Wednesday, June 26, 2013

When to Allow Followers

We've spoken on followers and what they should be, but we need to talk about when.  If your characters are only 1st level, even if they somehow talked you into that Leadership Feat, you should not allow characters that low to have followers.  That is not to say you can't start back weaving a story for a follower in the future.  Say the character saves a young man from certain death or pays for him to go to bard school.  Wouldn't he remember the act of kindness and seek the character out to pay back the debt?  Back stories are good, considering you really don't want to say one day, "Alright, you have 20 followers?"  Where did they come from?  Why did they come?  All important things to know. 

Personally, I don't allow followers until at least 8th level.  By then, the players have established their name, are pretty powerful in their own right and won't be greatly augmented by adding another person with talents to the party.  And even if the Leadership feat says they get X number of followers, you don't have to throw them all in at once.  Ease them in, make it make sense.  People don't just pop out of thin air.

Happy Gaming!

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