Maximizing Leadership- Followers

[RUMBLETiGER]

Please take a moment to read my Second Blog Post about another creative spin on a common game feature, this time Followers from the leadership feat. It's about micromanaging the level 1 Followers that come with the Leadership feat so that they are practical to the Adventuring Adventurer.

I'd appreciate feedback that critiques or builds upon my thoughts there. I'd really appreciate hearing how you guys have made use of this feature of the feat.

This is in the spirit of the Very First Post I'd ever made on these forums about Rust Monster Mounts.

Enjoy!

 

[the Jester]

Dude.

I'm not playing 3e or Pathfinder right now, but I strongly urge anyone who is and who has any interest in the Leadership feat whatsoever to read that post.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Dude.

I'm not playing 3e or Pathfinder right now, but I strongly urge anyone who is and who has any interest in the Leadership feat whatsoever to read that post.

Thank you sir.

 

[Wycen]

Interesting read. I think it is important to note this is really useful for 3E/3.5 games with access to a vast library of books. If you lack books its utility decreases and if you just got a cohort and followers from leadership in a Pathfinder game, like me, its utility is decreased again. But note this thread isn't marked Pathfinder

While my followers haven't yet had much time to do anything, they do serve a purpose for my character. While the heroes are away from their home city, my PC's followers keep his business interests running and, at least for the first 5 or 6 NPC's, I gave each a sentence or two of background for who they are or what they do. For example, one is a commoner who was a beggar. In the campaign background, the heroes current HQ was a warehouse which burned down because we destroyed a group of cultists that some beggars in town worked for. So this guy is a beggar who had no association with the cultists, but provides some "streetwise" ability to my PC.

Something that makes cohorts different from followers is that followers do not gain XP. Mechanically this was probably put in the rules so that you would not bring them along with you on adventures. But, they are doing stuff for you and for their friends and family so I have a trick to "level up" these followers. When your Leadership score increases, you gain more followers and as you get higher in level, these new followers who join you are higher in level. Instead of gaining followers higher in level, choose an old follower and upgrade them to the new level.

Example, Siofra the 1st wizard keeps an eye on the apprentice wizards while my PC is adventuring. When I come back she reports to me. I gained a level, increasing my leadership score and gaining a new 2nd level follower. So, I chose Siofra to gain 2nd level and the 1st level slot she previously inhabited is now open for another new 1st level follower.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Interesting read. I think it is important to note this is really useful for 3E/3.5 games with access to a vast library of books. If you lack books its utility decreases and if you just got a cohort and followers from leadership in a Pathfinder game, like me, its utility is decreased again. But note this thread isn't marked Pathfinder

Yes, I admit the usefulness of this content is pretty situational, is limited to 3.5, and assumes access to many books, as does many optimizing suggestions that get posted here. I'd like to still think, with however many books one does have access to, that there are bits and pieces that could still be useful for any player.

While my followers haven't yet had much time to do anything, they do serve a purpose for my character. While the heroes are away from their home city, my PC's followers keep his business interests running and, at least for the first 5 or 6 NPC's, I gave each a sentence or two of background for who they are or what they do.

That's cool, I think this is how Followers were intended to be played. I'm just trying to kick it up a notch while not violating anything RAW.

...so I have a trick to "level up" these followers. When your Leadership score increases, you gain more followers and as you get higher in level, these new followers who join you are higher in level. Instead of gaining followers higher in level, choose an old follower and upgrade them to the new level.

This.... this is brilliant. I'd never considered doing that. I may add a chapter about upgrading follwers and designing some Followers to make the most of this. Thank you!

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I added the Anti Dying Band-aid in the section on Safety.

I also added the thread on the Anti Dying Band-aid on this forum, because I realized I've not shared this idea before.

 

[Storminator]

I once played an epic level womanizer in the Forgotten Realms. My followers were barkeeps and whores and children that claimed to be mine all over the world. Whenever we teleported to another city my memorized locations were always in brothels - where we would immediately meet one of my followers.

PS

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I once played an epic level womanizer in the Forgotten Realms. My followers were barkeeps and whores and children that claimed to be mine all over the world. Whenever we teleported to another city my memorized locations were always in brothels - where we would immediately meet one of my followers.

PS

lol, that would be a fourth way of playing Followers, or in this case, playing with Followers.

 

[Jacob Marley]

Good blog post. Though, I think it is important to note that even if Leadership is allowed in the game, not every DM allows the player to write-up their own followers.

In our Greyhawk campaign, we often use followers as the next generation of adventurers.

For example, my cleric takes Leadership, adventurers for a number of levels before retiring. During that time, he develops his following and becomes a fixture in the campaign milieu. When we set out to do the next adventure, I may take one of those followers and release him from the service of my cleric. He becomes my new PC. What's cool is that the new PC is already established in the milieu. He has contacts and resources to draw upon. It also allows me to maintain my cleric as a semi-retired adventurer, ready to come out of retirement should he be needed. After a few years of playing this way, you develop a nice stable of PCs, at various levels, all interconnected, and ready for whatever situation develops.

 

[Alzrius]

Your article is good, to the point where I'd call it worthy of being published for pay.

Ordinarily I'm no fan of optimization, but optimization at low levels - and especially for level one characters - is just smart practice for staying alive. There are a lot of great ideas here, and I really liked the sample followers at the end.

This might be going too far afield (since a lot of this isn't follower-specific, per se), but I wonder if it'd be worthwhile talking about having followers who are adventuring with you setting up nonmagical defenses for setting up camps and such. Have a rogue with ranks in Craft (trapmaking) and Craft (alchemy) (for poison) and checking some of the lower-level traps in things like the DMG, Complete Adventure,r and Complete Scoundrel, along with some low-level spells, and you can quickly turn your camp into a death-trap for any low CR bad guys who want to try and kill you at night (even with no-sleep followers).

I also really, really wish you'd write an article on this subject for Pathfinder. The 3.5 version is not the same, since it references a lot of 3.5 supplements that Pathfinder doesn't have (though it has the d20PFSRD instead).

Also, it sounds like the anti-dying band-aid may have an issue regarding how, exactly, it works.

That said, this is a superlative article; you should be very proud!