Cohorts - how are they played?

[farscapesg1]

OK, I'm contemplating taking the Leadership feat to gain a cohort bodyguard for my wizard. The reason being that the rest of the party doesn't seem to care about providing any protection for the character.

I'm thinking of using the feat to pick up either a straight fighter, a fighter/rogue (since the group is seriously lacking in the rogue area), or a fighter/wizard (just makes sense as the cohort could be learning his wizardry skills from the character).

My question is, how do most people handle the cohorts from a "role-playing" perspective? Do you run the cohort as a full character, or do they take more of a role similar to familiars that don't have a lot of personality and are basically just "background" characters?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

I generally treat them as full characters - but then, my familiars tend to be full characters, as well.

That being said, they are full characters who are, for most intents and purposes, fanatically loyal to your "main" character. Accordingly, they act with somewhat less free will than a "true" full character.

There's also the out of playing the cohort as a full character - but who's personality is pretty bland.

 

[Whimsical]

Check out the Devoted Defender from the 3.0 Sword & Fist book. This class is almost intended for cohorts. Give him full plate, an animated tower shield, and a spiked chain.

There's an "update" of this class in the Forgotten Realms book Shining South.

 

[Corsair]

Check out the Devoted Defender from the 3.0 Sword & Fist book. This class is almost intended for cohorts. Give him full plate, an animated tower shield, and a spiked chain.

There's an "update" of this class in the Forgotten Realms book Shining South.

Assuming that by "update" you mean "another class with the Harm's Way" class feature. There are enough differences that they are not the same at all.

 

[Li Shenron]

My question is, how do most people handle the cohorts from a "role-playing" perspective? Do you run the cohort as a full character, or do they take more of a role similar to familiars that don't have a lot of personality and are basically just "background" characters?

First of all, they are completely run by the DM as NPCs.

How much they are protagonist or otherwise in the background can vary, but usually they're more likely to stay behind the leader 90% of the time, like a squire for instance.

 

[Thanee]

Cohorts are NPCs like any other, the player has no control over them. They are automatically of a friendly attitude, of course.

For ease of play, the player could control the cohort usually, or especially in combat situations, but the final decision is always with the DM and he or she could always overrule the player in any decisions.

Usually, a cohort would stay more in the background, but that does not have to be the case.

Bye
Thanee

 

[the Jester]

Check with your dm. I can't think of anything that varies more from one campaign to another than how a dm handles Leadership.

 

[Li Shenron]

They are automatically of a friendly attitude, of course.

Oh yeah! And the Leadership score is for me basically the only rule to follow in order to let the PC keep the cohort. I mean, the PC doesn't even need to treat the cohort well to let it stay faithful: the leadership could be based on good terms or out of fear and oppression, although this of course may be adjudicated inappropriate for the PC's alignment. Spending the feat is the cost for the benefit of the cohort's faithfulness (and a certain freedom in choosing the cohort's class and advancement).

 

[irdeggman]

I have the cohort "controlled" by the player but "played" by the DM. What I mean by this is that after creation (done by the DM) the player controls advancement issues for the cohort (skills, feats, class selection, etc.) and governs the basics of what the cohort does (fighting, spellcasting, etc.) but all role-playing is handled by the DM. I refuse to let a player have a conversation with himself in-character. Other than the pyschological aspects (real world) it leads to a single player dominating play and that is bad for the rest of the players.

 

[farscapesg1]

Ok, thanks for all the information. I'm waiting to hear back from my DM about how he usually handles cohorts and followers.