What happens if a hireling (say and adept) that has craft magic arms and armor feat, is told to craft a set of magic armor. The PC pays for the materials, the PC is already paying for the Hireling.
Does this work?
Can a PC use Leadership to have a cohort craft magic arms and armor, wondrous Items, potions, scrolls, rings, etc.. for just the cost of materials?
Is that not like getting a lot of feats for free?
What happens if a hireling (say and adept) that has craft magic arms and armor feat, is told to craft a set of magic armor. The PC pays for the materials, the PC is already paying for the Hireling.
Does this work?
Yes, if the GM allows it.
Can a PC use Leadership to have a cohort craft magic arms and armor, wondrous Items, potions, scrolls, rings, etc.. for just the cost of materials?Is that not like getting a lot of feats for free?
Yes, and this would be a big reason the GM may not allow it to play in his game. You also don't have to have the down time, as you can just leave the hireling behind while you go adventure which you couldn't really do if you were the crafter.
In our Kingmaker game the ruler has a cohort, who is also the Spy Master, who creates or enhances items for 75% of the cost of purchasing the item. It still takes time for the crafting but we usually do kingdom building while that is going on. The additional cost is so the player can equip his cohort without using his own funds. Seems to work pretty well for our group. YMMV.
The PC also has to pay money to keep the hireling equipped so he does not die. Even if the hireling stays back at home base that does not guarantee safety. The bad guys should start trying to gather information on the PC's if they are smart. Once they realize the support is left undefended they get to kill him.
Our rulers cohort and several other retired PC's are all in the capital at our castle. As I said this only works for our group and yours might be different.