Who wants to generate hirelings "wasting" precious time at the table?
So let's take advantage of this simple, fast and useful hireling generator: it allows you to select even basic options such as 3d6 vs 4d6-drop-lowest for stats, Auto-Equip versus rolling for starting money, minimum HP, and level.
Clicking on the name gives you a printable character sheet.
The only drawbacks:
- A single saving throw (so OK for S&W, less for other OSR games with multiple saves, but these are disposable hirelings... so I guess even with other rulesets a single Save is ok)
- No list of spells for magic users or clerics
Complete Hireling generator.
A hireling generator designed with Swords & Wizardry Complete in mind, but also suitable for other Old School RPGs
http://gregfarrell.org/hire/
Same problem - no spells lists, at this other link. Here there is no Save at all, but I guess for random OSR you can just refer to the default level one table for fighters.
This generator, though, includes a few traits/backstories and an alignment (I didn't test if they make sense when generating a lot of them or if perhaps they're too much over the edge, gonzo, or meaningless).
Fifty Random Hirelings for Your OSR-Style Campaign World
https://hirelings.hexed.press/
Last generator, from barrowmaze, includes a variable selection for recruiting in a village or in a larger city, and additionl recruits in case you're willing to pay more for a town crier.
It gives a handy list which includes everything (Name, Type, Race, HP, Sex, Weapon, Armor, Alignment, Background, Possessions & Knowledge, Notable Features) except... again, spells.
But you may get a war dog.
Meatshields
This generator is intended for introductory level play using the OE, Basic, or 1E gamesystems and their retroclones.
In any case, with all randomly generated hirelings in need for a spell, we can easily work with this:
http://paperelemental.blogspot.com/p/list-to-html-generator.html
Click the button for a random spell.
Click the button for a random spell.
Having said that, remember to give a little life to your hirelings... Don't push it too far, but a trait or two, or a line of a backstory, a quirk, a funny habit, a strange fear or weakness, something odd, will make any meaningless set of stats into a person.
If you want, you can start with what I already listed for characters:
If you want a simple table with additional traits, you can use also the simple and handy pdf linked below, on city-of-brass.org, which uses a roll of all your dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20) to generate a few meaningful traits for a hireling:
http://city-of-brass.org/TelecantersHirelingSpurG.pdf
If you feel like pushing it a bit further, consider the next two lists, with a list of random followers, adding color to your party.
If you want, you can start with what I already listed for characters:
If you want a simple table with additional traits, you can use also the simple and handy pdf linked below, on city-of-brass.org, which uses a roll of all your dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20) to generate a few meaningful traits for a hireling:
http://city-of-brass.org/TelecantersHirelingSpurG.pdf
If you feel like pushing it a bit further, consider the next two lists, with a list of random followers, adding color to your party.
Who/what has followed the party?
by V. A.
As the party travels, they may pick up a hanger-on or two - perhaps they have gained some notoriety, or some opportunistic individual(s) hope to join for fortune or easy pickings, or just something following you for reasons of its own... Some may be almost helpful. Regardless, they're at least one more mouth to feed... [...]
1. Farm boy/girl with adventuresome aspirations. 50% chance to be carrying a random weapon in disrepair, 20% chance to be wearing poorly fitted and mis-matched armor.
2. Dog(s) 1d4. 25% of some useful training (herding, guard, hunting), 2% chance blink dog, 5% chance Really Good Dog, otherwise just begging cur.
3. Cat. Of no use whatsoever. Gloms onto the party member most likely to dislike cats and/or be allergic.
4. Half-wit: Strong, at least. Can lift/carry heavy things. Doesn't complain. Obsessively happy. No matter what you tell them your name is, they call you Seymour.
5. A goblin. Cloyingly sycophantic. 25% chance to have useful info on next subterranean dungeon entered. 33% chance that they'll betray you.
http://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2018/07/whowhat-has-followed-party.html
OSR: Table of Camp Followers
by Skerples
Most OSR, D&D-type games have rules for hirelings and mercenaries. This table is for all the people one step lower on the adventuring ladder. Camp followers won't go into the dungeon for you. They won't fight for you. In fact, they barely work for you at all. They tend to follow soldiers to and from wars. Most armies were outnumbered by their followers. You can recruit them at the edge of wars or in disorderly cities and villages. Sometimes they turn up unannounced.
Each camp follower costs 5cp per day (35 cp per week, 15 sp per month). If you can't or won't pay them, some might leave, some might starve, and some might steal your purse and run into the forest.
[...]
Roll (1d100) Camp Follower
1- Infant - noisy. If this is your only camp follower, you may roll again.
2- Urchin - follows you around and assists with minor tasks.
3- Brawler Urchin - will fight and bite anyone and anything, including horses, dogs, and other party members.
4- Wild Urchin - doesn't speak, runs around, finds animals and sticks and puts them in your tent.
