Hirelings

So I know at 9th level a player is able to attract loyal followers to them based upon their class, however before that point I'd like to think we have access to hirelings right? Our party currently consists of 3 fighters, 1 ranger, 1 cleric, 1 druid, 1 rogue and 1 wizard which gives us all of 1 class who can do AoE damage. Considering we're fighting massive amounts of enemies (aka 60 Bug Bears) and have no real means of killing them in any timely manner, I think we need to start bringing hirelings along with us to help speed combat up somewhat. Typically the max party we have is a well balanced group, but its very rare for us to have everyone for a session..Even if Frank was there for that battle, he has access to a single fireball and a flaming sphere in terms of AoE damage, which may have dropped 10-15 of the Bug Bears, still leaving us in the same exact problem. Our party as a whole probably has like 50k+ gold and absolutely nothing to spend it on besides leveling up, so I don't know about the others but if I can spend some of mine to help make the mass combat go a little quicker then I'm fine with that. Last night's session I ended up watching 2 movies on my other monitor, tabbing over when it was my turn to attack and that's pretty much how I spent my 4 hours, which isn't all too fun.

Sell the sizzle not the steak. The pyrotechnics was the clincher there. A creative spell changed the paradigm you can certainly hire people, Magicians tend to be very unreliable hirelings. Why don't you conspire with another player to write a posting, and you can pay to have it put in likely places to attract the hirelings you wish to have. Dorateja is still around in Palanga, now that Brundle has gone back to Wales. There are others as well. look left on the splash screen and consider contacting some of the NPCs.

It wouldn't even necessarily need to be magician hirelings, just more people to help run around and hit stuff or to fill the gaps that we have on certain days. Last night for example, bringing a couple fighter hirelings would have helped mitigate some of the damage people were taking and helped kill off Bug Bears quicker. Or a few rangers/archers to sit back there with Knuckles and pepper them while we held the lines. I know Riga has its magicians guild and the mercenaries guild, but I'm not too sure what we have access to around this area. In terms of fighters the party already knows, there is Dorateja and Billy we have access to bring along with us. Adding them into the mix as well as a couple of archers would probably go a long way. Wages wise I don't think we'll run into any issues with paying them, and I don't believe hirelings count towards party experience so there is no hit there. Ragnar can't read/write so someone else will have to make the bill, or we can start spreading by word of mouth saying that we're looking for capable arms to join us.

Sounds about right. If they survive the Bugbears then we'll consider them for future jobs.

what's you're view on me having 2 characters al? depending on group composition i could fill the gaps.

I would not allow two characters, we tried that years ago and it didn't work out well.

Hirelings should be good enough for our needs, no need for people to make multiple characters.

Kelyn would be willing to help pay for hirelings. If we are going to get some hirelings, that means we need to go back to a city or town to find them. I think Dorathea is in Palanga. Would we need to go all the way back to Palanga or Riga or could we pick up some in that town where you talked to the bartender? Actually going back to town works well for Kelyn. She is about 450 xp (or 900 if you consider her multi-class) from 7th level druid. I would hope that a short encounter in the caves or on the way back to town would get her the needed XP so she can level. Then she would have the ability to shapeshift.

to clarify i meant it as i only ever use one at a given session, if were away from town at the start of the session then i'd use the character i had with the group and be unable to switch.

1. Then that is OK, secondary characters have rules, A different class and race than your primary character, NOT RELATED to your primary character. should be brought in with a handful of rumors that I provide upon seeing the character. I would help you write the back story, this is where the rumors would be supplied. Ragu is working up a secondary character as well. 2. BTW , I can't believe you are not planning to press on against Frau Blucher. While you may have to withdraw, this is the biggest foe with the most dough, after the dragons, which was way to easy in retrospect. I honestly believe that you can win this, while you may lose a character or two in the process, this could be the fight you tell your grandchildren about. 3. The trick here is to blow past the Bugbears, a good plan should do that with ease, If possible capture one and beat information out of him. Gather information as you go, once you breach the tower proper there may be minions you can turn. Use your brains, those of you who have them. Hint: The witch is at her weakest facing enemies that would not traditionally be the heavies. Not by mortal man or blade of steel, Not by Dwellers under the earth, Not by shaft or magic's weal, To slay her be not of noble birth. I do love torturing you guys with these things....

so what i think that means is a human,dwarf and elf will struggle to kill her.

