Cohorts and Followers: What do you or your players use them for?

[Kahuna Burger]

I have one pbp character I was considering taking leadership for at 6th level, but there's been some campaign changes to the feat so now I'm rethinking it. What I would have done with my followers though was make them all experts with lots of ranks in diplomacy, knowlege (local) and gather info. They would be spread out among all the major cities in the gameworld, so whenever my investigative focused bard was looking for info she would get an automatic +2 (or more) aid another bonus from her "local contact". For a cohort I was considering a druid for various "speak with" spells and help with tracking from the animal companion (the PC has ranger ranks too, but with the multiclass it would be a while).

 

[Chimera]

The Wizard plans to take a Bard as his cohort which should work well as a support character to the large party we have.

I plan to recruit followers later, but they will almost certainly just remain at a homebase whatever that may be. I have no idea how hi a level we will actually get to so this may never be more than s small group of converts.

I be that Wizard player.

With what will be six PCs and two cohorts in the group, how can I NOT take a Bard?

As for Followers, when we get them;

I see them as basic support people. I expect the first one to be a young, impressionable sort (1st level Commoner or Expert) who will stay at my house or home base and do miscellaneous chores, depending on his specialties, perhaps ultimately becoming my Alfred (Butler/Household Manager).

Others have offered good ideas for the rest of them. A loyal stableboy to groom my horse, an errandboy to gather supplies and get rid of refuse, maybe a street urchin who will keep an eye on local goings-on.

Basic household staff and loyal associates.

 

[Capellan]

The character I had with leadership was a cleric who had recently been enobled, so he had territories to look after and people to convert. His followers were distributed around the Duchy, promulgating the word of the church and keeping an eye on things to make sure there were no civil disturbances. He had a mix of adepts (for religious duties), warriors (for security) and experts (for surveillance and interrogation - yep, he had a secret police).

His cohort was a dwarf Fighter / Rogue / Dwarven Defender whose only rogue-related skills were searching, disabling devices and opening locks. He clanked around in full plate and shield and acted as a combination of bodyguard and watchdog over the party's wizard, who was somewhat ... eccentric.

 

[Flame Draconion]

A player of mine really pissed me off with leadership. He took it then had his follow take it "B/C his minion was so inspired by it" I had to ban leadership after that...of course it is always difficult with this guy b/c he feels he must always win and does not understand the concept of not breaking a character. If my players come into a situation where they can aquire a cohert, then they usually treat him as part of the group, but if he dies they dont really worry about it.

 

[Conaill]

So if the party winds up surrounding itself with more NPC's than it has followers - say, the party assembles a small army, or rules a town, or a large castle with lots of servants/guards etc. - do you feel it would be fair for the DM to say "you managed to assemble 100 NPC's, 20 of which are your followers, but you don't know which ones"?

 

[Flame Draconion]

I believe if this were to happen, I would find a way for the mass NPC group to revolt against the instigator, say something along the lines of financial debt, cult mentality, or random anarchist, because at this point, it is clear that the player is only trying to fix the game in his favor. And detracting from the general enjoyment of the game and for utterly destroying any planned adventure for that evening. Because the average encounter of a four player group does not run into small army after small army after small army.

 

[luke_twigger]

I believe if this were to happen, I would find a way for the mass NPC group to revolt against the instigator, say something along the lines of financial debt, cult mentality, or random anarchist, because at this point, it is clear that the player is only trying to fix the game in his favor. And detracting from the general enjoyment of the game and for utterly destroying any planned adventure for that evening. Because the average encounter of a four player group does not run into small army after small army after small army.

Not all "planned adventures" involve "average encounters for a four player group".

 

[Conaill]

Not all "planned adventures" involve "average encounters for a four player group".

Exactly. Let's say the King (i.e. the DM) has given the PC's control over a small duchy, complete with castle, in reward for their past services. Of course, said duchy is on the border with the orc empire, so they will need to hold the line against orcish raiders.

Obviously, any Leadership feats the PC's have at this point will be insufficient to cover all of the inhabitants of the duchy. They probably won't even cover the servants keeping the castle running. For that matter, at the point where the PCs are put in charge of the castle they may not have *anyone* with the Leadership feat. I.e. they'll have to prove themselves worthy of their subjects loyalty first.

However, once they do develop loyal followers (i.e. someone takes the Leadership feat), should they automatically know *who* of these hundreds of people in and around the castle is 100% loyal to them, without any Sense Motive checks or anything? Maybe their butler is a spy in service of the orcish empire, but that street urchin they tossed a goldpiece to would be willing to lay down his life for them...

 

[Dog Moon]

Well, Cohorts follow the PCs around, essentially acting as another PC for most intents and purposes. He gets a cut of the treasure and XP, but then again when Leadership is allowed in my group it's only when we have 2-3 people, so that extra dude comes in real handy, especially if he's a class we need [like a Cleric when we don't have one, a Rogue, etc].

As for the followers, we rarely use followers. We use them mainly to occupy our forts and whatnot. The main time I actually used followers well was when my character was a spymaster. I had about 8 different 'identities' [most of my skills were in profession, plus Bluff, Sense Motive, etc]. Each identity required the usage of at least one follower to help maintain my disguise. Like one disguise was a family who owned a small bakery. I was the owner and the followers were the wife and the three children of various ages [the book never says that followers must be adults, after all]. Another identity was that I was a servant in the castle and I took care of my infirm grandmother. An elderly follower kept that ruse for me going while I occasionally came and went to 'visit.' That character also had a couple of 'friends' [followers] who occasionally stopped by to hang out.

Suffice to say that that character used many followers and used them well.

 

[Peterson]

We use Leadership often in our games, but then again - my group has a serious love affair with owning strongholds....

Case in point: one of my games, the PCs decided to found their own community, and got permission from the local noble to do so. In addition, they decided that - since their community would be on a heavily-traveled road - they would like to establish a toll. Now, they just had to figure out how to gather enough people to not only establish a community, but enforce the toll.

No - save one - player wanted to bother taking Leadership though. They had plans for their character builds, and Leadership did not fit in well. However, the one that took Leadership decided that once his Cohort reached 6th level, he would take Leadership as well, as would the Cohort's cohort, and so on down the chain.

I okayed it. Why? Mainly because it made sense, and it would be multiple levels before the Cohort could even take Leadership, let alone the Cohort's cohort, and so on.

By the end of the game, they had a community of 40 people. 15 of them were hirelings, and 10 of them were people that settled down. Only 15 were followers.....nothing overwhelming there, I would say. (BTW, the game ended when a fairly powerful (15th level) necromancer attacked the town and killed everyone but three PCs. Low-level followers - especially using 3.0 rules - are not powerful opponents of the undead. Those three PCs went on to become the King's Spys, and also became the various relatives of PCs in the new game.....such stories were told of the Thorp of Tollhaven.)

Just sharing my experience.