Normal (Hench) Men as Adventurers

General ACKS Forums General Discussion
1

If you have henchmen without the Adventuring proficiency, and the Adventuring proficiency seems to cover so much, how do you adjudicate these things below without the Adventuring proficiency?

Can normal men use one of their proficiency slots for Adventuring? (I heard a couple posters mention it's worth 3 proficiencies)

What is the solution to 1st-level PC's needing 0th-level henchmen? Given cost in gold (for 1st-level PC's); equipment (starting gold is way scarce with 1st-level PC's); opportunity (namely, 1st-level PC's paying gold to advertise to recruit); and versimilitude (to me, 0th-level henchmen for 1st-level PC's seem more like partners than hierarchal), 0th- level henchmen for 1st-level PC's is giving me a hard time, yet they seem so vital for 1st-level PC's

***Adventuring Proficiency Tasks***  
 - Listening for noises 18+  
 - Searching for traps 18+  
 - Bashing open doors 18+  
 - Searching for secret doors 18+  
 - Foraging in the wilderness on 18+  
 - Hunting in the wilderness on 14+ 
 - Fishing at sea on 14+  
 - Avoiding getting lost in the wilderness (varies)  
 - Evading wilderness encounters (varies)  
 - Swimming (varies)  
 - Riding a horse in normal conditions  
 - Handling common animals  
 - Setting a camp  
 - Lighting a fire  
 - Cooking simple meals  
 - Cleaning and maintaining weapons and armor  
 - Appraising treasure  
 - Adventuring for 5 turns out of 6  

2

f you have henchmen without the Adventuring proficiency, and the Adventuring proficiency seems to cover so much, how do you adjudicate these things below without the Adventuring proficiency?

-- I'll answer each one below.

Can normal men use one of their proficiency slots for Adventuring? (I heard a couple posters mention it's worth 3 proficiencies)

Adventuring requires 4 proficiencies. A normal man begins play with those four slots used in other general proficiencies (plus any from Intelligence). When he becomes 1st level, he retains any general proficiencies he already knew and gains his class proficiency.  When he advances to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th level, he must remove one of these pre-existing general proficiencies, representing the erosion of his old professional skills over time. When he reaches 4th level, he acquires the Adventuring proficiency. 

For example, Todd is a normal man who works as a kennelmaster for a local lord, training his hunting dogs.  His proficiencies are Animal Training (dogs), Animal Husbandry, Signaling, and Tracking. Todd becomes a henchman and gets enough XP to become 1st level as a fighter. He selects Weapon Focus (longbow) as his class proficiency. He retains his general proficiencies. When he becomes 2nd level, he must remove one general proficiency; he decides he to lose Signaling. When he becomes 3rd level, he must remove another, and loses Animal Husbandry. He also (as a fighter) gains a class proficiency, and chooses Combat Reflexes. When he becomes 4th level, he must remove another, and removes Tracking. At 4th level, he gains Adventuring proficiency. At this point he now has the correct number of proficiencies for a 4th level fighter: 2 class, 1 general, and Adventuring. At 5th level he gains his first new general proficiency. He could, if he wanted, take one of the proficiencies he'd lost. This would represent him having mastered his new profession and now taken up an old vocation; similar to how a young medical student might stop playing the trombone for a few years, then pick it up again when he has time in his career later.

***Adventuring Proficiency Tasks***  
 - Listening for noises 18+  

20+ "The only thing I hear is the beating of my terrified heartbeat" unless he has Alertness

 - Searching for traps 18+  

20+ "What does a trap look like?" unless he has Trapfinding

 - Bashing open doors 18+  

20+ "I tried to bash it open but I just bruised my shoulder" unless he has Dungeon Bashing

 - Searching for secret doors 18+  

20+ "I dunno it just looks like a wall to me" unless he has Alertness

 - Foraging in the wilderness on 18+  

20+ "What do you mean those were poisonous  mushrooms" unless he has Survival

 - Hunting in the wilderness on 14+ 

20+ "You want me to kill that? But it's so cute!"  unless he has Survival

 - Fishing at sea on 14+  

18+ "I dunno, I keep throwing the net in the water and waiting and nothing happens" unless he has Survival

 - Avoiding getting lost in the wilderness (varies)  

Gets lost unless on a road or trail unless he has Navigation, Survival, Tracking, or other general proficiency that addresses this

 - Evading wilderness encounters (varies)  

Doesn't evade unless he has Passing Without Trace or other proficiency that addresses this

 - Swimming (varies)  

Drowns unless in completely calm water without encumbrance in which case he dog paddles at 10'

 - Riding a horse in normal conditions  

Falls off horse if it moves at more than a trot unless he has Riding

 - Handling common animals  

Spooks animal unless he has Animal Training or Animal Husbandry or a proficiency that would involve those animals like Labor (farmhand)

 - Setting a camp  

Has no idea what to do unless he has Survival

 - Lighting a fire  

Suffers in the cold dark night unless he has Survival

 - Cooking simple meals  

Starves unless he has Survival or Craft (cooking) or Labor (household) or similar

 - Cleaning and maintaining weapons and armor  

Armor deteroirates and weapons rust unless he has Manual of Arms or Craft (weaponsmith) etc.

