Social power in D&D?

[Caspian Marqine]

Hmm, I'm running into a tad bit of a quandary in the game I'm playing in. My character is supposed to be a high ranking character within an army. This I assume allows me to draw my own troops for use during the adventure. However, I don't know if or how this is taken into account in D&D mechanics.


Any ideas?



Jonathan

 

[Crothian]

Leadership is my best guess

 

[Turanil]

I would say this: an alternate version of Leadership. That is, in the case of this military commander, Leadership works only as long as the character is still a recognized leader of the army. Then, any character slain are replaced automatically, but they don't belong to, or follow the character except when he calls them for a few exceptional circumstances.

 

[Caspian Marqine]

yeah an alt. leadership may help. I did take the leadership feat, to account for the 5 3rd level elven rogue/fighters I "withdrew" for my purposes, but apparently at our current level (just turned 6th), I should only be able to have one 4th level cohort.

PC background wise my character is supposed to be in charge of a "small" (in a formation fighting era that would be 20-40 I guess) unit of elite skirmishers. Pulling them all out for use in game would be troublesome, but yeah my access to them isn't really defined by game mechanics.

The game is getting kinda high powered despite our low level, and currently my rogue4/fighter2 seems to now be the party's main fighter. Its troublesome due to my terribly low HPs, but alright thanks due to my insanely high AC for my level



Jonathan

 

[irdeggman]

yeah an alt. leadership may help. I did take the leadership feat, to account for the 5 3rd level elven rogue/fighters I "withdrew" for my purposes, but apparently at our current level (just turned 6th), I should only be able to have one 4th level cohort.


Jonathan

Actually (this issue has come up many times in the past) per the RAW (3.5) there is no limit to the number of cohorts a character can have, only the level they may be. If you check the table and text in the DMG there is nothing (except maybe common sense or imposed limitations) that indicate the number of cohorts a character can have.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Actually (this issue has come up many times in the past) per the RAW (3.5) there is no limit to the number of cohorts a character can have, only the level they may be. If you check the table and text in the DMG there is nothing (except maybe common sense or imposed limitations) that indicate the number of cohorts a character can have.

This is debatable, and has been. I personally think you are completely wrong on what the RAW permits. It permits you to have multiple replacement cohorts. It does not permit you to have several cohorts at once.

I'll leave it at that, though. The argument's been done, and people either side one way or the other. There hasn't been any new clarification on WotC's part, that I know of.

 

[Storyteller01]

Might not need mechanics for this one...

If your DM's willing to fudge the adventure a little, have your character request assistance from his superiors. You get your troops, and the DM can control the relative power and number of said troops. Moreover, after everything is said and done, you don't have to pay them (it's part of the job. the army pays their way...).

Role playing opportunity: Your rep can improve based on the number of troops you bring back alive, and what they witness while they work under you. Maybe sharing some of the treasure can bring further rewards down the line...

If you want permanent control of a unit, you can apply the same concept. Their loyalty is to their army/country/etc. Taking Leadership later can be used to represent those personell closest to you.

No point in blowing a feat if you can use your Diplomacy skills!

 

[Caspian Marqine]

Heh, well when I hit 6th my GM made me pay for my reasonably accurate arrow volley unit with the feat. I hope to not have to pull them out too much but there were some nasty fights, like the last most recent one, which was a CR 10 fight, against a party of five 5th + 6th level characters. It wasn't played as nastily as it could have been but I was reduced to being an elven wall for quite some time, going full defence to keep my AC up after being hit by a ray of enfeeblement, and keeping part of a tunnel blocked off so the ranger and Elf squad could shoot the heck out of everyone.

Now a story-explaination I think would be best. The last session of the game had our characters starting up a training facility to teach people how to fight an growing presence of underground monsters (orks with beholder influence). And being the only military officer in the party I think I'm the leader of that thing.



Jonathan