Dungeon Fantasy 15: Henchmen

This material is part of the Dungeon Fantasy (series) It is considered seperate from the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game which is a Powered by GURPS work

Dungeon Fantasy 15: Henchmen (2012, 2015, 2017) is a 43 page PDF written Peter V. Dell'Orto and Sean Punch and gives you everything you need to create servants.

Contents

• Templates for 10 distinct 125-point archetypes (agent, apprentice, archer, brute, cutpurse, initiate, killer, sage, skirmisher, and squire) and five 62-point callings (cultist, guard, laborer, servant, and torch-bearer), each with detailed customization notes.
• How to use these templates for hirelings, including rules for recruitment, loyalty, and pay.
• Advice on treating these henchmen as Allies: evaluating the advantage, handling NPC advancement, and weighing the campaign ramifications of permanent associates.
• Thoughts on adapting such roles for PCs in low-powered, mixed-power-level, and standard 250-point campaigns.
• A dozen 125-point lenses – adept, burglar, champion, gadgeteer, genin, learned, monk, priest, psi, treasure-hunter, troubadour, and veteran – that mix and match with the templates to get a wide variety of high-end henchmen and custom PC professions.
• New perks and power-ups for companions and flunkies.
• Guidelines for adding nonhuman racial templates to the mix for henchmen and custom PCs alike.

Recommendations

Some fanon recommendations for making henchmen more fun, assuming a not-too-dire setting genre:

• Oh Hey, It's Lars Again: Let henchmen be rivivable (from narrowly avoiding death) or have them miraculously/mysteriously reappear -- they're already low-power, you may as well get to bond with them.
• One Small Favor: Have henchmen have one little side quest or goal that can be done alongside the main quest. For instance, if the party is heading into the Deepest Darkest Forest, perhaps the henchman is looking for a rare flower for back home, or a magical wood to rehaft their war axe.
• Social Contracts Redux: Perhaps the henchman in question is someone who owes a favor to the party (from contacts, allies, associated groups, etc.)--or vice versa, perhaps the PCs owe the henchman a favor, and have to take them along to fulfill their One Small Favor (above).

The Various and Sundry Henchmen

Standard Henchmen

• Agent
• Apprentice
• Archer
• Brute
• Cutpurse
• Initiate
• Killer
• Sage
• Skirmisher
• Squire

Bargain Henchmen

• Cultist
• Guard
• Laborer
• Servant
• Torch-Bearer

Sidebars and Sidequests

• Niche Substitution
• Power-Ups for Henchmen
• Livery
• Ceremonial Magic
• Perks for Guards
• When Bargains Pay Off
• Recipes
• Not Without My Torch

In The Use and Abuse of Henchmen:

• Pros and Cons of Allies
• Where Did You Find This Guy? -- Headhunting and hiring

See Also

• GURPS Dungeon Fantasy
• GURPS DFRPG (The Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game