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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pbartender" data-source="post: 1205244" data-attributes="member: 7533">Like many topics on these boards, it comes up every now again...  A player who wants to combine a familiar with his cohort.Well, one of mine does, and I think I have a reasonable way to do it.  I did, of course, want a few second opinions before I gave him the go ahead, and that's where you all come in.On page 200 of the 3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide, it gives a suggestion for Paladins who want to use their special mounts as a Cohort for the Leadership feat.  To paraphrase...  Go ahead and do it if your DM says it's ok, but the special abilities of the paladin's mount (empathy, share spells, improved evasion, increased armor, etc.) should give the creature an extra +2 ECL at least.I thought this might be a good rule of thumb for Familiars (and perhaps druid/ranger animal comanions) also.So, for example, a character who wanted a pseudodragon cohort/familiar, would have to take both the Improved Familiar and the Leadership feats (that's a lot of feats for a wizard or sorcerer, when you think about it).  The pseudodragon would have a +7 ECL (between it's level adjustment, it's hit dice and the extra ECL from being a familiar), meaning the wizard couldn't get him until 9th level.  But the familiar could feasibly (and slowly) gain character levels later on.What do you think?1.  Is this a reasonable solution?2.  If you think so, is +2 ECL a reasonable penalty?</blockquote>

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