Allies

Any NPC that accompanies the players on their journey is referred to as a ally. Recruited enemies may become allies, and recruited allies may also sometimes become enemies. At times, they may also be hired by spending money, although many allies will be willing to work for free, and can easily become a long-term friend if they spend enough time with the party. Some allies are combat-capable, and some are not. The following section outlines how to seamlessly incorporate such characters into exploration and combat, and how to handle long-term allies as characters advance.

Hiring Allies

Players in need of extra hands while traveling and who have ¤ to spare can hire allies to accompany them on their journey. Sometimes, NPCs will also travel with the players as part of a quest or when accompanying them as caravan guards. Allies for hire, if available, will generally congregate in taverns. An out-of-the-way tavern will have at most one or two people willing to travel with the Heroes for ¤, while taverns that are closer to populated areas such as towns and cities will often have a handful whose availability depends on how much work there is in the surrounding area. On occasion, a larger city or metropolis will also be the home of an adventurer’s guild, which is an organization that recruits and trains mercenaries for hire. If the GM wants to include one of these in their game, they should populate a given adventurer’s headquarters with 2d6 allies for hire.

The cost of hiring an ally is paid out at the beginning of each path that the ally accompanies the party on. Once they reach the next settlement, the players may choose to either let that ally go or pay them to continue the journey. If players take an ally into a dungeon or other hostile area, they will have to pay that ally’s salary once per day they spend inside of it. Whether the players can do this will depend on whether the ally is still willing to accompany them, and this is up to the GM to feel out based on the ally’s personality and level of expertise. The cost of hiring an ally in ¤ is determined by the services they can offer. There are two types of services that allies can render: aid during the travel round, and aid during battles. If allies provide both kinds of services, the total cost of hiring an ally is the sum of the costs of each of these services.

A hired combat-capable ally’s salary is a function of their tier and their warrior type. If the ally is of the normal type, they require a salary of 10 x their current tier. If they are of the elite type, they require a salary of 100 x their current tier. If they tier up, and still ask for a salary, then it increases to the salary of the appropriate tier. Whether they enter the party carrying any items is a matter of GM fiat.

Allies in Combat

An ally’s combat statistics are calculated via the Warrior Creation rules, with all of the same choices being made. During combat, they fight on the same side of the battlefield as the rest of the party, and count as party members for the purposes of sharing inventory. However, they do not call Initiative.

In addition, allies are not protected from True Death in the same way that the Heroes are. If they are downed at the end of combat, the GM casts the outcome die. If the result is a 5 or less, the ally dies. If the result is greater than 5, the ally remains alive and takes an injury. Otherwise, allies function the same in combat as any other combatant. If an ally cannot participate in combat, then what happens to them when the party is defeated depends on its story context.

Allies During Exploration

Allies enter the party with a number of Supplies prepared as deemed appropriate by the GM, and have a total minimum Carrying Capacity of 5 times their current tier. Regardless of what their other capabilities are, they can always take the Cook, Shelter, Recover, and Explore actions during the Camping Phase. If they have sustained an injury, they obey the same rules that the Heroes do for recovering from them. Some allies will also have the ability to assist during travel. The price of these skills is outlined below.

Each ally is also able to take a single camping action based on their capabilities. For example, a loyal watchdog might be able to take the Watch action, while a trained hunter might be able to take the Hunt action. If they stay long-term in the party, the GM may also consider giving them the capacity to use more than one. A good rule of thumb for this is that they should be able to perform up to their tier divided by two role-based travel actions so as to feel about equivalent to the player characters.

The number the GM must roll under when an ally takes a camping action is up to the GM, and also adds to their salary. If they are hired, an ally’s salary is increased by ten times this number for each additional camping action the ally can take. So, if an ally has Watch 3 and Hunt 2, their total salary due to these is 50 ¤.

Guides

Guides are NPCs who can help the players navigate the local wilderness. Hiring a guide allows Heroes to reduce the navigation difficulty of a path the guide is willing and able to navigate by an amount depending on how much the navigation difficulty is reduced. Hiring a guide with money that reduces the navigation difficulty of a path by 1 costs 10 ¤, reducing it by 3 costs 50 ¤, and reducing it by 7 costs 100 ¤. GMs should keep in mind that guide services might not always be available, and that guides who cannot defend themselves will be very hesitant to walk into dangerous areas. The cost of hiring a guide is multiplied by 10 per 2 levels of danger rating above 1 to reflect this. Particularly canny allies that also have other capabilities may also count as pack animals for these purposes.

Pack Animals

Pack animals are creatures such as horses, donkeys, and mules. If they are for hire, they can be rented from barns in town and sometimes from farmers in villages that will carry extra goods in case the players need more room. The cost of hiring a pack animal is relative to how much it carries. For each point of additional Carrying Capacity a pack animal can provide, renting it costs an additional 1 ¤. Pack animals need to be fed while traveling on the road. To keep a pack animal functional, players must expend 2 additional Supplies during the Camping Phase to feed it. Players can also purchase a pack animal permanently for 10 ¤ per amount of additional Carrying Capacity it adds to their inventory. A typical pack animal will have a Carrying Capacity of 1d6 x 10. Particularly strong allies that also have other capabilities may also count as pack animals for these purposes.

Some pack animals may be able to carry characters on their back. If so, each carried Hero has a Weight of 50, plus or minus 15 depending on their relative size at the GM’s discretion, but disregarding the Hero’s carried inventory. When every party member is riding an animal, the length of the path is shortened by an amount determined by the path’s base navigation difficulty:

Ally Advancement

If the party advances in tier while an ally is traveling alongside them, then that ally will also advance in tier. If the ally’s tier is equal to or below the tier of the current highest tier party member, it will advance by 1 every time a party member advances in tier, whereas if their tier is greater than this tier than it will remain the same. When they advance in tier, advance their attributes by a number of points given by the scale in the Warrior Creation section.

Allies to Heroes

If an ally has spent enough time with the party, then they can be easily turned into a player character. To do this, create a new player character per the regular character creation rules and give them the same innate element that they had as a warrior. In addition, if you choose to grant them any of the unique abilities they had when they were a warrior, these now count as feats that can be bought during character advancement, including their pack animal and guide capabilities, which both count as separate feats. Allowing a former Elite warrior to use their abilities also requires that they lose one of their equipment slots, while allowing a former Antagonist to do so requires that they lose two. They also maintain their creature type when they become a Hero.

Ally Creation

When the GM wants to create a new ally, they should follow along with the step-by-step process below.

1. Determine the ally’s combat statistics if they have any combat capabilities.
2. Determine their capabilities during travel, including the camping actions they can take as well as whether they count as a guide or pack animal.
3. Fill out an ally’s inventory based on their concept, including both battle and travel items and Supplies.
4. Compute the cost of hiring the ally based on their capabilities. The total hiring cost per path or day in a dungeon is equal to the sum total of all of the individual costs associated with each of their different capabilities.
5. Give the ally a name, a background, and decide their appearance. In particular, the GM should focus on why they have the abilities they have. Are they part of a magic circle? A thieves’ guild? A wandering order of knights?
6. Determine any other quirks of personality an ally might have. Are they constantly cracking jokes, or are they grim and serious? Are they cowardly, or foolhardy? What is their attitude towards the Heroes?