Arms & Equipment guide : Price for mercenaries

[Tarril Wolfeye]

Here's my reasoning:

60 gp for the 1st-lvl merc is 1/15th of 900 (1st-lvl NPC gear)

1/15th of a 10th-lvl NPC gear (16000) is 1067 gp

So you just give them 1/15th of NPC gear of their level.

 

[LokiDR]

NPC classes have CR one less than class level. A War12 is CR 11.

False. Enemies and Allies - Sor 3, Adpt 3 is CR 4. Rog 2 adept 4 is CR 4. This leads to 1/2 level for CR calculation.

 

[kigmatzomat]

False. Enemies and Allies - Sor 3, Adpt 3 is CR 4. Rog 2 adept 4 is CR 4. This leads to 1/2 level for CR calculation.

That would be more correctly described as a typo. Per the DMG, NPC CL = level-1. This may change with 3.5 but I have seen no erratas to the DMG that changes this.

BTW, in general something implicit in a stat blocks or flavor text is superceded by explicitly stated rules.

 

[LokiDR]

Any flavor text that contradicts the explict rule is poorly writen. Then again, I don't know if I consider a stat block to be "flavor text"

Do you have a page number on that reference? I can never find it in the DMG when I want to.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Any flavor text that contradicts the explict rule is poorly writen. Then again, I don't know if I consider a stat block to be "flavor text"

I don't, which is why I used the word "or" in between them. I tend to be more disappointed by conflicting stat blocks than I do flavor text as sometimes the flavor indicates perceptions in the common game world rather than actualities. Regardless, a stat block should be the result of following rules and is not a ruling itself.

Do you have a page number on that reference? I can never find it in the DMG when I want to.

Don't have my books @work but:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DnD_DMG_XPFinal.asp

"An NPC with an NPC class (see Chapter 2: Classes) has a Challenge Rating of the NPC’s level minus 1. Thus, an 8th-level adept is a 7th-level encounter."

 

[LokiDR]

Thanks

A useful article. I was hoping for a DMG reference, since I have noticed some shlock on the Wizards site from time to time, but I can't have everything.

I recall being told CR=1/2 NPC level before and enemies and allies matches that idea. Perhaps that was their line at some time in the past.

 

[Henrix]

LokiDR, it's right there in the xp award section, under Challenge Rating for NPCs, p.167.

 

[LokiDR]

Ooops. My bad.

 

[MerricB]

Table 4-4 has an entry for cost. This is the cost of purchasing the gear the merc is using (armor, shield, weapons...). While I have not checked the arithmetic for all the entries, it looks about right.

The equipment cost is used to figure the level of the troops. The side bar on pg 68 explains that the average starting wealth for a 1st level warrior is 60gp, therefore a mercenary's equipment can be purchased by a level 1 merc only if it costs less than 60gp. For higher level warriors, use the table 2-44: NPC Gear, from the DMG to figure out what level the warrior would have to be to be able to afford to purchase the gear listed.

If the PC's want to hire merc's without gear, then the cost is only 2sp per day per level, or 4sp if they are mounted troops.

How much does it cost to hire a merc with gear?

(I wonder if the NPC wealths are off because they change in 3.5E?)

Cheers!

 

[Archade]

MerricB sayeth:

(I wonder if the NPC wealths are off because they change in 3.5E?)

IMC I assume all NPC classes (with the exception of Aristocrats) start with 1/2 the regular NPC wealth levels.

Level 7 commoners with 21,000gp is just crazy ...