[Dungeon Fantasy] Farmer/peasant as a bargain henchmen concept

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

After agonizing over this a bunch, I decided to add Two-Handed Axe/Mace to the skill options, but not Polearm. I seriously considered Polearm due to what I'd read about some historical polearms being essentially weaponized farm implements. However, the Polearm skill is explicitly for weapons that are "at least 2 yards", and while nowadays you do see some awfully long tree-trimming tools, such things seem to be relatively new, perhaps a product of modern lightweight alloys and plastics. In the middle ages—or even the early modern era—people just would've used a shorter tool plus a ladder. Some polearms might look like medieval farm implements with abnormally long handles, but the "abnormally long handle" part is key.

When you converted, e.g., a war scythe, you straightened the blade, and mounted it on a new pole.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

When you converted, e.g., a war scythe, you straighted the blade, and mounted it on a new pole.

Do you mean straightening the blade, or just attaching it to the new pole differently so the weapon as a whole is straighter? I imagine doing the former without significantly weakening the metal would be a lot of work; the latter seems more in line with what I see when I google "war scythe".

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Do you mean straightening the blade, or just attaching it to the new pole differently so the weapon as a whole is straighter? I imagine doing the former without significantly weakening the metal would be a lot of work; the latter seems more in line with what I see when I google "war scythe".

The perpendicular tang had to be straightened.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Primary Skills: Area Knowledge (any) (E) IQ+2 [4]-12; Farming (A) IQ+2 [8]-12 • Three of Riding (Horse) (A) DX+2 [2]-12‡; or Animal Handling (any) or Teamster, both (A) IQ+2 [2]-12‡.

It seems that you just said "any three of <a list of three skills>"; wouldn't it be simpler to just list the three skills? Though I don't know if I'd have every peasant have Riding; having a horse to ride was kind of a luxury in a lot of societies. On the other hand, you might want to think about Packing, for getting a load of vegetables onto the back of a donkey to haul them to market.

Animal Handling (any) may be too broad. Few peasants had the skill to be menagerie keepers or run animal acts. I'd limit it to (farm animals) or (working animals) or something along those lines.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by edk926

Maybe add the following to optional skills: Gardening to represent smaller scale growing; Lifting for general physical labor; Sewing because peasants were basically making and repairing their own clothing; and maybe some Easy difficulty crafting/building skills.

Sewing seems too good; it's more a skill for wives and daughters, or maybe landladies for laborers who can't afford a wife. Even a man who can mend a simple garment probably has points in Housekeeping rather than Sewing (and the same may be true for women who aren't domestically inclined).

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by whswhs

It seems that you just said "any three of <a list of three skills>"; wouldn't it be simpler to just list the three skills? Though I don't know if I'd have every peasant have Riding; having a horse to ride was kind of a luxury in a lot of societies. On the other hand, you might want to think about Packing, for getting a load of vegetables onto the back of a donkey to haul them to market.

Animal Handling (any) may be too broad. Few peasants had the skill to be menagerie keepers or run animal acts. I'd limit it to (farm animals) or (working animals) or something along those lines.

The intent is to be able to take multiple Animal Handling specialties. I was unsure of how to communicate this, maybe I should have explicitly listed Animal Handling (second speciality), Animal Handling (third speciality)? As for "any" being too broad, I see your point, but I wanted to include all animals commonly raised for food plus dogs (to protect your farm) and equines (mainly for plow teams but also other uses). "Any" seemed simplest.

[ravenfish]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

The intent is to be able to take multiple Animal Handling specialties. I was unsure of how to communicate this, maybe I should have explicitly listed Animal Handling (second speciality), Animal Handling (third speciality)? As for "any" being too broad, I see your point, but I wanted to include all animals commonly raised for food plus dogs (to protect your farm) and equines (mainly for plow teams but also other uses). "Any" seemed simplest.

Moreover, stranger options aren't necessarily out. Eccentric nobles are recorded as keeping of unusual animals, and behind every nobleman with an exotic pet is a peasant doing the actual work of taking care of it. Tycho Brahe had an elk (which died falling down his stairs after it got drunk); in a fantasy setting, the sky's the limit.