How does ACKS handle assigning proficiencies to hirelings? Using the Monthly Hijink Income tablenon pg 141 it appears that proficiencies are not accounted for. I can see a few possibilities.
1 - Ignore them.
2 - Assign them randomly
3 - Assign them as it makes sense (class, role, setting etc etc)
4 - Power Game the crap out of them to the maximum benefit of the player (As a player I suggest this option :))
Take for instance Ruffians being assigned Hijinks. This is a great example as it is possible to hire 4th level Thieves (Spys) for this. With proficiencies the chance of success of any hijink can be increased 5-15% (+1 - +3 bonus). In addition to this the chance of getting caught is similarly reduced, so if makes a lot of sense to both the Boss (the player) and the ruffian to seek out “job specific training”.
Similarly Mercenaries could benefit from proficiencies adding to thier combat effectiveness and survivability.
What do you think?
RAW are pretty clear that technically hirelings do have proficiencies, see p. 64.
In my game I’ve so far used options 1-3 – whatever appropriate at the moment: sometimes I haven’t bothered, for some I’ve used a small random table*, for some I’ve just put in things players have specified they’re looking for, and for some I’ve put in things that strike my fancy.
All hirelings can and should have proficiencies. However, for mercenaries and ruffians, I would generally avoid arbitrarily assigning them the perfect set of proficiencies for their job. Most such people in the setting should not be “raised from birth to kick ass” so as to speak. Also, in most cases, the proficiencies that are best for adventuring are not necessarily the best for every-day life, and would be hard to learn in every day life, and hard to maintain. (combat reflexes, for example). Most thieves probably have proficiencies like bargaining, bribery, and intimidation. Most fighters probably have manual of arms, labor (let’s build ditches!) and endurance.
For characters recruited as henchmen, and for followers, you might try rolling on the template tables for their class.
For specialists, the proficiencies they have are generally obvious from the specialized job they do. I had hoped that the specialist descriptions would be sufficient that you didn’t have to worry about it.
Perhaps it would be a worthwhile project to draw up a list of default proficiencies for a bunch of hirelings.
Demoss’s table is excellent stuff! Use that.
p.s. would you like that to be hosted on the community downloads section of the site? Or perhaps we should have a community links section that goes to it.