Hired Hands and Henchmen

Highlights

• Hired Hands are worthless in combat and aren't likely to be targeted by enemies.
• Henchmen do pretty much whatever the players want, so long as they're not treated worse than a PC.
• Henchmen must succeed at a morale check or seek other employment at the end of an adventure, but they stop checking morale at all once they've passed two morale checks.
• Henchmen take only a half share of the entire party's loot and XP.
• Henchmen are rare and usually sought for hire from factions whom the PC must have gained favor from.

Hired Hands

• Hired Hands are ordinary, level 0 folk, not adventurers.
• If forced to do anything dangerous, check their Morale. Regardless of success, remove one point from their Morale score afterward.
• A Hired Hand is usually an incompetent outcast, such as a street urchin, addict, or bum. They're not willing or able to meaningfully contribute to combat, nor are opposing combatants likely to pay much attention to them.
• Standard wage: 5 SP (silver standard) per day plus living expenses.

Example Hired Hand jobs:

• Hold a torch or lantern
• Carry treasure
• Manage pack animals

Default Hired Hand

HD: 0. Grit: 5. ATK: 10. AC: 10.
Morale: 6. ATR: 10 each (roll 3D6 if needed.)
Random Profession + associated gear and dagger, club, or other minor implement of self-defense.

Henchmen

• Henchmen require one half-share of the party's loot and XP.
• A Henchman can replace a dead employer as a player character.
• They obey fair orders and act at the same time as their employer (a single PC.) They are bound to their employer and will not leave in order to complete long-term orders.
• Check Morale when the situation becomes nigh-intolerable. (Participating equally in a fight does not require a Morale check.)
• Check Morale at the completion of an adventure (such as a return from a dungeon). Any failed Morale check results in abandoning the party, never to risk their employment again, at least not without very special circumstances.
• After a Henchman has passed two Morale checks, they do not make any more unless mistreated/misused.
• A Henchman is generally hired from a faction or while adventuring.

Note About Half Shares

When a party contains only PCs, everyone has a full share. 4 PCs get one share each. If they're sharing 400 SP, they each get 100 SP. If they brought one Henchmen along, she gets a half share. The result of this is that each PC has 2 shares and she has 1. This makes a total of 9 shares. Divide 400 by 9 to determine the size of a share. It's 44. This means she gets 44 SP and each PC gets 88 SP.

Default Henchman

HD: 1. Grit: 5. ATK: 11. AC: 10.

Morale: 7. ATR: 10 each (roll 3D6 if needed.) 

Random Profession + associated gear and weapon.

Hiring Hired Hands and Henchmen

2D6	Hiring Reaction
12	Refuse, insulted*
9-11	Refuse
6-8	Roll again
3-5	Accept
2	Accept, impressed**

*Insulted: Reactions of other potential employees in area/Faction penalized by 1. **Employee's morale gets +1 bonus.

Morale Adjustments

+1

• if housed
• if living expenses provided for
• if given more than their share
• if provided extra comforts

-1 per

• insult to them
• unnecessary danger faced

-2 for

• harm that could have been avoided