Spear-Carriers

In some campaigns, players have the attitude that NPCs are along to get killed so that the PCs won't.

That's patently ridiculous; an adventuring party with that attitude would soon gain a very bad reputation, and would find it increasingly difficult to hire NPCs, would find that inns and taverns always denied them service, would find that sages told them to buzz off, etc.

However, there's a type of spear-carrier NPC that any group of adventurers should consider hiring—and that's the actual spear-carrier.

In many towns and villages, the heroes can find a strong, strapping youth who is willing to come along with them for the promise of some treasure and combat training. This energetic youth shouldn't be slapped in armor and put up front to be killed: Instead, he should be charged with carrying an extra weapon or two and making sure that all his allies have weapons at all times in combat. In a combat, the spear-carrier may act as a behind-the-lines polearm warrior, if his hands aren't full already. He also serves as backup defense for people who stay behind the lines because they can't fight well: Noncombatant NPCs, mages, etc.

Here's how it works:

The spear-carrier is given a single weapon of his own, such as a spear, and also carries a couple of extra weapons, which are party-owned weapons—such as a long sword in a back sheath and a short sword on his belt, for instance.

In combat, he stays behind the line and takes the occasional spear-poke at the enemy over the line. Whenever a PC loses a weapon (to a fumble, or an enemy's Disarm, or when a weapon is shattered by a foe), the spear-carrier uses his next available combat round to move in close and give the PC one of the extra weapons he's carrying.

The spear-carrier is also useful for keeping a more distant eye on what's going on with the combat. He might notice new enemies arriving on the horizon, or notice an enemy skulking to get around the edge of the shield-wall, before a player-character has the opportunity to do so.

Since this character is an NPC, he doesn't have to share the player-characters' frantic desire to make every combat round of every combat count for something. He can afford to keep an eye on things and won't necessarily be desperate to bang on an enemy every round.

A variant of this character is the spear-carrier devoted to a specific PC. A PC who is a spear-thrower, for instance, might have a page or squire devoted to carrying two or three extra spears for him. In such a case, the PC is usually responsible for teaching the page or squire to fight (without getting him killed) so that NPC might someday become a knight.

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