Level Up (A5E) Question About Follower Features

[Ondath]

I couldn't find any active thread where this would fit, so here goes:

I'm backporting the Followers model (loosely) to my 5E game, though I ran into an interpretation problem while reading the rules. Simply put: Do followers of a higher level of experience retain the abilities of lower experience levels? For instance, would an expert Minstrel be able to grant advantage on a Cha check 1/day and give an expertise die on a proficient attack/save/check 1/day alongside the bonus to Prestige they provide? Or do they only grant Prestige?

 

[W'rkncacnter]

it is weird that it doesn't say, but i'd assume the abilities stack. i don't know why a follower would lose abilities they once had as they get more experienced.

 

[WarDriveWorley]

Since some of the Followers have language written into them that specifically calls out keeping previous abilities (examples: Healer, Sage, Smith, and Squire) I'm less inclined to believe that they all get access to lower level abilities as a blanket rule.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Since some of the Followers have language written into them that specifically calls out keeping previous abilities (examples: Healer, Sage, Smith, and Squire) I'm less inclined to believe that they all get access to lower level abilities as a blanket rule.

oh yeah, you're right...that's kinda silly imo. it makes sense for the ones where all they do is get better at what the one thing they do (e.g. the porter, or ironically enough the healer) but plenty of the followers do different things at different expertise levels (e.g. the apothecary or footpad) yet don't have that language to keep them.

 

[Ondath]

I looked into the book a bit more in depth, and I think RAW it's really unclear. On the one hand, there's the bit about some follower types explicitly stating they keep lower levels' abilities like @WarDriveWorley said, which would imply that other followers without such language would not keep their abilities. But it does feel a bit weird that a Diviner you paid 500 gp can cast a 1st-level cleric spell but the one you paid 5000 gp can't but only grants advantage on a future roll instead.

I'm inclined to rule that all followers retain their lower-level features, mostly due to a small bit in Strongholds granting free followers on p. 362: "Followers granted by your stronghold start at inexperienced, increasing to seasoned when you reach 9th level, and expert at 17th level." To me, this indicates that followers you gain from a stronghold automatically get upgraded in experience level when you reach certain levels, and it'd feel weird if the Minstrel I got in my Castle suddenly lost the ability to grant me advantage on a Charisma check just because I reached level 9.

Perhaps a future errata could address this situation more clearly?

 

[WarDriveWorley]

oh yeah, you're right...that's kinda silly imo. it makes sense for the ones where all they do is get better at what the one thing they do (e.g. the porter, or ironically enough the healer) but plenty of the followers do different things at different expertise levels (e.g. the apothecary or footpad) yet don't have that language to keep them.

Yeah I agree. I could see some having the lower level abilities either gain more power or be added to other higher level options.

 

[Ondath]

Yeah I agree. I could see some having the lower level abilities either gain more power or be added to other higher level options.

I think I'll apply common sense and say that ones where the each level adds a new option keep all of them, while ones where the ability seems to be an improved version of the previous one (like the Bodyguard or the Interpreter) simply replace the old ones.

 

[Morrus]

Followers get all the abilities below their level.

Where something improves a previous ability numerically, it only does that.

TL;DR -- they never lose abilities by gaining experience.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Followers get all the abilities below their level.

Where something improves a previous ability numerically, it only does that.

TL;DR -- they never lose abilities by gaining experience.

this clarification might be worth adding to the errata tbh