In one of my longer running games I only had two players. A druid and a fighter/rogue. I had a wizard npc as a dm pc and the fighter hired two mercenaries (3.5 warriors). The players would give them a wage plus bonus items they were no longer using, weapons or magic items, or extra gold. The fighter/rogue ran the warriors tactically and the druid took over my wizard. It evened out a small group and made it more fun for everyone.
PHB pg 136. The noble background variant: knight has the feature variant: Retainers. You gain the service of 3 NPCs with the commoner stat block. One of them is supposed to be training under you to be a knight I believe. Stipulates that they don’t partake in combat, don’t go into dangerous areas, and will potentially leave if subjected to abuse or endangered. An interesting example of Incorporating hirelings into a background.
My noble/knight/paladin character kept it in the family. His older sister was the bookkeeper & assistant manager of part of our father’s business, and she managed my resources while away on missions & adventuring. Our two cousins, the sons of our father’s sister, served as squire & page, though they mostly remained at home to execute my sister’s directions. My page took care of my prized horses & ceremonial armor, and other small tasks, while my squire handled most everything else. All 3 received their stipends & support directly from the family, and my squire would accompany me only occasionally, attending to my business, otherwise, and serving the local cavalry militia I served growing up.
And now, thanks to Sidekick rules in Tasha's, one can make some reasonably effective Mercenaries, and the like, who can hold their own against higher leveled foes, alongside the players, or fight against the players.
@@HowtoRPG And the Sidekick rules apply to any monster, npc, and beast with a CR of 1/2 or lower - meaning one could apply racial traits to a generic NPC to allow higher cr beings, like centaurs, minotaurs, and yuan-ti to become sidekicks, and even those beasts of burden/mounts can now pull their own weight in a fight. Gets real funny when the group decides to rob a store only to encounter a group of guards who have the same level as themselves, and the guards' mounts are also of the same level. Also, those guards have Magic weapons and armor, and shields, and the mounts are also wearing Magic armor and have items that make their Natural attacks (hooves, horns, bite, whatever) Magical.
@@HowtoRPG I love your videos dude. I love the how you take often under used things in D&D and gives great inspiration for how to use and make them a real resource in game both in rollplay and gameplay.
Hirelings can be great, especially when running for 2 or 3 players. My players always find a way to pull in some random NPC, who will be put to a task and immediately start rolling natural 20's left and right. My players of course insist this must be some exceptional individual they need to keep around. You dont always have to keep them, but I have alot of fun going along with it and creating a fleshed out character out of a what was supposed to be a background setpiece.
Morale and loyalty are useful to know. Like other NPCs they have a break chance. Loyalty was their don't sell us out stat. Otherwise you need to know their wage and some basic attributes. Charisma sets how many you can get. And if this bloke is hired to fight or not.