5- Cunning Urchin - watches and waits. Has a hoard of 1d10sp, a dagger, and a plan.
6- Militant Urchin - plays at being a solider. Marches around, guards things, challenges passersby.
7- Your Child - resembles you. 1d10 years old. Might vary by race. Unless you have a Spouse, the child is illegitimate.
8- Orphan - you knew at least one of the parents. 1d10 years old, thinks of you as an important figure.
9- Blind Man - navigates with a reed, can see ghosts and spells clearly, refuses to admit this. Twitchy.
10- Blind Man - navigates with a stick, swears like a sailor, can hear changes in the weather.
[...]
https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2017/06/osr-table-of-camp-followers.htmlNote that while most hirelings are assumed to be low-level, sometimes you want something more, someone more powerful, who can bring more to the party (and, I guess, more headaches to the players!).
This is a handy list of mid-level hirelings, with different classes.
Strange Mid-Level Hirelings Table
by Cacklecharm
If you want a hireling of a specific class, roll 1d6 for that class in its category. [...] If you want a totally random hireling, roll 1d20. All non-specified stats modifiers are randomly generated.
[...]
Fighters
[1] Haggrath the Giant-Handed – Level 4
Stats- +1 Str, -1 Dex, +2 Con
Average looking man with hands that belong on someone much taller and twice his age. Well known for getting exiled from his home city after a young woman was found strangled to death; he swears he didn't do it.
Haggrath can strangle anything that has to breath through a windpipe; deals 1d8+1 damage per round with his massive, clenching hands. Count his strength as +3 for grip strength.
[2] “Ramsy” the Lionheart – Level 5
Stats- -2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Wis
Large male buck ram sheep. Talks. Walks on all fours and holds his sword in his mouth. Claims his mother was thrown in a lion's pit for food, but they ended up falling in love instead, hence he has the body of a sheep but the warrior's heart of a lion.
Cannot manipulate tools and doesn't have hands, but can use his mouth similar to a hand and counts his Dexterity as +2 for climbing. Has to wear custom armor, but his fleece also grants +2 AC when fully grown out. If he fails a save vs a fiery spell or breath attack, it will burn up and have to grow back next summer. Has -1 to morale and a bad attitude until he has a squire to groom him. Could serve as a mount for a halfling.
[...]
[7] Gottsan Arrowcatcher – Level 5
Stats- +1 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Int
Lean, wiry youth whose features seem to hint at a half orc heritage. Worked with a travelling circus as a juggler and with sleight of hand. Well known for his most famous trick; catching arrows. Isn't very talkative, notoriously bad with money.
He can catch up to one arrow fired at him per free hand per round on a successful save. If he fails the save, the arrow does 1 damage to his hand and delivers any poison it may be coated in. He can also roll a save at -2 to try to catch an arrow shot at an ally if he's adjacent.
[8] Minervii – Level 4
Stats- +1 Dex, +1 Con, +2 Int, -2 Cha
Found abandoned in a swamp as an infant. Very sharp, but of an ugly and unkept appearance. Has gray hair that looks green in the sunlight. Worked as a guide in the bog and sometimes lead her customers to their deaths in quicksand if she thought they'd take advantage or wouldn't pay.
Can boil strands of her hair in a pot to create stale, foul tasting water that is poisonous to drink or if a weapon is dipped in it. A dozen strands makes the drinker have an upset stomach, a few large clippings deal 1d6 poison damage, and shaving all of her head into a pot would deal 3d6 damage.
[...]
Mages
[13] Salvo – Level 5
Stats- -1 Dex, -1 Con, +1 Int
Mysterious, foreign mage with a lisp. His fingers are each decorated with tattooed rings of symbols in both red and black ink. Doesn't remember how he got the tattoos.
Can expend any spell slot to fire that many 1 damage, screaming, glowing red magic missiles from his fingertips. Doing this more then once per day makes his fingers even more numb and clumsy, -1 to Dex modifier for a day for each barrage past the first.
[14] Berinon “Deathwraps” – Level 6
Stats- -2 Strength, +1 Dex, +2 Int, -1 Wis
Once used a mummy's wrappings to bind up his own injuries while he was bleeding to death. He was cursed with a fragility of the dead but somehow survived. Still carries mummy bandages that he washes and cleans to wrap up his diseased sores and wounds.
Every time this character rolls their HD to determine hit points each level, it is always treated as a roll of 1. He only has 6 + Con modifier HP. Every time he casts a Necromancy spell, or spells aligned with the powers of death, he treats it as thought it was 1 caster level lower to prepare.
[...]
http://themansegaming.blogspot.com/2018/07/strange-mid-level-hirelings-table.htmlNext time, though, I would like to discuss alternative rules and other approaches to the standard, when it comes to hirelings.
It makes sense of course to treat them as characters, or as simpler characters... but is there a way to maintain their usefulness, their color, and make them much lighter in terms of rules?
How can we get the most out of hirelings without too many rules, without too much work?
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