Outerplanar familiars or cohorts or the like

[Blake Duffey]

Several feats (improved familiar and leadership) allow for the introduction of outer planar types into the campaign. My level 11 paladin was considering taking leadership and going with a hound archon as a cohort.

My GM and I have a disagreement on this. (we both GM from time to time, so I've been in the chair often) I feel this is an interesting role-playing choice. He feels my PC can't simply request such a creature appear (and in fact, my paladin doesn't even know such an archon exists). I find this perspective sort of annoying.

The same thing applies with the aligned critters in the Bestiary 2 and 3 that can be familiars (see: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/improved-familiar) If I have a LG arcane caster and burn the feat, I think it's perfectly fine to have a harbinger archon as a familiar. I think it's an interesting role-playing choice, well within the rules, and provides me no real advantage.

I'm not looking for 'the GM is always right comments', as that is a given - and I'm not planning on telling him he is 'wrong'. I don't even have an issue if the GM requires some minor questing to logically have the critter find his way into the group. I'm simply looking for opinions. It just doesn't seem right to me that I spend a feat and can't get the benefits that are well within the rules.

Thanks

[Joyd]

Here's what I'd do as a GM -

In the case of leadership, I would, once the player takes the feat, or even before if possible, introduce a hound archon NPC, and try to weave them into the story in such a way that it would make sense to have the archon join the paladin as a cohort in the relatively near future. A somewhat more blunt way would be to simply have the paladin petition the heavens for aid, and have the archon sent in return. It's also possible that the archon is sent by a greater power to keep an eye on the paladin for some reason. This not only gives the archon his own reasons for sticking around, but it encourages the party to treat the archon well. If for some reason the story is in a place where it's important that the archon be a cohort NOW, I'd probably work with the player to sort of retrofit a relationship between the paladin and the archon - like perhaps the archon is a long-standing celestial contact.

I typically handle improved familiars as just "the normal process of acquiring a new familiar, if you're calling one from an outer plane, includes petitioning the outer plane for one - a request that someone with authority on the plane who hears your petition will always grant, provided your general ethos line up. (That is, that your alignment is appropriate, which is already one of the requirements for an aligned improved familiar.)" If the player wanted some kind of roleplaying snippet to go along with it, I'd probably figure something out.