Henchmen in 4e

[MerricB]

G'day, all!

I'm just wondering what people think of adding henchmen or followers to D&D 4e. Apart from the possibility of having a player controlling two characters (gaining more actions, etc.) which seems to be against the grain of 4e in general (and I'll happily ignore), can you think of any other issues to consider?

Half XP actually would seem to work pretty well. By 30th level, the henchman is only 3-4 levels behind, which is fairly close in abilities for 4e.

This is mainly for my old-school Castle Greyhawk campaign.

Cheers!

 

[Hypersmurf]

Apart from the possibility of having a player controlling two characters (gaining more actions, etc.)...

A suggestion I've seen is to allow the henchman to take his minor and move action as normal... but (reminiscent of the Figurine of Wondrous Power mechanic) have his standard action require a minor action input from his 'master' to be effective.

So he can swing his sword or shoot his bow as a standard action... but unless the PC spends a minor action, the henchman misses. He can cast Fireball... but unless the PC spends a minor action, everyone in the area evades the blast (not even taking the normal half damage for a miss). Essentially, his standard actions have no mechanical effect unless the PC spends the action to give them some weight. You could even extend this to a "end of your next turn" format - if you spent the minor action this turn, the henchman can grant flanking to an ally, can take OAs, etc, but if you didn't, he can't.

It's a purely metagame mechanic - the minor action has no in-game cinematic representation, and as far as the henchman is concerned, there's no difference between a round where he's 'charged up' and a round where he isn't. But it means that there is at least some small cost to the PC in exchange for the increase in effectiveness a second warm body bestows.

-Hyp.

 

[The_Gneech]

They should only have 1 hit point. It's only fair!

-TG

 

[frankthedm]

Apart from the possibility of having a player controlling two characters (gaining more actions, etc.) which seems to be against the grain of 4e in general (and I'll happily ignore), can you think of any other issues to consider?

Half XP actually would seem to work pretty well. By 30th level, the henchman is only 3-4 levels behind, which is fairly close in abilities for 4e.

I like that Idea.


A party might make fights harder on themselves if their allies are too weak. Minions on the PC's side can cause this really easy.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4t...8-retainers-henchmen-hirelings-redshirts.html

For a start on house-ruling it, look at the rules on mounts. Basically, mounts are an extra creature, so the DM should add extra baddies to each combat without giving extra experience. If you've got a warhorse (175XP, I believe), the DM should add 175 XP worth of bonus creatures on top of the combat to even it out, or subtract 175 from the experience reward.

That’s only fair if the PCs are callously letting their weaker allies die. Eight Redshirts sent to fight 8 Orc Minions is
”numerically” fair and pretty much a death sentence for 75% of those involved.

In my experience with players who are not sacrificing redshirts, the PCs make it a point to soak the brunt of their foes aggression, having their allies acting as backup. With that DMG suggestion, the party faces a notably stronger opposing force only counterable by sending in lesser allies into the meat grinder.

 

[LostSoul]

One of the PCs in my game recruited three guys to help him out in Shadowfell Keep.

We used the stats for Human Rabble. They don't do anything at all unless a PC spends a Minor action to activate them; in which case, the PC can spend the henchman's full turn of actions (only once per round though). If they "die" I have said that someone can make a Heal check after the encounter to try to bring them back up - up but still out. They've never taken any damage so it's not been an issue.

The Entourage (as it's called now) will level up along with the PCs - who are level 4 - staying a couple of levels behind. (They're level 2 right now.)

I've also said that the PC can train them up into real monsters - not just minions - but he needs to go through an extended skill challenge in order to do it. That'll switch them from Minions to Soldiers or Skirmishers or whatever he wants.

 

[Thakazum]

How did that system work out for your group, LostSoul?

 

[LostSoul]

How did that system work out for your group, LostSoul?

So far, so good.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

G'day, all!

I'm just wondering what people think of adding henchmen or followers to D&D 4e. Apart from the possibility of having a player controlling two characters (gaining more actions, etc.) which seems to be against the grain of 4e in general (and I'll happily ignore), can you think of any other issues to consider?

Half XP actually would seem to work pretty well. By 30th level, the henchman is only 3-4 levels behind, which is fairly close in abilities for 4e.

This is mainly for my old-school Castle Greyhawk campaign.

Cheers!

Well, aside from the action economy, I can only think of the problems of mechanical complexity. If the henchman are as complex as PCs, it gets tedious.

So, don't do that. They are NPCs and use NPC rules. Done.

 

[wedgeski]

I have used the minions-as-henchman rules successfully when one of my players needed to mount a rescue mission for three other PC's (in other words, the whole rest of the group). She had an entourage of minions, some ranged, some melee, all vulnerable to a single hit and all attacking with limited if appropriate abilities. The whole point was to occupy the defending kobolds and hobgoblins while she executed the rescue.

As it happens, things got more complicated than that, but the minions worked well. I didn't require any actions on her part to 'activate' them, but once they were in position and acting the part of cannon fodder, very little effort was required on her part anyway.

Having said that, I like a lot of the suggestions which have been made with respect to action economy and henchmen.