Hirelings

Hirelings of any kind, including men-at-arms, will never venture into a dungeon¹⁾ of Dungeon Level 4 challenge or higher.²⁾ This is a game mechanic similar to a paladin's alignment restrictions; there will be no “tricking” hirelings, they simply won't go in.

Hirelings will venture into dungeons and dungeon-like areas if they are paid the daily “hazardous duty” wage.³⁾ The above rule regarding Dungeon Level 4 applies.

When the DM doesn't know the alignment of men-at-arms, it's recommended to use the following table from the Heroic Legendarium, which we feel provides for a good spread of alignments for mercenary-types:^Ex

If the DM feels this is too far from the official books, the alignment table on DMG 100 can be used instead.

Furthermore, an override die can be applied to enact a 2-in-6 chance to override the rolled alignment with the typical alignment of the settlement. Thereby, a settlement which tends for example lawful evil will have a higher proportion of mercenaries of that alignment.

Prospective employers may get a feeling for alignment but will not be sure without magic.

The nature of hiring men-at-arms will be specific to the milieu. If no other process is defined by the DM, the following can be used:^Ex

PCs can discover what men-at-arms are available in a settlement on a given week by spending d3 hours in a tavern.⁴⁾ The following table lists the number of rolls which are to be made on the DMG 30 table.

Remember that men-at-arms in groups larger than 5 will include a serjeant as one of their numbers.⁵⁾ Larger groups will have lieutenants and captains as well. All three of these officers are more expensive than regular troops⁶⁾, and the cost can rapidly add up when paying the daily hazardous duty wage.

Men-at-arms who are hired for daily duty (i.e. when the monthly rate is instead paid daily), the men-at-arms will be mercenaries who already have their own equipment. Men-at-arms who are hired at the monthly rate will require housing, food, and equipment to be supplied by the employer. In effect, there are two types then: for-hire mercenaries, and long-term soldiers.^Ex

The DM will need to declare the loadouts of hired men-at-arms who are hired on a daily basis. DMG 16 is a great page for this. We typically assign one of these loadouts to all men-at-arms in a group. In cases where multiple loadouts are listed, such as heavy infantry, we roll randomly. It is recommended that the DM add variation in weapons and armor from time-to-time.

We have adopted the command control system from OD&D.^Ex7)

• 0-level men-at-arms will move toward an objective other than obvious loot only when a leader-type is able to exercise command control.
• Any fighter-class character (or subclass thereof) can act as a leader-type.⁸⁾
• The range of command control is the leader's charisma score in inches.
  • This range is increased by 1“ for each 10' higher a leader is above the troops, as long as the leader is in plain view, e.g. on a castle wall.
  • This range is halved if the leader is in melee.
• Personnel beyond the range of command control will not respond to commands from leaders.
• Personnel engaged in melee will only respond to commands on a d6 roll of 1-4. This can be checked each round. Roll for each unit of troops, rather than each individual troop.
• Monsters, animals, and barbaric warriors such as berserkers and cavemen do not suffer from a lack of command control.

When characters hire hirelings and a lot of them die, hirelings will be less enthusiastic about employment with those characters.

If characters employed a group of hirelings from a settlement out of whom half or more failed to return from an expedition in the last 3 months, any group of hirelings at that settlement will require a positive reaction roll from the prospective employer. Failure indicates that group of hirelings reject employment. Any who do accept will demand double pay.