Hey all, I'm going to begin this AP soon and am wondering what to do with the NPC's (Conchobhar, Crimson, Fishguts, Owlbear, Rosie, and Sandara). I was thinking of treating them as Cohorts as soon as the party takes over the Man's Promise, giving the party a group "Leadership" feat.
I'm wondering how to level them. Should I just level them up as the PC's level (with Ambrose and Sandara being the exception to the -2 level rule) or should I put them on the Slow experience progression (and have them fall further behind the PC's)?
What's everyone's thoughts?
I've been giving my crew XP for everything the crew takes part in. Some of the crew with heroic class levels were made officers. Even a couple with only NPC classes were made officers. I started them all at the minimum amount needed to get what ever level they started the game at.
For anything that crew take part in I give them XP. So mostly for ship to ship actions. I give an amount equal to what the PCs get, split evenly among the entire crew. For any NPCs that are officers or have heroic levels I give an extra 25% after figuring their share. For ease of calculations I round up the the nearest 10.
Ultimately this has meant that Sandara, Rosie, Jack, Shivika, and Ranzak (Goblin promo character from the Skull & Shackles card game) have all gained a level and the rest of the crew (except Fishguts and Axul the ship's carpenter they highered) are very close to gaining a level by the end of Book 2. As their crew gets bigger it's actually slowing down their advancement.
It's meant for a little bit of extra work on my part, but it's worked well and I've casually noted how the crew members have gotten better after they leveled up each time, without outright saying they leveled up.