Leadership feat and cohort questions

[titans4ever]

Group/campaign: We are the Legendary 54 (5 go out... 4 come back) or the northern region of the Forgotten Realms. The party consists of a human crowd control wizard (no evocation spells), a human melee cleric who buffs and only heals when someone is in dire straits, wood elf champion of corellon larethian, wood elf scout crossbow shooter, and my arctic dwarf crusader who is bent on damage and not crowd control.

I have always wanted to take the leadership feat and have a cohort. I am not following a specific build with the crusader so I have feats to use however my character can help the party the best. I have never seen a cohort in action so I have some simple questions and concept questions.

My idea for my cohort is simple. I was wanting a lawful good rogue. I don't want him to do sketchy skills like forgery, slight of hand for picking pockets etc. I want him to open locks, find and disable traps, spot, search, listen, hide, move silently, etc. I had thought about making him not really want to engage in melee and stick with skill based feats like investigator or nimble fingers. At best for melee feats I would give him expertise so he can raise his AC and possibly weapon finesse so he could at least hit once in a while when needed but then go straight skill based feats.

Questions:
Is this a feasible concept for a cohort?
Would a lawful good crusader want a cohort like this?
Is this what a cohort is used for? Rounding out party? Filling any gaps I want help with?
What other classes could our party need as a cohort? I thought of straight healing cleric, evocation based sorc or bard may help.

[Coidzor]

Questions:
Is this a feasible concept for a cohort?

Yes, though at higher levels Rogues tend to peter out, though that's less of an issue with cohorts.


Would a lawful good crusader want a cohort like this?

Quite possibly.


Is this what a cohort is used for? Rounding out party? Filling any gaps I want help with?

To a certain extent, yes. You can also use them as bodyguards or mounts/riders, or even a limited way to "be" two places at the same time.


What other classes could our party need as a cohort? I thought of straight healing cleric, evocation based sorc or bard may help.

Artificers are great cohorts, they can help stretch your wealth and make it not quite as much of a fiasco to have to get certain items in the long run. They also can handle the trap-finding role more than adequately. An Inspire Courage/Dragonfire Inspiration optimized Bard would be of interest with that much of your party making attack rolls.

[titans4ever]

I really like the artificer idea. We have a base of operations. Are cohorts allowed to stay there and just do their things at the base or are cohorts meant to follow you all the time. I would love for him to just sit at the base making potions and items for the party.

We eventually want to do kingdom building so we have to be in town at least 1 week out of the month once we start that.

[Coidzor]

I really like the artificer idea. We have a base of operations. Are cohorts allowed to stay there and just do their things at the base or are cohorts meant to follow you all the time. I would love for him to just sit at the base making potions and items for the party.

We eventually want to do kingdom building so we have to be in town at least 1 week out of the month once we start that.

You can work it either way, really. Mostly up to DM/Group preference. Beware of over-reliance/investment in consumables, though.

[titans4ever]

I decided to use a rogue as my cohort who is completely aware that he cannot fight because he has no strength. He really wants to adventure and admires the strength of my crusader and wants to help out where he can with his "skills". I get to use the elite array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8 for stats so I was going to put the 8 in str and not even bother with any feats to help him in fighting.

I have taken nimble fingers, interrogator, stealthy and skill focus (gather information). I would then go with other skill focus feats to improve the most commonly used skills. For skills I will max, disable device, escape artist, gather info, hide (since he won't fight), knowledge local, perception (home rule instead of spot/listen), move silently, open lock, search, tumble, and UMD.

Is there a prestige class that focuses on a character's skills? Any other feats that could really boost a cohort that is completely skill based?