Brother Daniel
Most support models in Moonstone generally do one or two things pretty well. Daniel instead opts to do a lot of things well!
Furthermore, Daniel supports characters irrespective of keywords so he will happily slot into any troupe with ease. There are, however, some troupes that appreciate his bonuses slightly more than others. With some careful positioning and planning, Daniel can really bring out the best in all of the characters he's playing alongside.
Brother Daniel’s card
‘Plant the Placard’
Troupes that really appreciate his buffs, in general, are the ones that like to huddle together making use of multiple auras. Daniel can therefore feel right at home with gnome, noble and cultist troupes, which generally stick together around one or two models and methodically advance up the board. To this end, Brother Daniel carries the excellent 'Plant the Placard'. In the early turns of the game, this can be used to simply move your troupe up the board. At only 2 of Daniel's energy, this is an excellent trade to grant 4" of bonus movement to your troupe (in a 5-character game). Later in the game, this can be used to pull models back into synergistic auras if they're moved out or push/pull models in/out of combat. The downside of this ability is that it leaves Daniel immobile, but if he's already jogged and used all his energy, that isn't a problem.
‘Bell Ringer’ and ‘The End is Nigh’
Alternatively, if Daniel has been given more energy, he can use 'Bell Ringer' after pulling his friends into range with his active ability. 'Bell Ringer' is a unique heal that heals all models with 4" for X Wds making it a perfect heal if surrounded by a lot of wounded friends. But this combo isn't the main reason to give Daniel some extra energy. For 4 energy Daniel can make use of 'The End is Nigh'! This allows Daniel to choose a nearby model, friend or foe, and catapult them next to another model within 3X". Furthermore, as this ability doesn't specify any targets, it is used without specifying a target before drawing. He only has to choose who is affected after the cards are played! This means this can get around high evade and hard-to-target models, like Natty, with impunity. On the other hand, he can try to find a catastrophe to play to remove himself from play...
“Oooh a blog post all about ME!”
‘Look at the Shiny Thing’
But why would Daniel want to voluntarily remove himself from play? Because models removed from play keep any Moonstones for calculating their final tally! The next question then is why does Daniel want to collect stones? Well, he can get his friends to 'Look at the Shiny Thing' if he has one. This allows him to donate an energy to a friendly model within 4" and LoS during the replenish step. Extra energy is of course always great, but with the cultists, this energy can be absolutely invaluable. With an extra energy, a lot of Leshavult cultists reach their full potential. This can, for example, lead to a 'Righteous Fury' from Loubard, a 'Hold my Beer' from Klaus, or a massive explosion of damage from Eric the Enlightened's arcane ability.
‘Slightly Maddening’
A lot of models within Leshavult can give energy to their friends though, so what's so special about Daniel’s? Timing. Leshavult cultists in general spend the first half of the turn setting up their combo then unleashing them in the second half. This can make their activation order predictable and leave their troupe susceptible to energy-sapping and other forms of disruption. Daniel however gives a level of flexibility to this as his energy is given out before anyone activates. This opens up the possibility of the cultist's huge threat models activating far earlier than normal and sometimes even being your first activation. If the opponent has the first activation this can lead to them having to deal with a massive threat far sooner than they expected. This often results in them having to activate their disruption pieces far too early and allowing the cultists to set up with no inference for the rest of the turn. Or if the cultists have the first activation, which becomes even easier with Daniels 'Slightly Maddening', a 'Righteous Fury' Loubard can activate first with the opponent never having the opportunity to disrupt him!
