Leadership = Mentor OR Round out the party?

[mikebr99]

Hi All...

How do you use the Leadership feat?

thanks...


Mike

 

[BiggusGeekus]

The guy with the feat picks his cohort and the cohort is used for flavor. Cohorts in our game get about as much attention as that one asian doctor who worked under Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

 

[Blue Sky]

Right now, I'm the only one in our campaign that has a cohort, so the other players might use them differently, but I use the cohort to provide backup. I'm a fighter, so I told my DM that I wanted someone that could buff and use cure wands, so he gave me a cleric.

Right now, we're fighting in an arena, so my cleric patches us up afterwards, and maybe adds a few spells before hand, but doesn't actually enter the arena. If I was playing a mage, I'd take a fighter cohort, and use him as a bodyguard. Just depends on what I need.

 

[diaglo]

other.

the PC who is taking the Leadership feat. needs to attract a cohort.

this is usually filled in by roleplay.

the player is not aware of the potential class levels of the NPC. class levels are metagame features.

 

[Eeralai]

My character took the leadership feat for flavor and role-playing purposes in the campaigne I was in last year. When deciding what kind of character the cohort should be, the GM wanted me to have someone who would not overshadow any of the other PC abilities. I ended up choosing an NPC my character had interacted frequently with, but who was a few levels lower than the rest of the party. Although he did not add much in a fight, my character was allowed to explore a part of the world that was closed to our party before he joined it. It made for some great role-playing and my character got quite a few bonuses because of it.

 

[Crothian]

Leadership is just that, a person leads a group of people. He doesn't always pick who he leads and its not a mentor program.

 

[Enkhidu]

We've always used the cohort as a "roleplaying aid." For example, we've got one PC who has taken the feat as a way to staff and protect a base of operations. For us, it seems to be working very well in that manner.

 

[jerichothebard]

...its not a mentor program.

I don't agree with that. In my campaign, the (cloistered) cleric has a paladin cohort, who is basically his bodyguard.

The backstory there is that he has always wanted to be an adventurer, but his mother is against it. So he joined the paladin order, but was starting to let wanderlust and thirst for adventure get the better of his judgement.

So his uncle (one of the party's senior contacts and also a cleric) has asked the cleric PC to take his 'wayward' nephew under the party's wing and try to keep him alive and righteous.

So the cohort sees it as a way to grow up to be an adventurer, and by apprenticing him to a cleric, his uncle keeps his nephew from falling from grace (which might have otherwise happened.)



YMMV, of course, but that is how we use it.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I mix'n match. Leadership means you attract people to you. You don't get to choose who comes to you but you do get to choose who you turn into your bosom buddy cohort. In other words, the GM provides choices for the player.

For some characters the mentor approach makes sense; the cleric's cohorts and followers all wish to emulate or assist him (aka mentor). The bard's followers, however, are entranced by his personality and like to be around him but don't want to particularly be like him (aka round out the party).

So the cleric's cohort and followers tend operate his temples, tend to his projects, and basically act as his factors. The Bard's followers provide the same resources, but the cohort mage is drawn to the rousing stories and wants to be a part of the adventure (but doesn't see himself as a follower; the Bard is his friend)

There's probably a third option I'm not aware of but it doesn't have to be all or nothing.

 

[Mark Causey]

I only have one player with the Leadership feat, but I use it to the utmost. First, and foremost, my player, a bard, has finally accrued enough wealth to open a bar/stage/bordello. Now that he's taken the Leadership feat, he gets:

• the people to staff it, the loyalty to leave them alone for adventures, and some great NPCs to interact with every so often.
• an apprentice bard, who learns all his stories and keeps the stage running while he's gone. (Great for egoes, both player and character.)
• a backup in battle who's training him in his new prestige class. Just becase the cohort is lower level doesn't mean there aren't things that can be taught ...

AtR