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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8518716" data-attributes="member: 29398">Everyone in my game has a proficiency at whatever their trade is, on an open-ended d10.&nbsp; A &quot;master merchant&quot; would at minimum be a 9, so if it came to a roll (which it likely wouldn't if freeform role-play could carry the situation) I'd roll a d10 and try to get 9 or less.Three reasons:One, I let players run their own henches.&nbsp; Two, henches very often end up graduating to become full PCs in their own right if-when the boss retires or is killed or if the player simply finds the hench more interesting/fun to play than the boss.&nbsp; Three, the only difference betwene a hench and a boss is level; henches are classed and levelled adventuring characters.Note that I'm not talking about basic hirelings here e.g. the commoners a party might hire to look after their horses while the party's up in the mountains for a week.&nbsp; I'm talking about adventuring henches.&nbsp; I'm not sure offhand whether 5e even supports the concept (I think it does) but you'd have seen it in 3e as the &quot;cohort&quot; that came with the Leadership feat or in 1e where henches were an assumed fact of adventuring life.Mechanics are there to abstract that which cannot be done in person at the table.As most of this bodyguard's uniqueness is coming from his personality, which can be played out in person at the table, mechanics aren't required.Start with a commoner.&nbsp; Give him decent Int and Wis scores and very good Cha.&nbsp; Give him a high to very high number on his merchanting skill (the d10 I mentioned upthread)*.&nbsp; Give him a personality that reeks of understated but obvious success, perhaps just a tiny bit overbearing but clearly internally strong, self-confident, and good at what he does.&nbsp; Give him some signs of wealth e.g. well-dressed but not flashy.&nbsp; Then roleplay the hell out of him if-when he meets any PCs.* - even this can be skipped; it's a houserule system I use for PCs as well, to roughly determine how good they were at whatever they did before adventuring.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 8518716, member: 29398"] Everyone in my game has a proficiency at whatever their trade is, on an open-ended d10. A "master merchant" would at minimum be a 9, so if it came to a roll (which it likely wouldn't if freeform role-play could carry the situation) I'd roll a d10 and try to get 9 or less. Three reasons: One, I let players run their own henches. Two, henches very often end up graduating to become full PCs in their own right if-when the boss retires or is killed or if the player simply finds the hench more interesting/fun to play than the boss. Three, the only difference betwene a hench and a boss is level; henches are classed and levelled adventuring characters. Note that I'm not talking about basic hirelings here e.g. the commoners a party might hire to look after their horses while the party's up in the mountains for a week. I'm talking about adventuring henches. I'm not sure offhand whether 5e even supports the concept (I think it does) but you'd have seen it in 3e as the "cohort" that came with the Leadership feat or in 1e where henches were an assumed fact of adventuring life. Mechanics are there to abstract that which cannot be done in person at the table. As most of this bodyguard's uniqueness is coming from his personality, which can be played out in person at the table, mechanics aren't required. Start with a commoner. Give him decent Int and Wis scores and very good Cha. Give him a high to very high number on his merchanting skill (the d10 I mentioned upthread)*. Give him a personality that reeks of understated but obvious success, perhaps just a tiny bit overbearing but clearly internally strong, self-confident, and good at what he does. Give him some signs of wealth e.g. well-dressed but not flashy. Then roleplay the hell out of him if-when he meets any PCs. * - even this can be skipped; it's a houserule system I use for PCs as well, to roughly determine how good they were at whatever they did before adventuring. [/QUOTE]

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