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I wanted some info on what exactly one does with the Leadership feat. Though I have had some suggestions (getting a 'nonstandard' mount, creating a bodyguard cohort for wizard types, etc.) I'm really not sure if it's all that useful outside of the Cohort part of the feat. The feat really doesn't give you enough people to run even a small fief (Something I commonly aspire toward with my characters)and I don't see how this feat would work with higher royalty, like Dukes, Counts, Kings and Marquis'. There would be too few people even at high levels to decently defend a CASTLE, much less a KINGDOM!
IN some of the much older materials (Yes, I'm talking 20 years or so) There is written material for large battles, confidence ratings of towns and cities, even forms of Address for nobility and those who serve them. Is Paizo (or anyone else) going to attempt to recreate this stuff?
ANy comments, opinions or suggestions would be awesome!
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I think the Kingmaker AP covers a lot of what you're looking for.
As for Leadership - it's more to represent the loyal core of your minions than it is to represent everyone you employ. Anyone can pay for hirelings, even at level 1, no Feat required. With Leadership you have people willing to die for you (whether they like it or not! Nyahahahahah!!! ;) ).
Leadership cohorts and followers are completely dedicated to you through your sheer personal charisma, reputation, and what have you.
Most people in the world aren't anyone's Leadership cohort/follower, but are instead tied to people through more usual forms of social contract. So a King's Leadership feat might give him a few absolutely loyal bodyguards, councilors, tax collectors, and such, but the vast majority of people under his rule follow him for the usual reasons we see in the everyday world. Cause he has the money and the soldiers.
If you want to run a fief, your Leadership feat ought to give you a few people you can trust to run the place while you go off and adventure, but it doesn't mean you need a feat for every peasant farmer, servant, man at arms, etc.
EDIT: Got ninja'd a bit :P
The cohort can be great either for fixing what the party is missing, providing a support character, or having someone to craft stuff for you while you are adventuring. In typical size parties (around 4) it is often considered bad form for your cohort to shine too much, but groups vary, obviously.
As for followers, we always play that those are characters that the PC with the feat can trust absolutely. As long as the player doesn't betray them or force them into situations where they will be harmed needlessly or otherwise abuse them, he can be confident that his followers will have his back. So they might represent the most trusted members of the palace guard, or the criminal lieutenants who have your back and aren't looking to stab you in it. Alternately, they could be a whole workshop full of craftsmen cranking out items. Lots of possibilities.
When it comes to running large organizations or countries, you are going to have people who the Player can't control and might not be able to count on. Those are henchmen and hirelings and employees.
Thinking in terms of fictional characters, followers might be Batman's Alfred or Lucius Fox, or Tony Stark's Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan. Sherlock Holmes had a group of street boys who would keep there eyes open for him.
Its a pyramid scheme at high levels. You make sure your cohorts have Leadership themselves, and their cohorts have Leadership...
Eventually leading to one massive army, all loyal to you by proxy. Kind of like the armies of lords loyal to the king. The king can always call in everyone else's armies as well.
Things I've either done, or had done in my games, or were approved but never got to 7th level before the game ended :
Wizard cohort who creates magic items for a magic shop. Followers were either employees in the shop or street urchins who watched out for the shop or low-level adventurers that brought in materials for the wizard.
Cohorts led a platoon of soldiers (followers) who followed the group around and did things they didn't have time to do, like public works projects, guarded towns from goblin bandits, helped with search and rescue after natural disasters (Note, two characters had the feat).
Cohort and followers kept the groups base guarded and worked in it. The group had an old tower they were restoring (with the help of the cohort and followers).
I'm not familiar with PFS but I'm interested in what they did for the Nobility domain houserule. What is it?
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In a game I'm gonna be playing closer to Christmas, I just designed a high mid-level Undead bloodline Sorcerer who's followers consist primarily of neutral aligned clerics.
Remember, you can animate as many undead as you want with Animate Dead, but excess undead fall out of your control. Each cleric can control 4HD worth of undead (the level 1 ones, anyways), and the others can control more, each of which are entirely loyal to me.
He's the mayor of his own town in which the undead do a majority of the hard work, leaving the townsfolk to more pleasant ventures, such as the arts, swordplay, etc. He's lawful neutral, but would be good if raising the dead wasn't considered evil or wicked in nature.
Plus, he's pretty much got a standing army in his workforce in case the city ever gets attacked.
Remember, you have to think of the undead in terms of billable hours. 0. 0 billable hours.
*Edit: Forgot to mention. Several of his clerics actually channel positive energy. This has 2 benefits. 1) Keeps the townspeople happy, as they can work their butts off and still be healed/refreshed (remember, HP recovery heals an equal number of subdual damage). 2) In the event that some of the undead get out of control, I've got a strike team of clerics and paladins to neutralize them ASAP. As they're only 1HD undead, they're pretty much fried no matter how well clerics "roll". I've also got a few Summoners in my ranks who use their Eidolons primarily for construction and heavy lifting around town.
I wanted some info on what exactly one does with the Leadership feat.
Campaign specific but I was in a marine based campaign and from the beginning I was angling to the captain.
We ended up owning a boat about 5th level, instead of working on boats.
Next level took leadership and the DM converted most of the crew to followers.
The cohort was useful as I quickly turned from captain Kirk to captain Picard (Basically if the group lost my captain they would be lost if we were in the ocean)
So I played the cohort on away missions and played the Captain in civilized areas, i.e. where diplomacy rule over the sword.
So it was a great feat from a mechanical and a role playing perspective.
Cheers