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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 993587" data-attributes="member: 1465">As a side note: I think the best is if the DM runs the cohort exactly as he would run any other normal NPC, and not let the player control the cohort as his own PC (this is left totally open by the DMG AFAIR).A player who plays 2 PCs or 1 PC and a cohort is always under the risk of metagaming between the two, it's very very difficult to be able to play them as two really independent characters.On the other hand, the DM should play a cohort as someone very loyal to his PC. Remember Sancho Panza, who followed Don Quixote in his madness <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> The player has spent a feat on Leadership exactly to be able to keep the cohort by his side: he still should not play abuse over him, but at least he should expect the cohort not to easily abandon or betray him as a hireling or "normal" NPC might.From the point of view of the character: a feat represents a talent (whether innate or developed in time), and just as Toughness is the talent to resist physical damage a little longer, or Rapid Shot the talent of loading/shooting more quickly than normal, Leadership represents the talent of influencing another character to be loyal and follow you with esteem.Rules-wise Leadership has its own mechanic, which may change as the designers feel appropriate, without changing what it represents. Eventually the chosen mechanics in 3.0 decided that the extra benefit of 50% discount over XP gone to the cohort was a balanced choice. I think it was: a cohort played by the DM could be either better or worse compared to one played by the player; as any other NPC added to the group makes an encounter easier, I think it was fair he got an XP share; as it costs a feat, requires good Charisma to be worth, and has additional "running costs", I think it was fair he didn't got the full XP share.But really, if you let the DM run the cohorts instead of the players, you avoid a lot of trivial complications. Of course, you need a very smart and prepared DM for that, that's why the feat is in the DMG and every DM who doesn't feel prepared should not allow the feat by default.</blockquote>

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