 - Appraising treasure  

Has no idea what anything is worth unless he has Bargaining, Art, Craft, Profession, etc.

 - Adventuring for 5 turns out of 6  

He can do this.

 

3

Thanks! That covers it completely, and is what I thought most of it would be, but I'm no authority (and like to appeal to authority).

But, I'm not quite sure what kind of equipment I should give 0th-level normal men. I can deduce other levels of henchmen by the NPC wealth table, but there is no listing for 0th-level. My first thought is to use mercenary type. I take it the only equipment mercenaries come with is their weapons and armor? (and the clothes on their back) But no adventuring equipment, not even mundane things like a backpack, a water-wine skin, correct? What kind of equipment would normal men come with that are not mercenaries? 

As somewhat of an aside, is starting gold for a Heroic Fantasy campaign still 3d6x10 as the core? (or roll it like attributes 4d6 drop lowest?)

 

4

[quote="Myke"]

​But, I'm not quite sure what kind of equipment I should give 0th-level normal men. I can deduce other levels of henchmen by the NPC wealth table, but there is no listing for 0th-level. My first thought is to use mercenary type. I take it the only equipment mercenaries come with is their weapons and armor? (and the clothes on their back) But no adventuring equipment, not even mundane things like a backpack, a water-wine skin, correct? What kind of equipment would normal men come with that are not mercenaries? 

[/quote]

In most cases I give them nothing except what the PCs equip them with.  Broke and hungry is part of why they're willing to sign on to go down into the mythic underworld and face monsters.  In some cases they may have the tools of their trade (proficiency), but still no weapons, armor or mundane gear.

[quote="Myke"] Given cost in gold (for 1st-level PC's); equipment (starting gold is way scarce with 1st-level PC's); opportunity (namely, 1st-level PC's paying gold to advertise to recruit); and versimilitude (to me, 0th-level henchmen for 1st-level PC's seem more like partners than hierarchal), 0th- level henchmen for 1st-level PC's is giving me a hard time, yet they seem so vital for 1st-level PC's

[/quote]

Quite often 1st level characters will wait for their first treasure haul to hire henchmen.  Starting the first session with a hench usually takes rolling well on starting gold, then resisting the urge to buy plate armor and the best weapons. 

That does make your very first adventure(s) dangerous, until you bring back some gold.  Which is not inherently a bad thing; it means the kind of challenges you face change over time qualitatively, not just through an increase of monster stats.

I don't really agree on 0th and 1st levels feeling like equals, so I'm not sure what to tell you there.  A 1st level fighter for instance has a higher hit die, damage bonus, and cleave opportunity, all things a 0 level, even a mercenary, doesn't yet.  Or a 1st level mage or thief is about equal to a 0 level mercenary in a tavern brawl, but has other abilities the 0 level doesn't.  Of course 0 levels can go to 1st fairly quickly, which does bring up the equals problem briefly, but that's what the loyalty roll is for.

Tangent:  ACKS has everything you need to run an adventure funnel ala Dungeon Crawl Classics (4-5 0 level characters per player, with the survivors leveling into 1st), but stops short of spelling it out for you.  Having now tried a couple of DCC funnels, I think that's what I'd do starting a new ACKS campaign, is use those 5 sets of 3d6 in order as 0 level funnel characters rather than picking one to start at 1st.  That's not what you're asking about, but is an indirect solution to "how do I afford henches for a starting character".

5

Sound advice, thanks. I'm leaning towards exactly what you say now. Namely, give 0th-level henchmen no equipment to start (besides tools of their trade, basic clothing), and PC's might not being able to hire henchment yet depending in how they allocated their funds. 

As far as my versimilitude issue, it was just that 1st-level PCs are so young, then they might perhaps get grittled mercenries as 0th-levl henchmen? But you're right. What I need to do is focus more on the superior level/title. I was stuck on age.

I thought I might try a funnel approach somewhere down the line.