Leadership Feat / Cohorts level

[Light Knight]

Do you use the ECL or Character Level when determing the cohorts level.

For instance if my leadership score says I can have a character up to 8th level, but I am 9th level, so my max normally is 7th.

But what if my cohort is a race with a level adjustment of 2?

Does that mean my cohort can be a level 5 character + 2 LA...Or can the character be a level 7 character + LA making the ECL 9?

 

[Ranes]

I don't have my books with me but I believe cohorts should determined by ECL.

 

[NEXxREX]

page 106 of the DMG has the table and stats for a characters "leadership score" but it really depends on your GM i mean my group doesn't count hit dice against your ECL, we consider the level adjustment enough. so it really depends on your GM. but like i said page 106 will give you the rundown of it all, but it doesnt explain ECL just cohort level.

but think about it. (just using stonechild cause i recently made one) a stonechild has an ECL of +6

+4 LA and +2 for hit dice. so losing 2 levels on your character because of an extra 2d8. that sucks! speak to your GM its really dependent on him but if he'll let you scrap the hit dice, i always thought it was stupid anyway.

then again i dont know of any other book explaining it better, maybe theres a ruling on it somewhere.

 

[Rampant]

Sorry to say that except in rare situations, such as certain feats lowering the effective levels of certain cohort types or a creature with a set cohort level, a creature's effective character level (ECL) is HD (including class levels if any) + LA is what you use to decide whether or not it can be your cohort.

So for a +2 LA race you'd only be able to swing 5 hd/class levels since you're limited to level 7.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

The Dragon Cohort Feat, Draconomicon p.104 reads in part, "You gain a cohort... just as you would by selecting the leadership feat. However, you may treat the dragon's ECL as if it were 3 lower than indicated."

I'm sure there is a more specific RAW someplace, but this is the first one I remember with mention to ECL.

 

[Rampant]

Yeah even in the 3.5 update ECL is not well explained in the core books.

The leadership table however is based on character level which is equivalent to ECL, except in the special cases mentioned above.