Cohort Troubles [Archive] - Wizards Community

Cohort Troubles [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Taninger
08-26-06, 06:55 PM I'm currently playing in a campaign in which there are only two players. As such, we both have taken the leadership feat (done prior to showing each other our characters). The only problem with this is the way our DM runs leadership. My character is HAlf-Celestial, and as such, has an LA of +4... in addition to his 9 levels, for a total ECL of 13. My friend has no LA, and as such, is a level 13 Paladin, with a level 11 cohort. Now, I gain enough abilities from being a Half-Celestial to make this balanced and fine, my Incarnate wants for nothing in terms of his own strengths... but my own cohort is only level 7.

This wouldn't generally be an issue except that I quite like my cohort, and they have an important role, so far, in interacting with my character... but they have this habit of dying. I've tried to make them as non-combatative (support casting) as possible, in an attempt to make them useful out of the line of fire... but my DM tends towards campaigns that have more combat encounters than anything else, and I'm finding it a challenge to keep this character alive, let alone able to be of any use to the group. In a larger group, I'd drop leadership, but right now we need all the help we can get.
The DM has offered to allow me to retrain the cohort, but... I'm wondering if there's any class that might be effective at a significantly higher level of encounter. I've looked around for any literature on how to deal with ECL and LA in leadership, but... it seems to all be based on class level.

If I *need* to, I can drop the cohort... but that'll make the current monster-laden setting a fair bit harder to deal with, as we're struggling even with said cohort. (Cohort has died thrice, I've died once, and so has my friend. His cohort is the only one to not die, and even then there've been some close calls. This has been over the space of many encounters and adventures, and it's been a problem all the while... so I turn to you all. I've tried to offer giving up feats to balance this out, but that's no good.

Any advice?

P.S. On review, one may ask why I don't give up the Half-Celestial nature of my character, if it is what's causing the problems. The problem with that is that to do so would give up something that has become a focus of the campaign, trying to get a Celestial prince to his rightful place in the pantheon... a bit cliche, but fun. On that note, though... is there anything I could do to make my celestial-ness part of my actual leveling, in the same way that there are monster levels for characters with races of higher ECL than the campaign? If not, any adive on crafting them, or would that be a bad idea?
archerpwr
08-26-06, 07:01 PM If your DM isn't counting your half celestial template to your lvl for cohort you can argue that your lvl 7 cohort should be half celestial as well because half celestial doesnt count towards lvl in your dm's opinion. I tend to be kind of evil so i dont know what half celestial does for you but a half celestial cohort might help more than a standard lvl 7 cohort.
Aeromus
08-26-06, 08:11 PM I think your DM is playing it by the RaW actually.
StevenO
08-26-06, 10:40 PM Unfortunately, I agree that the DM is following the RAW. You should consider it an unforseen disadvantage of using a high LA template on your character. If you can find them there are rules for buying of LA which may indirectly help you cohort.
Taninger
08-27-06, 02:17 AM Thank you all for the help. I asked my DM again, and he converted the Half-Fiend Template Prestige Class (found by him on this site somewhere) to Half-Celestial, and allowed me to take that instead... the result is the same, I think, but it somehow managed to make more sense for him... despite being the same.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Taninger 08-26-06, 06:55 PM	I'm currently playing in a campaign in which there are only two players. As such, we both have taken the leadership feat (done prior to showing each other our characters). The only problem with this is the way our DM runs leadership. My character is HAlf-Celestial, and as such, has an LA of +4... in addition to his 9 levels, for a total ECL of 13. My friend has no LA, and as such, is a level 13 Paladin, with a level 11 cohort. Now, I gain enough abilities from being a Half-Celestial to make this balanced and fine, my Incarnate wants for nothing in terms of his own strengths... but my own cohort is only level 7. This wouldn't generally be an issue except that I quite like my cohort, and they have an important role, so far, in interacting with my character... but they have this habit of dying. I've tried to make them as non-combatative (support casting) as possible, in an attempt to make them useful out of the line of fire... but my DM tends towards campaigns that have more combat encounters than anything else, and I'm finding it a challenge to keep this character alive, let alone able to be of any use to the group. In a larger group, I'd drop leadership, but right now we need all the help we can get. The DM has offered to allow me to retrain the cohort, but... I'm wondering if there's any class that might be effective at a significantly higher level of encounter. I've looked around for any literature on how to deal with ECL and LA in leadership, but... it seems to all be based on class level. If I need to, I can drop the cohort... but that'll make the current monster-laden setting a fair bit harder to deal with, as we're struggling even with said cohort. (Cohort has died thrice, I've died once, and so has my friend. His cohort is the only one to not die, and even then there've been some close calls. This has been over the space of many encounters and adventures, and it's been a problem all the while... so I turn to you all. I've tried to offer giving up feats to balance this out, but that's no good. Any advice? P.S. On review, one may ask why I don't give up the Half-Celestial nature of my character, if it is what's causing the problems. The problem with that is that to do so would give up something that has become a focus of the campaign, trying to get a Celestial prince to his rightful place in the pantheon... a bit cliche, but fun. On that note, though... is there anything I could do to make my celestial-ness part of my actual leveling, in the same way that there are monster levels for characters with races of higher ECL than the campaign? If not, any adive on crafting them, or would that be a bad idea?
archerpwr 08-26-06, 07:01 PM	If your DM isn't counting your half celestial template to your lvl for cohort you can argue that your lvl 7 cohort should be half celestial as well because half celestial doesnt count towards lvl in your dm's opinion. I tend to be kind of evil so i dont know what half celestial does for you but a half celestial cohort might help more than a standard lvl 7 cohort.
Aeromus 08-26-06, 08:11 PM	I think your DM is playing it by the RaW actually.
StevenO 08-26-06, 10:40 PM	Unfortunately, I agree that the DM is following the RAW. You should consider it an unforseen disadvantage of using a high LA template on your character. If you can find them there are rules for buying of LA which may indirectly help you cohort.
Taninger 08-27-06, 02:17 AM	Thank you all for the help. I asked my DM again, and he converted the Half-Fiend Template Prestige Class (found by him on this site somewhere) to Half-Celestial, and allowed me to take that instead... the result is the same, I think, but it somehow managed to make more sense for him... despite being the same.