How do you handle cohorts?

[pogre]

Greetings!

In my current campaign two of the PCs have taken the Leadership feat. One already has his cohort and it has led to him essentially playing two characters during the game. I generally like players to play one character and I can see this becoming a problem. The other PC's follower will join the party shortly and I am concerned others in the party may take the feat as well.

Short of calling out the mighty BAN HAMMER a tactic I loath to use, does anyone have a way of giving the players the benefit of their characters taking the Leadership feat without bogging down the game with multiple characters per player?

edit: changed the incorrect term follower to cohort.

 

[S'mon]

It's best if the GM ASSERTS THEIR AUTHORITAY and insists that the GM roleplays all followers and cohorts except for combat, the players can run them in combat to take the burden off the GM. From past experience I would go so far as to recommend dropping any player who refuses to acceed to this.

 

[Bront]

Follows usually are best prepaired on a spit for several hours, seasoned with a bit of salt, peper, oregino, and rosemarry.

 

[Arkhandus]

I assume what you mean to be saying is "cohort" rather than "follower", since followers are generally extremely low-level weaklings meant more for serving the character in his manor/stronghold or spreading tales of his fame across the country? The Leadership feat is restricted to DM fiat for a reason, because it can create more complication and it is a significant power boost. Remember a cohort gets 1/2 a share of the XP whenever he/she is involved, IIRC (the other 1/2 share that would've gone to him/her is redistributed amongst the actual PCs).

You might have cohorts busied with extraneous tasks, such as fetching supplies, warning the village, scouting around, bickering (hey, they're supposed to be NPCs chiefly, and the DM generally approves what cohorts are actually received, though the player can set forth some meager guidelines as to what sort of cohort he'll accept or try to attract; just as nobody meets their soulmate or best friend just by walking into the first bar/tavern they enter in a new city, neither do PC heroes just miraculously find/get found by the perfect companion to fit their style and personality), or whatever. Cohorts may get sent on side-missions during a bigger quest, such as holding off any enemies that come back to the entrance from outside while the PCs continue deeper into the stronghold/dungeon/whatever to seek out the big bads; cuz no one likes to get surprise-attacked from behind by an unknown number of foes, all at once, while they're busy fighting other foes ahead or trying to rest and camp. You could choose to have only noncom cohorts present themselves; a cleric who specializes in healing and knowledge, but is physically meek and disinclined to violence; a rogue who's in poor health from growing up in street alleys and eating garbage half his life, but has nimble fingers and a quick wit; an abjurer wizard who is pacifist but willing to help protect the PCs as long as they try to minimize their violent excesses; a pansy bard who's nonetheless witty and charming, and isn't willing to risk himself in battle but will do what he can to indirectly assist and heal his traveling companions while he seeks out new songs (maybe he got tossed out on the streets because his family thought him a lazy sissy?). Etc.

 

[frankthedm]

If the players are actually role playing the character, it kind of sounds cool, if slightly schizophrenic. Though, if the PC is using the Character as a second set of arms without a personality, then take over the role-playing of the cohort.

Oh, I recommend you do rule all PC to PC communication is IN-game and always loud enough it would take for the other PC to hear it, give the distance they are apart. This way if the others PCs talk ill about the cohort when the cohort is in earshot, the leader has to address the issue or face a reduced leadership score [aloofness when he ignores the issue, cruelty when he expects the follower to endure it regularly].

Also, remember the cohort is loyal to the leader, NOT the party.

LEADERSHIP [GENERAL]
Prerequisite: Character level 6th.
Benefits: Having this feat enables the character to attract loyal companions and devoted followers, subordinates who assist her. See the table below for what sort of cohort and how many followers the character can recruit.
Leadership Modifiers: Several factors can affect a character’s Leadership score, causing it to vary from the base score (character level + Cha modifier). A character’s reputation (from the point of view of the cohort or follower he is trying to attract) raises or lowers his Leadership score:

Leader’s Reputation Modifier
Great renown +2
Fairness and generosity +1
Special power +1
Failure –1
Aloofness –1
Cruelty –2

Other modifiers may apply when the character tries to attract a cohort:
The Leader . . . Modifier
Has a familiar, special mount, or animal companion –2
Recruits a cohort of a different alignment –1
Caused the death of a cohort –2*
* Cumulative per cohort killed.

Followers have different priorities from cohorts. When the character tries to attract a new follower, use any of the following modifiers that apply.
The Leader . . . Modifier
Has a stronghold, base of operations, guildhouse, or the like +2
Moves around a lot –1
Caused the death of other followers –1.

