A discussion about follower oriented characters

[HowlVoid]

Note: TL;Dr at the end.

I have seen a couple of characters get follower oriented perks and skills. Wormwood got saladmanders, Wolfgang got the coaching whistle, Wicker got grumbles, etc. I don't want to discourage more follower type skill because they are cute and/or unique. I know some of these aren't particularly strong but they helped come to the conclusion of my following point.

Getting ahead of future skills for characters, like Webber and Wurt, I think it is important that there is a fair amount of skills that focus on their self preservation. Characters with very strong foundations tend to feel even stronger when they have a hoard of minions. However, follower oriented characters can sometimes feel weaker when they don't have have the followers that make up most of their kit (I feel this especially with Webber). 

it goes without saying a strong leader, makes a stronger army.

This doesn't mean I want to erase their identity as a follower based character or the weaknesses that are associated with that. Not having your army or losing it to a bad play is part of the fun. Im talking about utility that allows the character a higher function in place of an existing army but not due to the absence of one.

What I mean by this, is that the army is still needed, but you are allowed an ace up your sleeve if you willingly forgo it in an attempt at another strategy. Examples:

Reckless whistle- A skill that essentially allows Webber to turn their spiders into walking bombs. They will die easier but they will do one guaranteed higher damage attack.

Overfriendly fire- Webber can one hit kill any spider under their control. Leads into  ->

Growing dominance- Webber will cannibalize/kill a spider under their control to increase the damage of their next attack. Cannot gain new followers for a time. Not sure if this should stack up to a cap. 

Kinetic webbing- Webber can link themselves to a spider or spider den via web and transfer the damage they receive (damage ignores protection). Spider does not need to be under their control. The tether would be long (before snapping) allowing to cage spiders a fair distance away. I think this could be an interesting alternative to nurse spiders. 

Usurper- killing a spider queen gives Webber an aura that lasts a day(s?) and befriends all spiders in a radius around them. (Not sure if keeping a spider queen alive in hopes it will help you as worked for others)

Feigning Death- Webber can pretend to die when near death losing the aggro of all enemies. Leads into ->

Regicide- Upon Webber's death (or fake death) every befriended spider's health can go into the negatives for 3 seconds.

These might not be good examples but I hope people get what I'm getting at. These are all Webber based but some can be Wurt based too, like usurper. (Although probably with a different effect). This would be its own path separe from path that increase followers.

TL;DR- Let follower type characters turn on their own for more utility/power. To increase their own survivability/damage in a reverse scenario of none follower type characters increasing their power by seeking followers. Specialized paths increasing the power of followers would still exist.

Note: After writing this I realize regicide doesn't fit this, but I like the skill.

Note 2: After thinking about it, due to the nature of spiders this might be more fitting to Webber and less so to Wurt. Plus merms seem to have a tighter friendship/kinship.