Best Cohort for Level 8 Fighter

[Ignatius]

What would everyone suggest the best cohort for a level 8 fighter would be?

I was thinking Lvl 5 Sorcerer with the pre-selected spells that buff the fighter, debuff the bad guys and then the ones you could get creative with like Ghost Sounds and Silent Image etc...

Note: We are only using 3.0 PHB in this campaign.

[Eldariel]

What other characters do you have in the party? Also, are you a mounted combatant? 'cause getting a Mount is a nice idea. At whim, I'd say it's a split between Bard, Cleric, Sorcerer and Wizard. Though a Nightmare mount would also be nice (not available for a couple of more levels, mind; it has Cohort Level Adjustment of +4, making it level 12 earliest).

If you've got someone granting Morale-bonuses, Bard gets worse. Cleric is always solid, but if you've already got Cleric, most of the mass buffs aren't useful multiple times. Sorcerer has some nice buffs, but especially for a Cohort, I'd rather pick a Wizard for the faster spell progression.

[Myrmex]

Whatever you do, make sure your cohort has access to Haste. 3.0 Haste is INCREDIBLE. Extra actions ftw.

[Ignatius]

We have another fighter, a barbarian, a cleric, a druid and a wizard that is about to leave us.

Yes, I have a warhorse at the moment.

Yep... haste was definately on my list of things to get.

[Eldariel]

Bard seems good, even though 3.0 Bard is kinda meh (only 4+Int skills, WTF?). You have so many warriors that Bardic Music gets its rights. And they get Haste on level 7, so not long (though it surprises me that you only get a level 5 Cohort on 8; is your Cha negative and don't you have various bonuses like Fairness, Special Power, Great Prestige and so on?).

The other option is the Wizard who gets Haste now. Make it a specialist Transmuter banning Evocation and profit. Have him use Dimension Door (once he gets 4th level spells) on turn 1 to transport all your melee types to attacking range and full attack to your heart's content, and such. Polymorph you into a Hydra!


But the awesome thing about Nightmare? It's only a level 10 Cohort and it has Etherealness and Astral Projection at will. It can share them with you. Do the math. If you're neutral (which would enable you to have an evil Cohort), do consider it on level 12. And make sure that you're getting the right-level Cohort, I'd imagine it should be 6th.

EDIT: Right, 3.0 had the supereasy specialization.

[Myrmex]

How does your group feel about Polymorph? Getting turned into a Troll, Firbolg, etc. would give you a huge edge in melee. You take -2 to most things, but that can of course be made up with your 30 str and Heroism from the wizard.

Personally, I would go Transmuter wizard barring evocation, and focusing mostly on party wide buffs and Solid Fog. Transmutation also has the teleport spells in 3.0, which is nice.

I would get him a rod of lesser maximize and have him put up maximized endurance, bear's strength, and cat's grace on you. +5 to all your physical stats all day. Actually, that rod is only available in Tome & Blood, and costs more than 27k. Scratch that.

You should work on getting your leadership score higher, since in 3.0, your cohort can be up to one level below you.

edit:

The other option is the Wizard who gets Haste now. Make it a specialist Transmuter banning Evocation and Necromancy (not Enchantment so you can get Heroisms) and profit. Have him use Dimension Door (once he gets 4th level spells) on turn 1 to transport all your melee types to attacking range and full attack to your heart's content, and such. Polymorph you into a Hydra!.

3.0 specialization works differently. If you specialize in trans or conj, you only have to ban evocation.

[Ignatius]

I dont have the DM giude so I cant read what it says about Leadership as the PHB refers you to the DMG...

Not sure how the group feels about Polymorph... will have to bring it up.

[Eldariel]

3.0 specialization works differently. If you specialize in trans or conj, you only have to ban evocation.

Yeah, I remembered now. You managed to quote me before my ninja edit. Damnit.

[sadi]

As long as you have +1 cha mod/postive modifiers it's level 6 for cohort. There is no nightmare though on the 3.0 chart for special mounts, so you'd have to convince your DM about it.