how do cohorts work

[Voadam]

Are the levels for cohorts in leadership the ECL if you pick a monster? One of the party members is thinking of picking up a dragon mount when his paladin hits 18th level and gets another feat to take leadership.

from the srd:

Cohort Level: The character can attract a cohort of up to this level. Regardless of a character’s Leadership score, he can only recruit a cohort who is two or more levels lower than himself. The cohort should be equipped with gear appropriate for its level. A character can try to attract a cohort of a particular race, class, and alignment. The cohort’s alignment may not be opposed to the leader’s alignment on either the law-vs-chaos or good-vs-evil axis, and the leader takes a Leadership penalty if he recruits a cohort of an alignment different from his own.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

You'd use the ECL.

 

[shilsen]

What Patryn said. This is covered under the "Special Cohorts" section in the DMG (pg.199), where it says that the "effective character level (ECL) of a creature determines how powerful it is as a character or cohort."

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

In fact, as you read through the MM, you'll find certain creatures (like the worg) that are X HD creatures, with an LA value of +2 (cohort).

This is meant to indicate that they work well as a cohort, with an ECL of X+2.

 

[Ravensblood]

Are the levels for cohorts in leadership the ECL if you pick a monster? One of the party members is thinking of picking up a dragon mount when his paladin hits 18th level and gets another feat to take leadership.


You might want to look at the Draconomicon. They have feats and Prestige classes geared to that very thing.