My AD&D campaign uses henchmen pretty regularly, mostly to bring the party up to "full strength" (which is nine adventuring characters). However, my 4E campaign has only flirted at the edge of using henchmen; it used companions once or twice when the party were without a key role, but generally just has the four or five main players each with one character.
This is, as much as anything, a function of system. In AD&D, nine PCs (enough for adventuring in a 3x3 block down a 10' corridor) is sort of needed for survival, especially in a megadungeon environment. In 4E, with more tailored adventures and a problem with combat length that increases dramatically with more characters, they're not so good.
We used them in 3E, sometimes. We didn't use them much in 2E. (But we also had a large group for much of the adventure. And they were depreciated in the rules).
So: Do you use henchmen in your D&D games? And how do you find the choice of system affects their utility?
Cheers!
I'm afraid not. At least not most of the time.
I have an issue with the logistics of henchmen.
I don't mind non-combatant hirelings too much. Bad guys can distinguish them from PCs, and might deliberately attack them, or deliberately go after combatants instead. However if someone shows up and starts using AoE attacks (Fireball, harpy song, whatever) it gums up the works. There's also the issue of what you do with your hirelings when you go into a dangerous area. Leave them outside a dungeon and they might be dead or have fled by the time you return. Take them in and see previous issue, plus add fragility.
Combative henchmen bring up issues too. Bad guys often can't distinguish them (not every villain is all that intelligent, or has a spy network, etc). "Random encounters" (pacing encounters really) especially have a hard time figuring out who is who, as they might not have a history with the PCs. This means a massive battle. Not a big deal in OD&D, which is fast and simple, but a big deal in later editions, which are more complex. Henchmen become a puzzle.
Out of combat, you have to put effort into feeding them, keeping them comfortable, keeping their morale high, etc, and often PCs don't have the tools to do so. Often players have little logistical experience too. Simply figuring out how many mules you need (and how many mules are just carrying food for mules) is enough to frustrate me. I don't want to think about a train of adventurers who are wandering into exotic lands where they have no idea what they might run into. Things like snakes and diseases could start killing off hirelings and henchmen, even though they are little threat to the PCs. They could get killed off by
bad weather. (Endure Elements works best with a small group. Prior to 4e you need to spend a spell slot per recipient. In 4e you can perform the ritual on only a small group, and you need expensive components. The rules are built around a small party.)
A gigantic heaping of DM advice might make henchmen popular again, but it's quite possible that gaming culture has evolved, leaving the idea of henchmen behind. There's something to be said of adventurers who are only responsible for each other.
My current 4e game actually uses henchmen to some extent. It's a conversion of Way of the Wicked, so really it's the adventure/campaign that pushes it. I read battle reports where PCs had several henchmen
each. At present the PCs just have one (and just gained 24 minions, but said minions will not fight alongside the PCs).
