Help me choose a Cohort

[Rassilon]

Hi All,

I have recently had a personal about-face, and instead of being vaguely suspicious of the whole "cohort thing", am considering taking Leadership for my only active character.

Now of course I will be discussing the issue with my fellow players, but as I am not yet decided on my own position, help me think it through - what do YOU think I should choose as my cohort ?

My character:
L21 Swashbuckler/Diviner: roughly even split between melee combatant and the (only) caster of the party.

Adventures with:
L21 Rogue: Specialised in Ranged Sneak Attacks, quite good melee combatant, nightmare hide/move silently type.
L21 Whip Fighter: various classes to optimise a whip fighter. Many attacks, much damage, many hitpoints.
L20 Psychic Warrior/Pyro: Two Handed melee brute w/ some special abilities.

My guy is pretty maxed out to be effective (and he is effective!), and we *just* coping with him as the only arcane caster. No divine caster, but 3/4 of the group can use any Spell Trigger item created by a cleric of pelor as if they had the cleric's spell list, so healing and minor clerical needs are already met through this.

The cohort would be L17.

Rassilon.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Some ideas:

Even with healing covered, I think a cleric could help your party out a lot. 17th level caster can throw out some great buffs... and healing on the go is never to be sneezed at? Depending on how you feel, a radiant servant would be 'quite useful' - at that level, all healing would be empowered and maximised? Can cover quite a lot of the same ground as an arcane caster... helping out with that side of things.

17th level full caster progression wizard type - if you're having issues with arcane power, then this would surely help?

Bard might work out well - your party looks like it could be quite sneaky, they'd be able to do that and also provide support casting.

A grappling expert. Could be very nasty combined with all the sneak attackers you've got going on.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

never mind the cohort, what will you do with the army?

You will be leader of over 100 NPC's, with at least 1 at 6th level. Imagine how much healing you could get with 100+ Adepts.

 

[diaglo]

bard.

every hero needs his own theme music and band

 

[mr_outsidevoice]

Cleric/Wizard/Mystic Theurge.

Divine Mojo, Arcane Mojo Excellent with Buffing, Healing, and artillary support for a few battles in a day.

Give him/her Craft Item Feats so all you Use Magic Device people can get more stuff to play with.

 

[SBMC]

Keep in mind that the cohort is for YOU - a the DMG states. He will be YOUR best friend but also has wants, desires, motives, etc. of his own. He is not one of those mindless followers to the right on the leadership table. If the cohort benefits the part then great; but to stay "in game" the choice should really be yours for your own reasons.

For class choice: in your case: I would say three choices things (keeping in mind this is more for YOU then the party):

#1 Cleric: my fighter took a cleric as a cohort (cleric of the war god my fighter follows) and it works out great; especially considering he "has got my back" where ever I go. I, of course, also get first dibs on healing and the like. Divine casters don't get the numerous offensive spells arcane casters do…but the ones the got can be more nasty than many arcane ones.

#2 Fighter Type: Compliment yourself with another melee component; to allow you to concentrate on the casting.

#3 Arcane Caster: For the same reasons as a cleric in many ways.

 

[Yair]

I second the mystic theurge, for a great utility caster. A straight generalist wizard will do fine too.
If your thing is being the sole caster, though, then some fighter focused on defending you might be appropriate (dwarf psychic warrior with augmented Expansion, a spiked chain, and a topping of dwarven defender levels sounds about right).

I just made a level 87 Commoner cohort, but that's just a joke

 

[S'mon]

Clerics are by far the most powerful cohorts IME; I guess in 3.5 Druids could be too but they take a bit of work to optimise; whereas Clerics are easy. That said, as GM I am not letting PCs create their own cohorts anymore, you just get a bunch of Clerics, party power skyrockets and game balance goes out the window. Best approach is for the GM to create a suitable prospect who the PC can recruit, usually an apprentice or similar, same or similar class to the PC.

 

[MonsterMash]

Personally I'd say Bard or Cleric - both are good support classes with spellcasting abilities, healing and can buff other characters very effectively. Alternative would be a Sorceror as a arcane magic artillery battery.

Clerics are by far the most powerful cohorts IME; I guess in 3.5 Druids could be too but they take a bit of work to optimise; whereas Clerics are easy. That said, as GM I am not letting PCs create their own cohorts anymore, you just get a bunch of Clerics, party power skyrockets and game balance goes out the window. Best approach is for the GM to create a suitable prospect who the PC can recruit, usually an apprentice or similar, same or similar class to the PC.

Does this mean that if my Cleric takes leadership then I won't be able to have a Cleric cohort, or does it mean I've got the only character that can have a Cleric cohort? :evil grin smiley:

 

[S'mon]

Does this mean that if my Cleric takes leadership then I won't be able to have a Cleric cohort, or does it mean I've got the only character that can have a Cleric cohort? :evil grin smiley:

Probably the former, I'm afraid.

Edit: More because of my "no more than 2 spellcasters in the group" rule, though.