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[Abnormal Ape]

Hi, I'm looking for opinions re: (mercenary) leader skills. I want the number of them to stay fairly low, around 5.
Those are skills that are not used directly in combat, i.e. you can assume the leader doesn't actually fight with their troops (that coward), the skills revolve around what happens before, after and besides combat. They are also separate from traits like morality, loyalty, cruelty and so on.

First draft was:

Charisma: negotiations, recruitment
Tactics: faster, better plans
Leadership: troop morale, troop training

The obvious problem with the above is that Leadership and Charisma are very similar and overlapping. I guess I could draw them out further and separate it into

Tactics
Training
Charisma (for loyalty and luring in fresh blood)
Negotiations

but it's not very realistic to have someone with high charisma but low negotiation skills. I'm sure someone here can come up with a better ~5 skills

[IMP1]

You can get very aggressive negotiators that might be effective, but not at all considered charismatic.

[Wilson Saunders]

Leadership and Charisma can be two completely different things. Charisma is how strangers perceive you and Leadership is how your minions perceive you.

A high Charisma low Leadership character would be great at negotiating contracts to get the most money per job and the lowest cost for weapons, but his men think he is a bit of a tool and hesitate when he gives orders and second guess him when he gives advice. Example: Any of the last 3 presidents the US has had.

A low Charisma high Leadership character doesn't get the best deals when working with clients and vendors, but his men would do anything for him and accept his wisdom as if it came from god. Example: Andrew Jackson

see video:
http://www.cracked.com/video_18463_andrew-jackson-most-terrifying-man-ever-elected-president.html

[Tobers]

I'm just gonna rattle off a list, some may overlap of course.

Intrigue - spying, stealth/sneaking, assassination/B&E
Economy - money/trade/negotiation
Pillaging - looting bonuses
Leadership - military unit combat bonuses
Charisma - recruiting/morale
Engineering - repairs/equipment upgrades/maintenance/siege weapon bonuses
Tracking - bounty hunting/treasure finding/better sight range

Hope that helps!

[starsrift]

Unless it's not an issue for your game, the biggest skill for generals throughout history has been the travel speed of their army. Even battlefield tactics takes second place to the importance of being able to get to the battlefield of your choice and have the time to tilt things further in your favor.

[Abnormal Ape]

I'm just gonna rattle off a list, some may overlap of course.

Intrigue - spying, stealth/sneaking, assassination/B&E
Economy - money/trade/negotiation
Pillaging - looting bonuses
Leadership - military unit combat bonuses
Charisma - recruiting/morale
Engineering - repairs/equipment upgrades/maintenance/siege weapon bonuses
Tracking - bounty hunting/treasure finding/better sight range

Hope that helps!

Thanks everyone and especially Toby, that's exactly what I was looking for. Some things don't make sense in the context of my game but you really helped me diversify from my original idea (especially with engineering and intrigue, which would have been covered under leadership and charisma, respectively).