Hirelings

Standard Hirelings

Most hirelings are dealt with under the section entitled Expert Hirelings - those which are typically employed at such time as the character in question has an established stronghold. Common, standard hirelings are basically the usual craftsmen or laborers taken on by lower level player characters. Men-at-arms (soldiers of mercenary calling) are dealt with under Expert Hirelings. Typical standard hirelings are: 

Location Of Standard Hirelings

In general, the various occupations represented here are common to most settlements of village-size and above, although each and every village will not be likely to furnish each and every sort of common hireling. Towns and cities will have many available, and each sort will be found in the appropriate section or quarter of the city (or town) desired individual and the offer of work. If the employment is for only a few days, there will be no real difficulty in locating individuals to take on the job. If the offer is for long term employment, only 1 in 6 will be willing to accept unless a small bonus is offered - a day’s wage is too small, but double or treble that is sufficient to make 3-in-6 willing to take service.

Duties

It is not practical to try to determine the time and expenses necessary to accomplish everything possible for the scores of standard hirelings possible to employ, so each DM will have to decide. For example, assume that a player character hires a tailor to make plain blue cloaks for all of his or her henchmen. This will take only about 1 day per garment and cost the stated amount of money plus 5 c.p. (10% of the cost of a cloak) per cloak for materials. However, if the same cloaks were to be fashioned of a material of unusual color and have some device also sewed upon them, time and materials costs would be at least double standard, and probably more.

Expert Hirelings

If henchmen are defined as the associates, companions, and loyal (to some degree) followers of a player character, hirelings are the servitors, mercenaries, and employees of such player characters, and they too can have some degree of loyalty - based on their accommodations, rate of remuneration, and treatment. Various hirelings of menial nature are assumed to come with the cost of maintaining a stronghold; thus, cooks, lackeys, stableboys, sweepers, and various servants are no concern of the player character. Guards and special hirelings are, however, and such persons must be located and enlisted by the PC or his or her NPC henchmen.

Location of Expert Hirelings

Most expert hirelings can be found only in towns or cities, although some might be located in smaller communities - providing they are willing to pick up and relocate, of course. Employment is a matter of offer and acceptance, and each player character must do his or her own bargaining. The various types of hirelings (listed below) will generally be found in the appropriate section of the community - the Street of Smiths, Weapon Way, Armorers Alley, etc. - or at cheap inns in the case of mercenary soldiers.

Monthly Costs

The cost of each type of expert hireling is shown on the list. This amount is based on all the associated expenditures which go with the position - salary or wage, uniform or clothing, housing, food, and sundry equipment used routinely by the hireling. Exception: The cost does not include arms and armor of soldiers, and these items must be furnished to mercenaries over and above other costs. Certain other hirelings incur costs over and above the normal also, when they engage in their occupations. These are indicated on the table by an asterisk (*).

Description Of Occupations and Professions

Alchemist: This profession handles the compounding of magical substances, and the advantages of employing an alchemist are detailed under the section Fabrication of Magic Items, Potions. Alchemists will only be found in cities unless you specifically locate one elsewhere. It will require an offer of 10 to 100 gold pieces bonus money, plus a well stocked laboratory, plus the assurance of not less than a full year of employment, to attract one to service.

Armorer: This occupation cares for and manufactures armor and shields. One armorer is always required for every 40 soldiers, or fraction thereof, in the employ of the player character, and only spare time can be spent on the manufacture of items, i.e. that fraction of the normal month not spent caring for equipment of troops can be used to make armor, helmets, and/or shields, prorating time according to the number of men - 0 = 100%, 1-5 = 85%, 6-10 = 70%, etc. This includes the armorer and the apprentices which are assumed to be present and cared for by the cost shown. A workroom and forge costing 310 g.p. to 400 g.p. must be available for an armorer, and the skill of the armorer must be determined if armor is to be fashioned:

If items are to be made, the following times are suggested for an armorer and apprentices working exclusively, assuming a 1 week period in order to set the operation in motion before actual work begins.  Armorers occupied for part of the month with caring for the equipment of troops must increase time proportionately.

