A Request for Cohort Advice [Archive] - Wizards Community

A Request for Cohort Advice [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
nlentz88
09-21-07, 03:05 AM Here's the situation.

I'm an experienced DM running a game for five fairly inexperienced players (a few 1st ed. and 2nd ed. vets). I started them at 1st level and they chose the following classes: ranger, rogue, sorcerer, fighter, and monk. Obviously, no cure-x bank (i.e. cleric/druid) among them. Luckily, the first adventure I ran was the Sunless Citadel module which included an NPC gnome fighter/cleric that the PCs rescued from the goblin dungeons. The PCs asked the gnome to join their merry band, and he has been heeling them through level six.

Now, I'm the kind of DM that usually looks down on DMPCs. But in this case, the gnome was a sub-optimal character who I kept conveniently in the background (letting the PCs do all the heroics, make all the decisions, etc.). Still, the PCs know that this ally is sucking valuable XP from the group (ugh... power gamers). And being multi-class, the poor gnome isn't able to offer superior healing to the party.

So.

The sorcerer in the group took the Leadership feat at 6th level. He wants a cleric cohort to accompany the party. The rogue is working towards maxing out his UMD skill (to use healing scrolls and wands), and the fighter has even begun to consider taking a level in cleric, but right now I have a sorcerer PC with the Leadership feat who wants a cleric cohort to heal him and the party.

And now (finally), my questions to you, my fellow DMs:

1. How do you run the recruitment of cohorts and followers?

2. Do you let the player run the cohort/followers himself, or do you as DM run these NPCs? Do you allow the player to control the cohort/followers in combat, but you as DM run them in role-playing situations?

3. Since I already have five PCs in my group, will I encounter many challenges by having a cohort and followers tagging along? If so, what advice can you give me to avoid difficulty? Please consider my specific situation as detailed above.

Thanks in advance for the advice. I'm sure there are other questions I should be asking, so any experiences and gained wisdom you'd like to share would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Nick
JimmytheHand
09-21-07, 07:02 AM Here's the situation.
And now (finally), my questions to you, my fellow DMs:

1. How do you run the recruitment of cohorts and followers?

2. Do you let the player run the cohort/followers himself, or do you as DM run these NPCs? Do you allow the player to control the cohort/followers in combat, but you as DM run them in role-playing situations?

3. Since I already have five PCs in my group, will I encounter many challenges by having a cohort and followers tagging along? If so, what advice can you give me to avoid difficulty? Please consider my specific situation as detailed above.

Thanks in advance for the advice. I'm sure there are other questions I should be asking, so any experiences and gained wisdom you'd like to share would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Nick

1. We've always allowed them to appear at some convinient time and place having heard of the PC's abilities and adventures. Usually with a desire to learn all they can from the PC.

2. We let the Player's control the Cohort as it's easier on the DM. But that being said we also require a basic write up on the Cohort so that the DM can step in and play them if the Player takes too much liberty with the Cohort.

3. In general the only issue we've had with cohorts was a Vow of Peace Cleric trying to talk the party out of killing blatently evil monsters. Which was more fun, for the PCs to find a way around than anything else. What I'd recomend watching for is the use of the Cohort as merely a tool with no regards to them as a character, how are they going to feel about it? But remember to warn your players that Cohorts are people too. ;)
JohnnyWeird
09-21-07, 10:45 AM 1. Depends on the cohort and followers. An apprentice wizard, a mercenary hireling and a devout cultist of PC-Is-A-God become involved with the PCs in different ways.
2. Having the DM run a cohort makes for better roleplaying, since it becomes a character instead of a living wand of cure light wounds. The players stat the cohort, and followers by and large come out of charts in the DMG.
3. More characters on the player's side means they can face more difficult challenges. Scale up accordingly. With a high enough leadership score, you may be making the transition from skirmish combat to full-on battles. As with PCs, be aware of the cohort's and followers' abilities and use them to the greatest enjoyment of all involved.
nlentz88
09-21-07, 11:22 AM Thanks for the advice, guys. Keep it coming!
Cantankerous
09-21-07, 04:12 PM ...

