Who pays an Ally's Cost of Living?
 

In a Fantasy [non DF] campaign, is a Player Character presumed to cover his Ally's daily and monthly COL out of the player's funds/treasure share?

I ask because it's about to come up in my game...I'm taking the point of view that an Ally doesn't get a regular paycheck from his PC (as compared to a hireling); so it would make sense that the PC has to pay the COL for his Ally.

Does that make sense? Or is there a better way I'm missing. Just to clarify, I am requiring my PCs to pay their COL out of their earnings from investments or adventuring...

Re: Who pays an Ally's Cost of Living?
 

What's the Ally's Wealth level and does the Ally get enough time to work to earn a living?

E.g. my current character has a Dead Broke Ally, but wants to keep the ally at Status 1. Ergo, the PC pays the CoL.

Re: Who pays an Ally's Cost of Living?
 

Well, I'm using the DF15 rules where the Ally is constantly available (as in always adventuring with the PC)-so no, he doesn't get time to "earn a separate living". He was built with Average Wealth...

Re: Who pays an Ally's Cost of Living?
 

If the ally have free time, he will probably work for himself.
However, a 24/7 ally needs to live, so, if your ally is your bodyguard, or a dog, or something like that, you pay.

Re: Who pays an Ally's Cost of Living?
 

If the PC makes his living at some kind of trade, I'd expect the Ally to have an equivalent type of trade that he makes his living from.

If the PC makes his living from income earned in play, and the Ally came along to help earn that income, I'd expect the Ally to get an equal share of that income and pay his CoL out of that.

If the Ally clearly has some kind of subservient relationship to the PC, then the Ally might not get a full share, but the PC probably has to pay the Ally's CoL.

ie: We have 4 PCs (Al, Barry, Chris, and David). They make their income through "adventuring" - to whit, tomb-raiding. Barry is accompanied by his faithful servant Larry; Chris is often seen with his good friend Miles; David brings along his apprentice Nancy. When the tomb-raiders recover $10000 from King Jeremiah's tomb, they'll split it 5 ways and Al, Barry, Chris, David, and Miles will each get $2000. Barry has to pay Larry out of his share, and Larry will pay his CoL out of his pay; David doesn't have to pay Nancy directly but he does have to pay her CoL. Al, Chris, and Miles just have to pay their own CoL.

I think it's important to remember that from the Ally's perspective, he's as real as anyone else and is entitled an appropriate share of the loot, depending on his position, responsibilities, and contributions. An equal point Ally isn't going to say "well, I'm just an NPC, I don't deserve a cut of the loot." And similarly, an Ally who started out as a cheap servant paid on a salary basis may decide after a while that he wants to buy into the partnership, if he feels that his contributions merit that level of reward.

Re: Who pays an Ally's Cost of Living?
 

Then again, there's the Minion enhancement which changes the expectations.

Re: Who pays an Ally's Cost of Living?
 

See the word of Kromm here and here. Basically, if your Ally doesn't have the opportunity to earn their own living, you're their living. Not paying their upkeep would count as "betraying or unnecessarily endangering" them, and give them cause to stop being your ally.

But for Allies who do have time to earn their own living, see here: "Allies are defined as serving out of duty alone."

Re: Who pays an Ally's Cost of Living?
 

Thanks everyone! That's what I needed to know; I'm on the right track, since the Ally is with the PC 100% of his time, and has no separate income (or life! <sg>)

Re: Who pays an Ally's Cost of Living?
 

If it's a constantly-available minion with no time/life of its own, why isn't it Dead Broke?

Re: Who pays an Ally's Cost of Living?
 

Yeah, it all boils down to "Can the Ally earn a living?" Using standard frequencies of appearance, I'd say "definitely" at 6 or less, "he'll need a job with flex time" at 9 or less, "a part-time job if he doesn't sleep" at 12 or less, and "no way, no how" at 15 or less (or constantly!). Thus, the more visible the Ally, the more likely the PC is to have to pay his way. If the GM prefers, he could make an appearance roll each time the Ally has to pay a life expense, and charge the PC if the roll succeeds . . . or simply bill the PC for 9.3%, 37.5%, 74.1%, 95.4%, or 100% of the Ally's living expenses. These alternative approaches assume that the less-than-constant Ally can at least bum a few coins, win the rare card game, or do odd jobs.