So I noticed that all the "mini-leadership" feats like Recruit and Torchbearer are a bit boring in the fact that they just make the Cohort's level lower, limit their class choices, or give them one shitty feat.
I find that to be absolutely terrible, as that does not fix the issue of action economy, and it just limits the possibilities of what you can do with a cohort instead of actually making them worse in effect.
What I mean is that Recruits are just three Cohorts whom level up for free and, although you can have only one at a time, it still allows you to swap out between three different classed characters. Torchbearer is just a stupid fighter who essentially has a cursed torch.
Furthermore, the inability to multiclass and the inability to take some classes make those Cohorts boring. You can't make some concept like:
1. a butler who follows you around, doing his best to protect you even at the risk of sacrificing himself. (Rogue/Fighter/Inquisitor with a trait letting him use kitchenware as weapons, and with the Ally Shield feat, using it to protect you whenever possible without ever using you as a shield)
2. a Druid/Cavalier who follows the party around, knowing that both the party and their enemies cause collateral damage, and wishes to prevent as much damage to nature as possible.
So on.
The biggest charm of Pathfinder over other RPGs for me was the variety of options, so i feel really sad that those options are lost on Cohorts, which should by all means be equal to Animal Companions or Eidolons, but are instead given very few options as a nerf rather than a power nerf.
I wish there were some other rules, like "a cohort from this feat is always Staggered and Frightened when in combat" or "this Cohort is a Savant, giving him one high stat and lackluster if not downright lackluster levels for his other ability scores." or even "this Cohort is a pacifist, and refuses to attack in any way, and although she won't prevent you from fighting, will not aid you in defeating the enemy".
Lower level is a must, but there could be a thousand better ways to deal with it. Furthermore, i don't think one should be allowed to have more than 1 cohort, more than 3 at absolute max.
Anyway, I'm trying to make some options like that. Anyone got some ideas?
Leadership, as it currently exists, simply shouldn't be a feat.
The game already allows you to hire mercenaries (at various gp levels per day) as well as making friends & influencing people (using diplomacy skills and charisma).
I would have much rather seen an expanded skill- and charisma-based system for winning over the hearts of cohorts and followers, than the current feat-based mess.
So if you're really fishing for ideas, that's my recommendation. If you're just fishing for controversy, re-read one of the many extant threads on this topic and you'll find plenty.
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Leadership grants an NPC. Those characters are played and created by the GM, not the player that took the feat. Problem solved.
it should be a VMC that gives you a 3/4 HD companion of 3 types that can gain feats and such as if it were an animal companion(except you know it's a person). The three types are skills, casting, and obviously fighting.
they should have their own "class" abilities to fulfill that roll with appropriate skill points, HD, and BAB for their roll.
each type has specific ability scores and what not just like if you were picking your animal companion or making an eidolon.
The choices should be player made, but this should ultimately pull back the power level enough to be a class feature and not just a crazy feat.
Leadership grants an NPC. Those characters are played and created by the GM, not the player that took the feat. Problem solved.
Except for the facts that the Dev team disagrees with that, and that it tasks the GM to run an entire PC in addition to everything else he or she needs to keep track of.
I'm all for banning, limiting, or minimizing cohorts, but putting it back on the GM is not reasonable. It also gives the GM full, total, and complete power to render the feat utterly useless. Much better to ban it entirely.
In terms of limiting it, I kinda like the suggestion of your cohort having to be a member of an NPC class. Another thing *always* overlooked is that cohorts are supposed to be built with the heroic NPC rules - a gaffe we even committed in our most recent game.
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Not everyone has the same problems with leadership. Some don't have any problems at all.
What you should probably do is list problems for your table, and the community can help you find solutions for those.
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We routinely ban Leadership in my group
If we did not, I would let the player build it under my heavy scrutiny complete with reasons for becoming this PC's cohort. And having only one character, either PC or cohort, have a central role in combat
And I would let the player play it in combat while I would play it as a NPC out of combat