Hirelings and XP?

[Dristram]

You could rationalize that the Hireling 1st lvl Warrior is not a hero, and is destined to be a peon for the rest of his life no matter what he goes through, while a Cohort 1st lvl Warrior (which would be a rare class option) is more like an apprentice or friend bound for greater things if he survives to learn and grow from his experiences (and could conceivably advance to add a level of Fighter or Paladin). The Hireling 1st lvl Warrior merely follows orders, he's not learning from the results of any choices he made because he makes no decisions, he is a subservient employee.

Thanks! I think this has helped me quite a bit! As a D&D player, it's hard to not think in a hero sort of way. So I automatically think of any NPC as a potential hero. That is not the case and what differentiates PC's and heroic NPC's from the common folk. A 1st level Warrior Hireling is common folk. And a 1st level Warrior that is not may seek to become a Cohort.

And, for my game, the players use a 25 point buy for their characters. Common folk use a 15 point buy, i.e. all 10's and 11's. A common 1st level warrior will have all 10's and 11's for stats and one that's to become a Cohort will have higher, more heroic, stats. And be on the path to one of the core PHB etc. classes instead of the common NPC classes.

All this helps me to understand the difference between a 1st level Warrior Hireling vs. Cohort.

And about the whole leveling thing, I know I, as DM, can just go *poof* new level for NPCs. But I'm too anal to do that for regular NPCs.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Spatzimaus]

It's not an easy question, and the DMG guidelines really don't cover it well.

If someone contributes substantially to the fight, they should get some XP. But, you could argue that the GP cost they're receiving includes the XP cost in the same way that items reproducing spells with XP costs have higher GP costs. I don't like this, though.

I still like the idea of giving them XP outright. Now, how MUCH XP they get should depend on their level; a low-level person won't contribute much. But, on the bright side, you can calculate this the same way you do EL. Something like this:

> Find the lowest-level player in the party. If there's a large spread you should use mean or median, but let's stick with minimum for now.
> All players get one share of XP regardless of level.
> An NPC 1-2 levels below the party minimum gets 1/2 share. 3-4 levels below is 1/4 share. More than that gets nothing, unless there are enough of them to make a difference (example: Splinder's dwarves in Piratecat's Story Hour), in which case do a +1-per-doubling (instead of the usual +2) until they're in the ranges listed above.
> Mercenaries/Hirelings get full XP for their level; their pay is to compensate them for lack of loot and going into a fight they otherwise wouldn't survive in.
> If they're an NPC class, cut it in half again. Commoners get nothing.
> And there you go. Divide total XP awarded by number of shares.

Let's say I give 20,000 XP. There are four players, one cohort (level-1), one mercenary leader (level-4), and four mercenaries (at level-6).

This totals 5.0 shares (1 per player, 1/2 for the cohort, 1/4 for the leader, 1/16 for each mercenary). Each share gets 4000 XP. So, the players each get 4000, the cohort gets 2000, the merc leader gets 1000, and each merc gets 250. If they had done the fight without any help, they'd get 5000 each.

If you don't like that, work it the other way; if there are so many NPCs on your side that it affects the outcome, then the EL should be lowered, which lowers XP for everyone.

 

[Dristram]

Nice way to look at it I wish the DMG had been more clear.

Thanks!

 

[DiFier]

Here is what we do with followers which I think are similar to hirelings. when you level you gain more and more powerful followers. if you had 4 lvl followers and when you level you get and additional lvl 1 follower and a lvl 2 follewer. then you can choose to make 1 of your existing lvl 1 followers level 2. then you gain 2 lvl 1 followers.

Hirelings sound to me like they are similar. tho you would have to pay for a lvl 2 hireling rather than lvl 1 when he leveled.

I don't know the rules for hirelings are they similar to followers or can you hire as many as you can afford?

 

[Dristram]

I don't know the rules for hirelings are they similar to followers or can you hire as many as you can afford?

You can hire as many as you can afford. Hirelings are mainly mundane though, like laborer, teamster, torchbearer, blacksmith, etc. The only fighting Hireling is the Warrior. Cohorts and followers can be of a much larger varriety of classes.

 

[Doppleganger]

Cohorts can be a variety of classes, but Followers can only be Commoners, Experts, or Warriors (DMG pg46). So they'll be fairly mundane as well.

The other difference I see between Hirelings and Followers, is that the Followers are adoring volunteers (i.e. usually free!!), while the hirelings command a wage.

There is a basis given for computing the wage of a higher level mercenary under Hirelings, but I suspect that a DM will likely end up fudging these numbers a bit for the mercenary and a few other professions, depending how he feels each employee's level of expertise is valued in his campaign world or to the PCs.