Dwarven armorers are twice as efficient but cost three times as much, and they will not generally labor for anyone beyond 1 year of service. Gnomish armorers are one and one-half times more efficient than humans and cost twice as much. Dwarves add 25% to skill level roll, gnomes 10%. Elvish armorers cost five times the normal rate, and they will fashion only normal chain mail for sale, but it is of the highest quality, and they make it in half the time a human would.

Blacksmith: There must be a blacksmith in any stronghold, and he and his assistants can care for the needs of up to 40 men or horses. Another smith is required for each additional 160 men or horses or fraction thereof. Besides the usual duties (horseshoes, nails, hinges, and miscellaneous bits and pieces) a hired smith can turn out some weaponry each month (each must have a workroom with bellows and forge):

• 30  arrow heads or quarrel tips, or

• 10 spear heads, or

• 5 morning stars, or

• 2 flails or pole arm heads

Dwarven smiths are three times more efficient and cost ten times as much. Gnomish smiths are twice as efficient and cost four times as much.

Engineer-Architect: This profession deals with above-ground construction and fortification. In order to build any structure more complex than a simple hut or barn, it is necessary to hire one. An engineer-architect is paid for whole months of employment, even if the work is completed in less than a whole month. He or she also collects an additional fee equal to 10% of the total expenditure on the construction. The building site must be selected or approved by an architect-engineer, or else there is a 75% chance the structure will collapse in 1 to 100 months.

Engineer-Artillerist: This profession deals with the construction and use of siege artillery - catapults, trebuchets, etc. No such engines can be made or properly used without the services of such an individual. If employment is for short term only, say a few months or less, then rates of pay and costs will be increased from 10% to 60%.

Engineer-Sapper/Miner: All underground construction or tunneling, as well as siege operations which require mining, counter-mining, siege equipment (picks, rams, sows, towers, etc.), or trenches, ditches, parapets, and so forth, require the professional services of an engineer-sapper/miner. Dwarves are useful in the capacity of engineer-miner only. They are twice as costly and add 20% to the efficiency of human miners (and dwarven miners will work only for a dwarven engineer-miner, of course).

Jeweler-Gemcutter: This profession allows the character to have rapid and accurate appraisal of any precious metal, gem material, or piece of jewelry (except those which you, as DM, specifically designate as “heretofore unknown”). In addition, the jeweler-gemcutter can set stones in various things (sword hilts, flagons, or whatever) or fashion jewelry from gem material and precious metals. A simple ring will take a week, a bracelet with sculpting two weeks (with stones set, three); while a crown might require a full year of work. Basically, the work merely adds either splendor to the player characters personage by the display, or the total value of the materials can be increased by from 10% to 40%, depending on the skill of the individual doing the work. Likewise, as a gemcutter, the individual might well increase the value of a rough or poorly cut stone (those under 5,000 gold piece base value), or the stone might be ruined in the process. Note that jeweler-gemcutters cannot be held responsible for damage. Both functions are shown below:

Important. Players should never know the skill levels of jeweler-gemcutters!

Dwarven jeweler-gemcutters add 20% to skill level determination rolls. They cost twice as much to employ as far as gold piece outlay is concerned. Gnome jeweler-gemcutters add nothing to jeweler’s skill but add 30% to gemcutter skill. They likewise cost double with regard to monthly wage.

Soldiers

Mercenary Soldier: The likelihood of encountering any given type of mercenary is strictly up to you as DM. A table below shows suggested probabilities, as well as typical numbers. Types will seldom be mixed. If more than 5 are encountered, 1 will be a serjeant (a leader-type, or equivalent of a non-commissioned officer). It is urged that 1 serjeant for every 10 troops be used as a minimum figure with regard to regular soldiers and leader types. (Captains will have to be hired for each sort of troop type.) 

Note that regular soldiers are 0-level men-at-arms with 4-7 hit points each.

• Archer (longbow): These troops will be able to operate as light infantry when not employing bows. They can use any typical weapon, for they must be strong and in good health.

