Awakened Roc as a cohort? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Awakened Roc as a cohort? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Jaith
04-26-07, 04:35 AM Okay my PC's are 12th level and one of them just took leadership. He wants an awakened Roc as his cohort. What effective level do you guys think that would be? I was thinking like 13th level equivalent, so he really couldn't get it until 15th level. What do you guys think?
runestar
04-26-07, 04:46 AM An awakened roc has 20 animal HD. That is like epic territory you are talking about...:P
orionm42
04-26-07, 04:35 PM I would not allow it for a number of reasons.

First, as runestar noted, it is a 20HD animal once awakened. I would not put his effective level too far below that for purposes of determining whether or not the PC could attract him. In any event, he clearly could not do it at his current level.

Second, and more importantly, I would not allow it for gameplay reasons. The creature is gargantuan...it has a 20ft. space and 15 ft. reach. Because of its size and ability to fly, it would be too easy for the PC to use the Roc for battlefield control. Also, it has pretty decent HP, so it could absorb quite a bit of damage. Finally, the Roc's environment is “warm mountains.” I generally try to follow environment pretty closely when developing combat encounters. I think it would be odd to find such a creature adventuring to all of the different environments the PCs would travel to.

A few asides…I don't know how you are running your campaign, but most 12th level PCs would not be able to make the required DC 28 Will save the awaken spell calls for here. Also, is the PC planning to share his treasure with his cohort? I would insist upon it in this case (even though the creature would be a magical beast and they usually don’t carry treasure) mostly because, if the creature demanded no treasure, it would be like giving the player the Roc as an animal companion (which the awaken spell prohibits). Also, this would take treasure away from the other players...I am not sure they would go along with it.
wrecan
04-26-07, 05:18 PM A NPC is considered to have an effective character level of HD + class levels + level adjustment. A roc has 18 HD, so is, at minimum a 18th level cohort.

This, despite the fact that it has a CR of 9 unawakened In contrast, a giant eagle has a +2 cohort level adjustment, and only has 4 HD (making it a 6th level cohort). I imagine an awakened roc would have at least a +2 cohort level adjustment, and would be, at a minimum, an epic level cohort, for which Leadership 30 would be needed, and the character would have to be at least 22nd level.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jaith 04-26-07, 04:35 AM	Okay my PC's are 12th level and one of them just took leadership. He wants an awakened Roc as his cohort. What effective level do you guys think that would be? I was thinking like 13th level equivalent, so he really couldn't get it until 15th level. What do you guys think?
runestar 04-26-07, 04:46 AM	An awakened roc has 20 animal HD. That is like epic territory you are talking about...:P
orionm42 04-26-07, 04:35 PM	I would not allow it for a number of reasons. First, as runestar noted, it is a 20HD animal once awakened. I would not put his effective level too far below that for purposes of determining whether or not the PC could attract him. In any event, he clearly could not do it at his current level. Second, and more importantly, I would not allow it for gameplay reasons. The creature is gargantuan...it has a 20ft. space and 15 ft. reach. Because of its size and ability to fly, it would be too easy for the PC to use the Roc for battlefield control. Also, it has pretty decent HP, so it could absorb quite a bit of damage. Finally, the Roc's environment is “warm mountains.” I generally try to follow environment pretty closely when developing combat encounters. I think it would be odd to find such a creature adventuring to all of the different environments the PCs would travel to. A few asides…I don't know how you are running your campaign, but most 12th level PCs would not be able to make the required DC 28 Will save the awaken spell calls for here. Also, is the PC planning to share his treasure with his cohort? I would insist upon it in this case (even though the creature would be a magical beast and they usually don’t carry treasure) mostly because, if the creature demanded no treasure, it would be like giving the player the Roc as an animal companion (which the awaken spell prohibits). Also, this would take treasure away from the other players...I am not sure they would go along with it.
wrecan 04-26-07, 05:18 PM	A NPC is considered to have an effective character level of HD + class levels + level adjustment. A roc has 18 HD, so is, at minimum a 18th level cohort. This, despite the fact that it has a CR of 9 unawakened In contrast, a giant eagle has a +2 cohort level adjustment, and only has 4 HD (making it a 6th level cohort). I imagine an awakened roc would have at least a +2 cohort level adjustment, and would be, at a minimum, an epic level cohort, for which Leadership 30 would be needed, and the character would have to be at least 22nd level.