Henchmen, Hirelings, Faith, and Heresy

[UngeheuerLich]

Or get a sunstick and a some duck tape?

I really think, that hirelings of high level are quite useless... and for that price? I really don´t know why the cost is so high.

But usually, a level 1 hireling suffices for every need. One hp is one hp.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Or get a sunstick and a some duck tape?

I really think, that hirelings of high level are quite useless... and for that price? I really don´t know why the cost is so high.

But usually, a level 1 hireling suffices for every need. One hp is one hp.

The only real edge the higher level ones have is their defences, which will probably be overcome fairly regularly. If they got better scaling on their benefits, then maybe they'd be worth it, but that's a big 'maybe.'

Personally, I find the high-end D&D economy to be flat-out ridiculous in the first place. Pretty much anything beyond paying a million gold, or heck, even a couple million gold, for something would probably bankrupt nations, and send their economies into inflationary periods that would make Reganomics look like a good idea.

 

[Obryn]

Yeah, I understand why the 4e economy scales like it does, but it's no less absurd for it.

I'm glad I'm running Dark Sun, and the absurd planar high-level economy is completely ignorable.

-O

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Yeah, I understand why the 4e economy scales like it does, but it's no less absurd for it.

I'm glad I'm running Dark Sun, and the absurd planar high-level economy is completely ignorable.

-O

Sure, I understand that too, but you're right - it's still ridiculous.

And I'm running a homebrew, where incidentally, I also ignore 4e economy.

 

[Klaus]

Yeah, I understand why the 4e economy scales like it does, but it's no less absurd for it.

I'm glad I'm running Dark Sun, and the absurd planar high-level economy is completely ignorable.

-O

Hand out hireling service as an alternate reqard. Instead of paying gold for rescuing his daughter, the farmer offers his service as an animal handler for a week.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Hand out hireling service as an alternate reqard. Instead of paying gold for rescuing his daughter, the farmer offers his service as an animal handler for a week.

That's a good idea! I had been thinking the same thing

 

[Obryn]

One step ahead of you. A few weeks back, the party earned themselves a henchman of sorts; they had been instrumental in helping South Ledopolis, so one of the local dwarves made guarding the party his Focus.

My goal: Make a super-simple henchman, probably about as useful as a Rare item or Artifact but less useful than a full NPC, that needed neither dice nor difficult decisions. Here's what I came up with...

GAROS

Level 5 Ally, Dwarf Guard

Str 16 (+5) Con 18 (+6) Dex 10 (+2) Int 8 (+1) Wis 14 (+4) Cha 10 (+2)
Skills: Heal +9, Endurance +13

AC 22 Fort 20 Ref 16 Will 18
HP 57 (Bloodied 28, Surge 14, OOOO surges/day)

Garos is focused solely on defense, protecting the party in general and his charge in specific. He does not view offense as a substitute for defense, will not scout ahead, and will not voluntarily leave his charge’s side. If his charge falls unconscious, he will stand guard and try to use Heal checks to revive them. If his charge dies, he will guard the body. He can be persuaded to switch charges after a short rest, but he will never guard a defender. He is most likely to guard primarily ranged attackers in general.

Note: Garos has no basic attacks, so he cannot make charge attacks and cannot be the target of abilities which would allow him to take a basic attack.

Actions: Garos takes actions as normal, though his repertoire is limited. He acts on his charge’s initiative.

Move
* In combat, Garos always moves adjacent to his charge, if possible. Speed 5. He can move however is necessary, so long as he can end up adjacent to his charge at the end of his move. If he cannot end his turn adjacent to his charge, every step must take him closer to his charge by the most direct route, provoking OAs if it is necessary to do so. He can shift, stand, or crawl if need be. He will sacrifice his Standard action without hesitation to get closer to his charge. He can run, but will only do so if he cannot get adjacent by using two other move actions. He prefers to end his move between his charge and any enemies, so his charge can gain cover from his presence.

Standard
* Shield Bash - One enemy adjacent to Garos takes 5 damage and is pushed 1 square.

Opportunity Actions
* Hammer - If an enemy adjacent to Garos takes an action that would provoke an Opportunity Attack, it takes 8 damage.

Immediate Actions
* Bodyguard O (Enc, interrupt): Garos becomes the target of a successful melee or ranged attack against his charge. He must be adjacent to his charge for this to function.

Equipment: Stone warhammer, hide and chitin shield, bone scale armor

Garos is the son of Mazur, the South Ledopolis Bridgeguard commander. As such, he is familiar with Dwarves and is well-known to many. His presence grants the party +2 to all Diplomacy checks with Dwarves, and +5 to all social checks involving Dwarves from Ledopolis. He is generally silent, intensely literal, and both single-minded and stubborn when it comes to fulfilling his focus. He is neither known for brilliance or creativity, and perhaps as a result, is surprisingly difficult to trick.


I added in basic advancement rules; his damage increases by 1 every 2 levels, starting at 6th, his defenses increase by 1/level, and his HPs scale at 6/level, always staying 1 level behind the PCs.

He's been helpful so far.

-O

 

[Balesir]

Sure, I understand that too, but you're right - it's still ridiculous.

And I'm running a homebrew, where incidentally, I also ignore 4e economy.

The 'problem' is that the 4e economy is designed to work as a game, not to model a pseudo-medieval world. This is good, because a pseudo-medieval world built on D&D's tropes wouldn't work. GPs in 4e (and, arguably, in 3.x, too) are merely a points system for purchasing in-game party enhancements; used that way, they work fine. Change the 4e economy, and you will not get a world that actually works (because there are far too many other factors preventing that), but you may get a game that doesn't.

 

[FireLance]

Or get a sunstick and a some duck tape?

Or a floating lantern (level 3, 680 gp).

 

[Nightson]

Guide, Mercenary, Sage and Spy all strike me as having quite reasonable epic members although suitably rare as the article mentions.

Also, having just read the faith and heresy article all the examples that come to mind are of a religious bent... But imagine hiring an exalted servant of Avandra to guide you through the furious and constant lightning storms in a region of the elemental chaos. Negotiating with the temple of Ioun to hire one of the keepers of the celestial library in order to defeat the wards at the heart of the storm. Battlesworn of Kord willing to go with you and face what you unleash in there.

Now of course like most things a good DM can expand with more flavor to suit the individual circumstances. The head of the battlebrothers requires you to defeat him in single combat to ensure your worthiness. Ioun's price comes not in gold but in the recovery of lost knowledge and artifacts. Avandra requires support of resistance movements in tyrannical regimes that could target the PCs.

Now none of this needed an article exactly, but while the DM could come up wit this stuff, a lot of the time nothing happens until one of the players says, "Well maybe we could use a guide, how much are they again?"