Which Cohort Should I Plan On Making?

[Third Mind]

Ok, so my GM already knows and is ok with me planning on taking the leadership feat come 7th level.

The party consists of a Wizard (myself), a sorcerer (seems to be focusing on enchanting & later summoning), a dex archer (that MAY be going to dex based melee later) either a ranger or an inquisitor (can't tell quite yet) and a melee based rogue.

Now, seeing as I'm not sure if the ranger / inquisitor is a ranger or inquisitor, nor do I know if they plan on taking item creation feats, I feel that I should pick (or ask the DM to pick) a class that has access to cure light wounds and other healing and buff spells. However, I also feel like it'd be real nice to have a sort of body guard for my character frail and squishy as he is. So, here are some of the class builds I was considering:

- Mr. Hyde Alchemist (Has access to cure wounds, auto-gets potion making and can potentially be an ok bodyguard.)

- A synthesist or master or vanilla summoner (Would fit the body guard aspect very well, but no access to cure wound spells.)

- Witch (Good support for the whole party, has access to cure wound spells, but far less of a body guard)

- Cleric (Obviously good at healing, okay spells, not very much a body guard, not ultra fond of Clerics though)

- Druid (Could go Wildshape for bodyguard, I believe has access to cure wound spells)

- Inquisitor (Could be nice for both cure wound spells and body guard.)

- Bard (Less of a bodyguard more party support, has access to cure wound spells.)

- Juju Oracle (White Necromancer with access to cure wound spells)

Ok, so I know those are quite a few to choose from. I'm leaning towards a synth summoner for pure body guard goodness, even though the lack of party healing will suck.

After that I was thinking perhaps the Juju Oracle, but they don't get their real undead maker abilities until a bit after 5th level.

Next choice I guess would be the Mr. Hyde alchemist. Has pretty much every prereq I'm looking for, but I haven't read enough to know how good mr. hyde alchemists are as tank bodyguards.

What do you think? Which of these would be best? Are there other things I haven't mentioned that may do what I'm looking for better?

Note: This cohort would (probably) be Neutral, so that it makes sense for her to follow my character who is also Neutral.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Hawktitan]

I'd go with a controller bard (whips and nets). A cohort buffing six other people is really really good and won't steal the spotlight so to speak. My fear is if you choose to get a summoner (esp a synth summoner) is that you will get less of a body guard and more of an animal companion.

[Third Mind]

That is a good possibility. I definitely don't want to steal spotlight. I may go a dervish dancer build for a more effective and maybe just as helpful to the team character. With our lack of melee capable people, I just feel like we might need another on the front line.

Thanks for the suggestion, Bard is definitely amongst the top now.

[Booksy]

You need a healer/party buffer/frontliner and you haven't considered Paladin?

Tsk tsk.

[Third Mind]

Well, I did consider a paladin very briefly, but a part I left out was that a couple of our party members are evil. So, I'm not sure how a paladin would work well with our team.

[Booksy]

Ah, then nevermind on the Paladin...

Antipaladin or Cleric (or if its a higher level campaign a summoning/shapeshifting focused Druid can work too)

[darkwarriorkarg]

Ranger /Fighter specializing in sword & shield? They get some cure spells...

Otherwise, a very protective cleric...

[insaneogeddon]

Cohorts are lower level and have less equipment, this can be an issue. Also the extra opinion can unbalance some 'votes' on action depending on how much you role play.

Always found druid a great cohort. Max con and wis. They stay in wild shape (needs little equipment) and has some good buffs, healing and movement flexibility to get everywhere (and be small for when your party teleports).

Reach spell allows healing at range.

The ultimate companion - a casting pet !!

Its also the only cohort DMs can have a go at fairly. Land bound cohorts with obvious buffing ability are targeted by any sane opponents that recognise soft targets. High con wis/con druids are well above their CR in toughness. A good domain power is also handy to pee shoot oponents and come across as a null threat. Weather is a good low de-buff with a great area attack at 8th.

Bard Battle Heralds get double stacking inspire courage but are soft targets at the best of times and with poor equipment will never get where they are needed or stand when there in a challenging campaign.

[Third Mind]

Druid sounds like an interesting possibility. I'll need to look over some of the popular guides but it could be a fun addition to the team.

Cleric could work as well, but I have little to no experience with them whatsoever and for some reason or another, I've never been all that interested in them. I will see about giving them a chance as well.

I'm going to leave out the Juju Oracle as they don't get their useful undead spells until a bit later. At least the useful ones.

Hyde alchemist being a few levels below us probably wouldn't do to well I suppose. So I guess that one's out as well.

Ranger / Fighter is a possibility I guess, but I am leaning more towards slightly fuller casters for possible future plans.

Thanks for the advice / suggestions thus far everyone.

[byron34]

Clerics are very versatile, second only to druids. They can melee, ranged, cast, buff, and heal. And they can do all of them well without suffering any of the others.
The most intimidating part of playing a cleric is finding a deity that suits your concept of personality and special abilities. The deities also determine (usually) the weapons allowed. If they take some meta-magic feats their heals become even better. You could even prestige class them to make them more adept at it.
Druids can also do every role you can imagine. The only place that they differ in versatility from a cleric is equipment, and deities. The druid cannot use metal armour, which can be a hindrance, but they have shape shifts that can remove that penalty. Also can scout, track, and ambush much better than a cleric could.