[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

....then again, no matter how many assistants (including sprites or directing coaches) you have the and no matter how many hits they get the most dice that can be added to the test is equal to the leader’s rating in the applicable skill, or the highest attribute rating if the test involves two attributes (SR5 p. 49).

This is an interesting catch that I never realized before.

If you're trying to use Leadership to Direct someone (SR5 pg 142) it's specifically called out as a teamwork test.  Ergo if you're trying to use Leadership to help the Decker but you have no Hacking skill yourself, you can give him a maximum of 0 extra dice.  Makes much more sense.

[Kiirnodel]

....then again, no matter how many assistants (including sprites or directing coaches) you have the and no matter how many hits they get the most dice that can be added to the test is equal to the leader’s rating in the applicable skill, or the highest attribute rating if the test involves two attributes (SR5 p. 49).

This is an interesting catch that I never realized before.

If you're trying to use Leadership to Direct someone (SR5 pg 142) it's specifically called out as a teamwork test.  Ergo if you're trying to use Leadership to help the Decker but you have no Hacking skill yourself, you can give him a maximum of 0 extra dice.  Makes much more sense.

Actually, no. What we have here is a mix-up of terminology. In a Teamwork test, they use the terms "leader" and "assistant" when they refer to the person performing the test and the person (or people) that are helping respectively.

When you perform with the Leadership skill they actually don't use the term leader, and actually refer to the participants as "superior" and "subordinates" instead.


So technically this situation is laid out like this:
The superior uses the Leadership skill to act as an assistant to their subordinate who is the leader of the Teamwork test. The limit on the maximum number of bonus dice that can be relayed is the leader's skill rating, who in this case is the person being directed, not the person using Leadership.

EDIT: It is worth noting that the maximum number of dice is from everyone assisting on that Teamwork. Since Direct acts as Leadership, it is essentially just a way for a Face to assist Teamwork using a different skill, it doesn't actually add a whole new ability.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

...
So technically this situation is laid out like this:
The superior uses the Leadership skill to act as an assistant to their subordinate who is the leader of the Teamwork test. The limit on the maximum number of bonus dice that can be relayed is the leader's skill rating, who in this case is the person being directed, not the person using Leadership.

I'm not sure I agree. The actual quoted rules below for relevance:

Direct: Your hits act as a Teamwork Test for one subordinate’s
skill or Composure Test that they perform on
or before their next Action Phase.

Technically it actually looks more like:
The character using Leadership uses the direct subordinate action.  Rather than actually being a teamwork test involving the subordinate, the leader performs what's in effect a teamwork test all by himself and the fruit of that test is then transferred to the subordinate.

Ergo the leader is assisting himself for the "teamwork test". And if he's assisting hacking, with no skill, he gives himself 0, which is then passed on to the subordinate.

[Michael Chandra]

No, that would be when you're Teamworking yourself. But you're not giving yourself the dice bonus, you give that to the subordinate.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

No, that would be when you're Teamworking yourself. But you're not giving yourself the dice bonus, you give that to the subordinate.

Right.  And that's what happens when "your (leadership) hits act as a Teamwork test for one subordinate's skill or composure test...."

So you do a complete test.  The subordinate isn't involved.  The teamwork test is the one performing leadership all by himself.  The subordinate THEN benefits from the output of that test.

EDIT: At any rate, I'm not questioning what the intent is SUPPOSED to be.. basically as Kiirnodel said. It's probably correct that the intent is to allow Leadership to be substituted for any other skill.  I'm just questioning the pedantics of whether the rules are actually saying that.

[Overbyte]

Seems pretty clear to me:

"Direct: Your hits act as a Teamwork Test for one subordinate’s skill or Composure Test that they perform on or before their next Action Phase." SR5 p.142

So you use Leadership to make a Teamwork Test just as you would use any other skill. As has been said, Teamwork substitutes for the skill that would normally be used.

Example: You use Leadership to help with First Aid. You substitute your Leadership for First Aid. The person actually performing the First Aid is the "leader" for the skill test, and your assistance with Leadership can not exceed their Rating in First Aid as outlined in the Teamwork rules.

"The most dice that can be added to the test is equal to the leader’s rating in the applicable skill, or the highest attribute rating if the test involves two attributes." SR5 p.49

Frankly it's a bit too powerful for my tastes. You can basically double anyone's skill rating for any skill test by standing around saying "You got this!".
Seems a bit much.

[Kincaid]

Yeah, it's pretty strong, especially for non-combat situations.  On the plus side, my SRM character uses this all the time with novice players to help them succeed and feel good about their character.  "I just want you to know, we're all counting on you."