Eighteen Common Hireling Motivations

Lasgunpacker said:

Dear Sanity-clause,
Although I have not been good this year, I would like: a 3d6 table of hireling/follower/retainer goals and objectives
(traditional)

Thank you,
lasgunpacker

Since 3d6 is a bell curve, the most common goals and objectives will be in the middle. I tried to keep these traditional. I included some literary and film examples in some cases, although I don’t think they are necessary.


Roll 3d6 Objective
3 Maybe I will find a cure for this curse/disease/malformity.
4 One of the PC’s will be a great leader and I will be his right hand!
5 Restore honor to the family name.
6 Need money to ransom sister/mother/brother/son/father/pet owlbear.
7 Village/home burned to the ground (Luke Skywalker)
8 See the world! Meet interesting people! And take their stuff!
9 Get enough food (or gold) for family to survive winter/rainy season/drought. (Young Genghis Khan)
10 Prove worthy of a bride/groom/honor.
11 Just plain mean. Likes to kill. (The Comedian)
12 Prove that I’m better than Dad/Mom/Uncle Joe. (Jaime Lannister)
13 Former prisoner. No one else wants me. I’ll take what I want. (Jack Sparrow, Riddick)
14 Wants to learn the ropes. (Incrediboy)
15 Just one last score/adventure/war then I can quit. (Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon)
16 Really a peasant/woman/child, but wants to be accepted as a warrior (Kikuchiyo)
17 Works for the party’s enemies.
18 Believes fighting the dark forces/monsters is a religious calling.

 

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4 thoughts on “Eighteen Common Hireling Motivations

  1. I like that murderous bastards are one of the two most common results. Very appropriate given the makeup of the typical adventuring group.

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