What's the point of hirelings? Is there ANY advantage to

>>50254099
Carrying shit for you and triggering traps.

My last character had the following on his staff:


>Head Butler
>3 Under Butlers
>Head Maid
>3 Under Maids
>Head Chef
>2 Assistant Chefs
>Kitchen Boy
>Driver
>Stable Master
>Stable Assistant
>2 Stable Boys
>Kennel Master
>Kennel Assistant
>Rookery Master
>Rookery Assistant
>Head Gardener
>3 Under Gardeners
>Captain of the Guard
>12 Guardsmen
>Crafting Assistant
>Herald
>Family Physician
>Patroned Painter
>Patroned Musician
>Chief Bookkeeper
>Assistant Bookkeeper

He only brought a few of them with him depending on where he was going and why. Often it would be the guards and the hound master.

>>50254099
Have them do profession checks, make sure they're the more expensive trained hireling. On average, you will make more than you spend on them every week.

I once made a level 1 Aristocrat in 3.5e that made several hundred gold a week just by having hordes of trained hirelings doing profession checks.

Of course, this was a theoretical character, never actually played it.

>>50254434
Anon, I believe you've just invented owning a business.

>>50254099

In old school D&D, they're hugely important. Light penalties are scary, and you can't hold a weapon, shield, and a torch at the same time. Dropping a torch carries a risk of it guttering out, too.
So you need a torchbearer at your back to give you light to see and fight by. You probably also want a couple of men at arms to help build a line so you don't get surrounded should you encounter like 20 goblins.
What's more, treasure is heavy and slows you down, which means more wandering monster checks. Finding a treasure horde is only the first step. After that, you need to figure out how you're going to get all of it (or more likely, as much of it as you can manage to carry) out of the dungeon, so the more hands you have to carry it, the more profitable and safer you'll be.
And you probably want a couple guys to sit outside the dungeon and watch the horses, and maybe the cart if you're really optimistic about how much stuff you're going to bring out.
Old school D&D is a game of tactics and logistics, where planning and forethought take center stage.

>>50254434
can unskilled ones make profession checks?

>>50254654
Yes, but you have a greater profit margin if they're trained.

>>50254690
I just started a campaign. First time picking a noble so I decided to buy 5 untrained kobold hirelings, a cart, a flute, a chess board, fancy meals and alcohol and other useless crap. Whats the first step in using this to make my money back? have 2 of them pull my fat ass to the dungeon while the other 3 look for trinkets to take with us?

>>50254728
>Untrained
You will always break even, so no, you cannot make money back. They MUST be trained hirelings for the build to work, and they MUST do Profession checks.

For your situation, just have them loot everything and sell it for you.

you can never go wrong with having an extra pair of hands, no matter how strong you get, you are limited by only being in one place at a time

you also need to do that boring stuff no one else wants to, it takes dozens of man hours to maintain armor, care for horses, etc.