1. How do you run the recruitment of cohorts and followers?

2. Do you let the player run the cohort/followers himself, or do you as DM run these NPCs? Do you allow the player to control the cohort/followers in combat, but you as DM run them in role-playing situations?

3. Since I already have five PCs in my group, will I encounter many challenges by having a cohort and followers tagging along? If so, what advice can you give me to avoid difficulty? Please consider my specific situation as detailed above.

1) This is so campaign dependent I'm not even sure what you are asking. In the present campaign I'm running it's all handled organically. The only way you get a cohort is to take the feat and then make the in game RPed situation fit. So, your Sorcerer might need to "find god" and take on a personal priest to help him do so.

This is precisely what we had occur in our game when the Lathanderite Cleric who had been with the party decided to take a position offered to him by the Church instead of haring around as an adventurer. In our group it was also a Sorcerer who took Leadership and set out to convince one of the local Priestesses of Sune whom he was already friendly with that he was in sore need of long term religious counseling. The two have a complex relationship and it is one requiring me to RP the Priestess.

2) Which leads me in to #2. The Player runs the character in combat and I run the cohort out of combat. Almost always this is the way to go of the Player is worth their salt.

3) Run in much the same way as you have run the Gnome you mentioned in the past and leave well enough alone. Essentially you just transfer the fuss and paperwork to the Player and have the same relative situation.

Isshia
Drag0nUL
09-21-07, 05:22 PM 1. How do you run the recruitment of cohorts and followers?

2. Do you let the player run the cohort/followers himself, or do you as DM run these NPCs? Do you allow the player to control the cohort/followers in combat, but you as DM run them in role-playing situations?

3. Since I already have five PCs in my group, will I encounter many challenges by having a cohort and followers tagging along? If so, what advice can you give me to avoid difficulty? Please consider my specific situation as detailed above.

I will try to answer these questions as both a DM and a person who currently plays a character with Leadership (a cleric in an Eberron game.

1. I usually let the players come up with a way they want to come in contact with the cohort and if it is reasonable I will implement it.
For example, my cleric served in the army before devoting himself to the church. His cohort( half-elf fighter/rogue) had served under his command in the recently ended war. Being released from the army at the end of the war, he found no place to work so he became a brigand. And so, in the middle of a bandit attack my cleric stumbled upon him and, in rememberance of the time they spent together on the frontlines decided to offer him a more honorable way to earn a living.

2. I usually play cohorts myself when I DM and I really like when the DM's I play with do the same since I feel it encourages interaction.
In the above example, my character and his cohort have been through a lot together and this makes for some pretty good roleplay moments. I would feel like an idiot if I had to talk to myself .

3. So far I have not seen Leadership generating too much problems in any game I have played/DMed.
Puca
09-21-07, 08:25 PM 1. How do you run the recruitment of cohorts and followers?It depends on the campaign and where we are within that campaign.

Easiest thing to do, I have the player write up the circumstances and all. Include it with the character sheet. (Yes, I let them make the cohort. Ive got a life. I inspect it closely as I would a PCs. Depending on the campaign, I usually give a fewer points for the point buy. If the PCs are at 28, the cohort is at 25. Hes not a PC.)

2. Do you let the player run the cohort/followers himself, or do you as DM run these NPCs? Do you allow the player to control the cohort/followers in combat, but you as DM run them in role-playing situations?The latter. It is his "feat." Let him decide what it does. Only if it is a problem, like behaving suicidal, acting against alignment, if he cant manage the load, do I step in and take a more active role other than rp.

3. Since I already have five PCs in my group, will I encounter many challenges by having a cohort and followers tagging along? If so, what advice can you give me to avoid difficulty? Please consider my specific situation as detailed above.Followers are a pain in the ass. They are such low level compared to the PCs. You cant take them with you without them dying, and then the clerics think they deserve healing, raising. Find a base. Leave them there.