• Archer (shortbow): These troops will not fight as infantry when not using their bows, unless it is o desperate situation. In extremis they will fight as light infantry using short swords, hand axes, and similar weapons. (You may desire to allow certain types - such as the historical Viking warrior types - to be exceptional. If so, these individuals will certainly demand longbowman’s wages.)

• Artillerist: These troops are required to operate any missile engines larger than a heavy crossbow. They will fight as light infantry only in extremis.

• Captain: A captain is nothing more than a capable leader, a fighter of 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th level (according to the d10 score, 1-4 = 5th, 5-7 = 6th, 8-9 = 7th, 0 = 8th) but NOT capable of working upwards. A captain can command as many scores of troops as he or she has levels, i.e., 4th level enables command of 80 men, 5th level enables command of 100 men, etc. In addition, the level of the captain dictates the number of lieutenants which can be controlled. This is exclusive of serjeants and any auxiliary types such as servants, cooks, etc. The monthly cost of a captain is 100 gold pieces per level.

• Crossbowman: These soldiers are able to use any sort of crossbow furnished. Each heavy crossbowman will typically desire a light infantryman to accompony him to act as a shield bearer. Crossbowmen will bear hand-held weapons and fight as light foot if melee’d by enemy troops.

• Footman, heavy: These troops are trained to fight in close formation. They do so regardless of the type of armor they are equipped with. Weaponry can be sword and shield, axe and shield, pole arms, etc. 

• Footman, light: These soldiers do not fight in close formation. They are useful in rough terrain, woods, etc.

• Footman, pikeman: These soldiers are heavy foot who are especially trained to fight with pikes and also maneuver with them. Mercenary pikemen will be high quality (not militia or levy quality). Heavy footmen can be placed in the center of a pike formation of 100 or more troops, if these troops have trained for not less than two months with the pikemen.

• Hobilar, heavy or light: These troops are simply mounted infantry, able to use horses to move but not capable of mounted combat. Thus, hobilars ride to battle but dismount to fight. Some provision must be made to care for the horses, or the hobilars will leave 25% of their number behind to do so.

• Horseman, archer: These light troops are generally nomadic types, undisciplined and prone to looting. They will fight hand-to-hand only if circumstances force this action upon them. They can wear leather, ring, or chain mail, and they can carry small shields for use when not plying their bows.

• Horseman, crossbowman: All such troops are armed with light crossbows, as heavy weapons are not usable on horseback. They are light troops, but they can wear any sort of armor. They will wield hand-held weapons in combat if necessary.

• Horseman. heavy: These soldiers are trained to operate in close formation (stirrup-to-stirrup). They are able to use most weapons common to horsemen.

• Horseman, light: These troops are not trained to operate in close order or formation. They are useful skirmish-raider types only.

• Horseman, medium: Similar to heavy cavalry, medium horsemen are trained to operate in formation, but they are generally smaller individuals on lighter horses and do not ride as close to their fellows.

• Lieutenant: A lieutenant is an assistant to a captain, or a leader in his or her own right. Fighter level is 2nd (d10 score 1-7) or 3rd (d10 score 8-0), and the lieutenant can command as many decades of troops as he or she has levels. This is exclusive of serjeants, of course. A lieutenant serving under a captain extends the number of troops the captain can effectively command and control. The level of a lieutenant determines how many serjeants he or she is able to direct, these in addition to those normally serving with the troops, i.e., 2 or 3 additional serjeants who can do special duty. The monthly cost of a lieutenant is 100 gold pieces per level. They cannot progress in level. 

• Sapper/Miner: These troops are required for any military operations which involve use of siege machinery, towers, trenches, mines, etc. Although they will fight only to preserve their lives, they do fight as heavy footmen. They normally wear only light armor because of their duties - leather or studded leather if they are active.

• Serjeant: A serjeant is the leader of a small body of troops, a non-commissioned officer equivalent. All serjeants are 1st level fighters but incapable of progressing further. A serjeant can command up to 10 soldiers as an independent unit or assure orders from lieutenants or a captain are carried out. There must be 1 serjeant minimum for every 10 regular soldiers, and there can be 1 per 5. The monthly cost for a serjeant is 10 times the rate of the troops he or she commands, so a serjeant of heavy horsemen costs 60 gold pieces, one of light footmen only 10.

