Hirelings are a such a great investment!
 

Hirelings cost $200, but come with ~$1,000 in gear, which sells for $400, right?

Re: Hirelings are a such a great investment!
 

If you lure them outside of town, gank them, and steal their gear, sure, but this may have consequences.

Re: Hirelings are a such a great investment!
 

Time to introduce the Holy Warrior of Order,,the Justiciar and the Mage-Hunter!

Re: Hirelings are a such a great investment!
 

Your average DF party is pretty well suited to make a living as bandits - from the standpoint of the monsters that's already their career - but it does get tricky if you are hated everywhere. Where do you sell the loot?

Re: Hirelings are a such a great investment!
 

If you're willing to be a murderer, hirelings pay off 2:1 or better. Murdering is pretty much what it takes, as it's a Loyalty-5 roll to order hirelings to likely doom (getting the hireling killed without murder), and otherwise the PCs have to reimburse all lost gear (meaning gear stolen from the hireling has to be replaced, which costs more than it's sell value). What the consequences for murder are is up to the GM . . . but in world where stealing $100 by shaving coins costs you a hand and shoplifting means you're stripped naked and pilloried, to be left with nothing, it's probably something like having your head cut off.

Re: Hirelings are a such a great investment!
 

Also becomes difficult to hire new hirelings.

Re: Hirelings are a such a great investment!
 

The post came from a joke I made in chat, inspired by SJG’s own “Ten Characters I wouldn’t want in my universe” or something similar, which presented Conan as a guy who killed his party and sold their loot for drinking money. Then I realized the math actually works out in DFRPG.

Obviously, don’t. Use hirelings to kill monsters, you’ll make way more money tha way!

Re: Hirelings are a such a great investment!
 

And if you do them in quickly enough, hey, they've still got your $200 on them. Ka-ching! : )

Re: Hirelings are a such a great investment!
 

Not always. Ofttimes they come with far less gear.

So... BanditHobos should beware. Check those Hirelings thoroughly before hiring them!

Re: Hirelings are a such a great investment!
 

I realize this was a joke, but in my games when hirelings die their stuff is owned by their heirs, not their employers. If the PCs try to keep it or sell it there will be problems.