below has been implemented to help you identify, at a glance, how good the Inspiring Leader 5e feat is for a specific class/subclass.

Red isn’t going to contribute to the effectiveness of your character build at all
Orange Situationally good, but a below-average option otherwise
Green is a good option
Blue is a great option, you should strongly consider this option for your character
Sky Blue is an amazing option. If you do not take this option your character would not be optimized

Artificer: Artificers don't normally stack into Charisma, so this is a skip.

Barbarian: Barbarians don't normally stack into Charisma, so this is a skip. Hopefully you have a bard in your party who can inspire you, cause those temp hit points will go nice with Rage.

Bard: Your high CHA modifier will certainly make this viable if you are able to get the time before a fight.

Cleric: Not a great option for most clerics, as they typically don't invest in high Charisma scores.

Druid: Not a great option for most druids, as they typically don't invest in high Charisma scores.

Fighter: Certain fighter subclasses, like the Battle Master and Purple Dragon Knight, tend to stack into Charisma. But likely, it will be a tertiary priority behind Strength and Constitution.

Monk: Monks are MAD enough already without having to invest in Charisma. This is a skip.

Paladin: Perfect mechanically and flavor-wise for Charisma-focused paladins.

Ranger: Rangers don't normally invest in Charisma, so this is a skip.

Rogue: Rogues are pretty SAD and are good party faces, meaning they can benefit from a decent Charisma modifier. Plus, they're normally lacking hit points in combat, so this is decent a way to boost your own and your party's hit points.

Sorcerer: As a sorcerer, you’ll have plenty of CHA to go around. Consider this after you’ve maxed your CHA for some extra party support.

Warlock: As a warlock, you’ll have plenty of CHA to go around. Consider this after you’ve maxed your CHA for some extra party support.

Wizard: Wizards don't normally stack into Charisma, so this is a skip.

Mike Bernier

Mike Bernier is the lead content writer and founder of Arcane Eye. He is a Adamantine best-selling author of Strixhaven: A Syllabus of Sorcery on DMs Guild and is a contributing author at D&D Beyond. Follow Mike on Twitter.