How many people in a cohort?

[Vahktang]

The leadership feat, DMG pg 106, but I'm more interested in pg 104.

Right hand column, 2nd paragraph under Cohort

[cut]

,nor limits to the number of cohorts that can be employed by a character

And pg 106, left hand column, under Benifits:
[cut]

...to attract loyal companions and devoted followers,

From dictionary.com:

co·hort
1. a group or company: She has a cohort of admirers.
2. a companion or associate.

Which seems to me to mean multiples of both.

My budy says that you get one cohort per taking of the leadership feat.
(Despite the fact that all the other feats that can be taken multiple times list what happens)

It seems to me that if the GM allows it and you want 50 people following your character around as a cohort, you can.

What say you all?

 

[Storme]

The topic you are talking about is discussing Cohorts AND followers, as well as hiring Hirelings. The feat gives you ONE cohort and X number of followers. The text makes a few syntax errors.

Taking the feat multiple times to get more than one cohort is, quite frankly, something I've never thought of before. I do know that cohorts tend to be problomatic to some (most) DMs so I would seriously run this by your DM before taking the feat twice. He may rule, as I would, that this feat, like most others, like Dodge, can't be taken multiple times. Most DMs feel that Leadership is overpowered (though I dont' agree), but double dipping it would be quite over the top.


Storme

 

[lottrbacchus]

Ack! I was confused by this at first, too. I thought leadership would be cool. But a cohort is just 1 creature. This is semi-confirmed by the use of the singular form in the description. More telling is that the same chart that gives us cohort level also gives us number of followers, who are way lower level. For example, when I can get a 9th level cohort, I can get just my first 2nd level follower (11 followers all together) indicating that the 9th level buddy is probably alone.

 

[moritheil]

This is a case where common grammar and the term as employed by DnD diverge.

Despite the fact that there is only one follower of significant levels, Leadership is still regarded by many as the most powerful feat, assuming that your DM lets you stat out and control the cohort completely.

 

[Vahktang]

This is a case where common grammar and the term as employed by DnD diverge.

And

Ack! I was confused by this at first, too. I thought leadership would be cool. But a cohort is just 1 creature.

Where precisely does it say that?
Since the word cohort means a number of people?

 

[lottrbacchus]

And

Where precisely does it say that?
Since the word cohort means a number of people?

co·hort /ˈkoʊhɔrt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[koh-hawrt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. a group or company: She has a cohort of admirers.
2. a companion or associate.

Gamers, me included, naturally think cohort as a group. Too much Ancient Rome genre gaming, I think. But it seems WotC went with definition 2 here. Why they chose a word that naturally conjures images of multiple followers, I don't know.

But I think my original reasoning on the singular holds true here. The chart for followers tells how many you get at various levels of Leadership, (and the level of follower to boot) and the same chart shows max level of cohort, which is strong enough evidence to say the cohort is singular. Bah Humbug!

 

[Set]

I believe that Heroes of Battle has an Extra Cohort feat you can take after Leadership to gain a second Cohort as well.

 

[mvincent]

My budy says that you get one cohort per taking of the leadership feat.
(Despite the fact that all the other feats that can be taken multiple times list what happens)

Cohorts can be acquired by means other than the leadership feat, and so one could theoretically still have multiple cohorts without take the same feat multiple times.

Whether a DM allows taking leadership multiple times though is a judgement call.

 

[mvincent]

Where precisely does it say that?
Since the word cohort means a number of people?

Despite the conventional use, D&D uses the term "cohort" to refer to one creature (as opposed to the "followers" granted by leadership). This can be seen in the leadership description, the Thaumaturgist's planar cohort description, and in several other descriptions regarding cohorts.

 

[lottrbacchus]

I believe that Heroes of Battle has an Extra Cohort feat you can take after Leadership to gain a second Cohort as well.

My BoH doesn't have that, or I can't find it (and it isn't in the Leader Feats chart), but you can get more followers. There is a feat where the max cohort level is 1 lower than your level, though. And taking any of the various leader feats gives a +1 leadership, so by blowing two feats you can get a second character at just 1 level below your primary character. (personally, I'd rather save the two feats and ask the DM if I could play two characters, what?)

And, regarding the point of this thread, the cohort (if you take the feat that allows the cohort to benefit from teamwork) doesn't count against the team limit of 8 characters (in the context of the book, it seems very singular), and is referred to in the singular (his/her), not plural. So leadership=1 character as a cohort for everyone, except those that argue- "if the rules don't especially say something contradicting one possible reading, and in the face of overwhelming evidence in the contrary to my argument, I want to read it my way".