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Hirelings
Hirelings are optional party members who can be customised to a greater degree than other companions, do not use the approval system, and do not have any personal quests or unique interactions with the world. They also do not have access to illithid powers or the [Illithid] dialogue options. They use the same set of voices as the Custom origin character.
Hirelings are recruited from 
Recruitment[edit section | visual editor]
After reaching level 3, a new dialogue option appears with Withers, which reads, "You were sorting something before. What were you doing?". Withers explains the concepts of hirelings and unlocks the ability to recruit them for 100 gold each. If the party is full, someone must be removed in order to recruit a hireling, although once recruited they can immediately be removed from the active party. Hirelings can be permanently dismissed and returned to the Fugue Plane at any time. If dismissed this way they can still be conscripted again from Withers later on; they will be at level 1 with their default name, class, stats and appearance, and will retain any items (equipped or not) upon return.
No more than 3 hirelings can be recruited at a time. At camp, while not in use, they always stand at a fixed location without a tent of their own. This varies by camp setting, but is usually near Withers.
Customisation[edit section | visual editor]
During recruitment, a hireling's name and appearance can be customised just as that of The Dark Urge and Custom origins can. They can also use the Magic Mirror to do the same.
As with other playable characters, hirelings can respec with Withers to change their class and / or ability scores.
The following aspects of a hireling cannot be customised: race, subrace, background, body type, and voice.
Tactics[edit section | visual editor]
In addition to acting as normal combatants, there are other possible uses for hirelings.
- Each hireling starts out with a
- A hireling can stay in camp to cast beneficial spells that last until long rest, such as
- Similarly, a hireling Bard can stay in camp to hand out Bardic Inspiration.
- A hireling Wizard of the Transmutation School can stay in camp to conduct alchemy with greater effectiveness through their Experimental Alchemy feature. They could also multiclass into Rogue or Bard in order to gain Expertise on the Medicine checks involved in that feature. A bard 5/wizard 4 (or other way around) could have +13 on the check (8 expertise + 5 Wis. modifier), then cast
- A hireling can stay in camp for
- A hireling can occupy the djinni's lamp in place of a main party member.
- A hireling can loot the Stormshore Tabernacle's basement, then transfer the items to another party member, then be immediately dismissed back to the Fugue Plane to avoid the negative consequences of the
- A hireling Cleric can use their one-time Divine Intervention when needed. Every hireling can be respecced into a cleric, so this is a potential 12 extra Divine Interventions.
List of Hirelings[edit section | visual editor]
| Name | Race | Class | Background | Backstory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightfoot Halfling | Bard | Entertainer | Brinna Brightsong's bawdy crooning was silenced by an Absolute bloodbutcher after a controversial performance in a Triel tavern. | |
| Mephistopheles Tiefling | Druid | Folk Hero | Danton was a refined druid and rearer of peacocks - until he thought transforming into one would help him escape Absolutist marauders. He was wrong. | |
| Gold Dwarf | Barbarian | Outlander | Eldra Luthrinn, slayer of people, monsters, and cups of sweet pear tea, was shown a watery grave when hunting Absolutists in the valleys of Chionthar. | |
| Rock Gnome | Wizard | Sage | Sir Fuzzalump was much mocked among his playful kind for his dour demeanor and single-minded devotion to the magical investigation of cave moss. He claims not to have giggled in over a decade, and has never frolicked. | |
| High Half-Elf | Sorcerer | Guild Artisan | Jacelyn was born a sorcerer, the seventh son of a seventh son. The agent of the Absolute that killed him knew this, and is rumored to have remarked, 'Probably should've left it at six.' | |
| Half-Orc | Paladin | Noble | Kerz lived many years as a paladin and mercenary, years which took a hard toll on them.[3] Befriending a group of pleasant ogres, they laid down their weapon and taught a rudimentary etiquette class, before the ogres were attacked one night, and Kerz once more took up their steel. | |
| Duergar | Warlock | Charlatan | Kree's penchant for killing folk with a mere whisper was prized in the Absolute's ranks, but the utter devotion to her patron was met with lethal disapproval. | |
| Human | Rogue | Urchin | Madalla's blindness was cured by another True Soul passing through her village - so they[4] could watch it being burnt to the ground around them. Such was the price of refusing the Absolute. | |
| Githyanki | Monk | Outlander | Sina'zith's monastic preferences marked her a misfit among her kin - as did the illithid tadpole an Absolutist forced into her mind. For this, the githyanki slew her as an aberration. | |
| Wood Half-Elf | Fighter | Soldier | Once a battle-worn veteran fighting for the Absolute, Varanna learnt that loyalty to the would-be god did not protect her from the murderous whims of jealous generals. | |
| Seldarine Drow | Ranger | Criminal | Ver'yll spent his twilights scribbling odes to leafy canopies, bushels, and the merits of the noble hedgehog. When he refused to join the Absolute, its forces tore his forest and body apart. | |
| High Elf | Cleric | Acolyte | Zenith, once an optimistic Evereskan Graycloak, journeyed to Faerun in search of a new sunrise. An Absolute warband proved his dour father right: Zenith was doomed! |
Races[edit section | visual editor]
Not all races and subraces are represented in hirelings, and therefore some races are only available with a custom character. Out of the 11 playable races, Dragonborn is the only one not covered by hirelings, and out of the 18 subraces those races have, only 8 of them are covered. The races and subraces covered by hirelings are:
The races and subraces not covered by hirelings are:
- All
Achievements[edit section | visual editor]
List of Achievements related to hirelings.
- Outsourcing
- Recruit a hireling. You can befriend them or use them as cannon-fodder - we won't judge.
Bugs[edit section | visual editor]
- When a hireling is
- In what may be an oversight, if a hireling’s appearance is customised during recruitment, their default portrait still appears in the party's dialogue history.
Notes and references[edit section | visual editor]
- ↑ The word "hireling" is traditionally defined as someone working (in whole or material part) for money, which is different from how these characters are brought back from the dead for conscription into the player character's service; they all appear to be primarily motivated by the prospect of revenge against the Cult.
- ↑ Here, several aspects of the character's appearance have been changed from their default settings. Among them: hairstyle, facial shape, and hair, eye and skin colors.
- ↑ Although their identity is explicitly categorized as male within the character customization menu, Kerz's in-game backstory and descriptions utilize nonbinary pronouns (They/them).
- ↑ Although refered to as "They", the backstory given for Maddala in-game says "her village" not "their village". "They", used in-game, is likely plural, referring to both Madalla and the other True Soul.