All aboard the Leader-ship

[Infiniti2000]

The problem with that is that LA (part of ECL) does not rightly account for CR. What you're advocating by using ECL instead of character level is that it's okay to have a cohort and even followers that are more powerful than you. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Then again, I personally have a lot of issues with the ECL system, so don't expect me to defend this stance much more than pointing it out.

So, basically, your 6th-level azer fighter would get his ass kicked by his own 10th-level human fighter cohort.

Even more so, I hate Leadership as a feat. I allow the PC's IMC to acquire cohorts, followers, and whatnot through roleplaying and actions.

 

[Vuron]

We just use HD+ECL adjustment since, as pointed out above, ECLs should already be balanced. There's not much value in adding a leadership-specific nerf to ECL>0 races, IMO.

However it's not really a Leadership specific nerf to ECL >0 it's inherent to all character level based abilities such as when the character recieves feats and stat increases.

Based on my gut instinct I would say there would be no real problem basing leadership on ECL rather than Character Level.

 

[Vuron]

The problem with that is that LA (part of ECL) does not rightly account for CR. What you're advocating by using ECL instead of character level is that it's okay to have a cohort and even followers that are more powerful than you. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Then again, I personally have a lot of issues with the ECL system, so don't expect me to defend this stance much more than pointing it out.

So, basically, your 6th-level azer fighter would get his ass kicked by his own 10th-level human fighter cohort.

Even more so, I hate Leadership as a feat. I allow the PC's IMC to acquire cohorts, followers, and whatnot through roleplaying and actions.

Remember maximum cohort level is character level -1. That being said if a 8th level human paladin is stronger than a 6th level Half-Dragon Paladin then the Half-Dragon LA of +3 is clearly problematic.

However I concur that leadership and the ECL system in general leave a lot to be desired.

 

[IceFractal]

I always base it off ECL, because otherwise it leads to the odd situation that high-LA races can't really have followers of their own kind. For instance, say we have a 6th level knight with a 4th level squire cohort. They die and become ghosts. Now, however, the squire is apparently too powerful to be the knight's cohort, even though their relative levels haven't changed (ECL 11 and ECL 9). And if there was a living knight of the same ECL, he could have the squire as a cohort. Doesn't make any sense, does it?

Bottom line, since the cohort's LA does affect when you can have it, the player's LA should matter as well.

 

[Infiniti2000]

I always base it off ECL...

So when that azer fighter 2 and his human fighter 7 cohort get killed by a vampire, the cohort becomes a vampire while the azer becomes a vampire spawn.

Anyway, my advice is to go with what you want, but keep in mind that LA != CR and a high LA may not equate to high CR. In fact, I'd say it usually doesn't. This means that high LA PCs with leadership will have cohorts more powerful than themselves in most combats. This will cause problems in the game IMO if the game is more combat-oriented. I'd suggest that maybe you can use ECL, but then the cohort (and followers?) must choose a LA of similar proportion (possibly accounting for CR somehow).

It's complicated, to say the least. It also doesn't help that by pure RP, it's definitely possible to have a follower more powerful than yourself. The most obvious example would be a king and his champion, or archmage.

 

[Diomeneus]

and i'm still bitter about having my stonechild (LA +4 and two racial HD) duskblade build torn apart... warranted it was my own fault for not knowing two different points on ECL. a) HD are in effect, class levels on their own b) feats, skills and stats are based off character levels NOT ECL. It effectively reduced the stonechild race to complete inefficiency using any class other then fighter or barbarian. I imagine leadership would be similarly screwed (-2 cha wouldn't help either)

 

[Vuron]

and i'm still bitter about having my stonechild (LA +4 and two racial HD) duskblade build torn apart... warranted it was my own fault for not knowing two different points on ECL. a) HD are in effect, class levels on their own b) feats, skills and stats are based off character levels NOT ECL. It effectively reduced the stonechild race to complete inefficiency using any class other then fighter or barbarian. I imagine leadership would be similarly screwed (-2 cha wouldn't help either)

IMHO I've found that with a few possible exceptions making a character with >2 LA is generally suboptimal except with specific class choices.

The reduction in HD, BAB, and saves generally seem to doom most characters with >2 LA in long term games unless you allow the player to buy off the penalty for UA UA ECL rules