Equipment for Hirelings

[Elephant]

I was looking at the rules for hiring mercenary warriors in the DMG, and I noticed that the list price (2sp/day for a 1st level warrior) did not include "materials, tools, or weapons that the hireling may need to do his job."

When PCs hire some mercenary warriors (for instance, if a new lvl 1 party has two wizards, a bard, and a cleric), how should the equipment for the mercs be handled? By the book, the 2sp/day doesn't include equipment. It doesn't really say how much should be added to the cost for the mercs weapons and armor, though. Besides, it stretches my suspension of disbelief to expect a bunch of mercenary warriors to be completely devoid of equipment until some employer comes along and outfits them.

One idea I came up with was to simply double the list price for hirelings in order to account for equipment costs. That seems almost too simplistic, though. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to handle this better?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Odd. I've always assumed that they come with "standard NPC gear."

For instance, a generic mercenary footsoldier (@ 2sp / day) comes with leather (or chain shirt) armor, a long sword (or similar weapon), and a light shield.

A generic mercenary bowman comes with a bow, some arrows, and maybe leather armor.

What it does not come with, however, is anything beyond that: food, extra arrows, an additional weapon or two, horses and tack and bridle, etc.

 

[LeapingShark]

There's a 12 page breakdown on this topic in WOTC's "Arms & Equipment Guide". Too much detail to post here, but here's a very rough summary of how that book does it:

The typical 2sp/day 1st lvl warrior is an able-bodied person without any combat equipment. You provide arms and armor, and they return it after their contract is over. The daily wage demanded increases for cavalry skill (x2), merc leaders (wage more complex) and mercs with class levels (wage more complex). Higher level mercs will not tolerate substandard equipment to a certain degree, per a table in the Ar&EqGu book.

You can also hire fully outfitted mercs at higher cost. They come with their own personal arms, armor, mounts, etc. The daily wage they demand is dependent upon the total value and quality of the equipment they own, which roughly determines their current level per the "NPC Gear" table in the DMG. There is a sample chart of troops, their equip, and their level. E.g. a 1st lvl warrior with padded, shortbow, and light mace for 2sp/day, a 2nd lvl warrior with scalemail, small steel shield, longsword, and dagger for 4sp/day.

With this book's system, you might as well hire outfitted mercs, because in most cases the wage is not much more than an emptyhanded one.

 

[dcollins]

Those sound like good rules in the Arms & Equipment Guide. I would've suggested something very similar.