Hireling costs in compendium?

[RangerWickett]

Does anyone know where in the compendium I can find prices for hirelings like artists and sages?

 

[the Jester]

Does 4e even have a chart for hireling costs? I can't recall seeing one anywhere. :idunno:

 

[RangerWickett]

Does 4e even have a chart for hireling costs? I can't recall seeing one anywhere. :idunno:

A friend of mine has Mordenkainen's Emporium. I thought there were costs in there.

 

[the Jester]

Aha, you are correct!

Looks like it basically depends on level and is fairly close to the cost of a consumable of that level.

Why it's a smidgen off sometimes, I have no idea- with a system with math as tight as 4e's you would think that there would be consistency- either it would match up or not- but instead it matches much of the time.

 

[RangerWickett]

Is that per day, per week?

Basically, I'm trying to generate an appropriate price for a ship's crew. Hiring 100 guys would be kinda expensive if they're your level, so I wonder how best to handle that.

 

[the Jester]

Is that per day, per week?

Basically, I'm trying to generate an appropriate price for a ship's crew. Hiring 100 guys would be kinda expensive if they're your level, so I wonder how best to handle that.

Holy crap, these rules are terrible now that I look at them. The price is per day- so for instance, a 1st level linkboy is 15 gp/day.

There is a note that "long-term service can sometimes be gotten at a lower rate" and the price includes "initial fee, salary, food, equipment and the materials the hireling might need along the way." Finally, there is a note about the prices being "an abstraction intended to simply" dealing with hirelings.

But really, 15 gp/day for a 1st level linkboy??

You might be better off going back to earlier editions for this- even if this is for a Zeitgeist adventure, it's prolly worth writing a sidebar on this issue.

EDIT: A pilot costs double standard. So assume 1 pilot and 20 "seasened crew members" who are all first level (and hirelings are minions, by the way!), and a 30 day month- and you are looking at almost 10,000 gp per month in operating expenses. Jebus.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Now we know why they didn't include donkeyhorses- too expensive.

 

[LostSoul]

There are two approaches that come to mind. (There are probably more.)

1. Hirelings are "monsters" who act as normal monsters do.

It's easy to price out the cost by level in this case: 5 monsters of Level X is one Encounter of Level X; an Encounter of Level X is worth a single Level X Treasure Parcel; therefore 1 monster of Level X = 1/5th of a Level X Treasure Parcel.

I use "Random Monetary Treasure Parcels" (or RMTP) to determine the value; roll 1d6+4 on the appropriate Treasure Parcel table to get a result. I like the random amount, I find it adds a little something to the game. For example, in one game when PCs hired a group of linkboys, I rolled the minimum amount on the table; I decided on the spot that it was because they were addicts out of cash looking for a fix.

2. Hirelings as special abilities the PCs can make use of.

In this case I'd give each hireling - or group of hirelings - a Power that can be triggered by a PC. The PC would have to use an Action to trigger the Power, though that might not always matter. You'd look at comparable magic items to see where such abilities lie.

e.g. Lockbust Chalk allows you to make a +7 Thievery check against a lock for 480 GP. Translate that to a Navigator/Pilot, who, for the price of 480 GP will make +7 Nature checks for you. I'd assume that once you pay that price you have the guy for life, and handwave payments/salary that aren't relevant to the game's economy.

I could go more into this but maybe later.

 

[the Jester]

Dude.

The problem here is that a 1st-level linkboy shouldn't get paid 450 gp per month. Heck, he shouldn't get paid 100 gp per month! Pricing him via comparison to a treasure parcel doesn't help the fundamental issue of absolutely destroying even the slightest bit of sense about the D&D economy.

 

[frankthedm]

Does the linkboy have HP, or is he a minion? 12 gp a day sounds more like the cost on a different type of escorting service than a torch bearer.

Link-boy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

EDIT: Thanks wiki! The behind the scenes info for Cupid As A Link Boy makes me want some brain bleach.