3.3.0 Hirelings and Services
The party may find it useful to employ temporary labor in their ad ventures, either for extra warm bodies in combat or for the special talents they possess.
Adventuring hirelings will demand at least a half-share of treasure in addition to their daily pay and will undertake no risks that their employers don’t share. Their combat statistics will be as normal for their type, usually equal to a common human soldier for most. After a particularly dangerous adventure, the hireling must make a Morale check; on a failure, they decide the adventuring life is too risky and leave the group.
On the rare occasions that a Mage can be found willing to hire out their services, their skills almost never exceed those of a first or second levelMageMage.
Most communities have a limited number of men and women willing to risk an awful doom while adventuring. If the party makes a habit of returning without their employees, others may refuse to join.
Non-adventuring hirelings who are employed to guard the party’s residence, haul their equipment on expeditions, work on their behalf, and otherwise conduct normal business will require no more than their daily wage. If they can’t go home at the end of the day, food and fit lodgings must be provided as well.
Where it matters, common hirelings can be assumed to have a total +1 bonus on relevant skill checks.
Hirelings and Day Labor
| Item | Cost/day |
|---|---|
| Bard of Small Repute | 2 sp |
| Common Prostitute | 2 sp |
| Dragoman or Skilled Interpreter | 10 sp |
| Elite Courtesan | 100 sp |
| Farmer | 1 sp |
| Guard, ordinary | 2 sp |
| Guard, sergeant, for every ten guards | 10 sp |
| Lawyer or Pleader | 10 sp |
| Mage of Minor Abilities | 200 sp |
| Mundane Physician | 10 sp |
| Porter willing to go into the wilds | 5 sp |
| Porter only for relatively safe roads | 1 sp |
| Navigator | 5 sp |
| Sage, per question answered | 200 sp |
| Sailor | 1 sp |
| Scribe or Clerk | 3 sp |
| Skilled Artisan | 5 sp |
| Unskilled Laborer | 1 sp |
| Veteran Sellsword | 10 sp |
| Wilderness Guide | 10 sp |
3.3.1 Services and Living Expenses
Heroes who are sufficiently established as to have their own homes or businesses can live comfortably on their own resources. Other PCs, however, must pay for their keep when not out adventuring.
Impoverished lifestyle costs cover only the bare minimum of food and a mostly-dry squat to sleep in. Heroes who can afford nothing better suffer a -1 penalty to all social skill checks due to their unkempt state and must make a Physical saving throw each night to benefit from the usual decrease in System Strain.
Common lifestyle fees for an adventurer usually cover adequate food and a shabby private inn room. No penalties or benefits are granted by living this way.
Rich lifestyle costs generally include a rented townhouse, a small staff of servants, and social entree into high society circles that are forgiving of the nouveau riche… at least, as long as their coin remains good.
Noble lifestyles provide the very best the community can offer in fine lodging, luxuriant food, sycophantic servants, and the provisional friendship of useful parasites. Once per game session, the PC can ask a favor of a hanger-on in their retinue, who will perform it if it is not more than mildly humiliating, dangerous or illegal.
Aside from these weekly lifestyle costs, some other services often required by adventurers are listed.
Services and Living Expenses
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Impoverished lifestyle, per week | 5 sp |
| Common lifestyle, per week | 20 sp |
| Rich lifestyle, per week | 200 sp |
| Noble lifestyle, per week | 1,000 sp |
| Magical healing of wounds | 10 sp/hp* |
| Magical curing of a disease | 500 sp* |
| Lifting a curse or undoing magic | 1,000 sp* |
| Casting a minor spell | 250 sp* |
| Bribe to overlook a minor crime | 10 sp |
| Bribe to overlook a major crime | 500 sp |
| Bribe to overlook a capital crime | 10,000 sp |
| Hire someone for a minor crime | 50 sp |
| Hire someone for a major crime | 1,000 sp |
| Hire someone for an infamous crime | 25,000 sp |
* These services are rarely available without personal connections or doing special favors, and many communities may lack them entirely.