Mercenaries for Solo Play

[benvoliothefirst]

The amount of well-thought-out, genuinely compelling discussion in this thread is inspiring. I wish the rest of the internet were like this.

Once you start upgrading the mercs with more armor, dividing the gold rewards amongst them, how is that functionally different from just having the player control four normal heroes? Especially if you allow the mercs to use new weapons or artifacts, it just seems like you're doing the same amount of work, with the rewards all concentrated in the main player character, which is dangerous.

[Count Mohawk]

Once you start upgrading the mercs with more armor, dividing the gold rewards amongst them, how is that functionally different from just having the player control four normal heroes? Especially if you allow the mercs to use new weapons or artifacts, it just seems like you're doing the same amount of work, with the rewards all concentrated in the main player character, which is dangerous.

I would suggest that the ability of Heroes to customize their equipment and use Artifacts, etc. should be the main thing that differentiates them from Mercenaries.
Men-at-Arms should be relatively self-contained packages. Want a better one? Then you offer more gold to hire one.

[Count_Monte]

The amount of well-thought-out, genuinely compelling discussion in this thread is inspiring. I wish the rest of the internet were like this.

Once you start upgrading the mercs with more armor, dividing the gold rewards amongst them, how is that functionally different from just having the player control four normal heroes? Especially if you allow the mercs to use new weapons or artifacts, it just seems like you're doing the same amount of work, with the rewards all concentrated in the main player character, which is dangerous.

The goal is to address two issues -1) if someone doesn't have a group to play with, just one friend/family member where one is the Player and the other Zargon/Morcar. 2) Having 1 player control all 4 heroes doesn't allow the same kind of emotional investment/attachment to one hero, so the attempt is to use mercs as disposable red shirts while still keeping the overall balance/difficulty of the quests the same.

That's why I agree mercs shouldn't get to use any artifacts or other equipment with the exception of the player (using their own gold) to buy helmets/armor/shields for the mercs upon reaching Champion level, just so that the mercs get a few more BPs for the later quests. Or, as Count Mohawk suggested, have a higher tier of merc available.

The main issue to solve is figuring out how many mercs and what BPs they should have to make the quests comparable difficulty to having 4 heroes so the quests themselves don't need to be altered.

[benvoliothefirst]

...but equipment would give them more defend dice, not body points. If you want to balance 'em, give 'em the same BP as the existing heroes.

...and the same abilities. You see where I'm going with this.

[Count_Monte]

Yeah I had a brain malfunction - more defend dice I meant. I see where you're going, but I think finding a way to have a merc crew with one hero could be equivalent and keep the roleplay spirit of just having one hero per player alive.

[benvoliothefirst]

You could have a nameless mercenary elf, or a nameless mercenary dwarf, or a nameless mercenary wizard...

What you're asking is "how can I make the other three characters into really weak NPC's without changing the game balance or the evil player's difficulty at all?"

I mean, I'll be genuinely impressed if you figure it out, buuuuuuut....

[Jafazo]

The goal is to address two issues -1) if someone doesn't have a group to play with, just one friend/family member where one is the Player and the other Zargon/Morcar. 2) Having 1 player control all 4 heroes doesn't allow the same kind of emotional investment/attachment to one hero, so the attempt is to use mercs as disposable red shirts while still keeping the overall balance/difficulty of the quests the same.

That's why I agree mercs shouldn't get to use any artifacts or other equipment with the exception of the player (using their own gold) to buy helmets/armor/shields for the mercs upon reaching Champion level, just so that the mercs get a few more BPs for the later quests. Or, as Count Mohawk suggested, have a higher tier of merc available.

The main issue to solve is figuring out how many mercs and what BPs they should have to make the quests comparable difficulty to having 4 heroes so the quests themselves don't need to be altered.

In your original post you said you wanted the Mercs to remain unmodified, but if you're willing to adjust Body Points, that's a horse of a different color. So here's my suggestion revised.

