| 2 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
The Feats listed under Variant Leadership in Ultimate Intrigue are culled from some of the Player Companion releases.
Of the 6 Feats listed, 5 of them allow early recruitment of Cohorts with limitations.
However, of these Feats, four of them (Groom, Light Bearer, Page, and Weapon Bearer) list "Character Level 4" as a Requirement. Since no characters receive Feats at level 4, this raised questions when they were originally presented in the Player Companion volumes.
Are these Feats really supposed to be 5th level (as Recruits is), or should some or all of them be marked as "Combat" Feats (which would then be available to Fighters as Bonus Feat choices as 4th level)?
While a general feat with a requirement of an even level is weird, it is still possible to take that feat at the indicated level through retraining.
The possibility of it being a typo is slim, with the text of the feat mentioning the cohort being at highest 3 levels lower that the PC.
Feat Type(s):
GeneralPrerequisites:
character level 4thBenefit:
This feat is similar to the Leadership feat, with several exceptions to note. You can attract only a 1st-level cohort (referred to hereafter as a groom) with this feat, and cannot recruit followers of his own. You determine your Leadership score according to the rules presented in the Leadership feat, but your groom is always at least 3 levels lower than your level.
/.../
As it is, you can only take this feat at level 4 by starting a character at level 4, or retraining your level 3 feat into it.
That said, I can only think of one other general feat with an even level requirement (Intimidating Bane), so it is rather uncommon.
So I understand where your skepticism comes from.
Don't forget about retraining. Any character can get a feat at 4th level if they spend the time and money for it (and replace an old feat).
I think it makes perfect sense to set up a feat's prerequisites to make sure you can't take it before it can actually function without heavy special casing (how do I make a level 0 groom?), even if you can't normally get it immediately.
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It would be cool if you could take the feat at level 3, but where they would be level 0, they would instead be a level 1 commoner. The early access would be mitigated by you having to keep them alive. Plus you'd get the awesome benefit of seeing them graduate to a PC class.
"Alright Tim, it's about time you had a real sword."
Don't forget about retraining. Any character can get a feat at 4th level if they spend the time and money for it (and replace an old feat).
This actually answers a similar question I had been wondering about for awhile now regarding the aasimar feat Angel Wings, which requires character level 10th.
Dang it.. I had mentioned retraining when I started writing the post, but took it out with something else that was just going to confuse the point.
Anyway, the issue is that, as noted, even-numbered level requirements for Feats are not common. While retraining is an option, I would be somewhat surprised to find that enough players are eager to change their feats so early in their character's career (4th level) for it to make sense to design the Feat requirement with that expectation.
As two of the four feats in question require proficiency with all Martial Weapons, it seems likely to me that there was some intent to make it available to Fighters at 4th level.. but the Feats are not classified as "Combat" and so do not qualify as Figther bonus feats. That's part of the question raised.
"Groom" and "Light Bearer" were originally the "Torchbearer" feat in Dungeoneer's Handbook.. which had a requirement of 5th level. The same book added Archetypes for Grooms (Rangers) and Blazing Torchbearer for Alchemists. The feats in Ultimate Intrigue combine the basic "Torchearer" feat with one ability from these archetypes to make the new feat.
"Page" and "Weapon Bearer" were originally the "Squire" feat in Knights of the Inner Sea... which had a requirement of 4th level. Again, the new feats combine the basic "like early Leadership" part of the original feat with abilities from Archetypes presented with it... the "Herald Squire" for Cavaliers and the "Weapon Bearer Squire" for Fighters.
For completeness .. "Recruits" was originally in "Cohorts and Companions", and is pretty much exactly the same (Cha 13 and 5th level as requirements).
So the question is.. was it intended that they all be 5th level and the one 4th level was used as a source in error, is the 4th level just an unusual-but-intentional requirement, or should the two geared for martial characters have been marked as "Combat" and the other two left at 5th level?
For those interested, the books I mentioned have less Golarion-specific content than some other Player Companions, and are well worth the reading. There are also other archetype options that did not get included in Ultimate Intrigue, which are well-suited for Cohorts to feel like "aides" or "assistants".