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Some of you may be aware of the How to Use Leadership guide that I wrote a while back. Well, the sheer popularity of it and my recent in with a few 3pp as a freelance writer has inspired me to work on a product centered around the feat Leadership. It will be a few books, each one covering different things.
While this is just in the planning phases, and honestly hasn't been fully pitched to anyone yet, I thought it might be a good idea to hear about how people have used the feat in the game. For now I would like to hear all about how you use cohorts.
What are some of the uses you have had for cohorts?
Where have you seen them be the most effective?
If you are a GM, do you allow them to be combat focused?
When used, where there any restrictions to their use?
Who built them, the player or the GM, and were there any guidelines used?
Give me anything you feel would be good to know about cohorts in your game, and where the Pathfinder RPG might see some improvement with them. Everything people can give me will help me with this project.
I nearly only use them for the RP purpose of establishing a city or an organization.
I have used leadership in four separate games in pathfinder, I don't know how often back in 3.5 days, but I don't think it was a often.
One was the thieves guild that I took over (ironically I later pulled the stronghold card from the deck of many things, so my guild had their own castle;). That was a lot of fun, but because I was the only thief it left a lot of stuff just for my character to do. We did most of that stuff via emails. My cohort was my second in command and controlled the day to day operations and ran it while I was away. It only led to one in game adventure that spanned a session or two. Overall it was a lot of fun, and I made a lot of side money off the guild, but I was playing a rogue, so I mean, you need more cash as a rogue;)
The last time was the only time I used it for combat, and it was somewhat GM fiat. I was playing an undead Lord and my corpse companion was cohort. I basically was just trying to be the most powerful kobold necromancer in all of eberron, and I did a pretty good job of it too. I always had like 5+ minions on the battlefield. It was a lot of fun, but sadly I did not have the longest turns at that table:( And I had so many actions!
Two others were for the establishing of cities. Whats a high level character to do besides establish a city and open up all the fun rp stuff that entails. I really enjoyed that and both GM's really went along. One city caused a lot of interplayer conflict because I was basically very selfish and one player was a paladin, and I may have kind of been exploiting the townies...but hey they could've stayed in their village that had just been sacked.
In both villages I made my cohorts bards, and they were the defacto mayors. I had them pick up minor crafting skills to make us stuff while we were gone, but mostly used them as knowledge fonts. When we'd go and figure out something useful you go and discuss it with the guy with +20 knowledges and see what light he can shed. One of the guys was used outside of his realms a few times (he helped set up a sting and some other things, cause none of us were very talky) but was really more of a side tool for the GM.
Oddly enough, I don't allow Leadership in my games. Its got a very high degree of abuse, and its kind of like opening pandoras box. Even if you don't allow them in combat, they open up insane item crafting potential which can very quickly destroy system balance. If you allow them in combat then your giving a player an extra PC for a feat, a very cheap cost indeed.
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Leadership is generally banned in my experience, or you have to pick from available NPCs rather than putting out a job ad and sculpting the ideal candidate.
However, the most popular choices are Magic Item Crafter or Band-Aid.
Paizo has also added a few archetypes for cohorts, such as Gunner Squire, Herald Squire, Weapon Bearer Squire. Generally these are poor choices mechanically.
I allow it in my game, although one player wound up destroying one of my games because of that and other regrettable decisions on my part; but I no longer allow players to make their own. The previous mentioned game-wrecker was more of a problem player than that one time, he no longer plays with us. I usually have the players tell me what kind of cohort they'd like, and I do the rest; I also no longer allow PC's to control them either, for power creep reasons. Well the real reason is that during the game that was wrecked by leadership, the player used his control of the cohort to slay party members, as much as he could as this cohort sacrificed himself to give the player a better chance to kill the others. Like I said, wasn't leadership's fault, it was just a tool, and it was my fault for not noticing the bad behavior earlier. After kicking the player, I never had a problem with it, except that I personally dislike GMPC's.
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Alexander Auguna's Everyman Gaming blog entry talked about Leadership: The Function of Leadership. He uses the imho brilliant houserule to grant this feat to everyone at lvl7, but the PC has to actively go recruiting.
His current blog post has an NPC build using teamwork feats with his familiar. This could well be adapted to a cohort. Every wanted to use those teamwork feats but no other player wants to? Get a cohort. This only works with player built cohorts though.
Its is allowed in my game, however you can only select those that become available trough the story, no hand picking a candidate.