• Slinger: Slingers are trained from youth up (as are longbowmen), and are thus rarely encountered. They can wear leather (including studded leather), padded, or ring mail only, but they are also able to employ small shields at the same time as they ply their slings. They are always light infantry, and they are able to use only lesser hand-held weapons such as hand axes, clubs, short swords, and daggers.

Non-Human Soldiers: There can be various units of non-human troops available for mercenary duty, but this depends upon your milieu. It is suggested that as a general rule such troops be enlisted only where they actually dwell, and only if the player character champions their cause or is a minion of their alignment, religion, or the like, or is a racial hero. The types of soldiers available depends entirely on the race. (See the Monster Manual for such information.)

The less intelligent non-humans will serve for from 10% to 60% less cost, but these evil creatures will certainly expect to loot, pillage, and rape freely at every chance, and kill (and probably eat) captives. 

Dwarves will serve at double rates, or at normal rates if they are basically aiding a champion of their cause and people. Gnomes and halflings will only serve in the latter case. Elves are a difficult case to handle, for they might serve against hated foes, or for a cause, but in either event probably for greater cost or special considerations only. Half humans such as half-elves and half-orcs might be found amongst either human contingents or with those of their non-human parent race. 

Possible non-human soldiers are:

• Bugbears

• Dwarves

• Elves

• Gnolls

• Gnomes

• Goblins

• Halflings

• Hobgoblins

• Kobolds

• Lizard men

• Orcs

SAGES

Sages are a very special case indeed, for they are the encyclopedias, computers, expert opinions, and sort of demi-oracles of the milieu all rolled into one. Even in a quasi-medieval fantasy world, the sum of human knowledge will be so great and so diverse as to make it totally impossible for any one sage to know more than a smattering about many things, a fair understanding of their overall field, and a thorough knowledge of their particular specialty or specialties. The general fields of study for sages are shown hereafter, with special areas of expertise listed under each general category.

Sage Ability: While any sage is capable of carrying on a discussion in any field of knowledge, what he or she actually has expertise in is an entirely different matter. Thus, any given sage will know the general field of his or her chosen study well, with expertise in two or more special areas, and in addition he or she will be able to give reasonable advice in one or two other fields, but have absolutely no expertise in any of the special categories of the other fields. 

Note that expertise in a limited number of special categories does not imply that the sage is limited in talent, only that he or she has devoted major effort into limited areas, and his or her knowledge of these special categories will be exceptionally good. When taking the persona of a sage, it is therefore very important for the DM to assume not only the role but also the overview and personal dedication of the character. The number of fields of study (major and minor) and the specialization categories are determined by use of the two tables given hereafter. Find the number of fields of study first:

To use the above table, each time a particular question is asked, first roll (d10 or d20, as applicable) to determine the sage’s base percentage chance (within the range shown) to know the answer. When that is determined, roll to see if the sage does know the answer. Rolling the indicated base percentage or below indicates that the sage has the knowledge for that particular question.

You must determine if any given question is of general, specific, or exacting nature according to the subject. For example, “Do giants live on that island?” is a general sort of a question; “Do fire giants inhabit the volcanic region of that island?” is a specific question; and “Do the fire giants inhabiting the volcanic region of that island possess  the Artifact of Alamanzaliz?” is exacting. 

Any question asked must be within the scope of knowledge of the player character, or his or her associates at the time, and such inquiries must always be consistent with the learning of the milieu which you have designed. Thus, if you have no gunpowder in the milieu, no questions regarding the substance, no matter how phrased, would be possible, as none of the inquiring parties could possibly have any inkling that such a thing exists anywhere in the multiverse. Be certain to adhere to this rule strictly!

