Now Hiring: Awesome ECL 8 Cohort, apply within.

[Iskajir]

For a small game starting soonish, DM offered Leadership as a bonus feat at 6th. PC's are ECL. My PC is a Wiz5/ShadowCaster 2/Shadowcraft Mage 3.  What I'm looking for is a gnome (negotiable) "cheerleader" to compliment my abilities, boost, etc., in and out of combat.  I want to spend relatively little time and brain power in combat on a cohort, while getting the maximum benefit. I'm not looking for a separately PC-worthy character, just a useful foil with helpful abilities.

Crappy rolled stats: 9,9,10,12,14,14

Any Wotc material, except Forgotten Realms/Greyhawk/Dragonlance is ok, including Dragon magazines. No traits or flaws.

Other Player 1: Anima Mage or Escalation Mage; cohort undecided, possibly an artificer
Other Player 2: Possibly (Shapeshift?) Druid; precision damage skill-monkey

So far:
Bard 1/Cloistered Cleric 1/Marshal 1/ Bard 2-5
Feats:
1. Melodic Casting
3.
6. Inspire Spell Power

Bard 1-Bardic Knack, Fascinate-->Healing Hymn, Gnome Subs Level
CC 1- Knowledge Domain /Devotion (both are meh since he will be concentrating or buffing, not attacking), Charm Domain? Something Else..... Trickery Devotion?
Marshal 1- Determined Caster Aura
Bard 6- Suggestion---> Song of the Heart (which per DM can apply +1 to Spell Power)

CC 1 gets Identify as a 1st level divine spell, so it saves 1.5Kgp on an artificer's monocle.

Bard Spells:
1: Cure Light Wounds, Inspirational Boost?
2:Harmonious Chorus...

Any hints for a bunch of 1st level adepts/magewrights/experts? It seems like 8 of these guys ought to be fantastically useful somehow....

[JaronK]

You're a caster, so you could always go with a save debuffer.  Paladin of Tyranny 3, Hexblade 4 (Dark Companion Subsitution), and Binder can all give a -2 to nearby enemy saves.  If you make him an Unseelie Fey character, that's another -2.

I'd imagine Binder is best because you can just give him a standard vestige to bind, but then pick new ones when needed.

JaronK

[Iskajir]

What do you think of Unseelie Fey Gnome Marshal 1/Hexblade 4/Binder 3
Feats: Improved Binding, X, X
CHA 14+2(racial)+ 2 (levels)=18

Just for standing there:
+4 to my CL vs SR
-2 to saves (dark companion), -2 (aura of sadness), -4 morale penalty (winter chill)= -8 save penalty

The DC on my best spell is 25/ CL 15

[JohnnyMayHymn]

Hi im an expert1, rogue1, factotum1, warblade3, archivist1, wizard1

Looking for an internship ... ... ...

[Empirate]

CC 1 gets Identify as a 1st level divine spell, so it saves 1.5Kgp on an artificer's monocle.

Just a little bit of niggling here: Identify still costs 100 gp every time you use it. An artificer's monocle will save you a lot of cash over the course of your career!

[Tshern]

You're a caster, so you could always go with a save debuffer.  Paladin of Tyranny 3, Hexblade 4 (Dark Companion Subsitution), and Binder can all give a -2 to nearby enemy saves.  If you make him an Unseelie Fey character, that's another -2.

I'd imagine Binder is best because you can just give him a standard vestige to bind, but then pick new ones when needed.

JaronK

Since the Unseelie Fey ability is based on charisma, it shouldn't be too hard to beef that number up either.

[Garryl]

CC 1 gets Identify as a 1st level divine spell, so it saves 1.5Kgp on an artificer's monocle.

Just a little bit of niggling here: Identify still costs 100 gp every time you use it. An artificer's monocle will save you a lot of cash over the course of your career!

Cloistered Cleric casts Identify as a divine spell. The 100g component is only for the arcane version of the spell.

[Zoblefu]

I like the idea of 2 levels in bard -- with a cheap item and a couple of feats you can get a great inspire for the party -- at least +5 hit/dmg, arguably as high as +7 or 8 depending on when you double with words of creation.

Then I like the other 6 levels being devoted to lowering saves.  The dark companion and hexblade's curse is a great start for 4 levels.  You could take two feats and bind Focalor for another -2 to saves (Aura of Sadness), or take the binder level and one feat... Marshall auras are good.  Dragon Shamans get some auras too... plus you can pick up an aura (although a weak version if you're not dragonblood subtype) with a feat as well.

[Felix Underwood]

I was going to mention levels in Dragon Shaman as well.  The Dragontouched feet (also in Dragon Magic) can give him the dragonblooded subtype.  When he hits 12th level, he could radiate two draconic auras with the Double Draconic Aura feat.

JohnnyMayHymn mentions Warblade, but it's worth pointing out that with White Raven Tactics, he can give your main charcter another full-round worth of actions (every other round, or more with Sudden Recovery feat).

If you want him to do some body-guarding, check out Constant Guardian and Duitiful Guardain feats from Drow of the Underdark.  You could also use the Good Karma feat from Complete Scoundrel, but I like the DotU feats better.

Shieldmate feat (and Improved) from the Miniatures Handbook could grant your main character a shield bonus to AC, but it wouldn't matter if you are carrying around a shield or using the shield spell.

...For a devotion, Travel can help his mobility.

[Empirate]

CC 1 gets Identify as a 1st level divine spell, so it saves 1.5Kgp on an artificer's monocle.

Just a little bit of niggling here: Identify still costs 100 gp every time you use it. An artificer's monocle will save you a lot of cash over the course of your career!

Cloistered Cleric casts Identify as a divine spell. The 100g component is only for the arcane version of the spell.

Wow, I never noticed it was for the arcane version only! Thanks alot, I'll keep that in mind.

[Iskajir]

Thanks for all the ideas! So far, I have something like this:

Unseelie Fey Gnome Marshal 1/Hexbalde 4/x3
Feats:
1.Bind Vestige
3.Improved Bind Vestige
6.

But.... what to do with that last 3 levels...? Warblade seems like it might bloom a bit late, though I probably need to peruse a handbook or two.... Bard, frankly doesn't inspire me with a 3-level dip... cloistered cleric or battledancer for 1 levels dips?? Paladin of Tyrrany has a sweet ability, but the alignment restriction will hurt as i did not intend my PC to be lawful or evil.

[Felix Underwood]

As mentioned above, Dragon Shaman for draconic auras, or Cloistered Cleric.

With just 1 level in cloistered cleric, check out the Wieldskill spell (+10 to a skill check)

If you invest 3 levels in a divine class, check out Guidance of the Avatar spell (+20 to a skill check)

(are you interested in skill boosts?)

[awaken DM golem]

Petal race are cohort only ... and a very good choice.



Petal
Str -6; Dex +10; Con +4; Int +4; Wis +0; Cha +8 (LA +2, HD=0) - also has DR, flight, and tiny size (cohort only) (MM III)