How do you use cohorts?
I figured they get an action related to their field in downtime “off camera” generally a roll equated to their quality (which makes them rather weak in the early stages). Then we spotted “All Hands” in the smugglers crewsheet which means the above is actually a playbook ability.
So, outside of the obvious thugs helping you gain scale in a fight, how do you use cohorts and how do you apply them to actions outside of a score?
Out group also wanted a leech working fulltime – is a character sheet created with the full benefits of the character (along with LTP and other DT actions) or do the players get to tap the leech npc for specific things in certain ways?
You obtain a cohort either by spending 2 upgrade points, or buying the ones on your crew sheet for 1 point.
You can have your cohort do absolutely anything you want. If it’s what they specialise in, roll their quality, if it’s not something they specialise in, roll 2 and take the lowest.
If a PC is leading the cohorts in doing something, the PC rolls leadership as a group action, with the cohort rolling as described before. PC takes 1 stress per fail (1-3 rolled as highest), but the odds of success are increased.
A Leech NPC could be a cohort you spend 2 upgrades on (he starts on quality 1 and you can upgrade him from there). When he rolls to do leechy things, roll his quality (1 dice), if you ask him to cook, clean, fight, interrogate, or whatever else you might have him do, roll 2 and take the lowest. As you upgrade the Leech, in the fiction describe how he’s been practicing and acquiring better equipment etc.
Another option your players could use is to have one of their stressed team members be Lost for a session, then roll up the Leach as a playable PC who can then be used or left as an NPC as desired. At least that’s my understanding of it. Has anyone who has actually played the game (and not just read the rulebook) got an opinion on that?
I also wouldn’t give cohorts downtime actions. They’re off doing stuff that THEY want to do, which is generally not the same as “what the crew wants them to do”
Jason Lee Yeah, swapping out characters worked well in our game. Both “I want to play someone different. My old character leaves, and this new character steps up to fill the gap” and also “My PC is in jail for a session or two, here’s my new guy”
The players actively play one character at a time on the score, so if there are three players, then three characters go on the score.
The other characters are treated like NPCs if they’re not being actively played. Assumed to be hanging around at home, healing, indulging their vices, or helping out. If they help out, they’re treated much like the other contacts that the PCs have – the GM or their usual player might roleplay them, they can provide fictional help based on what they are, but generally don’t take active actions to help the crew unless the PCs are managing that.
Another good use is for flashbacks. “You come across a steel door. Your tinker roll to pick the lock failed.”
“I’m going to flash back to the group’s leech giving me explosives from his demolition kit. And then wreck this door.”
… seems like a great justification for having a demolition kit item as part of their load, and allowing them to roll their (but not the leech’s) wreck roll.
So from what I gather the general gist is they’re used as reserve characters, they don’t do anything (mechanically) outside of “on-screen moments”
Adam Brimmer
Wait. Are we talking about PCs that aren’t being played right now? Or cohorts? If the former, then that covers how they are used in my group. If the latter, not exactly? Cohorts can definitely work on long term projects or the like if ‘assigned’ to do so.
Ok so currently the situation is this. My players are a Shadows Crew. They’ve opted for a cohort of Rooks, in this case a very small troupe of actors and entertainers (the intent being they’d be around the rich and wealthy at parties and they can gather gossip and information). Typically the PCs tend to be very much away from the social scene due to ongoing issues, so they have yet to every share any screen time with the Rooks, nor are they likely to ever be at any social gathering of that level. So how do you use the cohort here? Do the players roll 1 die (quality) when they need some gossip related to the aristocracy? Does this cost a downtime action for someone / is it free / do the cohorts get any set amount of uses? It seems to me cohorts are mostly effective as buffers to a PCs action, as foils or bonus dice for group actions, but the book doesn’t really illustrate how else they can be used in a mechanical way.
This is a good question and the thread got a little away from it. I’ve also been wondering what cohorts can bring to the table outside of actively participating in scores.
I’d say, in the current available rules, cohorts don’t get their own downtime actions, except as provided in the All Hands ability. But, I’d let a PC use one of their downtime actions to Command a cohort to do something, treating it as a group action (see Command, pg 25). If the cohort is a Gang, I’d also give the action increased effect, due to the Gang’s increased scale.
Or, if the PCs are themselves doing a downtime activity and they want to involve the cohort- “I’m going to gather information by going to this party with the Rooks and Swaying some nobles”- I’d let them bring the cohort along and do a group action.
I lean towards treating with this the same way Jason Eley suggests – the gang doesn’t get their own downtime actions, but if one of the PCs wants to “supervise” and tell them, via a Command roll, to get some information, then that is an option that would be available to the PCs that wouldn’t otherwise be.
Will see how the group uses hem in the future. Thanks for the feedback.
They’re also fictionally useful. If you want gossip about the nobles, then probably just give them gossip – you want to get to the action.
Or even let the players assume the gossip. “I’m breaking into Lord Strangford’s house. The point of entry is the coal locker, which will be unlocked because coal is delivered on Tuesday mornings. We know that because our cohort were visiting and Lord Strangford’s maid mentioned the dust from the coal delivery.”
Then assign bonuses as appropriate. In the above example maybe there’s no bonus (just describing the locker as unlocked is enough) – in a different situation “we’ll turn up as guests at the party our cohort told us about” they might get the extra dice because of the assistance from the cohort (who bring them as their +1, or tell them who to claim they’re invited by, or whatever.)
A standard “gather information” downtime action from a PC could also certainly benefit from having the rooks.
For the cohort “doing stuff during downtime” I’d probably use that when the PCs want something specific. “OK, so Lord Strangford has a ghost bottle. We don’t want to break in, so let’s send our cohort to grab it during his next party.” – that would probably be a straight fortune roll if no PCs are involved.
They could also be used for flashback scenes. “Wait, we’re here to trade. I know you’re interested in magic contraband and… hey GM, can I have a flashback roll? Our cohort might have stolen a ghost bottle from Lord Strangford, right? OK. (rolls)… We’ve got this valuable ghost bottle to trade.”