Knowledge of any sage character is not entirely contained within his or her brain. As with any scholar, sages will tend to collect materials which pertain to the fields of study he or she pursues. Thus, the sage must have both living quarters as well as study and library and workroom - a minimum of four rooms of at least 200 square feet each, and if the sage is kept busy answering many questions, then he or she will need more space for the additional materials (books, equipment, life forms, etc.) needed to fulfill the demands of the position. (As DM, make a point of asking for far more than is actually needed, as any dedicated scholars-scientist will desire acquisition of absolutely everything needed or imagined to possess a virtual university and museum. A sage who specializes in flora, for example, might request a root cellar, greenhouse, fungi beds, several acres for growing various plants - all in addition to a bed chamber, study, library, and workroom.)

Sage Characteristics: As with any hireling of importance, abilities, alignment, and even special skills will have to be determined. 

Alignment:

Hit Points: 8d4 plus Constitution bonuses as applicable

Special Skills: All sages will have some abilities with respect to spells, for their studies will have empowered them thus. Determine whether spell abilities will be magic-user, illusionist, cleric, or druid by studies. 

Flora and fauna indicate druidical talents, supernatural or unusual indicates either magic-user or illusionist ability (if magic-user talent is not obviously indicated, assume illusionist ability), studies of the physical universe indicate clerical talents (as do such studies as most categories of human, demi-human, and humanoid nature), and art & music and legends & folklore being either clerical or magic-user. When some natural bent is discovered, find the maximum level of the spells known to the sage by rolling a d4+2 to find a level between 3 and 6, inclusive. 

This only indicates the ability to use spells of up to the level shown ~ it does not mean that the sage is able to use any spell in particular. Each sage will possess 1-4 spells of each level, but at any given time he or she will have no more than one of each level available for actual use, the rest being contained in various source books. Find specific spells by random generation. 

Spells such as bless, chant, prayer, commune, raise dead, commune with nature, and contact other plane - or their reverse, if applicable, are not within the capabilities of a sage. Naturally, the sage will tend to keep his or her spell knowledge as highly secret, and he or she will likewise have those spells which seem applicable for activities likely to be pursued during the course of the period the sage envisions.

Abilities will change due to aging or special circumstances only. Sages will not increase in hit points, and their special abilities will not increase, either - although if they acquire magic items which are usable by characters of the same profession as that of their special spell ability, they will likely be able to use such items. Spell use is at a level equal to the minimum level at which such a spell could be employed if the sage were of that class, i.e. a sage with third level spell use in magic casts spells at 5th level of ability (the minimum level for a magic-user to cast a third level spell). All sages are middle-aged to venerable in age. [6:2]

Hiring A Sage: Only fighters, paladins, rangers, thieves, and assassins are able to hire a sage. (Other classes of characters can consult them, however, as explained hereafter.) Any character hiring a sage on a permanent basis must have a stronghold with ample space for the sage, as noted above. A sage will accept service only on a permanent, lifetime basis.

Location Of A Sage: Sages will be found only in large towns and cities. They are typically in or near colleges, schools, universities, libraries, museums, forums, and public speaking places. Sages belong to a Brotherhood, but as a general rule, this association is informal and not likely to have a headquarters at which a sage could be located. (However, the employment of a sage will become common knowledge to all sages within the area.)

Short-Term Employment Of A Sage: Upon locating a sage, any class of character can ask him or her to answer one or more questions. Such short-term employment cannot last beyond one week’s time, and the sage will thereafter not be available for at least one game month - as there are more important and constructive things to be done than answering foolish questions, anyway! Remembering the restriction regarding time, use the information found under the Information Discovery section hereafter. Costs for short-term employment are 100 gold pieces per day plus the variable amount shown under Information Discovery for question difficulty (reflecting costs of obtaining research materials or the information proper through fees, bribes, donations, etc.).

Long Term Employment Of A Sage: If initial reaction of the sage is favorable to the player character attempting to hire him or her, the sage will then entertain any offers of employment on a permanent basis which the character chooses to proffer. As a sage will bring nothing save thinking ability and knowledge, an offer of employment must consider the following:

Determine salary and grant expectations by random dice rolling of 2d6 for each. Initial material expenditure is a far more important matter, for even if the sage is otherwise satisfied, if this is not met and exceeded then the ability to answer specific and exacting questions will be sharply curtailed due to lack of reference works, experimentia1 equipment, and so on.

