Untrained Hirelings

As described in the “Services” section in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook, untrained hirelings provide general labor, and can function as builders, cleaners, porters, and other workers. Untrained hirelings can work for a franchise or its allies, perhaps tending a garden for a noble family or helping a merchant unload cargo from ships. They will not engage in combat and do not leave the headquarters to join the party on adventures. The DM should name at least one hireling who acts as a leader for any interactions with groups of untrained laborers. Providing hirelings with a similar background (such as a band of ex-soldiers or reformed criminals) can add personality to the group. Consider using the rules in chapter 4 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, applying the results of a single set of rolls to the entire group. Those hirelings could all shave their heads zealously, be brawny but absentminded, play various musical instruments, use colorful oaths and exclamations, and so on. Group ideals, bonds, and flaws, along with a shared history, can all add depth to a group of untrained hirelings. Those musicians might be connected by the ideal of tradition, and bound to the franchise to protect a cultural heirloom they value above all else. Their flaw and secret could be that they stole the heirloom from their former employer, a rival merchant organization. Over time, the same hirelings might show up as part of the characters’ adventures time and time again, revealing aspects of their past and creating story continuity.

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