For the cohort, not really a problem. Things can get crowded. The player has to be on the ball keeping track of two characters, but nothing inherently problematic.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
nlentz88 09-21-07, 03:05 AM	Here's the situation. I'm an experienced DM running a game for five fairly inexperienced players (a few 1st ed. and 2nd ed. vets). I started them at 1st level and they chose the following classes: ranger, rogue, sorcerer, fighter, and monk. Obviously, no cure-x bank (i.e. cleric/druid) among them. Luckily, the first adventure I ran was the Sunless Citadel module which included an NPC gnome fighter/cleric that the PCs rescued from the goblin dungeons. The PCs asked the gnome to join their merry band, and he has been heeling them through level six. Now, I'm the kind of DM that usually looks down on DMPCs. But in this case, the gnome was a sub-optimal character who I kept conveniently in the background (letting the PCs do all the heroics, make all the decisions, etc.). Still, the PCs know that this ally is sucking valuable XP from the group (ugh... power gamers). And being multi-class, the poor gnome isn't able to offer superior healing to the party. So. The sorcerer in the group took the Leadership feat at 6th level. He wants a cleric cohort to accompany the party. The rogue is working towards maxing out his UMD skill (to use healing scrolls and wands), and the fighter has even begun to consider taking a level in cleric, but right now I have a sorcerer PC with the Leadership feat who wants a cleric cohort to heal him and the party. And now (finally), my questions to you, my fellow DMs: 1. How do you run the recruitment of cohorts and followers? 2. Do you let the player run the cohort/followers himself, or do you as DM run these NPCs? Do you allow the player to control the cohort/followers in combat, but you as DM run them in role-playing situations? 3. Since I already have five PCs in my group, will I encounter many challenges by having a cohort and followers tagging along? If so, what advice can you give me to avoid difficulty? Please consider my specific situation as detailed above. Thanks in advance for the advice. I'm sure there are other questions I should be asking, so any experiences and gained wisdom you'd like to share would be appreciated. Thanks, Nick
JimmytheHand 09-21-07, 07:02 AM	Here's the situation. And now (finally), my questions to you, my fellow DMs: 1. How do you run the recruitment of cohorts and followers? 2. Do you let the player run the cohort/followers himself, or do you as DM run these NPCs? Do you allow the player to control the cohort/followers in combat, but you as DM run them in role-playing situations? 3. Since I already have five PCs in my group, will I encounter many challenges by having a cohort and followers tagging along? If so, what advice can you give me to avoid difficulty? Please consider my specific situation as detailed above. Thanks in advance for the advice. I'm sure there are other questions I should be asking, so any experiences and gained wisdom you'd like to share would be appreciated. Thanks, Nick 1. We've always allowed them to appear at some convinient time and place having heard of the PC's abilities and adventures. Usually with a desire to learn all they can from the PC. 2. We let the Player's control the Cohort as it's easier on the DM. But that being said we also require a basic write up on the Cohort so that the DM can step in and play them if the Player takes too much liberty with the Cohort. 3. In general the only issue we've had with cohorts was a Vow of Peace Cleric trying to talk the party out of killing blatently evil monsters. Which was more fun, for the PCs to find a way around than anything else. What I'd recomend watching for is the use of the Cohort as merely a tool with no regards to them as a character, how are they going to feel about it? But remember to warn your players that Cohorts are people too. ;)
JohnnyWeird 09-21-07, 10:45 AM	1. Depends on the cohort and followers. An apprentice wizard, a mercenary hireling and a devout cultist of PC-Is-A-God become involved with the PCs in different ways. 2. Having the DM run a cohort makes for better roleplaying, since it becomes a character instead of a living wand of cure light wounds. The players stat the cohort, and followers by and large come out of charts in the DMG. 3. More characters on the player's side means they can face more difficult challenges. Scale up accordingly. With a high enough leadership score, you may be making the transition from skirmish combat to full-on battles. As with PCs, be aware of the cohort's and followers' abilities and use them to the greatest enjoyment of all involved.
nlentz88 09-21-07, 11:22 AM	Thanks for the advice, guys. Keep it coming!
