Leadership, PC classes for Cohorts?

[ZZTRaider]

So, it's clear that the prevailing opinion here on the forum is that the Cohort granted by Leadership should use PC class levels, rather than NPC classes. The actual wording in Leadership seems somewhat vague, though.

Has there been any clarification outside of the Core Rulebook (whether developer forum posts, further explanation in other source books, or whatever else) confirming that interpretation?

[Alexander Augunas]

Not particularly. Some GMs use different rules to determine how to handle followers based on their own tastes, but it gets very murky when you check out the new Downtime Rules that specifically allow you to purchase things like 1st level wizards, rogues, and fighters for your organization. If you can buy them, why couldn't you inspire them to follow you with Leadership?

[Vod Canockers]

There is a post by one of the Devs stating that since the PC took the feat, the player should build the Follower.

[Alexander Augunas]

There are also Dev posts that claim that Cohorts / Followers work best when they're pre-existing NPCs who join the party after the Leader helps them out or otherwise impresses them. Again, its all 100% subjective. This is why Leadership is both the most powerful feat in the game and the worst: it is only as good as your GM allows you to make it.

[KuntaSS]

D20pfsrd wrote:

A cohort is generally an NPC with class levels, while followers are typically lower level NPCs.

Raw, I think either interpretation is fine, just check with your DM ahead of time. If he lets you build the character yourself, you could probably still use it well or gamebreakingly, but it is much less likely to involve a dungeon raiding partner and much more likely to involve a bullet factory or some other crafting shenanigan.