Retainers are a core part of the old school D&D experience. Specifically here as in all posts on this blog I’ll be focusing on the basic and expert system, and specifically the OSE expansion to this system.

There are a number of rules I use to help make buying retainers go quickly. I use a fair bit of homebrew glue to run the kind of style of game I’m looking for, and hopefully this blog can provide an explenation for my reasonings.

Lets start with the contract.

The adventuring party promises to pay this individual an amount equal to the total XP to increase them from their current level to the next level, of their class, divided by one thousand, plus a half share of the loot.



The party is therefore expected to provide an estimate for the duration of the quest beforehand, a full briefing on what the quest entails, and pre-payment for this estimate.



~ The Free Labour Union of Adventuring Assistants

It is of course, possible to offer above market rates for a +2 chance to have the retainer accept the contract, or beneath market rates for a -2 chance to have the retainer accept the contract. To generate what would be fairly considered above or beneath market rates, half or add one half to the total amount expected, and round it to the closest convenient value.

For maximum level retainers, just double their previous pay grade, but really they ought to be adventueres rather than retainers by that point.

This gives the following rough numbers.

Level Cleric Dwarf Elf Fighter/Halfling Magic-User Thief 1 1.5gp 2.2gp 4gp 2gp 2.5gp 1.2gp 2 1.5gp 2.2gp 4gp 2gp 2.5gp 1.2gp 3 3gp 4.4gp 8gp 4gp 5gp 2.4gp 4 6gp 8.2gp 16gp 8gp 10gp 4.8gp 5 13gp 18gp 32gp 16gp 20gp 10.4gp 6 25gp 35gp 56gp 32gp 40gp 20gp 7 50gp 70gp 130gp 56gp 70gp 40gp 8 100gp 130gp 150gp 120gp 150gp 80gp 9 100gp 130gp 200gp 120gp 150gp 120gp 10 100gp 130gp 800gp 120gp 150gp 120gp 11 100gp 130gp 120gp 150gp 120gp 12 100gp 260gp 120gp 150gp 120gp 13 100gp 120gp 150gp 120gp 14 200gp 240gp 300gp 240gp

The logic behind this, is that a retainer who received no share of loot (which they consider unlikely) would like to level up over the course of a three year adventuring career, essentially for doing nothing more than would be expected of a normal human (carrying torches, looking after mules).

This does mean, like XP, that the cost of a retainer eventually stagnates. This is why it’s worth restricting retainer availability with a system like this. Yes they can hire a level 13 thief for the same cost as a level 9 thief, but only if they themselves are level 13, and have found a level 13 thief retainer willing to work for them.