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Henchfolk & Hirelings $5.99
Publisher: Raging Swan Press
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by Robin C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/21/2015 13:55:03

RPG System: Pathfinder Converting to d20: Effortless

This book contains a collection of 100 NPC's that can serve as henchfolk and hirelings for your PC's adventuring group, and some notes on how to use them in your campaign.

The book begins with a brief introduction of the leadership feat in d20, and why it isn't very useful to most groups beyond the one main cohort gained. It then describes playing "old school" games where henchfolk and hirelings were an integral part of the adventuring group, and how this book is an attempt to update the older henchfolk and hirelings system to be usable with Pathfinder.

There is a page devoted to the various methods of recruitment based on town size, method and other modifiers. I found the recruiting system to be well made and ready to use. DM's will be pleased to find random tables to let them generate applicants by alignment, class, race and even alphabetical by percentile. This is a very useful feature for DM's who are randomly generating applicants! There is a page devoted to the process of interviewing, pay and upkeep, adventuring with and dismissing of henchfolk and hirelings. I found the information to be weak and not well detailed. The modifiers on interviewing seem to be very generalized (for example, not every applicant or employer will get negatives for interviewing with a different or non-standard race) and will need some customizing to your particular campaign. I also disliked that the payscale was represented as a flat monthly fee, with no regard for the work done. I don't think it's fair to the employer or the employee that accompanying an adventuring group into the "caverns of endless despair" merits the same payscale as staying behind and guarding a base camp. I will be creating my own system based on expected hazards and danger as well as duties expected.

The NPC's are pretty straightforward - listing their name, alignment, gender, race, class, attributes, appearance, background, personality and mannerisms. That's it - no statblocks (yay!).

The NPC personalities are system-less except for their character class and their attributes. They can easily be converted to d20 (or most any other system) with a minimum of effort, as all hirelings are standard races and classes.

While I appreciated the many different tables made for generating random applicants, I felt that the section on interviewing and pay needed a bit of work on the DM's part to fit with the campaign. All the NPC's were well done, and they were detailed personalities ready to walk into your campaign word and interview with your adventuring group with a minimum of work on the DM's part. I consider this a useful book, and several of these NPC's will be appearing in my game as applicants to the PC's in the near future.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thanks very much for the review, Robin. I\'m delighted you found the book useful! I hope it enhances your game.
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Henchfolk & Hirelings
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