Hello all! I’m working on trying to recreate the concept of a Cohort, from Pathfinder and old D&D editions, in DW. Here’s what I’ve been thinking of, suggestions and fixes are welcomed. I should note, this is intended to be part of a PDF I’ll be offering through DriveThruRPG, and credit will be given to this group as a whole.
New Compendium Class: Custody of a Cohort
When you gain the service of a person who’s willing to accept your directions for the foreseeable future, take this move. Do not gain a move the next time you level up.
A cohort requires a lot of your time, resources and attention; it’s unlikely you’ll have more than one cohort at a time.
A Cohort’s Service
You are followed by a person who’s willing to do as you bid them. Write down a Commitment, the reason the cohort is willing to follow you. A few example Commitments:
• Gar wants to understand how I was able to defeat him in combat.
• Helga was told by her superiors to help me get the Chalice.
• Vince is connected to me in some mysterious way, and trusts me to get us out of this alive.
The cohort has Loyalty similar to a hireling, except that it’s much harder to raise or lower. Your cohort starts with a Loyalty of 2. When taking the End of Session move, if you’re supposed to mark any XP you can choose to instead gain +1 Loyalty. Then ask yourself this question: Did your cohort had a reason to doubt their Commitment? If so, take -1 Loyalty.
Your cohort has 4 points to distribute between hireling skills of your choice.
Choose a type of service:
• Fight alongside you
• Do your errands
• Scout and search
• Take care of you
Your cohort will always agree to act according to your commands that relate to this type of service. Otherwise, the cohort will do what you tell them to, so long as it isn’t obviously dangerous, degrading, or stupid. When the cohort finds themselves in a dangerous, degrading, or just flat-out crazy situation due to your orders roll+Loyalty. On a 10+ they stand firm and carry out the order. On a 7–9 they do it for now, but come back with serious demands later. Meet them or the cohort takes -1 Loyalty.
If Loyalty ever reaches 0, your cohort loses all confidence in the Commitment. They’ll act upon this decision as they see fit. If Loyalty reaches 5, reset it to 2 and gain an enhancement from the following list.
When your cohort leaves your service, for whatever reason, choose either to gain a new cohort if a willing person is available, or replace this move with an Advanced Move of your class.
Enhancements
Skilled: Gain 2 more points to distribute between the cohort’s skills.
Know-how: Gain a new hireling skill with 1 point.
Flexible: Choose another type of service.
New Development: Rewrite the cohort’s Commitment. This enhancement can only be chosen after the two of you underwent a major event together, and had some time to talk.
