Before we really get into this, I want to share a very cool resource with you:
Meatshields! The Classic Fantasy Hireling & Henchman Generator
You gotta love a good generator. This one, obviously, makes people of the hench persuasion.
Anyway.
In 2e, these tag-along NPCs are broken into three groups: Hirelings, Followers, and Henchmen. Let’s look at each.
Hirelings
Hirelings are what they say on the tin: these are the NPCs that you pay to do stuff for you. When the money runs out, so do they. In 2e, they comprise any NPC that’ll take the party’s gold, from grunts for carrying extra treasure to sages for obtaining knowledge. Actually, 2e considers anyone you can pay for a service to be a hireling, including the innkeeper and the blacksmith. It’s stated in the PHB that they ‘do not foolishly risk their lives’, as they’re not intended to be substitute adventurers. What that means for the torchbearer or professional dungeoneer is unknown, though this seems like the exact type of thing you’d want to pay someone to do.
All versions of the early game have these rentable mooks – they’re even found in 3e. When an OSR entry has any form of a companion-NPC system, Hirelings are there: either called out as a distinct type or as the only option.
Followers
Followers get the least description in 2e, mostly because they’re just hirelings that seek out the PC rather than the other way around. These are all the men-at-arms and other glory-seekers that show up when the Level 9 Fighter gets their castle. They arrive in great numbers, requiring room, board, and a steady paycheck. They also won’t go in the dungeon. It seems a distinction with a very minor difference, which other versions of D&D and the OSR don’t make.
Henchmen
These are the ones that will go into the dark with you. Henchmen in 2e are portrayed as extra, lower-level characters that can be attached to a PC, the number of which are based on that PC’s Charisma score. They also expect to be paid, but in shares of treasure and fame. They can find the PC like Followers, grow from chance encounters, or be promoted Hirelings. The PHB notes that ‘they are friends and allies’, and should be taken away if they’re being treated like a doormat or a meat-shield. Most OSR rulesets recommend these pseudo-PCs as padding for when the group is too small.
As an aside, I do not like the name. Henchmen sounds like something a Bond villain has, rather than being the trusted companions of an adventurer. The etymology of the word is just “horse man,” so basically a groom or squire, but the word has taken on a derogatory connotation in the modern age that bleeds into the fantasy.
1. How Can I Break It?
The three categories are serviceable, but they blend into one another, and their separation is by ephemeral concepts such as service origin or opinion toward the PC. Really, they’ve got far more in common than they have differences. I’ve wrestled with how to modify this. Is it better to create additional defined and titled categories of NPCs with distinct restrictions (as found in Knave) or to declare a fuzzier, single classification of companion NPC (as with Into the Odd or the Goblin Laws of Gaming)?
As is my wont, I lean towards the latter.
I’ll call this group “Followers”. It’s the best of the lot, and the name pretty well covers any NPC who would follow the PC for either gold or fealty.
What needs follow up with this change?
Creating a single category does put Charisma’s restriction for “Maximum Number of Henchmen” up in the air, so I’ll need to review that feature.
The origin of how the Follower joined the party and how they’re paid isn’t important outside of roleplay, so it needs no more than an acknowledgement somewhere in the rules. The Follower’s opinion of the PC very much does matter, and the mistreatment of these individuals should have the same results that they do in 2e, so I’ll need to hammer out some Morale guidelines.
There’s much more to discuss regarding Followers, but we’ll focus on these two for now.
2. Charisma Restrictions
Charisma’s limiter keeps the Henchmen population at sustainable levels. If I shed any distinction between Henchmen and Hirelings, one must ask if this limiter has any purpose. I think it still does. While it shouldn’t apply to the massive troops that show up at the PC’s name level, nor should it restrict how many random mooks can be hired to haul the treasure out of the dungeon, there still needs to be some way to minimize the number of loyal NPCs that will act as loyal members of the party.
This, by definition, breaks the Followers into two categories again. Messy, but I think we can make this a subset, rather than a separate group. This subset of Followers are willing to go the distance for the PC; they’re ready to risk life and limb for the honor of serving a great hero, or due to a life-debt, or because the PC is the mentor under whom they’ve put themselves. Regardless of the reason, they’re in some way sworn to serve the PC, and as such, we can call them Sworn Followers.
2.1. Sworn Followers
Sworn Followers can use the same rules as standard Followers, but differ in three key ways. First, they actively work to support their patron; they will defend them in disputes and are more willing to follow them into danger (i.e., they get a Morale Score bump). Second, they will accept promises of future returns in lieu of pay, such as quests or training. Third, they can gain new levels while in the service of the PC, and can be trained in the PC’s class.
3. Morale
2e gives differing values for Hireling and Henchmen morale (10 and 12 versus 12 and 15, respectively); there’s argument over how these competing values are to be used. My suggestion is that we just start everyone at a base value of 10. This can be increased by time, good treatment, alignment match, and the PC’s Charisma score.
To be more specific, Followers
gain +1 to their Morale Score if:
They have travelled with the PC for more than 1 year.
Their alignment is the same as the PC.
They are treated with respect or kindness.
They are given more pay or treasure than they were contracted for.
They are rescued or saved by the PC.
Sworn Followers have a base Morale Score of 12, increased via the same methods. If an existing Follower becomes Sworn, we can give them a +2 bonus.
I realize now that I need to adjust the Morale/Reaction values that I detailed in the post on Charisma. A +4 bonus at a score of 16 is massive for this system, and it’s also too much for the Reaction system. The original bonuses were designed for modifying the die roll rather than a score sitting in the middle of the die range. I’ll fix it in post.
4. Intermission
That’s enough for this week.
The subcategory of ‘Sworn Followers’ still feels like a bit of a copout, but without another idea, it’ll do. The goal is to create one set of NPCs that do stuff for the PC, and I think creating a single ruleset for them – and then later calling out how the renamed Henchmen are different – serves that purpose.
I suppose we could just call them Hirelings and Followers, but I dislike it. By keeping them as one thing, you don’t need arbitrary rules determining whether they’ll go in the dungeon or face danger or whatnot. Here, everyone can potentially do anything, but only a special subset will gain levels or treat the PC as a friend.
I’m happy to shed the ‘hirelings never put themselves in danger’ nonsense. Why not? If you pay the merc mook enough, why couldn’t they put themselves in danger? I get the idea is to keep the players from hiring warband to clear the dungeon for them, but they should absolutely be able to do so if they’ve got the funds. And anyway, that warband might make their own problems when they decide to double-cross the PCs.
Next week, I’ll dig further into rules for leveling up our Sworn Followers, look at some ways to make Followers easier to run, and try to assemble all this into actual rules.
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