I’m sorry if this question has been asked before, I searched around and couldn’t find a duplicate.
So, we were delving into a dungeon, and ran into a pack of goblins. One of my characters is a Ruinguard, and his +2 when dealing with chaotic intelligent races pushed their reaction into Friendly territory. He negotiated with them to come work for him, and they accepted the offer.
All of this is fine, but here is where the questions come in.
I know the limit is 4+CHA mod on henchmen, but when does the limit kick in exactly? Should the extra goblins have refused to follow him right away? We had the whole group tag along for the time being, and the others depart on the way back to civilization, but I’m curious what the official ruling is for future reference.
Experience for the goblins would accrue at the 3000 XP for the first HD, doubling thereafter, as on pg 252, right?
If the goblins DID level, would each hit die be at a -1 like the first? Similar to how a con mod works?
Last question, he’s only level 1. Should they have refused to follow him altogether, because henchmen have to be of a lower level than you? The DM at the time made the call that they didn’t instantly know what level I was, and if they eventually realize our relative strength, yes, it will become a problem.
My suggestion in handling #1 is that I would assign the champion or subchieftain of the goblins as the direct henchman of the PC, and the rest of the goblins as subhenches of the primary henchgoblin. Not sure about the others. One might treat 1d8-1 as L0 for purposes of henching, since for example human mercenaries can have 1d6 or 1d8-1 or something as of Domains at War, yet remain level 0.
I know the limit is 4+CHA mod on henchmen, but when does the limit kick in exactly? Should the extra goblins have refused to follow him right away? We had the whole group tag along for the time being, and the others depart on the way back to civilization, but I’m curious what the official ruling is for future reference.
jedavis has the correct advice for how to handle this. It’s also worth keeping in mind that adventurers can hire mercenaries who are not henchmen. Such mercenaries would be perfectly willing to go on wilderness treks, carry treasure, garrison camp, etc. So it depends what tasks the goblins were being asked to do as to whether they’d even need to be henchmen.
Experience for the goblins would accrue at the 3000 XP for the first HD, doubling thereafter, as on pg 252, right?
Yes, that’s correct.
If the goblins DID level, would each hit die be at a -1 like the first? Similar to how a con mod works?
It’s never defined anywhere in the rules. I’ve been slowly writing up beastmen custom classes but I haven’t come to goblins yet. For hobgoblins I treated the +1 as a one-time bonus, and I’ll likely do the same for goblins (in reverse).
Last question, he’s only level 1. Should they have refused to follow him altogether, because henchmen have to be of a lower level than you? The DM at the time made the call that they didn’t instantly know what level I was, and if they eventually realize our relative strength, yes, it will become a problem.
The DM made the right call. Realizing they have greater relative strength would be cause for a Loyalty roll. But ACKS, unlike WOW or EQ, doesn’t indicate what your relative strength is with a glowing colored name above your head. If you are Charismatic and well-equipped you might convincingly come off as higher level for a long time…
Just had to say that I’m excited to read that someone actually picked the ruinguard to play in a game. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone mention playing one and it was the class I created with Alex for the Player’s Companion.
We’re going round-robin for our DMing, so I’m actually the player of the Ruinguard. I can’t really comment on the class too deeply, as I’m still level 1, but he’s a lot of fun so far. That XP to level is painful, though! I’m going to be level 1 when our Shaman is level 3.
There’s not a lot of background on Zaharans in the book, but I play him as very arrogant, very impetuous. He’s casually cruel, but has his own (twisted) code of honor. Plus, we’ve set our game at the edge of the destroyed empire, and a lot of our delves are into old Zaharan ruins, so he gets confronted a lot with how far his people have fallen. He’s so much fun that I’m having to try really hard not to get attached to him, since he’s one or two bad die rolls away from goodbye.
I love the Zaharan Ruinguard as well. It’s a brilliant class.
One of the things that’s been most impressive to me about Kickstarter is how the collaboration with our backers has made the game better. There is no question in my mind that ACKS, PC, and D@W are superior products because of the requests and input from backers. The downside, of course, is the much slower product development.
Can I ask what else was a backer contribution, Alex? I was very surprised to learn here that the Ruinguard was. It seems very solidly based in the Auran Empire setting, so I had just assumed it was something your group created.
I worked closely with the backers to make sure that each class fit with the default setting. In some cases, the backers received advance access to the backstory on the Auran Empire.
Here are the classes that were developed in collaboration with our backers:
Colin Chapman created the Anti-Paladin on the forums and we requested to include it.
The original 10 classes scheduled for inclusion were the Barbarian, Dwarven Delver, Dwarven Machinist, Elven Enchanter, Elven Ranger, Mystic, Paladin, Priestess, Shaman, and Warlock.
That’s great to hear. You never know if something is going to resonate or not when you create it - especially when it’s being plugged into a system that’s been structured so well. I’m glad some of you are having fun with it. I’m certainly happy with the way the class turned out.
Hah, for those high experience threshold classes the first level or two are brutal. It reminds me of playing an Elf in B/X D&D.
I had a chance to run a 4th level ruinguard for a Dwimmermount evening with Tavis DMing and I had a great time. He certainly seemed to hold his own alongside other classes sporting an equal amount of experience (so typically one or even two levels higher than the ruinguard).
