Mercs

[Reaper34]

I'm working on a war adventure. I need some ideas o mercenary companies. alignment, numbers, tactics, gimmicks, ect. I have a few ideas but anything else would be ice.

[Ninja_Prawn]

It's hard to provide anything useful with so little to go on... What's your overall setting? Who are the PCs and major antagonists and what are their goals/plans/motivations? What role(s) do you want your mercenary companies to play in the story?

[Kane0]

Thugs 4 Less:
Seemingly run by the only guy in the outfit capable of planning and numbermath, Thugs 4 Less is an inexpensive merc option with low standards and high availability.
Staff reliability and turnover are unfortunately also high due to the kind of men commonly recruited. Luckily the men respond well to strong management on behalf of their employer and are willing to perform almost any task if one takes advantage of their collective stupidity.
Ineptitude aside, Thugs 4 Less are very committed to their company cohesion, often taking part in teambuilding and bonding excercises, usually taking place during their hired period. There seems to be no limit to the manpower the group can muster but this is severely offset by their aforementioned lack of coordination.
You won't be disappointed!

Edit: stealing any merc outfit from Battletech also works wonders

[Regitnui]

Or from other campaign settings:

Dragonne's Roar
Despite their primarily monstrous agents, the Dragonne's Roar is a polite and efficient mercenray force. Their chief strengths are versatility and shock value: While many can field higher numbers and better skilled operatives, only the Dragonne's Roar can field aerial squads of harpies, minotaur pikemen and petrification teams led by medusae. They're also known to employ more conventional troops, favouring orcs and half-orcs, but accepting anyone who can prove their mettle on the battlefield.

The Sentinel Marshals
An elite and small group of mercenaries, they take absolute pride in doing the best, fastest, and most importantly cleanest jobs. They almost exclusively recruit the best of other mercenary groups, and since the pay is much higher, many welcome the opportunity. The Sentinel Marshals also organize smaller groups of mercenaries, often having one Sentinel in charge of several men from another group hired by the Marshals. Many of the mercenary that are or have been in the Marshals are famous in the trade, a few even going on to earn knighthoods and lordships in kingdoms.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Or from other campaign settings

The SCAG has details of the Chill, the Silent Rain and the Bloodaxes on page 152, and you can find more on the Forgotten Realms wiki (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Search?search=mercenary&fulltext=Search). On the first page of hits I see... the Black Talon Mercenary Company, the Mindulgulph Mercenary Company, the Red Brigade, the Red Plumes, the Red Ravens, the Blue Sigil and the Brotherhood of the Griffon.

Lots of inspiration to draw on there.

[Foxhound438]

a team of 4 paladins, one of each oath (not ob, crown for the 4th). More or less they would have to agree before hand how crazy they'd let the vengeance pal get for any given mission. probably have ancients in s+b protection style w/ shield master, vengeance on gsword+GWM, devotion on s+b dueling w/ rapier and war caster, crown on halberd+PAM with tough to be able to eat more damage. They all would have find steed to help them close in against ranged attackers, and in extreme cases would hire crossbowmen to help them on a job.

[RedOndjage]

Some great inspiration for a campaign like this would be The Black Company series by Glen Cook. It definitely shows how interesting politicking between powerful entities can make a mercenary company's life.

[Ewhit]

I would suggest pulling form gAme of thrones or thieves world

[Calen]

Some notes from a campaign that I ran. Maybe you will find some ideas. The description after the colon is the groups symbol.

Black Axes: A black axe head
Leader: The Black Prince AKA Rath Graniteheart. Has abandoned most Dwarven heritage.
(2-Handed fighter)
A mercenary group that favors the use of axes, brawling specialists, usually hired as guards for caravans or around large gatherings.


