I took the Leadership feat for a Kingmaker campaign and chose an Awakened Horse: horse 2 / magical beast 2, but considered Cohort 5. So, when I level him up, do I consider him currently character 4 or character level 5? Am I always using his Cohort Level as my guide, or is it all about HD/character level once he's mine?
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I'm not sure what horse 2 / magical beast 2 means. Where are you getting your numbers (there is no 'awakened horse' listing on any of the Monster Cohorts tables, in other words)
A horse is 2 HD. Casting awaken adds +2 HD and changes the horse from an animal to a magical beast. So now what you have is an intelligent 4 (racial)HD magical beast that was once a normal horse. Your DM and you will have to come up with what that corresponds to on the chart - it sounds like you came up with it being equal to a 5th level character, which is probably reasonable.
When your awakened horse cohort gains a level, you would give it a class level, typically fighter. So your cohort would become (for instance) a 4HD awakened horse with 1 level of fighter. His effective character level would be 6 (5+1)
Does that help?
Okay, that helps. So then, he starts with 5th level starting xp by your reckoning?
You're right, by the way, it's not on the list. The list is not meant to be exhaustive. It is as you say -- Horse: 2HD / Magical Beast: 2 HD.
When your awakened horse cohort gains a level, you would give it a class level, typically fighter. So your cohort would become (for instance) a 4HD awakened horse with 1 level of fighter.
Well, no, not if I've been understanding your correctly up to now. Once he takes that fighter level, he would become a 5 HD creature, correct? 5 HD but level 6, such that he would be considered a Level 6 character once he attains that first fighter level.
To simplify:
I'm trying to level him. I understand that his "effective" level is 5 even though he's 4 HD.
Am I leveling him based on his "effective" level of 5 or his HD of 4?
You're right, it would count as a 5 HD creature, but if it counts as a 5th level cohort at 4 (racial) HD, then adding a level of fighter would would make it count as 6th level cohort(which is more relevant for the leadership feat).
I haven't looked at awakened horse, but it sounds comparable in power to a worg which is 4 HD magical beast and counts as cohort of level 5th.
To simplify:
I'm trying to level him. I understand that his "effective" level is 5 even though he's 4 HD.
Am I leveling him based on his "effective" level of 5 or his HD of 4?
I would say you level him by effective level, otherwise he would level too often getting his XP capped. And not really following the "intended" path of a cohort of comparable strength.
Yes, from Bestiary: A monster cohort gains XP as if it was a character of its cohort level.
Many thanks.