NPC adventurer hiring costs

[S'mon]

This came up in General, here's my suggestion.

For PC-class adventurers' hiring costs I'd suggest something like (Level squared)x10gp per month. This is in line with the relative power of the levels and the hiring costs in the DMG (eg 1st level Warriors are 6gp/month). Higher levels on dangerous missions would want a reasonable loot share too, 1/3 sounds reasonable.

Level squared x 10 gp =

1st: 10gp
2nd: 40gp
3rd: 90gp
4th: 160gp
5th: 250gp
6th: 360gp
7th: 490gp
8th: 640gp
9th: 810gp
10th: 1000gp
11th: 1210gp
12th: 1440gp
13th: 1690gp
14th: 1960gp
15th: 2250gp

I think characters over 15th would rarely if ever be available for hire in a regular campaign. If available to be hired, costs would be:

16th: 2560gp
17th: 2890gp
18th: 3240gp
19th: 3610gp
20th: 4000gp

For Epic level NPCs (in a _really_ high-powered game) continue the progression but multiply costs by 100gp instead of 10gp.

You can round the above numbers up or down for convenience. I think level-squared gives the best measure of relative power & thus expense across the board, although the CR system would suggest level 2 is x2 level 1, and thereafter +2 levels would be x2 cost, which leads to very high figures at upper levels. Certainly a level 20 Wizard is more powerful than 400 level 1 Wizards in most respects.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi Simon!

So is that 1 million gp to hire a party of x4 50th-level mercenaries?

 

[S'mon]

Hi Simon!

So is that 1 million gp to hire a party of x4 50th-level mercenaries?

That's right - if such were available.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi Simon!

That's right - if such were available.

As an addendum perhaps there should be a level availability table?

What do you think?

 

[S'mon]

Hi Simon!

As an addendum perhaps there should be a level availability table?

What do you think?

Hm - well the maximum should be fairly clear from the levels of NPCs in the settlement. Generally I doubt that NPCs higher than 'mid' (6-11) level would be readily available for hire, but there are obviously exceptions - eg Thrin hiring that bunch of lvl 19+ adventurers to attack the Red Wizard's lair beneath Imarr.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey Simon!

Hm - well the maximum should be fairly clear from the levels of NPCs in the settlement. Generally I doubt that NPCs higher than 'mid' (6-11) level would be readily available for hire, but there are obviously exceptions - eg Thrin hiring that bunch of lvl 19+ adventurers to attack the Red Wizard's lair beneath Imarr.

Ah yes, the cannon fodder I hired to 'test the waters' before sending in the real strike team.

 

[Victim]

Is amount per day, per mission, or what? It looks like per month. Hmm. That's kind of cheap. It's relatively inexpensive for a character to hire a couple of first level bodyguards - if you get a wooden holy symbol instead of a silver, your first level cleric can have a couple of "holy warriors" for protection.

Also, I think the price for a stactic period of one month is off. A crazy, teleport happy mercencary mage is going to place a completely different value on a month than someone who walks everywhere. Maybe the cost could be for one task, not lasting more than a month.

 

[S'mon]

Is amount per day, per mission, or what? It looks like per month. Hmm. That's kind of cheap. It's relatively inexpensive for a character to hire a couple of first level bodyguards - if you get a wooden holy symbol instead of a silver, your first level cleric can have a couple of "holy warriors" for protection.

Also, I think the price for a stactic period of one month is off. A crazy, teleport happy mercencary mage is going to place a completely different value on a month than someone who walks everywhere. Maybe the cost could be for one task, not lasting more than a month.

It's per month, or per day of heavy dungeon-crawling. Since the DMG already establishes that 1st level Warriors can be hired at 6gp/month, I don't see a problem with Fighters at 10gp - or make it 12gp if you prefer, the baseline 10gp is arbitrary. The point was to give a realistic cost-power relation. Obviously costs must always be modified by scarcity/value - maybe Wizards charge x2 the baseline, maybe Barbarians only want half as much for a chance to kill things, etc.

 

[green slime]

There should definitely be a "danger" multiplier.

So if they are getting hired to guard the fort while Dr Thundertoes cleanses the Temple of Doom, the pay is less than if they are expected to accompany Dr Thundertoes to the Temple of Doom, and even higher should they be expected to Enter said Temple.

 

[S'mon]

There should definitely be a "danger" multiplier.

So if they are getting hired to guard the fort while Dr Thundertoes cleanses the Temple of Doom, the pay is less than if they are expected to accompany Dr Thundertoes to the Temple of Doom, and even higher should they be expected to Enter said Temple.

Guarding fort - cost is per month.
Accompanying to temple - hm, if it's a week or two's journey with some combat expected, cost is per week. If it's heavy fighting with multiple combats every day, cost is per day.
Assaulting temple - cost is per day.

I'm assuming a typical dungeon crawl 'day' is similar to the DMG's typical game session - about 4 combats of (usually) around party CR. If the combat is exceptionally lethal, most NPCs will simply refuse to go on, rather than demand even more pay.