Maximizing Leadership- Followers

[RUMBLETiGER]

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.

Yes, this is what I was hoping to convey with the last sentence in the 5th paragrah that reads, "For the purposes of this guide, let’s assume the same flexibility is allowed for choosing followers however know that any choice, as with anything else, is subject to the DM’s final say."

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

That is very cool.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

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

! Well that's cool. I have no idea how one does that.

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.

Thanks.

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).

This is excellent, with your permission I'll write up in the Followers examples section about poison and trap usage, and I'll flesh out a section on camp making using and expanding upon your sugestions here.

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).

I'll be honest, I've never played Pathfinder and don't have any of the books, I'm ignorant of the differences.

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

Yes, I've removed that section as a result. If I come across another cheap lifesaving setup, I'll add that in it's place.

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

Again, thank you!

 

[Alzrius]

! Well that's cool. I have no idea how one does that.

Well, I don't know about doing so now that it's been made available on your blog; that depends on the publisher. What I always did was find a small-press publisher who's interested in magazine-like articles and make a pitch. Bear in mind that while you're talking about closed content, rather than reprinting it, some publishers might be nervous about doing so.

Anyway, I wasn't offering a suggestion so much as saying that it's at that level (because it is).

This is excellent, with your permission I'll write up in the Followers examples section about poison and trap usage, and I'll flesh out a section on camp making using and expanding upon your sugestions here.

Permission granted! I look forward to the expanded sections!

 

[Grogg of the North]

In the last game I ran the bard took leadership and all of the followers were the stage-hands, other actors, and people that ran and worked at his theater. Though occasionally we joked that his higher level followers were his fan girls that chased after him through the city streets.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

In the last game I ran the bard took leadership and all of the followers were the stage-hands, other actors, and people that ran and worked at his theater. Though occasionally we joked that his higher level followers were his fan girls that chased after him through the city streets.

Great idea! I suggested a circus in my blog post, but an acting troupe is actually a much less complicated concept.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Updated, I added information on allowing your Followers to train the party in Teamwork Benefits and added another sample Follower, this one a Kobold specializing in Traps and Poisons.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Updated some details about useful spells some of the already written up Followers could use (Omen of Peril, Scholar's Touch, Groundsmoke), added a pair of Followers focused on convienence and comfort for the rest of the traveling band.

 

[Wycen]

Scanned your blog post again and while you sort of mention it, one obvious "advantage" of wizards is that they can scribe scrolls for you. I wouldn't say they'll spend their own resources to create things for free, but you should be able to provide the raw material for them to convert into the finished product.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Scanned your blog post again and while you sort of mention it, one obvious "advantage" of wizards is that they can scribe scrolls for you. I wouldn't say they'll spend their own resources to create things for free, but you should be able to provide the raw material for them to convert into the finished product.

Hm... problem with magical crafting is it's a xp drain. Since Followers never gain xp, you're looking at a finite resource out of them. I'm not sure how well that would work.

 

[Wycen]

Hm... problem with magical crafting is it's a xp drain. Since Followers never gain xp, you're looking at a finite resource out of them. I'm not sure how well that would work.

Ah, see this is where edition comes into play. Totally forgot that 3E requires XP. [notranslate]Pathfinder[/notranslate] just costs money so you could fork over some gold and this would work.