A 20,000 g.p. expenditure will allow the sage to operate at 50% of normal efficiency, and for each additional 1,000 g.p. thereafter, the sage will add 1% to efficiency until 90% is reached (upon expenditure of 60,000 g.p.). After 90%, to achieve 100% efficiency the cost per 1 % is 4,000 g.p. (for the obviously erudite and rare tomes, special supplies and equipment, etc. - assuming such are available, of course). All told, expenditures must be 100,000 g.p. for 100% sage efficiency in specific and exacting question areas. 

Note. Additional expenditure on materials will increase sage question answering ability in the general and specific areas as follows: For each 5,000 g.p. and 1 month of uninterrupted study time, the sage can increase his or her knowledge outside his or her fields of study by 1% to a maximum of 5%. At 10,000 g.p. cost and one month’s time, sage ability in minor fields of study can be brought up by 1% subject likewise to a 5% maximum gain. 

Addition of another minor field, three maximum, requires 100,000 g.p. expenditure and two years of time. Addition of a major field of study requires 200,000 g.p. and two years’ time. Payment must be made in advance. No questions can be asked of the sage during the stated period of time, or all is lost.

Information Discovery: It will take only a relatively short period of time, and no costs to speak of, to discover information of a general nature, but as questions became more difficult, the time and cost to give an answer becomes a factor. This is shown an the following table:

Note. All times assume that the sage will be in a position to conduct research and obtain necessary equipment within a day or two of the discovery of the need, and the costs shown assume these activities. 

If a town or city is not nearby, double times and costs (or compute the sojourn expenditure necessary to arrive at a locale where the needed materials are to be had, and determine other expenses also). However, if the percentile dice score rolled for knowing the answer to the question is in the lower 20% of the spread, then there will be no costs incurred, as the material is on hand. Thus, if a sage has a 31% to 40% chance of knowing a question, and the dice indicate a 32% chance of knowing it, a following roll of 32% or less indicates knowledge, but a roll of 06% or less indicates that the sage has the information about the question available, and there will be no additional expense. Furthermore, in the special category of study, any spread within the lower 80% has no cost, as this area is where the sage will have accumulated most of his or her materials. As DM you must also use judgment as to related questions, so that if a closely related query is made following one for which an expenditure was necessary, you must determine whether or not the further question or questions would be answerable from the some materials source which was formerly obtained. Naturally, all costs are NOT for materials, some accruing as payments, fees, and bribes.

You may likewise extend the time necessary to answer specific or exacting questions which you believe that the sage would have great difficulty answering due to lack of information available or the particular nature of the question. For example, a query as to how the henchman of the player character could construct an artifact would never be able to be answered positively, but the sage might feel obligated to continue a fruitless search for the knowledge.

Unknown information will always require from 51% to 100% of the maximum time shown to determine that the knowledge is beyond the ability of the sage. All costs will accrue at only half of the stated amount, however. Thus, suppose o sage is asked a question out of any of his or her fields of knowledge. If the question is of general nature, the sage will hedge and talk around the point, or just possibly sit and look wise for 4-6 rounds before answering that the question is beyond his or her learning, and there is no cost involved, as a day was not spent researching. 

Were the question specific, he or she would require 13-24 days to discover that it was unanswerable and relate this to his or her employer/master. The cost would be 50 g.p. per day, or from 650 g.p. to 1,200 g.p. (in this case probably paid out to others as fees, stipends, and the like trying to find someone with the answer).

Rest And Recuperation: After spending more than one day of time answering a question, a sage will need at least one day to rest and relax for every three he or she spent in research. During this time, he or she will not be able to answer any further queries of anything other than general nature, and if the player-character bothers the sage often during this “time off”, the sage will demand from 1-2 additional days of time for “special research”, and until such time is granted, the sage will expend the maximum amounts of time and expense in answering questions.

