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Message: <blockquote data-quote="InVinoVeritas" data-source="post: 5235047" data-attributes="member: 41485">In my experience, the main reason that hirelings were ignored was that they took time away from your PCs. A bunch of no-names that you're carting around? Lots of players didn't want to have to deal with that, and instead focus on their own PC's awesomeness. If we needed more characters, most players preferred to play multiple PCs. In many ways, this dropping of hirelings and hecnhmen is why Charisma became a dump stat. Personally, I don't have anything against hirelings, but I do find it interesting to see how their use has changed over time. I just started a campaign, for example, where my PC joins the group with another four NPCs he knows in tow. Essentially, they're hirelings (in truth, they're just guys my PC happens to know that uses me as their face and lets me think I'm leader). However, one of the other players was shocked and had to ask the DM why I had them, since I didn't have the Leadership feat.  Finally, I've watched some players avoid in-game social connections like the plague. Captain of the Watch? No thanks, I'd rather sit in a hole outside town and not take orders. Devotees? Better find traps and combats to throw them against quick, otherwise they'll run off with all my stuff when I sleep. Some of it's adventurer's paranoia, some of it's bad play/DMing, and some of it is just plain escapist fantasy. All in all, though, I bet the biggest reason hirelings fell into disuse is that they took time away from the PCs.</blockquote>

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