Dwarves are actually "Dwellers under the earth".

she can't easily be killed by arrows or magic. and the last part i'm snagged on. so a lowborn individual can slay her?

She can't be killed by a human, dwarf, elf, steel, arrow and noone who is of noble birth. So obviously magic is the way to bring her down, which we have 1 offensive magic user who may or may not be there. Keyln and Niko have call lightning but little good that will do us inside a tower. Edit : Didn't notice the magic's weal part. As far as it having alot of gold, I mean gold isn't really much of an incentive for the party at this point, we can't spend what we have as it is lol. As for blowing past the bugbears, that'd leave us trapped between a rock and a hard place, if things go poorly with the witch fight we'll have no secure means of exit with hundreds of bugbears at our back. While I do agree fighting them is tedious, I think we need to get rid of them before advancing forward. Not to sound condescending, but with Ragnar probably not being there this Saturday, falling back might be their only real option otherwise you risk losing several people. Ravi is level 7 sure but he is built like a glass cannon, one or two good hits on him and hes down for the count, Volk is pretty tanky for his level, but he is only level 4 which gives him a little under Ravi's hp. Knuckles probably has the second most HP in the group currently, but he isn't someone who'd be on the frontlines nor will he be there Saturday as well. In terms of the puzzle for actually killing the witch, assuming we don't have access to the magic necessary to do it then you might have to use another method that isn't directly damaging, ie knocking her unconscious and throwing her off the 1,000ft cliff or caving the tower in on her.

concerning the bug bears. should we retreat we could find a large mercenary force to remove them from the equation. killing the witch is the final puzzle. a few of us are beginning to think poison may work, which is we take into account our druid and the black fluid we recovered killing the rackshasha could be an angle of approach. and in regards to my level, I'm level 3 so should i die i'll not be too bitter about it but the rest of our force is substantially time invested characters which i'd rather not see fall due to a lack of tact on our behalf.

I guess Lance has to kick her to death. Fire - what do you do with a witch? You burn 'em.

Julio is no human, dwarf, elf or steel he is the janitor at every "event horizon" if there is any slaying to be done, once opportunity has been created Julio will take care of the deed that none can accomplish, cos "if they are threatening Julio then Julio will need TP for Julio's BH.!!!!!

Pfft, silly human.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sYngYYVNmE" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sYngYYVNmE</a>

I don't think we are going to meet the witch on Saturday. I am concerned about meeting a large group of bugbears without two of our heaviest hitters. I do think we should clear as much as we can so we have safe areas to fall back to. And I think if we pick off her minions that will weaken her for when we finally do face her. I don't want Kelyn to die because I enjoy playing her but if she did so be it. I would prefer it if she dies heroically, not because we were stupid.

Scouting the area=fail. You went down the first hole instead of scouting fully.

Ragu, you can't have a gatteling gun. But that movie does look like fun.

will take some bricks with me and scout out the encase we meet the bitch and i will bash her head in, and if not i will still TP!

i ment witch, and the movie is sweet as...

I put it on my Netflix list.

Ir was a pretty meh movie, never liked the male lead much as a main actor. There were a couple cool fight scenes but overall i'd say it was average.

sweet as ... could mean watch it, should you like it ...sweet as pie.... should you not like it....sweet as a pickle, should you feel you have to comment any further hereafter.... sweet as lemon and you had to eat your only child to make life bearable once again after having witched it!....watched even enjoy life be happy as a yellow ball with black dots for eyes and and black smiling line for lips...

Definitely don't take the movie too seriously. It's like most of the comic movies out nowadays. Just fun to give reality a break for a night and enjoy.