Leadership Problem

[Rules Lawyer]

Our game is having trouble with my 13th level cleric (with an extremely high Charisma -- like 26) and the Leadership feat.

The DM originally suggested Leadership when the party was lower-level, but now when we are traveling, each player is responsible for 2 or 3 characters, just to account for some of the mid-level followers who happened to follow on this particular adventure. Most of the 1st and 2nd level followers stay behind in an artist colony/temple/keep that the cleric set up, and do not follow the adventurers around.

The sheer volume of characters is slowing the game down, and I'm trying to work with the DM to come up with a reasonable story reason for the current slate of followers to go away - and for none to replace them. He's willing to give me another feat to replace Leadership. The hard part is that this character is extremely likeable, and we don't want to have some horrible calamity befall her.

Any fun ideas? We're a very diverse gaming-group with an even more diverse cast of characters and a very liberal DM.

[Deaxsa]

you could be usurped by the next big bad, who takes over your organization, and even after you fight back and get your position back, all of your followers are wary of you and will definitely help you, just might not want to fight for you. also, you could have the next big bad kill all of them, or target your organization, and that would provide a pretty huge circumstantial penalty to getting more followers too.

edit: another idea i just came up with would be if you played as the followers for a mission, and then played a mission(as yourselves) without the followers, because they were off doing something else.
one of the things i have a problem doing as a DM is answering the question "well, why doesnt the guy who hired me to do it, do it himself?" most often it's because he has something better to do which only he can do, or he wants to do something which he simply cannot do, or even be a part of. (like infiltrating a human city as a minotaur). You could use either side of this, especially if playing as the followers is allowed.

[White_Drake]

Why not take the stronghold feat (or buy/conquer a stronghold) and put them to work on your estate?

[Sith_Happens]

You don't need to ditch the feat, just come up with some reason why the followers and cohorts currently traveling with you would go hang out with the others instead (and, if you haven't already, figure out something all those NPCs can be doing for you offscreen that's worth a feat).

[Andezzar]

Why not take the stronghold feat (or buy/conquer a stronghold) and put them to work on your estate?You don't even need a feat for that. Just have the followers (and possibly the cohort) do some longterm job for you that is not the focus of the story.
Examples:
Have you cohort be appointed ambassador and sent to some foreign nation. He would also need staff (the followers).

Let your minions build you a stronghold.

Let your Cohort and followers deal with threat X while you and the other PCs deal with threat Y.

Let your cohort open a guild.

...

PCs around Level 13 really babysit Level 6 followers on adventures? That's a tragedy just about to happen.

What's the cohort like? If we knew what kind of character he/she is, we could find a more appropriate occupation.

[Rules Lawyer]

Thanks for the quick replies --

The DM is actually open to keeping the cohort -- and maybe one or two of the "cool" followers with the party, but having them all count toward party level and collect their own XP.

[Who doesn't want to the Level 6 Fighter-Lanceman on the Pegasus to stay?]

The "Leader" does have a stronghold already (essentially), which came through story means and not through a feat. If she "ordered" (really, strongly suggested) the followers to return to the keep, I'm sure they would listen.

We're on a big story campaign right now, so the concept of little missions doesn't really work. Right now, we're also hundreds of miles from our normal base of operations -- which sort of sucks for sending followers off.

I think the DM just wants some good reason for the feat to disappear, without the character getting smooshed. We're a *very* chaotic-good party, so no big evil/lawful person is likely to oust her. She's the leader of the party because she's the most likeable - not because she's any great ruler.

[Clistenes]

Let the followers stay at their homes and drop now and them to ask them a favor or two. Or create an organization, like a trading company to employ them. Or use them as staff for a ship or a castle or a temple.

By the way, what do you think of the alternate rule used in Power Of Faerun, according to which characters who are heads of their own organizations get their number of followers to grow without limit, as if they had the Epic Leadership feat?.

[Rules Lawyer]

By the way, what do you think of the alternate rule used in Power Of Faerun, according to which characters who are heads of their own organizations get their number of followers to grow without limit, as if they had the Epic Leadership feat?.

I just pulled that book and am not sure which alternate rule you mean. Do you happen to have a page number handy? :smallsmile:

[Andezzar]

We're on a big story campaign right now, so the concept of little missions doesn't really work. Right now, we're also hundreds of miles from our normal base of operations -- which sort of sucks for sending followers off.What's the big story? Maybe you could send the followers/cohort on some vital mission for the completion of the story. Or the DM could design some plot that must be handled simultaneously but in different locations.

[Clistenes]

I just pulled that book and am not sure which alternate rule you mean. Do you happen to have a page number handy? :smallsmile:

Can't remember the page, but every non-epic character who is head of an organization gets followers as if he had the Epic Leadership feat. Just check their descriptions.

[Fyermind]

Page 155-156 is the closest I've found.

[Vaz]

Force the party to split. Perhaps purposefully remove some of the synergies or back up potential between characters (a cleric aiding a necropolitan cohort, for example, split away the necropolitan from easy access to inflict wands).

Edit: followers aren't necessarily guys who fight with you. Sure they can, but it is easy enough to get 40+ cha, and with epic leadership rules / power of faerun rules, you can be looking at around 500 followers: don't start on epic leadership.

Have them break the WBL. Have them make a stronghold, then support you in f#'d up musketeers motto where they just provide you with wealth and goods and researched spells and new items. 'Oh you killed the dragon boss? Excelent, meanwhile, on top of the loot, after wages etc, you have made a profit of 10,000 GP this month!'

[watchwood]

If you're away from your normal base of operations, the obvious answer is to split the party. Send all the NPCs off to handle other missions while the PCs do their own thing.

[Rules Lawyer]

Thanks again for the input everybody... and for making my first posting so painless. :smallbiggrin:

I'll run to the DM with the suggestions.