Sons of Thunder: Two thunder bolts like an equal sign
Leaders: Donner Skarnforge, Tuon “The Avalanche” Skarnforge, Zeb Turander
A mercenary group that favors coordinated assault techniques. Known for their efficiency is coordinated combat. Often hired by the Alliance to assault brigand strongholds or train their own soldiers.
Are the guardians of a lost Wind Node and its resident Air Elemental. All members of the SoT are touched by its power in one way or another. (This includes the thunder/lightning resistance that all have)

The Bluebloods: A blue blood drop inside an ‘U’ horseshoe
Leaders: Leadership changes often. The leaders council:

Name: Frandrual Tethidvich
Gender: male
Race: human

Name: Trusurus Medavich
Gender: male
Race: human

Name: Trach Westonvich
Gender: male
Race: half elf

Name: Drari Patonyovna
Gender: female
Race: human

Started by members of the Galscony nobility that were exiled or deserted after the war.
Will hire itself out for anything that is apolitical or that is anti-Galsconey

The Red Fist: A clenched hand
One of the most widely spread groups. Headquartered in Dymme but has hiring points throughout Diamova. Often employs itself as bounty hunters.


The Black Hands: four fingerprints and a thumbprint
Premier Assassians, often employed by Galscony nobles against other houses. Also used during the war to destabilize Alliance units.

The Pathfinders: A rolled map
A group that highers its services as guards and guides to trade caravans between Galscony and The Wilds.


The Ox Eyes: An eye with oxhorns on either side
Leader: (PC) was the first leader of the group.
A up and coming mercenary group that was crushed by rival groups several years ago. Is slowly rebuilding itself.

The Finest: An olive branch and spear crossed.
A group that operates primarily in the Heath and Kryphos. Favors horsemanship skills (Hussars)

Golden Claws:
Leader: Usero
A party of information brokers/mercenaries that (PC) once worked with/for.

[Sir Pippin Boyd]

If you're in a campaign with lots of mercenary companies, have a lot of the big players in the game specialize so they can rule their niche. I ran a game along these lines once with such examples as...

Manastorm, a specialized unit of casters trained to use their expertise in the arcane to track down and capture or kill other casters, primarily magic-abusing criminals. In a less magic-friendly setting, they could be rare sanctioned casters that have the state's blessing in using magic to hunt down its other practitioners.

Yvena's Furies, a company of demon-hunting battle ragers that partake in strange rituals including drinking the blood of their vengeful celestial founder upon initiation. Inspired thematically by the Witcher and similar grimdarkness.

The Green Knights, aerial mounted rangers that use griffons and an organized scout network to monitor vast swaths of wilderness when required, experts at tracking and overtaking quarries that have fled into uninhabited regions.

The Stonefist Clan, a warrior clan of Gnomes that have taken their racial affinity for killing giants and expanded their hit-list to include dragons, dire beasts, and just about anything else too damned big for ordinary tactics to work. They use squads equipped with special gear like nets and spikes to encumber and ensnare enemies before going in for the kill.

Knights Errant (name openly stolen from Shadowrun, but my players had never played it so nobody cared). The biggest and most generic company of them all, has the largest roster and biggest resource network, enabling them to handle a wider range of smaller jobs and sometimes jobs that are simply too large in scale for the other companies (things like holding a fort for some time).

Hemlock, not actually mercenaries but a band of assassins. They handle all the jobs that aren't, strictly speaking, legal.

[Reaper34]

the setting is a it game of thrones and eberron war era just o hairs to the throne. the king is dead and every noble, tribe, military commander, and farmer john are making power plays across the continent. each trying to take control of his own little kingdom. all the savage races/intelligent creatures were pacified by the former empire, but lived as nomads or whatever they had before just not dangerous to the rest of the empire and paid their taxes. now with no standing army to fear. they re able to do as they please. common is the language of the old empire. mercs re in high demand, some thrown together, some former military units, and some just poor sods that met in a tavern one night on the road (adventures). some employers are trust worthy some not so much. and I suspect if the campaign runs long enough the players are going to try to carve out their own kingdom.

hope that helps.

[Ninja_Prawn]

the setting is a it game of thrones and eberron war era just o hairs to the throne. the king is dead and every noble, tribe, military commander, and farmer john are making power plays across the continent. each trying to take control of his own little kingdom. all the savage races/intelligent creatures were pacified by the former empire, but lived as nomads or whatever they had before just not dangerous to the rest of the empire and paid their taxes. now with no standing army to fear. they re able to do as they please. common is the language of the old empire. mercs re in high demand, some thrown together, some former military units, and some just poor sods that met in a tavern one night on the road (adventures). some employers are trust worthy some not so much. and I suspect if the campaign runs long enough the players are going to try to carve out their own kingdom.

hope that helps.

