Help with a cohort

[Weyroc]

I'm playing a sorcerer in a planescape campaign with some friends and will soon be taking leadership.

It will end up being a warforged threat (Threat being a homebrew class I found on Dandwiki and was accepted by my DM)

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Threat_(3.5e_Class)

I was wondering if there was any advice for roleplaying a cohort, what would make him a good meat shield (Without massive amounts of cheese), and how best to use him so he doesn't just feel like an extra piece of equipment.

Quick note, this will be a newly awakened warforged, so he won't have a history besides my (and my party's) working with him.

(Also, my first post, please be gentle)

[DonDuckie]

the link is missing the end parenthethisisithis... :smallconfused: ')' <- that one

depends on your DM, the cohort is an NPC, and some DMs like to control them - he should of course remain a loyal cohort(which some DMs need to be reminded of).

But the feat gives some ideas: he's loyal to and shares goals with your character.

...and no arguing with yourself... unless you're great at doing voices...

[Weyroc]

Well, we're playing online, so voices won't be much of an issue. I'd just talk into a fan with my best Austrian accent if it were otherwise.

In all seriousness though, I am just really trying to make sure I don't turn this cohort into an...accessory. I want him to be an actual character.

I also want him to be capable of doing his job as the big metal thing that stands between me and the annoying hive-dweller who decided he didn't like the little sorcerer without being some insanely munchkin'd...thing.

[Shining Wrath]

First, you have a very lenient DM. +1 to Natural Armor and Fortitude every even level? Weapons treated as one, or even two, size categories larger? Ignore hardness and DR (OK, level 20, but still)? That's a sweet class.

Then add Warforged goodness on top of that, and you have one baaaaaad dude.

Anyway, this is a person who knows NOTHING but battle. They have class skills for Diplomacy and so on, but I think that's not where you put your points. You put them into Tumble, and Jump, and Spot, and Listen. Your Threat lives to fight, and follows the Sorcerer because the Sorcerer finds interesting battles. He's not interested in treasure except weapons and armor, he's not interested in culture, he's not interested in beauty, he's certainly not interested in girls; if a Warforged can be bored, your Threat is bored any time he's not killing something. I'm thinking CN as an alignment.

Given the Unnatural Force bonuses to bull rush et cetera, you may want to take the Brute Fighting tactical feat from Races of Eberron.

[Weyroc]

Well, to be fair, he IS still a melee fighter, so it's not that much leniency, he's good, but I like the class for its flavor.

I really like the idea of making him very focused on battle, especially since part of what my sorcerer's gonna be doing is teaching him "humanity"

[Shining Wrath]

In terms of leniency:

An amulet of natural armor, +9, would set you back 162,000 GP. By level 20 he gets that for free.

A gadget of +9 to Fort save would set you back on the order of 25,000 to 30,000. Again, free by level 20.

A good Reflex save when most fighter classes don't get two good saves.
Then D12 hit dice + full BAB, like a barbarian or a Warblade.

What amounts to +12 to bull rush, overrun, grapple, and trip by level 20. That's the equivalent of about 6 feats.

This is a overpowered class IMNHO.

As to personality ... he not only lives for battle, he simply doesn't understand that it is possible to NOT live for battle.

[Weyroc]

Any other opinions on that? If it's actually a broken class, I might pick up something else.

[Karnith]

It will depend on your group's power/optimization level, but the Threat doesn't look broken to me; it's good at dealing damage, is pretty durable, and has a fairly high op-floor, but it's not good at much besides combat, and it still has most of the problems that melee classes have (reaching things that can fly, moving and attacking, doing things outside of combat, etc.). Some of its numbers are kind of high, but for grappling/tripping/etc. they're necessary to effectively be able to perform those actions at high levels (because you'll be facing huge enemies with huge guts size bonuses). The size increases to base weapon damage are piddling, mighty blow and merciless are sweet but not overpowering, and the Fortitude and natural armor bonuses help you not die but not to an unreasonable degree. Outside of combat, he could be the party face, but Charisma has no synergy with his class abilities so you have little incentive to put anything into it unless your party desperately needs a face.

I'd say it's comparable to the ToB classes; if your group is low-powered, it'll probably seem too strong, but at most higher optimization levels it ought to be fine.

EDIT: Depending on your level, the Threat would make a pretty good charger; Merciless means that he'd get another damage multiplier for the Power Attack/Leap Attack/Shock Trooper combo, though the fact that the Threat is rather feat-starved means that he would charge and not do much else.

[Chilingsworth]

It's more powerful than other melee classes, sure. It doesn't look so bad to me, though.

I'd probably take a dip in warblade at level 9 for punishing stance, leading the charge, iorn heart surge, and white raven tactics. I'd also make him a tripper build.

As for an RP angle... I'd actually have him start out more "accessoy-ish." Then give him some character development. I'd make him a devoted bodyguard, AL either LN or LE.

[Shinovar]

In terms of leniency:

An amulet of natural armor, +9, would set you back 162,000 GP. By level 20 he gets that for free.

A gadget of +9 to Fort save would set you back on the order of 25,000 to 30,000. Again, free by level 20.

A good Reflex save when most fighter classes don't get two good saves.
Then D12 hit dice + full BAB, like a barbarian or a Warblade.

What amounts to +12 to bull rush, overrun, grapple, and trip by level 20. That's the equivalent of about 6 feats.

This is a overpowered class IMNHO.



Just taking it by money advantages isn't really fair. If you did the same thing to a sorcerer, just the spells he gets without any bonuses would be worth around 2 million gold, taking the custom item guidelines. The Threats advantages are way less than that.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I'd put a Threat at a high Tier 4, it's a very nice class but doesn't really get anything extremely special.

For this specific build, are flaws allowed? A few of these (http://alt.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=258440#30) can give him some much-needed feats, especially early on. Insomniac and Skulker would have no drawbacks at all. No Time For Book Learning and Bravado would be fitting with just as few relevant drawbacks.

I'd give him Adamantine Body, EWP: Spiked Chain, and Combat Reflexes at 1st, and get Combat Expertise at 3rd and Improved Trip at 6th once he gets there. Maybe consider a Fighter dip within the first four levels so he can start out with Improved Trip. Definitely include Knock-Down (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown) asap. Give him Iron Will for 3,000 gp per the Otyugh Hole (possibly use different flavor for it), and consider some of the Mage Slayer line of feats in CA and/or some of the Combat Form feats in PH2.