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Cohorts with class levels

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If you have a cohort that gets class levels, could it gain it's own cohort through the leadership feat? And are they allowed to take levels in classes with an animal companion?

Talk to your GM. Leadership is banned in PFS and many tables for various reasons.

If you're GM allows the use of Leadership to gain a cohort, ask him about how to build the cohort. Technically, the cohort is an NPC, but your GM may decide to allow you to build it, run it as a second PC, whatever. Talk to your GM about it.

Yes, but no sane GM is going to let you take a cohort with the leadership feat. Maybe not even the leadership feat in the first place.

Theoretically, you could have a cohort with leadership with a cohort with leadership with a cohort with leadership up to about 7 times at 20th level, but don't.

Actually, there's a very specific build that gets infinite cohorts. Noble Scion prestige class has:

Greater Leadership wrote:
At 2nd level, a noble scion gains the Leadership feat as a bonus feat. He can recruit a cohort up to one level lower than himself. At 10th level, he can recruit a cohort of the same level as himself.

Make sure your cohort is also a Noble Scion. Ad infinitum.

It's a hilarious thought exercise, but for the most part what I've seen among GMs that allow Leadership is that a cohort can never take Leadership themselves (being more suited to follow instead of lead).

By the rules, nothing prevents it.

Ok, so I'm looking at building a Harley Quinn type character with a pair of beasts, and trying to find a way to keep the beasts relatively close in ability. Is druid VMC and leadership to take a monstrous cohort the best way to pull this off?

What is Noble Scion from?
Super3astard wrote:
Ok, so I'm looking at building a Harley Quinn type character with a pair of beasts, and trying to find a way to keep the beasts relatively close in ability. Is druid VMC and leadership to take a monstrous cohort the best way to pull this off?

If allowed, you can gain a full animal companion with only three feats:

Nature Soul, Animal Ally, Boon Companion.

The first two feats are in Faiths and Philosophies, the last is in the Animal Archive.

Then Leadership.

It's a bit delayed (Full animal companion at level 7, Leadership at 9)

1-Nature Soul
3-Whatever you like
5-Animal Ally
7-Boon Companion
9-Leadership

So if you are going very high level, it's less feat intensive than VMC.

Or just play a class with an animal companion (Hunter is pretty cool) and take Leadership at 7.

Noble Scion is from Paths of Prestige.

If the goal of druid VMC is just the animal companion, look at Nature Soul->Animal Ally->Boon Companion.

Is that choice list in animal ally the only animals you can take?

That is what "you gain something from this list" generally means, yes. Presumably with GM permission you can take others. You could also presumably take the Monstrous Mount feat to get a Griffon, Hippocampus, Hippogriff, or Worg.
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The main check on infinite cohorts is the level loss -- the cohort is at least two levels behind the party, the cohort's cohort is at least four levels behind the party, and so forth. You very quickly get to a point where the cohorts are totally ineffective.

The main exception would be the Noble Scion prestige class, which reduces the minimum level difference to one level at 7th level (Noble Scion level 2) and to nothing at 15th level (Noble Scion level 10). However, what can you actually do with a 10th level Noble Scion? You have decent skills and social influence but are way behind the party in most other respects -- how often would you want to duplicate that concept? If you are buidling a Noble Scion, you probably want to build the cohort as somebody who is actually effective at fighting, magic, or what have you.
Super3astard wrote:
Ok, so I'm looking at building a Harley Quinn type character with a pair of beasts, and trying to find a way to keep the beasts relatively close in ability. Is druid VMC and leadership to take a monstrous cohort the best way to pull this off?

You don't need to take leadership at all to pull this off. Play a pack lord druid and take the boon companion feat multiple times.

Wouldn't that leave them trailing behind after 8th level?
Super3astard wrote:
Wouldn't that leave them trailing behind after 8th level?

It's a build that's power massively waxes and wanes at certain levels. Around the mid levels (5-10) it's an absolute monster. Then it starts falling off a little, but you can always just put all the levels into one companion and have the others for utility.

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