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ghost_warlock
2009-06-22, 11:47 AM
Q: How much should it cost to hire a group of NPC guardsmen?

I can't find this listed in any of my books and suspect that it's simply not there. What would be the negative consequences to the game if I just used 3.5 costs?

Background for those interested:
The party I'm DMing for has recently inherited a observatory tower about 5 miles from the village they've been living in all winter. The former owner, a star-pact warlock, was killed when one of his apprentices betrayed him. Now that the goblins have been cleaned out, the PCs would like to use the tower as a base from which to launch their adventures. However, they don't want to end up clearing goblins (or worse) out of the tower every time they come back after adventuring so they'd like to hire some militiamen from town to guard the tower in their absense and help defend it while the the party is home.

Local government in the village is basically just a council of merchants and elders who see to keeping the village economy running and oversee the village traditions. A retired adventurer (minotaur fighter 8) serves as sheriff for the village if for no reason other than to have a semi-peaceful retirement (and she doesn't trust anyone else to do it right). "Frontier Justice" is the law of the land, for the most part. In response to threats to the village, the minotaur essentially drafts able-bodied townsfolk to help defend their homes (any who refuse are given the cold shoulder by merchants and other townsfolk, their money is suddenly no good in the village).

Most inhabitants of the village are minotaurs and goliaths, but a smattering of other races can also be found there; some are refugees and craftsman, others are on the lamb and hiding out (they're tolerated as long as they don't cause trouble).

RTGoodman
2009-06-22, 12:35 PM
It depends on what kind of hirelings we're talking about.

Based on Mount prices, you can "buy" a creature for the same price as a magic item of its level. It's not necessarily realistic, but it fits balance-wise. You could get a normal 1st-level hireling for 360 gp, or, if you're buying serfs and minions, you could probably get 4 of them for that price.

For militiamen, you'd need to pick a level and decide if they're gonna be minions or not. I'd probably go with "Yes," since that gets the PCs more than one hireling at a time. Then just charge them the money and let them go on.

Tsotha-lanti
2009-06-22, 01:00 PM
How much does food for a day cost? Now multiply that by an appropriate factor.

Remember that there's a handy way to handle the effect hirelings, mounts, allies, etc. have on an encounter - they all reduce the XP value of each encounter they participate in by their own XP value (basically this means "build bigger encounters").

Oracle_Hunter
2009-06-22, 01:16 PM
It depends on what kind of hirelings we're talking about.

Based on Mount prices, you can "buy" a creature for the same price as a magic item of its level. It's not necessarily realistic, but it fits balance-wise. You could get a normal 1st-level hireling for 360 gp, or, if you're buying serfs and minions, you could probably get 4 of them for that price.

For militiamen, you'd need to pick a level and decide if they're gonna be minions or not. I'd probably go with "Yes," since that gets the PCs more than one hireling at a time. Then just charge them the money and let them go on.
I like this.

Make that price the "yearly upkeep" cost of the hirelings. It'll cover their wages, their food, their equipment and other miscellaneous costs. Definitely make them minions - they're militia, not mercenaries.

But, I have to ask - how does the sheriff feel about "hiring out" her town's defenses? Surely the PCs will need to negotiate with her for the contract, but it doesn't sound like the sheriff really has that many "spare" men to offer. 5 miles of frontier is pretty far if she needs to call back the militia for the defense of the town.

Asbestos
2009-06-22, 01:54 PM
Wouldn't the town slowly shift over to the tower as more and more individuals are hired to defend it and may set up more and more permanent abodes nearby? Presumably the tower is also easier to defend than the village itself.

Oracle_Hunter
2009-06-22, 02:23 PM
Wouldn't the town slowly shift over to the tower as more and more individuals are hired to defend it and may set up more and more permanent abodes nearby? Presumably the tower is also easier to defend than the village itself.
Normally, I'd say yes, but we don't know enough information at the moment.
- Why is the town where it is? Is it close to valuable natural resources (water, ore, arable land?), easily defensible (natural defenses), or something else?
- What is the land like around the tower? If there isn't enough food and water to naturally support a town, then it makes for a poor new settlement.