The 2 new "semi leadership" feats also work nicely, and I allow them to work as written until they become the actual leadership feat.
I mostly use them as a way to continue the presence of characters the my players have taken a shine to. or that might be helpful so they don't need the typical archetypes in the party like "healer" no-one wants to play a healer? well maybe you'll meet one who's willing to go along.
I always limit it to one, as with all other add-ons, you only get one class with a familiar in the party, only 1 class with animal companion(s), etc.
the best cohort I've had was JASPER KANDAMERUS from shattered star. It helped with healing and he had a special use in the second to last chapter if I recall, that is specific to him. That was incredibly gratifying.
It is the most powerful feat in the game,(unless one player may play more than one PC) because of action economy alone.
My main reasons for banning the feat are that I have too many players (and thus characters) at the table already and I really don't want to slow the game down and my players are really bad about metagaming. Often in prior games with this group when I wasn't full time DM, we had instances where everyone took leadership and people's cohorts could literally read the mind of their leaders and interact in ways that they feasibly could not.
Having a magic item crafter who takes all the crafting feats and allows the party access to all the gear they desire for half price at the cost of only one feat is also a pretty bad idea.
My players also like to cheese things up as much as possible and cohorts create problems when it comes to action economy when the cohort for whatever reason decides their own life is forfeit in favor of buffing their leader.
If you can trust your players not to abuse the feat, and to actually be able to play two characters rather than play a game more akin to WOW or Final Fantasy where the metagame mentality is expected, then go ahead and allow it.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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In my games, I create the cohort, basically to the player's specifications. So if they want a healer they will get a healer, if they want a traps guy they will get that. They can also take friendly NPCs if they desire.
What they can't get:
a build that doesn't work on its own but fits together with their PC like a puzzle piece.
a stay at home crafter. The cohort is there to be your adventuring companion/sidekick/apprentice, not to be your slave sitting at home making magic items for the whole party all the time.
This is all very helpful. Keep it coming.
For those who ban the feat, what are the reasons? Please be more detailed than just claiming it is overpowered or subject to abuse.
1) It more greatly benefits classes that really don't need it, and fails to aid more the classes that would benefit from it more. For instance, an oracle or sorcerer is likely to get more benefit from the feat than a rogue, monk or fighter.
2) Action Economy - This! Action economy is pretty much the most powerful thing in the game. I had a wizard that took diabolist, and he got significantly more powerful from his pet, which isn't even a leveled human.
3) WBL - You can destroy Wealth By Level. Get a crafter, he takes all the feats. I saw a few people say that he won't be as good as your character, but I'm not sure thats true. A dedicated crafter can easily get +5 from feats (which jumps up to +10 at level 10) and +1 from traits. More importantly, the cohort crafter is more powerful because of the time element of crafting. While your out adventuring for 12 days, you made 3000 GP's worth of items. Your cohort just made 12,000. Just look at Kingmaker. Every group I've ever even heard of that played it said it broke down about mid-levels because of the time allowed for item creation, and the fact their WBL was nearly double (or more in the instance of two tables) what it should be.
4) More bodies - It adds more bodies on the field, and my tables generally run large anyway.
5) RP vs. Mechanics - Its a great RP feat, probably one of the best, but it can easily fall into a mechanics grind, especially with power gamers. For instance, you hit level 18, and the Player now has every item on his character that was on his wishlist, so he goes and gets his crafting cohort killed so he can bring in a combat/utility one. For a charisma character the small hit to leadership score will hardly effect him and now he has a new cohort that fits his current needs better.
I generally avoid using a cohort in combat because at two (or more) levels behind the main party they are vulnerable.
I've used the Feat twice, once in Pathfinder and once in 3.5. Both have essentially been healers, the 3.5 version was a Healer NPC class and the Pathfinder one was a Witch/Bard (Geisha) healer buffer/debuffer.
I've been lucky enough to play with GMs who are happy for the PC's Feat to be used by the PC, and not to have their cohort run purely as a GM-controlled entity. On the other hand, the groups I've played with aren't the type to wreck a campaign or game by trying to squeeze the pips out of the rulebook, so the question of game-destroying cohorts hasn't come up. Maybe if we had players like that we'd all be a little less relaxed about character creation and Feat choice.
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RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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I know there are archetypes meant for cohorts, and possibly higher level followers.
What are peoples's experience with those?
