Henchmen and Hirelings of Thieves

Though thief characters often function as lone wolves, or in small, stealthy groups, they will often have need of the skills, or sometimes simply the reinforcing numbers, of others. Since thiefly activities generally flourish in urban environments, there is usually no shortage of NPCs for the characters to meet and use and henchmen or hirelings.

Hirelings are particularly easy to come by, and can include craftsman and merchants as well as those of the adventuring classes.

Hirelings, however, are not generally trusted with the knowledge of a guild or hideout. They will be contacted in their own place of residence or work, their information or services gained there, and then they will be left by the mysterious thief who disappears into the alleys and backstreets. Even when hirelings are used on a mission, they will often be joined at a rendezvous outside the guild, and left there when the mission is over.

This is not a hard and fast rule, however. Particularly in cases where a guild location is well known, or where hirelings are necessary to the functioning of the guild—there aren't enough PCs and henchmen to maintain a watch, for example—a hireling will be brought into the lair. Of course, generally some effort will be expended describing to the hireling the consequences of his betraying the great amount of trust that has just been shown him. Indeed, in large thieves guilds it is unrealistic to assume that most members will be PCs or the henchmen of those PCs.

Henchmen, of course, are another matter. They will generally be trusted to know almost everything the PC knows. As with any PC, some henchmen might be gained from the ranks of hirelings who have served loyally and bravely through the years.

Ideally, however, the player and DM should give some thought to interesting backgrounds for other henchmen, based specifically on the player character's background. This is especially important if the character adventures in the same city or nation where he spent his childhood and youth. It is likely that some contacts would have been made during that period—contacts that now offer the potential of valuable help to the aggressive young thief.

In the tangled world of the thief, such longrunning relationships are often the best way to develop a trustworthy companion. Players and DMs should combine to define a henchmen character drawn from a PC's background. Such a character should not be too powerful, but should be given a few useful abilities. If the henchmen is of an adventuring class, he should be of lower level than the player character.

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