Artanis
2009-06-22, 02:31 PM
You can also look at encounters and treasure parcels in the DMG. Say, a level's worth of cash per year for one encounter's worth of that level of guards.

For example:

The cash total of level 1's suggested parcels comes to 720gp, and a level 1 encounter is, on average, 500xp worth. So you could charge 720gp per year for 500xp worth of guards:
*A L1 Elite Captain, a L1 Normal Sergeant, and eight L1 Minion Guards, or
*A L6 Elite Super-Guard, or
*Twenty L1 Minion Guards, and so on

ghost_warlock
2009-06-22, 03:50 PM
Hm, some really good suggestions so far. :smallsmile:


Make that price the "yearly upkeep" cost of the hirelings. It'll cover their wages, their food, their equipment and other miscellaneous costs. Definitely make them minions - they're militia, not mercenaries.Militia to start with, yes. The party would like to eventually upgrade the entire endeavor to mercenaries, though, since it follows somewhat naturally from a militant adventuring campagin. Sort of... I've already pointed out that the location of the tower (more on that, below) is less than ideal, but they remain ambitious. So long as they can provide a plausible means of achieving their non-adventuring goals I don't have any particular problems with going along with it in the spirit of fun.


But, I have to ask - how does the sheriff feel about "hiring out" her town's defenses? Surely the PCs will need to negotiate with her for the contract, but it doesn't sound like the sheriff really has that many "spare" men to offer. 5 miles of frontier is pretty far if she needs to call back the militia for the defense of the town.
From the NPCs perspective, the militia the party is likely to attract will be largely composed of "undesirables;" residents who are already trying her patience and other squatters who're looking to hide out. The party may still have to succeed on a skill challenge or something, though, to recruit without her finding much out about their plans - I haven't completely decided on this aspect of the plan. Once again, if it's reasonably plausible I'll see where it takes us.

Another perk of doing things on the sly, from my viewpoint, is that the militia they hire could end up being useful to me for plot hooks and intrigue. :smallamused:

Wouldn't the town slowly shift over to the tower as more and more individuals are hired to defend it and may set up more and more permanent abodes nearby? Presumably the tower is also easier to defend than the village itself.
Normally, I'd say yes, but we don't know enough information at the moment.
- Why is the town where it is? Is it close to valuable natural resources (water, ore, arable land?), easily defensible (natural defenses), or something else?
- What is the land like around the tower? If there isn't enough food and water to naturally support a town, then it makes for a poor new settlement.

The village is located in the upper foothills of a major mountain range, directly at the mouth of a moderately travelled mountain pass. There is a larger settlement further up the mountain, however (I'm planning on placing the Thunderspire Labyrinth there). Based on the location, and some features of the terrain, the village is easily defensible. If hard-pressed, the residents can pick up and relocate to the larger settlement further up the mountain without too much difficulty. The village is close to several sacred sites for the indigenous goliaths, however. The minotaurs came to the area later (likely descendants of minotaurs that managed to escape Baphomet's wrath discussed in the backstory for the Thunderspire Laybrinth module).

The tower, however, is further down the mountain. It lies off the main road and is partially surrounded by evergreen and semi-deciduous foliage (given the altitude).

The tower was never intended to be a military fortress so much as an observatory tower for the star-pact warlock who originally owned it (he was a minor noble who blew the majority of his inheritance on its construction). As such, the location is far from ideal for defensive purposes, but was chosen for a good view of the stars. The structure is three stories tall and features a cellar accessible by a ladder on the ground floor. The ground floor has a single door and no windows and the top story is also windowless (except as necessary for the telescope). The second story has a few windows lining the outer walls. The cellar features a well, a fireplace, a rack that hasn't been used in years, and a few holding cells (products of the warlock's rabid desire for secret knowledge and hidden lore in his younger days).