Sidebar #23 – More Hirelings and Followers! by Taylor Huber is a role playing game supplement published by Fat Goblin Games for use with the Pathfinder system. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
This is a six page PDF that is available from DriveThruRPG for $3 but was purchased at the reduced price of $0.11 as part of a special bundle. One page is the cover and front matter and one and a half pages are the Open Game License.
This is a sequel to Sidebar #7 – Hirelings and Followers, providing more of these but of a different type. The rules for hirelings and followers are copied straight from Sidebar #7 – the part related to how certain followers are covered by the cost of living should not have been copied at all, for it is totally irrelevant to the followers in this supplement, only for those in the first. Hirelings are skilled NPCs who provide skilled services; followers are hirelings recruited using the Leadership feat. Each of the listed hirelings and followers has their name (strictly speaking, their profession or service’s name), the cost, the benefit of using, the level of follower the hireling can be recruited to fill and the benefit gained if they are recruited using the Leadership feat.
The ten hirelings are then described. These are more esoteric and more expensive than those in Sidebar #7 and in some cases are actually several individuals. Demolitions experts destroy things. Sapper teams are usually hired for sieges and destroy walls. Siege engine teams transport, set up, fire and take down siege engines. Dungeon scouts scout dungeons but do not loot, kill creatures or disable traps. Scrying services spy on people and things. Exotic mount training and stabling deals with unusual mounts. Explosives experts blow things up. Golem wranglers provide rental golems. Magical transporters transport creatures or things by magic. Personal bankers look after money and may increase it as well.
Sidebar #23 – More Hirelings and Followers! in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and at this length doesn’t need them. Navigation is okay. The text maintains a two column colour format and duplicating an unneeded and irrelevant paragraph from Sidebar #7 was the only noted error. There is really only one illustration, a black and white one on the cover. Presentation is okay.
Unlike Sidebar #7, many of the services provided by these hirelings are esoteric and probably only rarely needed. The demolitions and explosives experts also look like they are probably intended for a setting that has gunpowder, but such is not stated one way or the other. A definite statement as to whether gunpowder, or an alchemical alternative, were being used would probably have been useful. Overall, this is perhaps not as useful as the first supplement; the most useful hirelings are probably the magical transporters, with the exotic mount and golem wranglers next. Most characters are unlikely to require much in the way of siege skills. Sidebar #23 – More Hirelings and Followers! is interesting, albeit not as useful, and it can be found by clicking here.
Leave a Reply