Marionnen's Musings: Cohorts and Henchmen and Hirelings, Oh My!

[Belzbet]

I think the "henchmen" thing SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN AS A COMABT THING... YEAH HENCHMEN SUCK IN COMBAT... they are more of a RP thing... if you want multiple henchmen at the same power level then just play (as someone else suggested) many PC's...

 

[Belzbet]

I mean seriously what PC with leadership EVER brings their 1st level followers to combat?

 

[Belzbet]

I mean seriously what PC with leadership EVER brings their 1st level followers to combat? Aside from the obvious raids you are going to make on thorps and cities in the area.. LOL!!)

 

[Hussar]

True, you generally can't bring your 1st level henchmen into a fairly standard encounter. I tended to see them as handling stuff so that the PC's didn't have to. Crewing a sailing ship, for example. Manning the walls of a manor or acting as town guards and whatnot. That or information gathering.

To be fair though, that's a very 3e and 4e point of view Belzbet. In earlier editions, where the power curve was much, much flatter, followers could actually be pretty darn useful.

 

[Belzbet]

To be fair though, that's a very 3e and 4e point of view Belzbet. In earlier editions, where the power curve was much, much flatter, followers could actually be pretty darn useful.

Yes I am in the point of view of 3.5e. (3.5e is my preferred game to play; im a new DM and have actually never paly 2e or lower... ... I am the defacto DM for my group and 2e and 1e seem way more complex than I like... but 4e is too simplistic (it comes down to the "view" (psychological perspective)... that IMPRINTED (chec Libramarian, thread on PICS posted) the D&D flaovor on you.. my imprint was about 10 years ago in 3.5e's prime...)

 

[Lord Zack]

A 1st level follower is not the same thing as a henchman. A henchman is basically the same thing as a cohort in 3e.

 

[airwalkrr]

That's not really the issue though. In play, there can a boatload of niggly details to worry about. This henchman has power attack, that one has expertise, the other one has two weapon fighting, etc etc. And that's just fighters, which really are the easiest of the bunch.

Well then you clearly paid attention to the second part of my post but not the first. I am working to simplify the whole of 3.5. The character sheet is only part of it. Stay tuned. I have more ideas.

 

[airwalkrr]

I also happen to think if you simplify the game a little bit 1st-level followers and hirelings COULD become useful again in combat situations using the basic mechanics of 3.5 because like AD&D the power curve will be flatter (I like the terminology used by [MENTION=22779]Hussar[/MENTION]). Take out some of the options in the game and character and monster power will be reduced in some significant ways. But I digress. The key is trying to find ways to make henchmen, cohorts, or whatever you want to call them more attractive and viable in a game for those who like to use them.