Question about Mercenary Wages

ReptileJK

Mongoose
Hey folks,
I don't have The Free Companies. Was curios, what's a good wage for mercenaries? Are they paid weekly?

Thanks alot!
Reptile
 
Here's a few examples...

Nemedian Adventurer: 10 silver per day
Free Companies: 7 silver per day
Kushite Spearmen: 4 silver per day
Kozaki: You're having a laugh...
 
Hi

Just reviving an old thread, useful info already for my campaign. What would the average wage be for caravan guards? We're starting our groups campaign tonight (finally :D )
 
Well, the wages should be inferior to a merc's pay. I'd say something like 2-5 sp/day (varies with the quality of the guards and the nature of the goods transported), food, and a bonus if there is an actual fight.
 
Bonus for fights?
Hah, then i'd tell bandit friends to harass me all the way to shadizar.
Bonus should be for NO fights.
Call it incentive pricing
 
If you want to compare to historical figures, here's what I found in the German Wikipedia (which is a lot more controlled and reliable than English Wikipedia, might I add):

The wages for mercenary armies at the beginning of the 16th century was based on the factor 4. Common Landsknechte were paid 4 Gulden. Veterans ("Double Mercenaries"), fouriers, medics, musicians and chaplains received 8 Gulden. 12 for the scribes, 16 for sergeants, 20 for banner carriers, 40 for captains and 400 for the colonel. All figures are per month, but the mercenaries had the right to demand the beginning of a new pay month after every battle fought.
Compared to this, the cost of living was 1-2 Gulden per month, so the pay was relatively high.
However, regular and appropriate payment was not always the rule, causing mutinies and disorderly plunderings, with the prospect of booty being another important incentive for the individual mercenary.

SO for Conan you can convert these figures as follows:
- a labourer gets 1sp per day, as the currency/trade chapter points out.
- you can assume that a labourer can make no savings worth noting, so his income of about 25sp/month (assuming there is some kind of sabbat) will equal his expenditures.
- so Free Companies should get a nominal wage of about 100sp/month, but your mileage may vary.

Keep in mind that mercs have to pay _everything_ out of their own pocket, especially weapons and armour.
 
Well, keep in mind this isn't a mercenary's job we're talking about.

Guards are there to deter bandits in the first place. This kind of job doesn't automatically imply fighting. So the pay should be less than a merc's (merc jobs do imply actual fighting).
 
I just saw that untrained labourer earn only 1/2 sp per day.
So this appears to be the absolute minimum needed to survive.
And mercs should earn 4 times as much -- 2sp per day as base pay.
Hardly a fortune.
 
Don't forget that Mercs also get a nice bonus at the end of the situation they're hired for.

Loot was a part of their wages. That's what the attraction to Mercenaries was.

Kipling put it best with, "It's the Loot Loot Loot that makes the boys get up and shoot!"
 
Mercenary work pays farly well, but the killing, the pillaging, the burning, the looting, the raping, and the plundering are all just perks! :twisted:

It good to live in such times, unless of course, your a commoner! :shock:
 
I also hightly suggest "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlock_Mercenary#Seven_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_Pirates
 
Always glad to introduce people to Schlock Mercenary!

It's a great...

Umm...

*Dashes To Another Place on the Forum*
 
Although I have the book, I do not go by the books values. I just adlib and concider what they are doing and who they are doing it for. Remember, merc's can work for things that are not money orientated: Debts, freedom, etc...
 
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