Non-Human or Part Human Sages: Most sages will be human, but if your campaign milieu seems right for sages of dwarven, elven, or any other such race, feel free to use them. However, old and venerable category non-human sages will not be likely to be interested in employment with humans, just as human sages will tend to favor employment with humans, unless their specialization dictates differently.

Scribe: A scribe is principally a secretary or copyist. He or she will be able to record normal things, but never anything of magical nature. Specialists such as scribes able to make maps (or copy them) - cartographers - will be scarce indeed, and generally they will command ten times the costs of a normal scribe. Other specialists would be those able to use codes or ciphers and those able to read and write a language other than the common tongue. These scribes are likewise rare and ten times as costly as the normal sort.

Sailors 

Ship Crew: As with a captain, crewmen must be of the sort needed for the vessel and the waters it is to sojourn in. That is, the crew must be sailors, oarsmen, or mates of either fresh water vessels or salt water vessels. Furthermore, they must be either galley-trained or sailing-vesseltrained.  Sailors cost the same as heavy infantry soldiers (2 g.p. per month) and fight as light infantry. They never wear armor but will use almost any sort of weapon furnished. Oarsmen are considered to be non-slave types and primarily sailor-soldiers; they cost 5 g.p. per month, wear any sort of armor furnished, and use shields and all sorts of weapons. Marines are simply soldiers aboard ship; they cost 3 g.p. per month and otherwise have armor and weapons of heavy foot as furnished. Mates are sailor-serjeants who have special duties aboard the vessel. They conform to specifications of serjeants and cost 30 g.p. per month.

Ship Master: This profession covers a broad category of individuals able to operate a vessel. The likelihood of encountering any given type depends on the surroundings and must be determined by the referee. Types are:

• River Vessel Master

• Lake Vessel Master

• Sea-Coastal Vessel Captain

• Galley Captain

• Ocean-going Vessel Captain

The latter sort should be very rare in a medieval-based technology milieu. Note that each master or captain will have at least one lieutenant and several mates. These sailors correspond to mercenary soldier lieutenants and serjeants in all respects. For every 20 crewmen (sailors or oarsmen) there must be 1 lieutenant and 2 mates. 

Sailing any vessel will be progressively more hazardous without master or captain, lieutenants, and mates. (See Waterborne Adventures). The proper type of master or captain must be obtained to operate whatever sort of vessel is applicable in the waters indicated. Cost for masters, captains and lieutenants is 100 g.p. per month per level of experience. They also are entitled to a share of any prize or treasure taken at sea or on land in their presence. The master captain gets 25%, each lieutenant gets 5%, each mate 1%, and the crewmen share between them 5%. The remainder goes to the player character, of course.

Spy: Spying is a profession which is typically reserved for assassin characters. Other types of characters can be paid to spy, but such activity must be at the discretion of the Dungeon Master. The player character must locate a likely prospect and then employ him or her in some capacity which is in accord with the prospective spy’s station and occupation or profession. Then, by means of discussion and offers of payment, the player character must convince the character that he or she should become a spy. 

The sums offered can range from as little as 100 g.p. to as great as 10,000 or more depending on the situation and the person being approached. If the area where the spy must go is distant, the person or persons to be spied upon dangerous, or the prospective spy of high station, the likelihood of acceptance is low unless the pay is exceptional - in money and possibly magic or land or position or some other valuable consideration. Payment must always be made by installment, part on taking the assignment, the balance on completion of the assignment.

Spying

Use the Assassin Spying Table to determine the success of any mission, treating the spy as a 1st level assassin on his or her first mission, 2nd on the second, etc. Such spies can never become more proficient at spying than 8th level in any event.

Time Required To Accomplish Mission: The length of time necessary to travel to the region in which the spying activity is to take place must be determined by the referee according to circumstances. Once in the necessary locale, the spy will then take a variable period of time to accomplish the mission (or fail), according to the degree of difficulty of the task: 

Extraordinary missions must be determined by the circumstances of the case. 

For example, a spy sent to become a member of a secret society might take a month to discover the recruiting requirements of the society, and then spend one or more months making himself or herself eligible for recruitment, and then become insinuated in the group. Thereafter, he or she would gain simple or difficult information according to the time requirements shown, and special information could be gained only as the individual gained more and more status within the organization through continued membership and seemingly outstanding contribution. 

