As part of…erm…something I’m working on, I decided to figure the average value of a roll in each troop table from the Player’s Companion. The way I did this was to take 10 times the cost for each troop type, then multiply it by the odds of getting a troop of that type on the table. Since none of the hunters in the PC have shields, they’re all counted at the 4 GP level.
Average value of a roll for:
Ivory Barbarian - 68 GP
Jutland Barbarian - 97.5 GP
Bard/Bladedancer/Mystic - 210 GP
Explorer/Shaman - 224.5 GP
Cleric/Fighter/Paladin/Anti-Paladin/Ruinguard - 235.5 GP
Skysos Barbarian - 255 GP
Craftpriest/Delver/Fury/Vaultguard - 258 GP
Courtier/Ranger/Spellsword - 471 GP
The two low barbarians have no cavalry at all, which brings their value down. The other humans range from 35% to 50% cavalry. Dwarves and Elves are expensive due to their units’ high costs.
The Ivory and Jutland barbarians are 100% infantry, as already mentioned. Skysos are 50% infantry. Everybody else is between 60% and 70% except for Dwarves, who are 80% infantry. The lowest proportion of range troops is the Mystic table, with only 20% ranged (10% slingers and 10% bowmen). Fighters and Jutland barbarians are only 25% ranged. Ivory barbarians are 70% ranged, and everyone else is 40%-55%.
One of the things I’ve been thinking on is getting various different types of troop table based on the character’s background, with the average value of the average number of rolls remaining the same, but the die size varying based on the average value of the troops. For example, the Fighter has an average of 3.5 rolls on a table with an average value of 235.5 GP per roll, or an overall average of 824.25 GP of troops. Here’s one idea of a “kit” of sorts for a fighter:
Peasant Hero
Requirement: Must have rolled 8 or less on Starting Wealth or Template table
Dice rolled for troops: 2d4x10+10
Troop table:
01-20 - Peasants (spear)
21-30 - Light Infantry (3 javelins, short sword, leather armor, shield)
31-45 - Light Infantry (spear, short sword, leather armor, shield)
46-55 - Hunters (bola, net, 3 javelins, hand axe, leather armor)
56-65 - Slingers (sling, short sword, leather armor, shield)
66-85 - Light Cavalry (6 javelins, mace, leather armor, shield, lt warhorse)
86-00 - Light Cavalry (lance, sword, leather armor, shield, lt warhorse)
Average roll value: 136
Average # rolls: 6
Average total value: 816
This gives a fighter who came from the lower (to lower middle) classes, and attracts other poor-but-eager soldiers to their cause. They’ll generally have more troops, but of a lower quality than a standard fighter, with a difference between the value of the two tables being approximately 1%. 50% of the troops have some ranged ability (40% javelins, 10% slings), and 35% are cavalry.