New Body Points
The Crossbowman 4 (Ranged)
The Swordsman 4 (Disables Traps)
The Halberdier 5
The Scout 6

4 Body Points is the starting low value in this. With 4 Body Points, a character can usually survive the average hard hit, which is 3 points of damage. Some monsters have attack scores that give them a chance to put out 4 Body Points of damage, but there's a good fail chance that'll happen. 3 damage is the average hardest hit a hero will ever take from one source. 2 is the average amount of damage from a source and 1 is the more common amount.

If you just want the Mercs to be able to perform effectively without outshining the hero, those are the stats I'd go with. This is taking into account that nothing else in the game is modified. At this rate, the hero should be able to push through the quests and lose either all of her mercs or save one or two if she's good.

The Crossbowman should be keeping a distance so he shouldn't be the first target of most melee situations, this is why he can get by with 4 BP. The Swordsman does go into melee but keeps only 4 BP because I see his trap disarming ability as a trade off for whatever BP's he would've gotten. The hero should either keep him back or send him in as the last attacker if it looks like the fight can be won or the tides changed with his involvement. The Halberdier gets his 5 BP and should perform well unless really bad rolls come into play. I expect he'll die after about five attacks from a 3 combat dice attack given rolled results. The Swordsman is the hero's wingman. This guy can take two average heavy hits. Considering this will be the hero's main partner when it comes to charging in, she might grow more attached to him.

Despite those changes, the lone hero's group is still at a disadvantage of the treasure cards. With one player, she's only going to be able to search each room once whereas a group can search it four times and earn more treasure. She is only one hero, but she's facing all the same challenges within the quest as four heroes so her resources will be taxed as if taxing 4. Treasure cards will need some balancing if it's going to be fair. I'd either...

Reduce the treasure card deck's size. Make a new deck that has about as much “hazards to goods” ratio as a normal sized deck but smaller and include those important potions of healing, defense and heroic brew over gold. Something like this; (3x Potions of Healing, 1x Wandering Monster, 1x Hazard!, 1x Jewels, 1x Gem,).

Or just let her draw more treasure cards if she draws a wandering monster or hazard. I'd probably consider letting her search a room up to three times until she gets a treasure card or has exhausted the three attempts, in which case she can no longer search the room.

That's it off the top of my head.

[Pancho]

Those enhanced stats are in line with the "special" crossbowman, swordsman and scout from the Chronicles of Sir Ragnar. I've used these guys in some quests, and they are fun to play with.

You could make these guys available for later quests as highly skilled mercenaries. At a greater cost, of course.
I'm on my phone so can't post a link unfortunately, but if you go to the main webpage and under 'quests' you'll find the Chronicles of Sir Ragnar.

[Jafazo]

Those enhanced stats are in line with the "special" crossbowman, swordsman and scout from the Chronicles of Sir Ragnar. I've used these guys in some quests, and they are fun to play with.

You could make these guys available for later quests as highly skilled mercenaries. At a greater cost, of course.
I'm on my phone so can't post a link unfortunately, but if you go to the main webpage and under 'quests' you'll find the Chronicles of Sir Ragnar.

I might have to check out Chronicles of Sir Ragnar sometime.

[lestodante]

So if the consensus is that early on 1 Hero + 4 Mercs will work for beginner quests, and later on the Mercs will need to be "higher-tier", then perhaps a variant on what Phoenix and Slev did would work: When the Hero finishes the first 5 Quests and gets to Champion level, he earns the ability to purchase armor for his Mercs. He therefore has to choose whether to spend his gold upgrading himself or his Mercs. But at least this way he can raise their BP.

IF that works, then how would you handle the equipment from a dead Merc? Can the Hero salvage it and give it to a new Merc after the quest? These solo rules are assuming the Hero doesn't have to hire the Mercs, just pay for their upgrades once he's a Champion. Or maybe the cost of hiring new ones can be minimal. The idea is not to penalize the player for having to use Mercs, so all treasure shouldn't have to be spent on paying them.

I will allow other mercenaries to take the dead mercenary's stuff for themself. But it must be equipped immediately and not carried on for the following quest. If 1 is wearing an armour he can't bring with him a second armour, he has to choose wich one to use while the other one is abandoned in the dungeon.