Gaming with Leadership: Splitting the loot

[atom crash]

Here's a situation that just arose in my campaign: One PC has a cohort. The group is splitting loot for the first time since the cohort joined the party. The players are now trying to determine if the cohort gets an equal share of the treasure.

Of course, these are all things they have to figure out: Does the cohort get an equal share? Does the cohort get a partial share? Does the cohort get only what the PC gives him/her from the player's share? If the cohort gets an equal share, does this in effect give that player two shares of the treasure?

I'd suggest they split the treasure into even shares for the PCs but give the cohort a partial share (4 equal shares and one share half that size, so in effect all treasure is split into 4.5 shares). Since I'm the DM, I'm trying to stay out of it and let the players hash this one out.

Has anyone else run across this situation? How does your group handle this? Or how would you handle it?

I'm interested in getting some ideas/anecdotes that I might be able to share with the group if they get hung up on this. I'd really rather they work it out themselves, though, and have full faith that they will.

 

[Scharlata]

[...] I'm interested in getting some ideas/anecdotes that I might be able to share with the group if they get hung up on this. [...]

Hi!

The DMG has guidelines about sharing treasure with a cohort (pages 104, 105, off the top of my head).

It's always helpful to make the decision before coming to the point of distribuing recently found loot among the party. The expectation of getting a particular item from the treasure pile always gets in the way of discussing the "sharing procedure" at hand.

In my last campaign, the cohort received nothing from the treasure but "crap" that nobody else wanted. But this was discussed before going out to explore the next dungeon. The charcter with the leadership feat made that clear to anyone. And she made it clear to anyone that the stuff from the cohort belong to nobody else than the cohort or the leader, too. Nobody complained.

In my recent campaign, the new cohort has signed a contract (just as the leader, who is also new to the group) to which treasures the newbies are entitled.

Kind regards

 

[atom crash]

It's always helpful to make the decision before coming to the point of distribuing recently found loot among the party.

A little too late for that, but the point is well taken. I made sure the hired mercenaries negotiated their cut of the loot before embarking on the adventure, but I didn't force the players to figure out how to divide the treasure among themselves.

There is an NPC still with the group, but I am loathe to use him to exert my will on the players. this is their game, after all, and they should divide the treasure as they see fit. But I can use the NPC to make suggestions. So far, he's told them, "The treasure is worth X amount. My cut comes to X/6. How you divide what's left is your concern."

The cohort in question is one of the party's two front-line fighters. So it's in the group's best interest to give her better gear, in particular weapons and armor.

I'll have to read that entry in the DMG when I get home. Thanks.

 

[Tatsukun]

And make sure they do all that negotiation in-game. It's not up to you, or your players, it's up to the PC's in question.

Now, I know the player IS the PC, but I, for example, am a lot more greedy than my paladin is.

-T

 

[Lamoni]

If I remember correctly, the suggestion is to include the cohort as a member of the party, split the treasure X ways, give the cohort 1/2 share and then divide the other half among the remaining players.

For example, the party of 4 plus a cohort find 100,000 gp
Divided by 5, would give each person 20,000.
The cohort would take half of that (10,000)
The PC's would divide the leftover (22,500 a piece).

I like this method because you can normally do the math in your head and it gives the cohort a little less than half a share.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

Hi atom crash,

In our game, we have had three characters with leadership. Perhaps the biggest distinction between our groups and others is that the DM plays all the cohorts. The players have no idea of exactly what level the cohort is at, an exact list of equipment or anything. As such, it is much easier to give them a fair share of the loot. It does not feel like the player is getting two lots of booty.

The other issue in our group is voting. Cohorts also get a vote in what the group wishes to do. Normally cohorts follow the character's choice however there has been occasions where opinions differ.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Storyteller01]

My two cents...

My campaign currently has one player with a cohort, but three others are looking into it as well (either as a PrC requirement or to gain manpower for future projects). We agreed that cohorts are 'employed' by the player. Hence, what ever payment or treasure the cohort receives is soley the responsibily of the player (which takes a load off of me...).

This group tends to pool the cash, using half to get what the group needs and dividing the other half among the players. They negotiate on who needs/deserves what as far as items and loot are concerned. Haven't had a blow up (yet), and everyone seems more interested in the long term gains of the group.

May not be a typicxal example...

 

[Plane Sailing]

Does the cohort get only what the PC gives him/her from the player's share?

This is how we are doing it in the campaign in which I have a cohort at the moment.

The downside of any other way of handling it is that my feat reduces their treasure portion... doesn't seem fair.

 

[Maldur]

Our party, 6 PC's, a cohort and four NPC's have the following rule:

The loot is split in 7. the npc's get a share to divide between them, and the cohort is compensated by the pc that has the leadership.

This is what fits best in the story, bsides our meta explanation is as follows: the cohort is a result of a feat, ergo part of that character.

 

[Liquidsabre]

Yup, cohort should be equipped through their attached PC and doesn't deserve an outright share of the loot as they essentially become a part of the character with the leadership feat. The PC-leader will determine out of their share what they will give to the cohort. Now if the cohort proves themselves invaluable in a fight or two that results in serious swag, the other members of the party may feel free to reward said cohort from their share of the loot, but they are in no way obligated to do so at any point.

However, there is an apt example of a cleric cohort who healed the other members of the party and simply asked for the occasional donation to their church, nothing extravagant but a mere pittance. One PC outright refused and yet continued to demand regular healing from the cohort, needless to say the cohort cleric found the offending PC to be less-than-worthy and chose at an inopportune time to no longer aid said PC whose eyes wide in surprise and filled with fury met a most gruesome end.