Inspiration for a Cohort

[YellowJohn]

Currently statting up a character for a Level 35 one shot game.

Flavour wise, she's a LG Samurai, using Tome of Battle classes to get a Wuxia/Anime flavour rather than the official 'Samurai' classes. She's also immortal.

Along the way, she has picked up the Leadership feat as a freebee.

I have no desire to take Epic Leadership, but I'd like something to do with this. So...


I'm looking for a cohort that fits the flavour and can do something vaguely useful despite being many levels behind. All books open including Dragon Magazine.

What ideas do you lovely people have?

[OgresAreCute]

A prepared caster that hasn't lost any casting progression has 9th level spells which should be able to bring lots of utility for you that Tome of Battle doesn't provide like teleporting, plane shifting and making demiplanes. You probably have spellcaster buddies in your party too but you might still find a use for it.

[YellowJohn]

I'll almost certainly give them some kind of full casting progression, but what race to put underneath the classes?

Taking a L17 human on adventures with me feels like writing them a death sentence.
I considered Pseudodragon (Yes, I'm aware of the lost levels), but they only live about 15 years. A Sacred Watcher was tempting but the template's broken in a 'doesn't work' kind of way. I considered Lantern Archon, but they have no LA & their mental stats are poor.

What else might work?

[OgresAreCute]

I'll almost certainly give them some kind of full casting progression, but what race to put underneath the classes?

Taking a L17 human on adventures with me feels like writing them a death sentence.
I considered Pseudodragon (Yes, I'm aware of the lost levels), but they only live about 15 years. A Sacred Watcher was tempting but the template's broken in a 'doesn't work' kind of way. I considered Lantern Archon, but they have no LA & their mental stats are poor.

What else might work?

If you think a human has it bad, being a level-adjusted race is even worse. Especially since WotC's LAs are rarely worth it. Even if it was nominally worth it, you're still losing out on hit points, save bonuses and valuable spellcasting levels. The best way to stay alive is to just not get too involved in combat and/or use defensive spells like Contingency or Celerity -> Teleport. If I were you, I'd just make something like a Grey Elf Wizard or something like that.

[zlefin]

have them focus on long duration buffs, divination, and other utility (including knowledge checks); they don't come directly with you, they check in a few times a day to re-apply buffs/healing/whatever and inform you what they've found out info-wise.

flavor-wise I'd say a wise old mentor or hermit; no longer up to fighting, but helpful and wise.

[YellowJohn]

That will probably be my fallback option in case theDM doesn't allow my current favourite which is...
Celestial Owl.

The +2 LA is mitigated by the expanded leadership rules in Powers of Faerun, which with soft modifiers lets me get a cohort of ECL 19.

Potential idea killers/enhancers:
1) As a 1HD creature, does it replace its racial HD with its first class level? Or is that only for humanoids?
2) Can anyone think of a prestige class that grants the Magic domain as a bonus domain?

[OgresAreCute]

That will probably be my fallback option in case theDM doesn't allow my current favourite which is...
Celestial Owl.

The +2 LA is mitigated by the expanded leadership rules in Powers of Faerun, which with soft modifiers lets me get a cohort of ECL 19.

Potential idea killers/enhancers:
1) As a 1HD creature, does it replace its racial HD with its first class level? Or is that only for humanoids?
2) Can anyone think of a prestige class that grants the Magic domain as a bonus domain?

1) Yes, if you have 1 or less racial HD (1/2 d8 for example) you can replace it with a class level.
2) Contemplative and Sovereign Speaker both grant any bonus domain that your God/ideal provides, so you could just use one of those and take it that way.

[YellowJohn]

1) Eeeeexcelent. Thought so, just wanted a double check.

2) Any that specifically give the Magic domain?
I'm toying with making it a Spirit Shaman because Oriental Adventures, but 'Magic' isn't one of the domains on their list & I'd *really* like it to use wands (especially familiar pocket) :-)

[OgresAreCute]

1) Eeeeexcelent. Thought so, just wanted a double check.

2) Any that specifically give the Magic domain?
I'm toying with making it a Spirit Shaman because Oriental Adventures, but 'Magic' isn't one of the domains on their list & I'd *really* like it to use wands (especially familiar pocket) :-)

You could always ask your DM, most people are probably willing to be flexible with domains, especially since some domains literally aren't granted by any deity. Otherwise, the easy fix is to worship an ideal and make your own. For example, "Arcane Supremacy" as an ideal could have the Magic and Envy domains. What kind of spirit shaman is this? I'm assuming the OA Shaman and not the Complete Divine Spirit Shaman. Contemplative only says it gives a bonus domain available to your deity or ideal, not class (technically), so RAW I'm pretty sure you could use Contemplative to pick up Cleric domains on a Shaman, or a class that doesn't use domains at all (like Favored Soul).