Level for granted cohorts question

[James McMurray]

Hey everyone, this weekend my party found and Bathed in the Pool of Love in my campaign. they were each reunited (or met) with someone that they love. The full explanation will be forthcoming in the "[Story Hour] The New Epic Chronicles" thread later this week. However, now I find my self in bit of a predicament.

The pool has gifted them each with a cohort of sorts. This person is a resurrected loved one for the Paladin, a revered ancestor for the Samurai, and the personification of Greyhawk City itself for the Cleric. In any case, I now need to stat these cohorts up.

I have to either make them 17th level (the max for leadership) or 20th level (as if they were gotten by Epic Leadership). 17th level seems more balanced, since it is a pseudo-feat they received for free basiclly. However, 3 17th level characters following around 3 22nd level characters would most likely be a major inconvenience as opposed to th help I want them to be. One of the prime reasons (out of game) that I'm using this as the gift of the Pool of Love is to beef up the three person party and to avoid having to run an NPC in order to use adventures and creatures based on their CR.

So, any ideas? Thanks!

 

[S'mon]

Just to say I'm a bit gobsmacked at the idea that 17th level characters (able to cast 9th level spells, if casters) could ever be a hindrance, 22nd level doesn't seem _that_ much higher. Of course I've only DM'd those levels extensively in 1e-2e. The 3e power gradient does seem incredibly steep.

Even if they would be overpowered by the opposition in an Epic dungeon crawl, surely those 17th levellers could be handy to provide backup spellpower, act as castellan/castle steward, rule dominions for the PCs while they're away, and such?

Thrin finds 17th level followers very useful IMC, and he's an 82nd level deity.

Edit: If you (as DM) _need_ the NPCs to boost the party level, I'd say make them 20th level. I'm surprised that would make a huge difference to their power, but as they're not normal cohorts I see no problem with this.