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Message: <blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 2078303" data-attributes="member: 14159">I've got a party of 7 PC's, 3 of which have Leadership, so I've definitely had it used a lot in my game, so here's how I run it:1.  Character Creation is DM's purview.  The Cohort is an NPC and is created as such.  I make them with weaker point-buy than PC's (25 points instead of 32), they are limited to only core classes at initial creation, and everything about their progression (including levels, feats and skills) is DM's choice.  I usually keep the character sheet myself, but hand it to the PC when a fight breaks out so he can run the cohort in battle (to cut down on DM overhead).2. The cohort is run by the DM, especially in roleplaying encounters or non-combat scenarios.  In combat, to save me the time of tracking another NPC, the PC runs the cohort, although I do make it clear I can override the Cohort's actions if I choose.3.  I run Cohort XP by-the-book.4.  Cohorts and treasure has never once come up, because in all my gaming groups we've never been very possessive about treasure.  In virtually every game I've ever been people have their own personal equipment, and a big communal party fund in which the vast majority of treasure goes into, and there is none of this hassling with shares and divvying the treasure (and frankly, I'd rather not be in a game that does that, it sounds rather annoying and like it just creates problems).  Of course, my PC's (and I when I play) aren't horribly obsessed with "keeping up with the jones" in magic items and running out to get another plus tacked on every level or two, so it all works out well.  In practice, Cohorts get hand-me-down or surplus magic items, like a spare +1 Shield or a spare Ring of Protection that the party has built up.5.  I like the way I run cohorts.  Cohorts are a chance by the DM to plug gaps in the PC party that they might not notice or really care about, like when the first Cohort was taken in my game, the party had nobody who could cast Identify, and didn't bother to identify most magic items, so it was annoying listing treasure that they couldn't know what it was, so I made sure that since a PC wanted an Elven Cleric of Hanali Celanil as his cohort (and I'd approved this because it fit with his character and the campaign), I gave her the Elf and Magic domains (over the PC's protest, because he wanted Elf and Charm for her).  I said that's just the way it is, and by the way, she has Identify as a domain spell so you can actually ID those items you're carrying.  Detail out their personality and background a little, since they are going to be a recurring NPC for possibly the rest of the campaign.  From a story perspective, if the PC's have a base of operations, a cohort who stays behind most of the time when they go adventuring (and comes along when a PC didn't show up to the game so they are shorthanded) gives a story explanation for who's saying back to run the Keep (and it's usually presumed to be the absent PC when the Cohort comes along because the party is undermanned).</blockquote>

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