Chance Of Discovery: There always exists a chance of discovery, no matter how simple the mission. The base chance to be discovered is a cumulative 1% per day of time spent spying, subject to a maximum of 10%, minus the level of the spy. 

Even if the latter brings chance of discovery to a negative percentage, there is always a 1% chance. Modifiers are dependent upon the precautions against spying taken by the spied upon.

Minimal precautions represent occasional checks on individuals and their activities and some watch on important information. Moderate precautions are simply more frequently carried out minimal precautions and more careful questioning of anyone behaving in a suspicious manner. Strong precautions include many security checks on individuals and information, as well as counterspies operating to discover any such activity. 

If a spy actually becomes a leader in a group, the chance for being detected then drops to that of the category of “no precautions”, as the individual is regarded as being “above suspicion”, i.e. only certain jealous or ferret-like operatives will still check on the individual. 

Chance of discovery will increase tenfold if a spy is caught and another spy is still attempting to operate during a period of 20 to 50 days thereafter. 

Spy Failure: If, after spending the requisite time, the spy rolls and is not successful, various possibilities exist. The results are determined on the table below.  The d% on Table 4.9.1 is modified as follows: Difficult Mission (+10%), Extraordinary Mission (-5%), or spy was discovered (+25%).

Steward/Castellan: This occupation pertains to the overseeing of a castle, particularly if the player character owner of the stronghold is not a fighter or cleric or if he or she intends to be away for a time and desires to make certain that the castle is well-run and safe. A steward/castellan is the same as a mercenary soldier captain with respect to level but cost of employment is double (200 g.p./level). However, as he or she is dealing with troops within a stronghold, command ability is double, i.e. 40 troops per level. Generally, a trusted captain will be appointed castellan or steward. Once so appointed, the character will feel affront if asked to take the field as if he or she were nothing more than a common mercenary captain! A castle with a steward/castellan will always be sufficiently garrisoned, have ample food, water reserves, oil, siege equipment and engines, missiles, etc., and will be kept in good repair. 

Of course, the player character must initially establish the stronghold and its attendant needs for men and supplies of all sorts. Once this has been accomplished, bought, and stocked, the castellan or steward will see that levels are maintained according to the dictates of his or her master. The costs of such work come from standard support costs of the stronghold, but a steward/castellan will see that such funds are actually spent on what they were meant for. Note: Loyalty of such a character must be kept high or else disaster might result the first time an enemy approaches the place when the player character is away.

Weapon Maker: A weapon maker is a sort of smith-armorer specializing in the manufacture of high-quality arms. As DM you might desire to divide weapon makers into the three following classes:

• Bowyer-Arrrowsmith-Fletcher

• Swordsmith-Daggersmith

• Weaponer General

The bowyer would fashion any sort of bow, including crossbows, and missiles for same. Swordsmith work would be strictly with all forms of swords and daggers. The weaponer would fashion all weapons not made by the other two classes of weapon makers. 

As with other hirelings of this sort, the weapon maker must have a forge and a workroom. He or she will have various apprentices which are subsumed in the monthly cost. A weapon maker is necessary to support troops, one being required to support each 80 men or fraction thereof. If the weapon maker has free time, he or she can turn out weapons at the rate of 1 weapon per day after an initial start-up period of one month. Exceptions to this rate are composite and long bows which require a start-up time of 1 year and are turned out at the rate of 2-5 per month thereafter, heavy crossbows which are turned out at a rate of 15 per month, and swords which are made as follows:

Scabbards for all swords will have to be manufactured by a leather worker of some sort. Location of a weapon maker willing to take service with any player character should be difficult.

Daily Employment

Expert hirelings are generally not available for periods of less than one or more months. Soldiers can be hired, but not captains, lieutenants, or serjeants. They recognize hazardous duty, and the cost per day is the same as per month. The supply of such men-at-arms willing to work day-to-day is strictly limited, so if the PCs lose them adventuring, more will not be likely to be found.