Your Call as the GM - a survey of sorts...

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by zorg

I find it a bit unfair to burden the character with a huge financial obligation, on top of the points he paid for his alllies in the first place. As I understand it, Ally Group doesn't usually require you to feed and clothe your friends, in the same way your allies won't usually feed and clothe you.

Basically, this would mean that any Ally Group or even Ally comes with a financial debt...
However, since a standard Ally is - unless I'm mistaken - supposed to earn his own living, I think it's fair to assume that 100 allies behave the same way.

I'm afraid you are mistaken. Allies are NPCs like any others. They pay points for their abilities, and they pay cash for their gear and cost of living. You can build them all with Independent Income, but that's not a given . . . and if you do that, they'll have fewer points free for other useful abilities. They can certainly hold down jobs, but that's only plausible if they're Allies in their spare time – say, on a 6 or less or a 9 or less. Once you get up to 12 or less and 15 or less appearance, when are they working at these jobs? They're basically at the PC's side 75% and 95% of the time!

When the rules say that Allies are NPCs, they literally mean just that. Allies are characters built by and controlled by the GM. They have the same needs and benefits as other NPCs. This usually means that they aren't financially independent without suitable traits. They start with the same starting cash as anybody else, after which they have no income they don't earn. Working for a PC is a job. Being Allies doesn't change that financial reality; it merely adds insurance for the PC that his employees are loyal.

To avoid this wrinkle, add Minion, +50% and Summonable, +100% so that you can call up the Allies for a few seconds at a time as needed and then send them back to their regular work, all without having to care about the impact that has on their day jobs.