Exploratory Thread: Mercenaries (3.5e)

[Ben Zwycky]

Psh, who wants to move into a second city when we can just build a headquarters in a strategic location and have the city come to us?

Carrik said we have to start in a Large City or larger

[Spartacus]

Incidentally, for crossing water, I have access to Water Walk, which will allow me to Dimension Door people across the water for a period of about 2 hours.

[Spartacus]

Carrik said we have to start in a Large City or larger

Right. We START in a large city, then make our own more remote base. Yeesh, man, you gotta start thinking more like a super-villain.

[Pinoy]

Psh, who wants to move into a second city when we can just build a headquarters in a strategic location and have the city come to us?

Paford is ok with me too.

[Carrikature]

How expensive will it be to eventually move the guild or buy property in a second city?

That's going to depend on who is moving, how you're moving, where you're moving...you get the idea.

[Pinoy]

That's going to depend on who is moving, how you're moving, where you're moving...you get the idea.

Can we build a second based in between towns?

[Carrikature]

Time for another logistics question:

You will be responsible for providing food/lodging/materials for craftsmen whenever you get those. The members will expect you to provide them food/lodging/travel. They'll expect some share of the profits from missions.

However, distribution of profits is up to you. The basic options are as follows:

1) Take a percentage of the reward for completion and give the rest to particular members to pay for their own equipment/items/potions.
2) Give the party members a percentage of the reward and keep the rest for the guild. The guild would then pay for all equipment/items/potions/etc.
3) Some balance of providing equipment and giving party members the part of the reward.
4) Keep none of the rewards for completion but provide services at discounted prices to guild members in exchange for a membership fee. Food/lodging could be part of the discounted services if you want it to be.

Or you can come up with something else entirely. There's a consideration of cost and profit for the guild, but there's also the consideration of its members. The ultimate decision is how unified you want the guild to be. Option 1 and 2 could give you complete control of who does what, while Option 4 may result with members refusing to join certain missions.

[Carrikature]

Can we build a second based in between towns?

No reason why not. You'd have to pay for building materials and that sort of thing, and depending on location might have to face objections from the populace or kingdom.

[Pinoy]

I'll stick with just the familiar, that grows in strength independent of my career choices, so is much less fragile than any animal companion I could choose.

Will the familiar increase capability independently even if i have an animal companion?

[Ben Zwycky]

Will the familiar increase capability independently even if i have an animal companion?

Yes, where better than its own normal scores, a familiar uses your base save bonuses, base attack bonus, skill ranks and has half of your hp. An animal companion only gets stronger based on you increasing your levels in druid or ranger.

[Ben Zwycky]

Time for another logistics question:

You will be responsible for providing food/lodging/materials for craftsmen whenever you get those. The members will expect you to provide them food/lodging/travel. They'll expect some share of the profits from missions.

However, distribution of profits is up to you. The basic options are as follows:

1) Take a percentage of the reward for completion and give the rest to particular members to pay for their own equipment/items/potions.
2) Give the party members a percentage of the reward and keep the rest for the guild. The guild would then pay for all equipment/items/potions/etc.
3) Some balance of providing equipment and giving party members the part of the reward.
4) Keep none of the rewards for completion but provide services at discounted prices to guild members in exchange for a membership fee. Food/lodging could be part of the discounted services if you want it to be.

Or you can come up with something else entirely. There's a consideration of cost and profit for the guild, but there's also the consideration of its members. The ultimate decision is how unified you want the guild to be. Option 1 and 2 could give you complete control of who does what, while Option 4 may result with members refusing to join certain missions.

I'm not sure what you imagine being covered under equipment/items in option 2. The guild would be obtaining and upgrading magic items for party members? What would party members spend their gold on if not on that?

[Carrikature]

I'm not sure what you imagine being covered under equipment/items in option 2. The guild would be obtaining and upgrading magic items for party members? What would party members spend their gold on if not on that?

I'm considering equipment/items (for all options) to include everything an adventurer would normally have. Backpacks, rods/wands/scrolls/staves, weapons, armors, wondrous items, potions, oils, mounts, skill kits, etc. Members of the guild are still functioning 'people' even if they're NPCs most of the time. They might spend gold at the tavern, buy new clothes, donate to charity, send money home to family, pay for a friend's resurrection, save it to buy property later, gamble...all the things people normally spend money on.

[Ben Zwycky]

So that would basically mean the guild cut would need to be around 90% for option 2, since magical equipment and item costs are far more than 'living' costs

[Spartacus]

So, do we want to micromanage our lackeys' equipment? How many people can we optimize at the same time?

[Pinoy]

We just have to hire someone to manage our equipments or our inventories.