In AS&SH 2E Compleat, p.293, under Hit Dice:
"When a monster’s hit points reach 0, it is dead, but humanoids may be reduced to as low as −3 and remain
unconscious; anything lower results in death."

I treat all "monsters" (party adversaries) as dead at 0, to simplify things.

I usually treat mercenaries and the like working for the party as if they were PCs. I usually don't bother keeping track of this for other NPCs.

You guys don't know my players. They name their hirelings, and then get ridiculously attached. The merc in question is Griselda, a heavy crossbow woman. Reduced to -2 by enemy ranged fire last session. The only other merc death they've had was Nails, a heavy infantryman, when a gelatinous cube engulfed him by surprise. Anyhow, they have already said they'd use spells to heal Griselda if she was still alive, but I wasn't sure based on the rules as written. Looks like it's the -3 rule per RAW unless I say otherwise. Thanks for the help.

BlackKnight wrote:

We are currently using ASSH rules with the StoneHell Megadungeon. so the Main base is a set of Orc caves we cleared and cleaned up about 5 miles from both StoneHell and the local town. The forward base is in the Chapel on the surface after clearing most of the surface areas, and we are cleared 1a, heading into quadrants 1b,1c as we speak (We as players have heard that each floor has 4 quads, based on past expeditions and hearsay).

Nice! We are using Stonehell in our campaign too! But my campaign is about 1.5 years in, and they've just dipped into the fifth level below. They've got a set of nearby caves they use as an HQ, but there is a nearby city where they go to trade. Good stuff!

gizmomathboy wrote:

Ha! In my one campaign, the hirelings were named by their main weapon and given a number.

That is until they lost too many and couldn't hire any more, even at better rates.

LOL, We may get there soon...

Our only saving grace is that working things through with the GM, we are giving the hirelings a small % of XP each session (the ones actively adventuring). If/Once they reach the = XP to go from 1st level to second (they are actually 0 level fighters, but needed a threshold). they get promoted from Hirelings to Henchmen, which in the rules is something like 10X the price/month of non-professional Hirelings. So that means we are a rotating training camp for the Sons/Daughters of the local populace. Dropping them as they advance (until we are a hell of a lot richer at least). 

Last edited by BlackKnight (4/19/2021 7:18 pm)

gizmomathboy wrote:

BK, expecting some kinda mass invasion for the local area? The local militia/lord can't be too happy with the peasants getting "better" than their folks :-)

We haven't met the "Govna" of the area yet (the town and surroundings are not Feudal, but more like a republic). but several of the 1st level guys have gone on to become town guard, so the Captain of the guard has actually thanked us...