So, the Bestiary lists the level equivalent for some monsters if taken as a cohort. Strangely, it doesn't follow the rules in the same book for Monsters as PCs.
So what level do you think a hag cohort is equivalent to?
Sea Hag 4HD, CR 4- Cohort 7? 8? (comparing to the Pegusus and Pixie)
Green Hag 9HD, CR 5- Cohort 9? 10? (comparing to the Drider and Satyr)
Annis Hag 7HD, CR 6- Cohort 11? (comparing to the Babau and Bralani)
Night Hag 8HD, CR 9- Cohort 16? (comparing to the Erinyes)
Witchfire 10HD, CR 9- Cohort 18? (comparing to the Stone Giant and Ettin)
Bump for more views.
Any opinions?
Comparing in the sense that they are creatures on the Monster Cohort table of similar HD and CR. Ex. the Babau and Bralani are both 7HD CR 6 monster listed as Cohort level 11. So the Annis Hag (also 7HD and CR 6) would probably be Cohort level 11 also.
In some cases the abilities are also (broadly) similar, such as the Green Hag and Satyr both having low level spell like abilities abilities but also melee capability. In other cases (Witchfire/Giant and Ettin) the abilities are very dissimilar but it was the closest I could find on the list with similar HD and CR.
If I just used the Monster as PCs rules, then all the monsters on the Cohort list should be dramatically lower levels. Those rules say to use CR as level equivalence (the example used is a minotaur CR 4 with 2 levels in a level 6 party) and even uses "LA buy down."
So the Stone Giant would be level 8, rather than 18 as it shows on the table. This makes more sense to me (the attack bonus, damage, and AC are at or below what an 8th level fighter would have, only the HP seems a little high). But then why does the table make everything so much higher level when used as a cohort?
I would use the monsters as pcs rules and eyeball the power level. I'm not sure but I think that the beastary chart wasn't changes at all from 3.5 and still has the flawed LA system built into it.