Cantankerous 09-21-07, 04:12 PM	... 1. How do you run the recruitment of cohorts and followers? 2. Do you let the player run the cohort/followers himself, or do you as DM run these NPCs? Do you allow the player to control the cohort/followers in combat, but you as DM run them in role-playing situations? 3. Since I already have five PCs in my group, will I encounter many challenges by having a cohort and followers tagging along? If so, what advice can you give me to avoid difficulty? Please consider my specific situation as detailed above. 1) This is so campaign dependent I'm not even sure what you are asking. In the present campaign I'm running it's all handled organically. The only way you get a cohort is to take the feat and then make the in game RPed situation fit. So, your Sorcerer might need to "find god" and take on a personal priest to help him do so. This is precisely what we had occur in our game when the Lathanderite Cleric who had been with the party decided to take a position offered to him by the Church instead of haring around as an adventurer. In our group it was also a Sorcerer who took Leadership and set out to convince one of the local Priestesses of Sune whom he was already friendly with that he was in sore need of long term religious counseling. The two have a complex relationship and it is one requiring me to RP the Priestess. 2) Which leads me in to #2. The Player runs the character in combat and I run the cohort out of combat. Almost always this is the way to go of the Player is worth their salt. 3) Run in much the same way as you have run the Gnome you mentioned in the past and leave well enough alone. Essentially you just transfer the fuss and paperwork to the Player and have the same relative situation. Isshia
Drag0nUL 09-21-07, 05:22 PM	1. How do you run the recruitment of cohorts and followers? 2. Do you let the player run the cohort/followers himself, or do you as DM run these NPCs? Do you allow the player to control the cohort/followers in combat, but you as DM run them in role-playing situations? 3. Since I already have five PCs in my group, will I encounter many challenges by having a cohort and followers tagging along? If so, what advice can you give me to avoid difficulty? Please consider my specific situation as detailed above. I will try to answer these questions as both a DM and a person who currently plays a character with Leadership (a cleric in an Eberron game. 1. I usually let the players come up with a way they want to come in contact with the cohort and if it is reasonable I will implement it. For example, my cleric served in the army before devoting himself to the church. His cohort( half-elf fighter/rogue) had served under his command in the recently ended war. Being released from the army at the end of the war, he found no place to work so he became a brigand. And so, in the middle of a bandit attack my cleric stumbled upon him and, in rememberance of the time they spent together on the frontlines decided to offer him a more honorable way to earn a living. 2. I usually play cohorts myself when I DM and I really like when the DM's I play with do the same since I feel it encourages interaction. In the above example, my character and his cohort have been through a lot together and this makes for some pretty good roleplay moments. I would feel like an idiot if I had to talk to myself . 3. So far I have not seen Leadership generating too much problems in any game I have played/DMed.
Puca 09-21-07, 08:25 PM	1. How do you run the recruitment of cohorts and followers?It depends on the campaign and where we are within that campaign. Easiest thing to do, I have the player write up the circumstances and all. Include it with the character sheet. (Yes, I let them make the cohort. Ive got a life. I inspect it closely as I would a PCs. Depending on the campaign, I usually give a fewer points for the point buy. If the PCs are at 28, the cohort is at 25. Hes not a PC.) 2. Do you let the player run the cohort/followers himself, or do you as DM run these NPCs? Do you allow the player to control the cohort/followers in combat, but you as DM run them in role-playing situations?The latter. It is his "feat." Let him decide what it does. Only if it is a problem, like behaving suicidal, acting against alignment, if he cant manage the load, do I step in and take a more active role other than rp. 3. Since I already have five PCs in my group, will I encounter many challenges by having a cohort and followers tagging along? If so, what advice can you give me to avoid difficulty? Please consider my specific situation as detailed above.Followers are a pain in the ass. They are such low level compared to the PCs. You cant take them with you without them dying, and then the clerics think they deserve healing, raising. Find a base. Leave them there. For the cohort, not really a problem. Things can get crowded. The player has to be on the ball keeping track of two characters, but nothing inherently problematic.