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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Iosue" data-source="post: 6081743" data-attributes="member: 6680772">Retainers - One of the interesting aspects of B/X that has largely fallen out of style is role-play based consequences.  A primary example is the Cleric, of whom the Expert Set recommends denying prayed for spells, or changing granted spells, or XP penalties if the Cleric is not playing their alignment.  (The AD&D Paladin is another example.)  We find another one, somewhat stressed repeatedly, in the retainers.  The very third sentence in the retainer's section is, "If a retainer is not well-treted, he or she is likely to stop working for the PC and will tell others of the mistreatment."  The paragraph goes to explain that retainers are expected to share in the same risks as the PCs, not take unreasonable ones.When we get to the Hiring section, this is again expected to be role-played.  The PCs have to find the retainers, interview them, and make an offer.  (It also suggests that there should be a guaranteed minimum fee and a partial share of treasure found.  Employers are also expected to pay for food and gear.  Once the pay rate is offered, the DM rolls on the reaction table, "[adjusting] the reaction roll +1 or +2 for a very good offer or -1 or 2 for poor offers or if the PC has a bad reptutation." (My emphasis.)  A 2 on the reaction roll means a -1 when talking with other prospective hires in that town.  A 12 means the retainer gets a +1 to morale.Retainers can be any level or class, but not higher than the PCs.  Dwarvish retainers are rare, and Elves even rarer.  Halflings are not mentioned, so I guess they're a dime a dozen!Retainer loyalty is based on Charisma, from 4 for a Cha 3, to 10 for Cha 18.  Man, if you're playing with retainers, Charisma is a huge stat.  If you've got an 18, that's a +2 on reaction rolls.  Make an impressive offer, and that's another +1 or +2.  Let's say you get a total of +4.  Because of the way the reaction table is set up, you will never be refused.  A roll of 2 will be adjusted to "roll again".  A roll of 3-4 will get you a roll again.  A roll of 5-7 will have the offer be accepted, and a roll of 8 or better will get the accepted offer with morale adjustment.  Since Charisma 18 sets retainer morale at 10, the +1 makes it 11, meaning the retainers will break only on a 12 rolled on 2d6.Regarding XP, retainers get only 1/2 of earned XP.  Meaning, if the total party is 6 (PCs and NPCs), and the XP total at the end of the adventure is 6600, then everyone gets 1100, except for the retainers, who get 550.  But apparently generous PCs can throw additional treasure to the retainer for additional XP.Finally (actually, just before the XP section), Moldvay says this, And this basically sums up why we never used retainers.  In the beginning, we figured we were beginning players, and used extra PCs rather than retainers.  By the time we were experienced players, our characters were powerful enough to not need them.  Ironically, the above would be switched in Mentzer, with the recommendation against using retainers not included, and DMs strongly recommended that players not play two characters at once.  Interestingly, he also suggests that if the players want retainers, the DM just include them, and only roleplay the hiring and decide the pay rate if both the DM and players want to.After retainers comes a short section on Traps, of the "rug over a pit" kind and that ilk.  It's suggests that traps trigger only on a 1-2 on a 1d6.  All characters have a 1 in 6 chance of traps if looking for them, with dwarves getting a 2 in 6 chance.  Whether monsters trigger traps in the same way as PCs, or if they are immune, is left to the DM.Finally, a short section on Wandering Monsters.  This just mentions their existence, and notes that they may be chosen by the DM, or rolled randomly, with more information to come in Part 8: Dungeon Master Information.</blockquote>

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