Leadership and ECL

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Of course, the problem is that the whole thing breaks down when you look at completely 'level adjusted' societies.

A 10th level Drow priestess should have an 8th level Drow bodyguard, not a 6th level Drow bodyguard. Nevermind when you get to a race with an even higher ECL.

I'm not sure I see the problem you're attempting to illustrate.

Drow (LA +2) Cleric 10 = ECL 12
Drow (LA +2) Fighter 8 = ECL 10

12th-level Characters can have 10th-level cohorts.

 

[Corsair]

According to the RAW people are quoting, the ECL 12 Drow cleric 10 could only get an ECL 8 bodyguard, hence a Drow Fighter 6.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

an ECL 10 bodyguard, hence a Drow Fighter 6.

A drow Ftr 6 is not ECL 10, though. He's ECL 8.

 

[Corsair]

Typo on my part. Should have said ECL 8. Fixing now.

Since the ECL 12 Drow cleric is technically a level 10 character, she would only get an ECL 8 cohort... which would be a level 6 cohort. The cohort get getting whacked by the LA twice.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Typo on my part. Should have said ECL 8. Fixing now.

Since the ECL 12 Drow cleric is technically a level 10 character, she would only get an ECL 8 cohort... which would be a level 6 cohort. The cohort get getting whacked by the LA twice.

AHAH!!!!

It all falls into place and clicks now! Thanks for making that clear.

I think, however, we should go here. The MM has the primary rules on LA:

Level Adjustment and Effective Character Level: To determine the effective character level (ECL) of a monster character, add its level adjustment to its racial Hit Dice and character class levels.

Use ECL instead of character level to determine how many experience points a monster character needs to reach its next level. Also use ECL to determine starting wealth for a monster character.

I've highlighted the important part.

There are two possibilities. The first is that this is an exhaustive list, and that these are the only times one uses LA and ECL.

The other is that this is an indicative list, and that there are similar times when one uses LA and ECL.

The maximum allowed level of a cohort is tied to character progression. ECL is tied to character progression. Accordingly, under the reading that this is an indicative list, the maximum allowed level of a cohort involves ECL.

It also gets rid of all the oddness that crops up (and have been touched on, multiple times) in this thread.

 

[Jhulae]

That's pretty much how we played it, Patryn, because it really does shaft the ECL players (PC and NPC) if they're forced to go strictly by class levels to determine cohorts.

 

[Arkhandus]

Regardless of how you consider ECL/LA, racial hit dice are character levels. Hit dice and level are interchangeable terms and, thus, a bugbear with 3 racial hit dice and no class levels is a 3rd-level character. A bugbear with 3 class levels is thus a 6th-level character and qualifies for Leadership. Monster hit dice count just like class hit dice for determining character level.