Leadership Score Cohort Level —— Number of Followers by Level ——
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1 or lower — — — — — — —
2 1st — — — — — —
3 2nd — — — — — —
4 3rd — — — — — —
5 3rd — — — — — —
6 4th — — — — — —
7 5th — — — — — —
8 5th — — — — — —
9 6th — — — — — —
10 7th 5 — — — — —
11 7th 6 — — — — —
12 8th 8 — — — — —
13 9th 10 1 — — — —
14 10th 15 1 — — — —
15 10th 20 2 1 — — —
16 11th 25 2 1 — — —
17 12th 30 3 1 1 — —
18 12th 35 3 1 1 — —
19 13th 40 4 2 1 1 —
20 14th 50 5 3 2 1 —
21 15th 60 6 3 2 1 1
22 15th 75 7 4 2 2 1
23 16th 90 9 5 3 2 1
24 17th 110 11 6 3 2 1
25 or higher 17th 135 13 7 4 2 2

Leadership Score: A character’s base Leadership score equals his level plus any Charisma modifier. In order to take into account negative Charisma modifiers, this table allows for very low Leadership scores, but the character must still be 6th level or higher in order to gain the Leadership feat. Outside factors can affect a character’s Leadership score, as detailed above.
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.
Cohorts earn XP as follows:
The cohort does not count as a party member when determining the party’s XP.
Divide the cohort’s level by the level of the PC with whom he or she is associated (the character with the Leadership feat who attracted the cohort).
Multiply this result by the total XP awarded to the PC and add that number of experience points to the cohort’s total.
If a cohort gains enough XP to bring it to a level one lower than the associated PC’s character level, the cohort does not gain the new level—its new XP total is 1 less than the amount needed attain the next level.

Number of Followers by Level: The character can lead up to the indicated number of characters of each level. Followers are similar to cohorts, except they’re generally low-level NPCs. Because they’re generally five or more levels behind the character they follow, they’re rarely effective in combat.
Followers don’t earn experience and thus don’t gain levels. However, when a character with Leadership attains a new level, the player consults the table above to determine if she has acquired more followers, some of which may be higher level than the existing followers. (You don’t consult the table to see if your cohort gains levels, however, because cohorts earn experience on their own.)

 

[Darkness]

... I would go so far as to recommend dropping any player who refuses to acceed to this.

Right, that's usually best, though lifting heavier players so you can properly drop them certainly requires some strength.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

Hi Pogre,

You've most likely read a fair bit about Lucifus's followers so I thought I'd give you a little extra background to help out.

Cohort: Tunthi
I gave the DM the rough parameters in terms of race, class, attribute order, general demeanour etc. He has crafted Tunthi. if you asked me what level, feats, hp or attributes he has, I'd honestly have to say I don't have a clue.
The way how I work it with Paul the DM, I don't even know what Lucifus's precise Leadership score is and nor do I want to. It's actually more fun playing this way than having everything known. Our group are firm believers in: one player=one character.

As for followers, they turn up here and there, again I delineate rough attributes: (young, sexy, even a little bit wanton) and then Paul presents me with another addition to Lucifus's harem.

However, Lucifus has also developed his cult (the diabolerie arcane) with higher level followers - you'll see this soon in the SH. Again, I give the broad description and Paul goes from there. I have an unspoken rule that I won't involve followers in combat and thus won't need to have him develop precise stats for all of them. A player who wants to use followers in combat is asking for trouble:

DM: I hit your follower... he's dead. Cleave and he's dead too and great cleave... another one bites the dust... supreme cleave 5' step and... yes, that's your last follower dead.
Player: Doh!!!

Anyway, the only thing the DM really has to worry about is the cohort. He roleplays him and makes realistic combat decisions for him - for example as you will see in a particularly climactic scene, Tunthi chooses to chug healing potions rather than do something else. Not what the rest of the party would have wanted but in keeping with the character. Give the player the reigns in combat and sometimes things go a little too well - although you can argue that since they are a cohort, they have a supreme understanding of their leader's habits and motives. Tunthi being dumb and understanding very little about Lucifus's magic is obviously best played in a slightly unco-ordinated manner.

Hope this helps and hope you enjoy the forthcoming update... early next week I think.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Ravlek]

Some good points made.
Cohorts are good way to fill out a small party, providing missing skills/roles. If roleplaying is a concern you can always have a short all-cohort miniquest to develop them. Plot hooks can be introduced involving cohorts.


It all depends on what works for the group.

 

[apesamongus]

Remember a cohort gets 1/2 a share of the XP whenever he/she is involved, IIRC (the other 1/2 share that would've gone to him/her is redistributed amongst the actual PCs).

That's not RAW.

 

[Eye Tyrant]

I don't believe a Cohort = a 2nd PC... otherwise the Cohort is going to ALWAYS be willing to do what the PC/player wants them to do, and that simply isn't very realistic (even if it is a make-believe game). Let them roll dice and manuever in combat, but leave the RPing of the cohort to the DM. That just seems more logical to me even if it does add to the DMs workload.