What sort of Hirelings do you use and why?

[Jasonft]

Game I am in currently (500 point supers) my character is a bit if an information addict in addition to being Very Wealthy, so he normally subscribes to a number of news services to keep him up to date on current events in various areas of financial importance to him. In effect he has several hirelings with Current Events/ Area Knowledge type stuff reporting to him.

This little oddity got me wondering - What sort of things have people regularly hired NPCs to do, and/or what sort of really strange reasons did you have for suddenly needing a hireling when you didn't have one before?

[RyanW]

One of my players from some time back played a noble who hired/kidnapped/seduced a horse groom. That's the sort of thing that happens when your tip for fetching the horses constitutes a 150% increase in annual earnings.

[Icelander]

Well, I use the 'standard' hirelings like regiments of mercenaries and officers to command them, as well as sailors, marines, naval officers and suchlike, up to and including pursers, chaplains and the full suite of ship's boys, acolytes, clerks, secretaries and apprentices.

Then there are grooms*, valets, batmen and body servants. Also Stewards and Chamberlains, which are the same thing with fancy names.

Also, there are two with a fairly ambigious status, being friends of a particular PC and ostensibly of a more-or-less 'gentle' birth, but with a lesser social status than that PC and not too proud to perform tasks such as helping them into their armour or handing them lances. I suppose that 'henchman' might imply that they were evil and incompetent and 'squire' implies an eventual path to knighthood**. Though 'hirelings' might be unfair, in as much as wages are not why they stay with the PCs and while they have been the repicients of much wealth since beginning their service, in both cases, they are genuinely devoted to their 'master/friend'.

There are also plenty of accountants and clerks, a fair number of military trainers and, the newest group, engineers and craftsmen to supervise the rebuilding of civil infrastructure in a wartorn land as well as manage mining operations.

All in all, there are maybe five thousand or so hirelings in the campaign, about a thousand of which have been named so far.

*Well, I suppose that one of them will rate 'Master of Horse' pretty soon, once the mansion is fully built and he's in command of several subordinate grooms.
**For various reasons, one has already rejected such status and the other comes from a society where he'd view knighthood as a charmingly old-fashioned honour, but not necessary to his social advancement in the way wealth and connections are.

[vicky_molokh]

A SAI analyst/secretary/current affairs tracker. The campaign hasn't started, but I'm expecting it to be of use.

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IIRC, Ubiquitous had a whole corporation worth of Felicia bioroids at his beck and call.

[johndallman]

In my old steampunk campaign, the party once hired Lord Kelvin to help them with an engineering problem.

[Mateus]

Originally Posted by johndallman

In my old steampunk campaign, the party once hired Lord Kelvin to help them with an engineering problem.

Sorry but i HAVE to ask... what kind of engineering problem? =)