Allies play a big part in Savage Pathfinder games. They serve as troops under your hero’s command in war, loyal retainers serving strongholds, or fellow fighters in glorious rebellions against oppression.
When to Use These Rules: Use these rules to help keep track of the party’s followers and give them a little extra personality to play off of as well.
The Basics: Players create, control, and track their own followers and nonplayer character allies.
Keeping up with allies in Savage Pathfinder is simple. Just download the Ally Sheet from our website and fill in the blanks.
Allied Extras are divided up among all the players to control. This is a very important part of Savage Pathfinder because our adventures often feature allied bands of skilled hirelings, fellow grunts, or loyal retainers, and the game is designed to handle them quickly and easily. It’s also designed for the players to control them—not the Game Master.
It doesn’t matter whether the characters control the allies, only that the players do. This keeps everyone involved in the action even if his hero is out of the fight, and makes running large combats much easier and more fun for everyone. Of course the GM can always take charge of Extras when the need arises, but with good roleplayers this is rarely necessary.
You can add a little flavor to your allies by rolling on the Allied Personalities table Jot down the keyword on the Ally Sheet so you and your Game Master have a little insight into each particular ally’s character.
Consider these general impressions with no particular game effect. They help both the player and GM decide just how an ally might react in a given situation.
If a party of adventurers tasks a retainer with keeping watch, it's helpful to know which ones are Observant and which ones are Lazy!
D20 Personality
1 Treacherous
2 Cruel
3 Old
4 Happy
5 Experienced
6 Gung-Ho
7 Lazy
8 Sneaky
9 Bright
10 Young
11 Crude
12 Agile
13 Observant
14 Clueless
15 Mysterious
16 Creative
17 Artistic
18 Fearless
19 Cowardly
20 Heroic
Allies can improve their abilities as well. See Advancement.
Keeping track of ammunition for all your allies can be difficult. Here’s an easy and dramatic way to handle this problem.
The ammo level of each group of allied Extras starts at Very High, High (the usual level), Low, or Out, as determined by the GM.
After each fight, the ammo automatically drops a level. This makes for dramatic situations and realistic logistical problems while eliminating the bookkeeping.
The GM can always decide otherwise, of course. Perhaps the troops are told to fight with hand weapons instead of their bows and crossbows, or they don’t get to fire off more than a couple of shots before the fight is over.
Here are a few typical archetypes you might use for your Savage Pathfinder game. Fill in any additional skills or Edges as you see fit. A group of rangers, for example, should have the Survival skill, while cavalrymen should have Riding. Add appropriate gear for the situation as well.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d6, Fighting d6, Intimidation d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d6, Shooting d6, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: —
Edges: Soldier
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d6, Fighting d8, Intimidation d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d6, Shooting d8, Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: —
Edges: Soldier and any two Combat Edges.