This is a bit weird - earlier in the Superhero discussion Robin was said that all abilities are equivalent and the differences come out in the wash. Then Sam asks his question and it turns out that all abilities aren't the same and we have special rules for followers.
So how about binning all the special purpose follower chaff - you don't need it. Just have abilities that represent what your followers can do or how they behave. Your Sword of Humakt can have "psycho-nutter warband 13" to represent an arbitrary number of hangers on that he or she can use in any conflict they can be narrated into. Doesn't matter how many of them there are - they're just an ability of 13, use it raw or as an augment, no special casing required. Later on you can discover other things about your warband - just add new abilities.
Another cool thing is that you don't have to worry about what happens to followers. If you're using "psycho-nutter warband" in an intimidation conflict and you loose, you just treat is as any other conflict result.
This opens up a few new options. You can play the warband and not the Sword of Humakt. You can play an entire family of Trolls off one character sheet. You can represent the shift of narrative emphasis between Sam and Frodo in "Return of the King."
Cheers,
Ash
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