It seems one of biggest uses but also complaints is the use of the crafter cohort. What, in your opinion, would make it more fair if there was a crafter cohort?
I allow it but ask for a set of parameters the player would like, then design it myself and introduce them through the story.
They also can't be used in combat unless it's a situation I decide they'd be in.
Usually players use them to run guilds or businesses while away.
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Doesn't it say in the feat that having a cohort that sits at home and crafts will make him abandon you and is not how the feat should work?
It does not. There are things that you can do to hurt your score in relation to your cohort, but it often isn't very harmful or limiting.
I know there are archetypes meant for cohorts, and possibly higher level followers.
What are peoples's experience with those?
It seems one of biggest uses but also complaints is the use of the crafter cohort. What, in your opinion, would make it more fair if there was a crafter cohort?
One of my favorite for this is a "witchguard", a ranger archetype that bonds with a caster to provide protection. It's not a poor archetype, so it can work well.
As for leadership, I use it within reason. It's fairly easy for the players to pick up a pre-existing NPC as a cohort. If you want something specific, eh... there will be negotiation.
Though I will not allow if you already ahve a mount, animal companion, familiar or other companion (like a construct). It's hell to manage. Though the "alexander augunas" article mentionned earlier is a good read, definitly some stuff i'm gonna use.
I use an Awakened Heavy Horse as a mount cohort. My DM handed me a sheet that represented the the Heavy Horse + Awakened Animal enhancements. I was allowed to level it with class levels and generally design it myself from there. I chose to tread lightly, because Leadership is already a hot button issue. I gave him feats that made sense for a mount, putting style and mechanics on equal footing.. He is also the top tier creature in our Menagerie, the idea being that he has a huge complex largely devoted to him. He's pretty cool, but point-for-point not so much better than the bonded mount. Given that, I think he balances quite well.
I know there are archetypes meant for cohorts, and possibly higher level followers.
What are peoples's experience with those?
I have never used these but I think I may actually allow leadership if the Cohorts were limited to these classes. They seem strong enough to contribute without stepping on as many toes.
It seems one of biggest uses but also complaints is the use of the crafter cohort. What, in your opinion, would make it more fair if there was a crafter cohort?
My best idea would be to limit them to one craft skill only which can't be Craft Wondrous Items.
What, in your opinion, would make it more fair if there was a crafter cohort?
Use the rules from Ultimate Campaign to dictate how much having an additional crafter should affect the WBL of any characters taking part and adjust their WBL accordingly. If that means less treasure, then in spirit of not ruining the game that means less treasure.
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I'm not sure this is what you are looking for, but:
The most fun I've ever had with a cohort started with her at level 1, NPC level of Aristocrat, no less, named Casisara. She was built with the heroic NPC stat array, and had some slightly higher than level possessions due to her station and birth. But, from that point on, she was my protege to mold, train, equip, protect, etc...
To answer your questions -
What are some of the uses you have had for cohorts? Starting out, Casi tended the horses, held lanterns, searched bodies and sorted treasure (appraising, she was good at that), took a watch at camp, cooked, cleaned, lots of heal checks (low magic means lots of mundane solutions). Later she became more of an adventurer. Level 1 Cohorts level up quickly when they are gaining even partial XP with 4 Level 7 PC's. She went Pally/Bard (PC was a Pally), focused on buffing, combat maneuvers, and aid another - making her relevant in combat without stealing anyone's thunder.
Where have you seen them be the most effective? The best use of anything (magic, items, NPC's) in the game is to shore up a weakness - be it in combat, social, utility, or even story. In the case of Casi, she gave us some skill utility that we sorely needed, opened a door for us to create some contacts among the local nobility, offered some additional healing, and expanded our combat options. Aside from the skills, nothing she brought was desperately needed. Healing took longer in the low magic world, but we got around it, the storyline would have carried on without her, and she was mostly buff/aid in combat. So, it wasn't a huge addition... just a useful one.
If you are a GM, do you allow them to be combat focused? I'm not sure I understand the intent of the question. The rules seem to intend for a Cohort to be a combat-ready companion. And frankly, I think combat is the least cheesy/munchkiny use of a Cohort. Creating a healbot/craftbot is much more disruptive to natural gameplay than having an extra damage dealer.
