D&D 5E How much should my party pay for a WereTiger Merc?

[jgsugden]

Role play it. Who is the Weretiger? What does he want? Why is he deciding to work with the PCs?

If he is a mercenary, and works for pay, the answer will depend upon what he thinks they'll pay him, whether that amout would be worth it to them, and whether he wants to keep working for them in the future or just extract as much gold as he can before leaving.

The weretiger would compare how much he could make if he just went off and adventured on his own. He'd likely be able to take out a next of monstrous humanoids - meaning he could collect the equivalent of a level 0-4 hoard pretty easily. That would get him about 500 to 700 GP. He'd need to find the target, travel to it, and clean it out - so that might take him a week. To that end, 500 to 700 gp a week might make sense as a minimum. From there, it would come down to the personality of the weretiger to determine how much more he'd go for.

 

[DemoMonkey]

The Weretiger will accept any amount.

After all, they are planning on killing the party and taking ALL the treasure later, right?

 

[Oofta]

The Weretiger will accept any amount.

After all, they are planning on killing the party and taking ALL the treasure later, right?

Exactly. Let the adventurers take the brunt of the risk and act as cannon fodder. They're immune to nonmagical weapons, but even monsters know how to gang tackle someone and throw them into a bonfire.

 

[Fanaelialae]

If the weretiger was working for kobolds, then presumably they were paying him. So, arguably the same amount he was charging the kobolds, or more if he thinks he can get it. If it wasn't gold (perhaps the kobolds obtained an item of special value to him) then presumably for that.

If it were my game, and none of the above applied, he'd most likely ask for an equal share of the treasure.

I disagree that this merc would turn on the party, unless he's significantly below average wisdom. The party has already displayed that they're a match for him, even when he had backup. So, unless he ends up in an overwhelmingly advantageous situation, I don't see him taking that risk. At most, he might take the advance payment the party gave him and sneak off in the middle of the night (low risk; even if he gets caught he can just say he was going to take a leak).

 

[MattW]

The were-tiger should insist on an equal share of the loot - and try for more than that.

 

[darjr]

At least one PC

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I'd say an equal share of the loot with first dibs on magic items would be appropriate. Considering the power level of the weretiger, I might further tell the PCs that XP will be reduced because the difficulty is being reduced by the weretiger's presence.

 

[haakon1]

The weretiger should ask for 2 shares of treasure, and first dibs to “buy” magic items with its share, plus all expenses (food, arrows, healing, etc.) and a minimum of “x”. I’d say X is 100 gp a week, but it depends on campaign economic.

That’s the starting demand. Negotiable depending on how much the weretiger wants the job.

 

[Oofta]

If the weretiger was working for kobolds, then presumably they were paying him. So, arguably the same amount he was charging the kobolds, or more if he thinks he can get it. If it wasn't gold (perhaps the kobolds obtained an item of special value to him) then presumably for that.

If it were my game, and none of the above applied, he'd most likely ask for an equal share of the treasure.

I disagree that this merc would turn on the party, unless he's significantly below average wisdom. The party has already displayed that they're a match for him, even when he had backup. So, unless he ends up in an overwhelmingly advantageous situation, I don't see him taking that risk. At most, he might take the advance payment the party gave him and sneak off in the middle of the night (low risk; even if he gets caught he can just say he was going to take a leak).

An NPC that was working for kobolds doesn't exactly seem like the most trustworthy individual in the world. I was mostly kidding about stealing the group's magic weapons in the middle of the night, but if the opportunity came up and they reasonably thought they could get away with it? If I thought it would be fun for the group to have a "tiger hunt" arc to try to get their stuff back? I'd consider it.

But you are correct, it would be very dependent on having an opportunity.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Pay him a large box of gold coins. (At least 2’ per side.) He will empty out the gold and sit in the box. You can then keep the coins.