So what you're saying is, civilised society has collapsed and intelligent life has broken down into squabbling warlords and local strongmen. I'd say the most successful are going to be those inclined towards NE - ruthless, powerful, but organised enough to hold a coalition together. "I do whatever it takes to get ahead" is a strongly NE sentiment. Since all the monsters are on the loose, I suspect they will naturally rise to the top - the biggest, baddest mercenary bands will be lead by orogs, half-ogres and bugbears. There would definitely be mercenary companies that employed undead, at least one of them led by a lich or epic-level necromancer. Several dragons would want to get involved, and may be pulling strings behind the scenes. On the bright side, gold and silver dragons would probably be able to carve out pockets of peace where the remnants of civilisation would be able to take shelter.

Outside invaders - especially from the Hells, the Underdark and the Far Realm - would be a major threat, since there wouldn't be any proper resistance against them.

And remember, food and iron are going to be more valuable than gold in this type of setting. All hail King Bread!

[Reaper34]

it hasn't gotten that far yet. at the of the adventure the factions in the immediate area are the Baron Hugo von Braum LE has 50 soldiers and 100 armed retainers (commoners) and a small keep. Bishop of Pelor Leegan LG has 10 priests and 80 zealots (commoners are looking to pelor for protection) has temple (small keep). mayor Hal Cartwright CG (faction is N) has 20 guards and 250 militia (commoners) town with wooden palisade. blood thorn goblins NE chief glug 150 goblins. commander Cassius LN 80 soldiers with palisade. ox the hammer with 9 bandits (deserters from cassius).

the Baron wants to be king and has a medium treasury and can feed 1/4 of his faction as is. the bishop has a small treasury and can't feed his people without donations he wants to restore order at any cost. the mayor has access to the town treasury and can feed all his people with ability to collect taxes. are in rebellion against the baron for trying to over tax them. he wants what is best for town and to save lives. the commander is still loyal to the empire and wants to stop these rebellions has 3 months pay and food for his troop. goblins want loot and easy food can support their people (tribal/foraging). bandits want loot and can support themselves. alliances can be made between some but not others and would be honored by some and not others.

[Reaper34]

players company, the dire wolves. rogue, wizard, fighter, druid, and warlock. irregulars, untried, small company.

others

54th legion 50 soldiers (deserters from the commander) N

flashfire young red dragon CE

broke tusk slayers 10 ogers NE

Rabid riders 20 mounted halflings CN

High farm boys 30 young men and women from town (commoners/archers)

these are in the rural area of the empire. larger cities are in even more chaos with many other mercs.

[Joe the Rat]

A few from my home game:
Mercenary Companies
The Sharptooth Company: A somewhat shady group, but notable for their leaders being almost unbeatable on the field, even if their strategies are somewhat... lunatic. Their insignia is a fang in front of a moon disc, made of Wood, Bronze, or Silver (by rank)

The Blackfist Brotherhood: The only all-Dwarf mercenary group in the region that will work for non-dwarves. Very surly, but expert sappers and siege engineers. Rumor is Bargell Blackfist (the Captain) has aspirations of starting his own Barony.

The Nine Swords: A Hobgoblin Warband, with infantry and Worg-cavalry. Very highly disciplined, very much feared. Their band is the current Lead Band of the Hegemony, having recently deposed the Red Hand Warband.

Order of the Falcon: A Noble-lead company (Rumor is their leader is from one of the old Count lines) that specializes in cavalry. Their leader is very charismatic (and pretty), but they are best known for their most feared member, the "Hundred-Slayer Swordsman." The above rumor is FALSE.

Wolfram's War Dogs: A fairly famous and successful group, to the point that tales of their exploits have become favorite bard songs and tavern tales. They were primarily infantry and archery, but they tended to take unorthodox approaches to warfare.
Their leader passed away (of old age!) 20 years ago, after which the group broke into several canine-themed companies. A group called "The Small but Vicious Dog" is still active to the south, led by “Cod-Smasher” - a Halfling with a warhammer.