Monstrous Cohorts?

[Werebat]

3.5, to clarify:

Let's say I've got an NPC, and I give them the Leadership feat. I'm thinking of having their cohort be some kind of monster, but I don't know how the cohort rules apply to monsters.

If the numbers show that he can have a 4th level cohort, for example, can he have a worg? Worgs have 4 hit dice, but their CR is only 2, and they have a level adjustment of +1 (cohort). Does this mean that their effective cohort level is 2 (their CR), 3 (their CR+1 for their level adjustment), 4 (their hit dice), or 5 (their hit dice +1 for their level adjustment)?

This seems like it should be easy to figure out but I'm not seeing the answer.

?

- Ron ^*^

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

3.5, to clarify:

Let's say I've got an NPC, and I give them the Leadership feat. I'm thinking of having their cohort be some kind of monster, but I don't know how the cohort rules apply to monsters.

If the numbers show that he can have a 4th level cohort, for example, can he have a worg? Worgs have 4 hit dice, but their CR is only 2, and they have a level adjustment of +1 (cohort). Does this mean that their effective cohort level is 2 (their CR), 3 (their CR+1 for their level adjustment), 4 (their hit dice), or 5 (their hit dice +1 for their level adjustment)?

This seems like it should be easy to figure out but I'm not seeing the answer.

?

- Ron ^*^

You would use their ECL. So a worg would count as a 5th-level cohort (Hit Dice + level adjustment), which means you couldn't take one as a cohort at the lowest level you could take the feat (6th). But wait a few levels and you could do it.

A worg doesn't make a good cohort though. They might have some trouble with magic items, I would think (the amulet of mighty fists is overpriced, especially for a creature that only gets one attack), although less than an animal companion (which basically has to share magic items with its master). Note that, over levels, a worg probably falls behind; it isn't going to get iterative attacks.

CR is irrelevant. You only take that into account for a creature that will only last one encounter.

 

[Werebat]

You would use their ECL. So a worg would count as a 5th-level cohort (Hit Dice + level adjustment), which means you couldn't take one as a cohort at the lowest level you could take the feat (6th). But wait a few levels and you could do it.

A worg doesn't make a good cohort though. They might have some trouble with magic items, I would think (the amulet of mighty fists is overpriced, especially for a creature that only gets one attack), although less than an animal companion (which basically has to share magic items with its master). Note that, over levels, a worg probably falls behind; it isn't going to get iterative attacks.

CR is irrelevant. You only take that into account for a creature that will only last one encounter.

Right, but this is an NPC, who will probably only last one encounter. Therefore we don't need to worry that his worg will fall behind, and I wonder if I should use CR instead of ECL for this purpose.

Thanks for the info on how to do it with a PC, though. It's what I figured, and yes, it does make a worg kind of a lame cohort (not so much in E6, though, which is what we're playing). The goblin wizard PC took Improved Familiar to have a worg cohort, for example, and I think it was a good choice for E6.

- Ron ^*^