When used, where there any restrictions to their use? No, but it was understood that she was secondary... scratch that, tertiary, to the PC's (primary), then the storyline and its major NPC's (secondary). That was never really discussed, but it was very clear from the tone in which she was added to the group. I had no problem with that. I wanted her to be a part of my character, not a second character to give me two bites at the apple.
Who built them, the player or the GM, and were there any guidelines used? I think I built her, but I might have just polished her character sheet after the DM gave me the broad strokes. Either way, there wasn't much needed. Based on her background, where I was hoping she would go, and what we needed as a group, she practically stat'd out herself. Heroic NPC array, WBL based on a level 1 NPC, then some additional wealth because of her background - not combat/adventuring gear, just nice stuff.
Give me anything you feel would be good to know about cohorts in your game, and where the Pathfinder RPG might see some improvement with them. First, Cohorts never *poof* into existence because someone takes a feat. They are characters in the world. You should have to have established a relationship with them that leads to their respect and Cohor-sion (yes, I just invented a word) with the PC.
Second, a person with five levels of a PC class is a pretty powerful/significant person in most settings. I mean, if the average person is a Level 1-2 commoner/expert/warrior, then a level 5 cleric/wizard is going to be an important guy! So, why would someone like that idolize the PC (who he might even be a challenge for in combat, one-on-one), and follow him around abjectly doing his bidding??? He wouldn't. Cohorts should start as something relatively low-level, and grow. Don't worry... they grow quickly. But, they shouldn't come out of the box in "ready to craft" mode.
Third, a Cohort is a part of your character!!! They are not an extra character for you to use to get more of the spotlight. They are not there just for you to get an extra full-round action in combat. Keep in mind, however careful you are, they will eat up some spotlight, some play time, some loot, some opportunities for another PC to shine... Yes, try as you might, eventually she is going to land a killing blow on a creature that your ally really wanted to kill... You have to be mature and try to minimize those things as much as possible. Your character did not become more important than your friends' characters the moment you took this feat! It doesn't work that way.
The best thing Paizo could do to improve the feat would be to add a Prerequisite: Maturity.
Hello there! I looove the leadership feat as an idea, and my first game being able to use it is coming up. One thing I've realized is that Cohorts are quite weak compared to the PC character, so I've picked two character's that don't really need to be in the fight. An Alchemist, and a Sorcerer.
How did I get two you may wonder? The Champion Mythic path has an ability called "Crusader" it gives you the benefits of the Leadership feat, and states you may take the leadership feat as well, doubling your score. Leadership also has a Mythic version, making those Cohorts Half your Mythic tier. (And later on, your ten highest level followers gain 1 mythic tier.)
My character is a Goblin rogue with the goal of proving "Goblins are people too." He's Neutral Good and is trying to form a society of the Downtrodden. Orcs, Kobolds, Goblins etc, that just want to get along.
He has a bag of holding, that he calls his "Goblin Bag". He keeps both his followers in there most of the time with the magic item "Bottle of Air" (That allows them to breath.)
In doing that, I can use his incredible mobility and Stealth to get around and then deploy them where it's best.
This is twofold. Number one, it makes it a Viable idea for my character to go on long scouting missions "alone" and number two, it keeps the cohorts from getting in the way of the other pcs during story portions.
The Goblin's are Twin Brother's and quite lazy. So they happily ride in the bag of their "Chief".
Though there is any number of reasons a Cohort with Darkvision would be fine with riding around in your Bag of Holding. (But someone unused to small dark places, like a Human, would probably find that quite uncomfortable.)
For the most part I themed the Sorcerer around tons of Fire Spells because he's a Goblin, and the Alchemist around Bombs. But he has the infusion discovery so he can hand out buffs to the party and my PC before the fight.
As for my followers, they're all working on building a village while their chief goes out and gains renown for Goblin kind by saving saving the world and getting tons of treasures.
Basically I'm going to be running a Kingmaker Campaign in the Background of our actual campaign.
PS: Something you should look at is the Psionics books. Primarily the Thrallherd Prestige Class. Which gains "Super Leadership" as a class ability, but loses or cannot have regular leadership.
I'm sure that, that class deserves at least a mention.
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In our Kingmaker game, no one has taken the Leadership Feat. However the GM has allowed us to followers with his "campaign points". Most of the players have chosen a single follower (per Leadership) to be like an apprentice.
My character, the Queen, bought a cohort to be her husband and father of her children. Also we planned on her to not be adventuring during her third trimester (roleplaying reasons), so the cohort would allow me to continue adventuring with the party. The cohort is a Paladin of Erastil with a Megaloceros Divine Mount (the Queen is a Rogue).
