Leadership, Thrallherd, & nonstandard followers/believers

[Segev]

Do followers and believers have to be humanoids or even particularly intelligent? Is there anything preventing a Leader from having his followers be made up?partially or entirely by animals? Or a Thrallherd's subtle psychic call drawing some animals rather than humanoids?

Same for the cohort/thrall.

I know there is a feat for an anijal cohort, but I am wondering if this is legal/feasible with Leadership or even Thrallherd.

[Fouredged Sword]

Do followers and believers have to be humanoids or even particularly intelligent? Is there anything preventing a Leader from having his followers be made up?partially or entirely by animals? Or a Thrallherd's subtle psychic call drawing some animals rather than humanoids?

Same for the cohort/thrall.

I know there is a feat for an anijal cohort, but I am wondering if this is legal/feasible with Leadership or even Thrallherd.

No, and partly because cohorts use LA rules. You can take any creature you could play as a character and then some additional creatures with an LA that specifies cohort only, but not anything else unless an ability specifies something specific.

[redking]

Do followers and believers have to be humanoids or even particularly intelligent? Is there anything preventing a Leader from having his followers be made up?partially or entirely by animals? Or a Thrallherd's subtle psychic call drawing some animals rather than humanoids?

You get believers and thralls because of a "hidden psychic resonance" connecting you to the thralls and believers. You don't get any choice at all. Leadership doesn't exclude animal followers, but the intelligence and instinct of the animals make it unlikely that they will want to join or are capable of being proper followers. Same goes for the ostensible animal believer - its an animal, it probably isn't capable having the hidden psychic resonance with your thrallherd. That said, maybe there might be an awakened animal believer.

Unlike followers under leadership who are likely to be of the same race/nation, a thrallherd's followers will be of every race and from everywhere. Here is a short story that I found on Reddit that describes it well.

[Segev]

You get believers and thralls because of a "hidden psychic resonance" connecting you to the thralls and believers. You don't get any choice at all. Leadership doesn't exclude animal followers, but the intelligence and instinct of the animals make it unlikely that they will want to join or are capable of being proper followers. Same goes for the ostensible animal believer - its an animal, it probably isn't capable having the hidden psychic resonance with your thrallherd. That said, maybe there might be an awakened animal believer.

Unlike followers under leadership who are likely to be of the same race/nation, a thrallherd's followers will be of every race and from everywhere. Here is a short story that I found on Reddit that describes it well.

Neat story. Though in a lot of ways, that makes Thrallherd less interesting than Leadership, since Leadership lets you recruit for particular purposes. One would hope the "subtle psychic call" at least would call for some believers useful to the Thrallherd's cause.

"So, let me get this straight. Bob took Leadership, and thus gets to recruit the dragon wyrmling we met as a cohort through RP. I took a PrC, and I get a random rogue as my Thrall? We have a rogue in the party already, and I really was hoping for a bodyguard, or to recruit that dromite vitalist we met."

[liquidformat]

Neat story. Though in a lot of ways, that makes Thrallherd less interesting than Leadership, since Leadership lets you recruit for particular purposes. One would hope the "subtle psychic call" at least would call for some believers useful to the Thrallherd's cause.

"So, let me get this straight. Bob took Leadership, and thus gets to recruit the dragon wyrmling we met as a cohort through RP. I took a PrC, and I get a random rogue as my Thrall? We have a rogue in the party already, and I really was hoping for a bodyguard, or to recruit that dromite vitalist we met."

I tend to agree with your thoughts on this 'subtle psychic call' is functional mechanic of how you attract them it has nothing to do with what your call is. I see no reason I could 'subtle psychic call' that dragon wyrmling we met previously because at the time I felt a psychic resonance with it or I implanted a suggestion in its subconscious for later.

Also my 'subtle psychic call' is coming from the ancient bestial part of my brain and there by attracting animals also seems perfectly fine.

[icefractal]

In practice, I've usually seen it run as "You design your own cohort, either building them completely or at least specifying the important details. Followers use more typical NPC stats and you only get rough control." for both Leadership and Thrallherd.

Although "you get to build everyone, even the followers" is one I've seen too, and it does save time for the GM. Possibly broken, yes - but Leadership is that way to begin with. Either you're running a high-power game where having a small personal army is fine, or you put some limitations on using it.

[Segev]

On the subject of cohorts/thralls who are not typical demihumanoid creatures, are there any good LA (cohort) critters that would be reasonable mounts that are either Small or Medium? (In PF, it's possible to get down to even Tiny, depending on how you start, thanks to Malefic Metamorphosis.)

[Fouredged Sword]

The dragons are fairly good, especially if you are small and can ride a medium dragon. They are a good mix of fast and tough with some useful third movement types like burrow or climb based on color. You can snag a feat to lower their effective LA for leadership.

[unseenmage]

Hey! I made a thing for this!
Every playable creature by ECL.

Also, check out the Power of Faerun book for additional rules for attracting specific followers/cohorts.
It should've just been called the big book of Leadership.

[Segev]

Hey! I made a thing for this!
Every playable creature by ECL.

Also, check out the Power of Faerun book for additional rules for attracting specific followers/cohorts.
It should've just been called the big book of Leadership.

Nice! Thanks for making and sharing that!

[unseenmage]

Nice! Thanks for making and sharing that!

You're very welcome.
Apologies its not more useful. I always wanted to add at least the ability score adjustments but never got around to it.

Do.let me know if it comes in handy.