I have a group of 2 players, so for my upcoming campaign I decided to add mercenaries they can hire. Trouble is, the mercenaries use player levels and as such I don't know how much I should be charging for their services. Any advice?
When I include Party NPCs (not the same as a DMPC!!) there are generally two ways that I deal with it.
If the NPCs are roughly the same level as the party, then they usually demand an “equal cut” and let the back and forth of the Persuasion/Insight checks dictate how the negotiations settle things. What I mean is that if there are 2 PCs and 2 NPCs they are negotiating with, the NPCs will each demand a 25% of all earnings while they are employed with the party as their starting point for negotiations.
If they are significantly lower in level (or maybe just sidekicks), I then figure out a commensurate rate based on that, maybe a smaller percentage (15-20%) or a flat rate per day/week/month for the duration. The exact amount depends entirely on the economy of the campaign. I kinda set it to scale with 2x (or maybe 3x) the NPC’s Lifestyle. I mean, if they aren’t making at least double what they need for their lifestyle, they would probably go find more lucrative employment.
I have a group of 2 players, so for my upcoming campaign I decided to add mercenaries they can hire. Trouble is, the mercenaries use player levels and as such I don't know how much I should be charging for their services. Any advice?
When I include Party NPCs (not the same as a DMPC!!) there are generally two ways that I deal with it.
If the NPCs are roughly the same level as the party, then they usually demand an “equal cut” and let the back and forth of the Persuasion/Insight checks dictate how the negotiations settle things. What I mean is that if there are 2 PCs and 2 NPCs they are negotiating with, the NPCs will each demand a 25% of all earnings while they are employed with the party as their starting point for negotiations.
If they are significantly lower in level (or maybe just sidekicks), I then figure out a commensurate rate based on that, maybe a smaller percentage (15-20%) or a flat rate per day/week/month for the duration. The exact amount depends entirely on the economy of the campaign. I kinda set it to scale with 2x (or maybe 3x) the NPC’s Lifestyle. I mean, if they aren’t making at least double what they need for their lifestyle, they would probably go find more lucrative employment.
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Rather than mercenaries, you can also give each player two characters.