Generally, I'm not allowed to play both at the same time, our GM believes anything with actual character class levels is another PC. I consider him to be a part of my Character abilities, not a second character. I can't quite convince the GM of that.
Occasionally, if another player is absent, I can play both, or if things are really dangerous.
Several times when the Queen has been incapacitated, I could bring him in, where the other PC's have had to use a temporary character or play an npc.
He is mounted archery focused, built by the player, using heroic npc rules.
He is much more useful than the Queen's other followers, which use the followers rules as did the other PC's apprentices. All are 2-5 level.
I feel I'm not allowed to utilize as much as the other PC's are their animal companions and familiars. Plus continued irritating remarks from the other players has pretty much doomed him, once they get to a certain level, that's it his usefulness will be over.
Well, i absolutely love this Feat. Iv usdt it several times, and with the introdusction of 3rd party feats, i was able amass a literal army of followers.
The charecter i made was a Drow Nobel Warlord(AdamntGames), with skills in piloting Airships.
I ended upp with a total of nearly 30k followers under my command and a Arship the size of a ww2 carrier .
It was a pain in the ass some times to keep track of every thing, but when coopertive crafting and Magical items making came in to picture, it all payd off(Followers had PC-classes).
Close to midle of the sessions(around 4 or 5th game) I could basecly craft anny weapon/armor/ mid-lvl magical item in just a few days,withc all in all, gave the other players more options to uppgrade there arsenal in stead of having to painstakenly save upp to just one item they wanted.
sufice to say? i love the Leadership feat, but then again, iv had a good GM that alowed me to use it quite freely,up to a surten point.
I've taken the feat 3 times in our PF games.
1st time:
During RoTRL I was playing a fighter (archer). After the giants came & stomped on Sandpoint I took this feat. I mustered a considerable # (40 or 50 some if I recall) of militia, mercs, and angry people who wanted some payback. Granted, most of them (all the 1st lv ones) were just fighters. But arm that many people with crossbows & you'll still turn giants etc into pin-cushions....
Not very many survived all the way through book #6.
I took the feat mostly because I could. When we hit 7th? lv the DM said he'd allow ONE person to take it. And that it was a one time offer. Take it now or never. The other players had different plans in mind for their characters builds. I didn't really have anything in mind, but it seemed foolish to let a one time offer slip by. So I became the leader of an angry mob.
2nd & 3rd time:
We're currently playing WotR. For a while it was 1 DM, 2 regular players, & one or two other players bouncing in/out due to health/work/etc. So the DM had everyone make two characters. That way there'd always be at least 4 characters present each week.
Character #1 - a Chelexian Cavalier/Hell Knight. His goal in fighting in the current crusade is to aquire an immense power (mythic, achieved)and to recruit a veteran force from amongst the Worldwound crusaders in order to lead a rebellion against House Thrune & Hell itself. He HATES that his homeland is shackled to Asmodeus. He intends to see this arrangement ended.
But 1st he has to save the world from the demons....
THEN he'll hit Cheliax/Hell with an army of unemployed paladins.
And so, as soon as possible, I took leadership to represent his recruiting efforts.
His cohort is a LN cleric of Iomodea who's main function is as a spiritual advisor & liaison to the paladins. This cleric was sent to aid the cavalier by Iomodea. Much more RP focused than combat/mechanics.
Character #2 - a tiefling (devil ancestory) wizard (divination) also from Cheliax. When the pair began play she was a prisoner geased to serve the Hell Knight(well, rather his chapter...). She has since broken that enchantment, found that she likes the paladins, & has been slowly shifting her alignment towards good.
She considered fleeing. But she's seen visions of assured demonic victory if she does & knows she can't flee far enough to avoid that.
Several weeks ago, out of spite, she used an Oil of Life to resurrect a frost drake. The DM let me take Leadership & make it her cohort (it shifted it's alignment to match hers). The lower lv followers the feat provides represent the NPC friends she's made.
What are some of the uses you have had for cohorts?
Where have you seen them be the most effective?
If you are a GM, do you allow them to be combat focused?
When used, where there any restrictions to their use?
Who built them, the player or the GM, and were there any guidelines used?
Give me anything you feel would be good to know about cohorts in your game, and where the Pathfinder RPG might see some improvement with them. Everything people can give me will help me with this project.
This was a great mechanic to have in a 1 player game. I gave it as a 1st level bonus feat in a game where the PC was a bard. It fit what the class needed--people to support with bardic music and spells--and it fit the character flavor--the cohorts were her brother and her BFF from the hometown village and the followers were people she'd impressed or helped in various ports as a privateer.
I built the cohorts--they were three levels behind the PC. They started as a warrior and an expert, early on, then converted those levels when the PC got high enough for them to start adding levels. I focused on under the chassis feats to make them easy to use: static bonuses to attack or to saves mostly.
Taken the feat once, to get a monstrous cohort mount which worked relatively well though the dynamic was something I wasn't used to. My followers were just me trying to make contacts here and there, not specific in terms of 'I'm organizing a church' so much as people I met and made an impression on. Likely to take this feat in our S&S game, we shall see.
What are some of the uses you have had for cohorts?
I picked it up in a Skulls and Shackles game.
I wanted a crafter, information network master, and coven master.
I am a Ninja 10/Witch 4, but picked up my Witch 5 back when I only had a single level of witch. The RP plan was a cohort that could teach me the craft, and lead a coven. Given the campaign, and my mass of followers, I had plenty for a coven, a spy network, and even a couple of ninjas at my base.
While he did a lot of healing with the Healing Hex, especially with a large ship crew, he was often giving secondary spell assistance. The spells were often a mix of utility and control. His greatest spell moment was landing a Blindness/Deafness on a dragon. Control came from some walls, most often Loathsome Veil, and later Wall of Blindness/Deafness. He also helped out with the Evil Eye hex.
This campaign had another caster with a cohort. That one was used as a crafter, and as a caster that complimented the spell load of the leader.
We also had a necromancer with an undead army, but he never got too many due to HD caps. He planed for leadership (to gain an evil cult), but changed his mind.
Where have you seen them be the most effective?
Action economy.
Not just in combat. Also in the RP parts, as the cohort could be sent one place while the leader did something else.
If you are a GM, do you allow them to be combat focused?
NA. I have not GMed that much, and never had the need to deal with it.
When used, where there any restrictions to their use?
My GM warned me that if I made the cohort act contrary to character, he might take away control. Since I am not a munchkin, despite liking high magic, I play for RP, not DPS. Basically, the GM said be reasonable and he would let it fly.
I did get a restriction on my followers. No crafting feats. I wanted a wand crafter since we did not have one in the party. As I capped the number of followers (actually had a score of 26 for them), they had the needed caster levels for the feat.
Who built them, the player or the GM, and were there any guidelines used?
The GM built the cohort, and most of the followers. [He likes to make NPCs.] I gave a spec of class and roll to build for, with suggested feats, and such as a guide. Any I built had to be approved. Leveling up was left to the players.
Give me anything you feel would be good to know about cohorts in your game, and where the Pathfinder RPG might see some improvement with them. Everything people can give me will help me with this project.
Combat action economy means the GM needs to increase the enemy due to additional power of the party. This is one of the requirements imposed by the feat. How? Leveling up the cohort requires XP gained while with you in combat. If the cohort is not in combat, then he doesn't level up. WBL is less of an issue, since you don;t get more treasure, and now have to equip the cohort as well. The WBL gains from crafting help offset this need.
Another problem with the requirement to have the cohort in the middle of the action with the party is that you have to toughen him up by feat and class choices, as well as WBL used to short up weaknesses. This is why my cohort had to get combat spells despite not really wanting a combat capable cohort. If you don't toughen him, then he won't survive long. [The other cohort in our game nearly died more than once.] With these choices made, you cannot make the choices that make him a better spymaster, crafter, or whatever. While spell choices can be fixed by spending cash, you never have enough cash to spare. Therefore, nearly all the spells known in the higher levels were all combat related one way or another.
Yet another use for the cohort was as 2nd in command of my ship. Actually captain with me as admiral since I had several ships. One 6th level follower was a captain of another ship, and I had befriended an 8th level character to be another ship captain. Actually, rescued and talked into working for me. As a diplomancer, that wasn't to difficult, but did need the rescue.
Don't get me wrong. I loved playing the cohort. I just had to play a character in a more combat heavy role than I wanted. I was still able to have my cohort be the spymaster, coven leader, and so on, but not as efficiently as I could if he was built for those purposes.
/cevah