Henchmen

Overview

If your leadership is high enough, you can hire a henchman (or henchwoman) who will fight for and heal you... and all the pay they require is that you keep them alive! To recruit them to your following, go up to an available henchmen and say join. If your leadership skill is too low, they will not think much of you as a leader and ignore you. If you have additional henchman around, they may not want to join you.

Finding henchmen is relatively easy - they tend to wander around some towns and are easily identifiable as wearing all leather and are often called <name> the warrior on the paperdoll or warrior for hire on the mouseover. If there is another name on the paperdoll, this henchman belongs to someone else.

You can have up to a maximum of 8 henchmen per account, divided among your characters. However, you can only have 2 follow you at any time. If you try to have more than 2 follow you, they will stop following and stay in one place until only 2 remain. Note: if you somehow get more than 8 henchmen, you will be warned to reduce the number to 8 within a week - after that, they will be killed until the number returns to 8.

Stats & Skills

When a henchman joins you, they will start of with basic level stats. The stats can be raised by sparring with them, having them practice on a training dummy or taking them hunting with you. The more they fight/spar, the more their stats will rise. Stats will raise to the lesser of your stat or your leadership. For example, your stats are 99/54/23 and you have 80 leadership. The maximum stats your henchman will have will be 80/54/23. The closer the henchman is to their maximum, the harder it will be to raise.

The easiest way to increase your henchman's stats is training dummies. Find a training dummy and say <henchman name> train and target the dummy. Only one henchman per dummy. They will continue to train, even when you are offline, until they have reached their stat cap. Note: do not use the training dummies in Asgard unsupervised. If you are offline and you have henchmen training at the training grounds, they will be moved to a secret henchmen jail and you will have to retrieve them yourself.

Henchman also gain a strength bonus depending on their virtue title. After they have reached their first title with 201 virtue, they will get a 10 point boost (15 point bonus after reaching noble/wretched and a 30 point bonus for reaching the top title). To increase their bonus stats, you must take them fighting. Having them train or sit in guard mode will not increase their bonus stats.

When you are training a henchman they will tell you when their stats raise. Use the table below to understand what they say and what it means:

Message	Meaning
Woo Hoo! I am getting stronger	Increase in strength
Ha! I liked that move	Increase in dexterity
I am learning so much from you	Increase in intelligence

Henchmen get the same skills at the same levels you have. The only skills that will change are their combat skills: swordsmanship, macefighting, fencing, archery, parry and tactics. All other skills will remain where they were set when they joined up. Skills are capped at your leadership + 20%. Thus, if you have 100 leadership, your henchperson's skills are capped at 120%.

To view their skills and stats, use <henchman's name> status.

Equipment

Henchmen are limited to the armor and shields their strength allows starting at 60 strength to wear leather armor. If you attempt to have them wear a piece of armor they cannot use, they will inform you they are not strong enough to wear that. Henchmen can wield any weapons including two-handed, a one-handed and shield combo or a bow (make sure there is sufficient arrows in their backpack).

If you place heals potions, cure potions and bandages in their backpack, a henchmen will use them as needed (about 1/3 hit points left). They can not use scrolls, poisons, wands or other tools.

To give an item to your henchman, simply drop it on them and they will place it in their backpack. They will open their backpack for you if you stand next to them and double-click them. If their paperdoll comes up but their backpack does not open, you are not standing close enough (sometimes, you have to stand right on them). Henchmen can only use items in the top level of their backpack.

Your henchperson can use any item that you have marked as owned including an Order/Chaos Shield. It is common practice to place your owner's mark on any item your henchperson will be using. This will help you get their equipment back if they are killed in combat.

Virtue and Death

Your henchman will gain virtue and virtue titles (rude, honorable and so on). The title they earn is their own and does not reflect your title.

If a henchman dies, they can be resurrected through the usual means (spell, wand or bandage). The number of times your henchman can be resurrected is your leadership skill divided by 10 (rounded down). For example, 96 leadership means your henchman has 9 lives. The number of deaths for your henchmen can be found in their status. There is no death penalty if they are killed but they will lose 10% of any virtue they have gained.

• Tip: Place an .owned bag in your henchman's backpack. This will help others return your stuff to you, especially stuff not owned, if they are killed in guard mode and can not be resurrected.

Finding Lost Henchies

If you are unable to find your warriors, find any town guard and say status. For a small sum of gold, they will search for your missing henchmen or pets and list them. For a larger sum will retrieve them for you.

If you are having problems hiring new henchies and you are under the account limit, you can reset your master registry list by visiting a town guard and asking them to check my henchmen. They will go through the list and remove any that are no longer alive or under your command.

Casting Spells

Henchmen can cast a limited number of spells (mostly defensive and offensive) on command by their master. They are limited up to and including circle 4 spells (in addition, they can cast Bless and Magic Reflection). To cast the spell, they require a spellbook or scrolls plus the required reagents in their backpack. They also need the required magery to successfully pass the skill check. Their magery skill is half of your leadership skill.

• Tip: By using the quick [henchman name] buff command, they will go through all the buff spells to buff themselves but their mana tends to run out quick. Start a campfire before ordering them to buff.

Commands

To issue a command to your henchman, unless you are using the all command, you must speak their name first followed by the command: <henchman's name> command.

General Commands

Command	Description
Attack [target/me] All Attack [target/me] Kill [target/me] All Kill [target/me]	The attack/kill command orders your henchman to attack a specific creature provided you are within several tiles of the creature otherwise the henchman will return to you. The henchman will continue to attack until the creature is dead, you are out of distance or they are about to die at which time, they will run away screaming. If you use the [me] option, the henchman will spar with you until told to stop. If the henchman is holding a bow in combat and attacked by a melee creature, the henchman will attempt to find a melee weapon in his pack to fight back.
<name> Backpack	Opens their backpack.
<name> Battle Phrase	Give them a personal battle phrase they will occasionally shout when they run in to attack.
Buff	Causes the henchman to automatically cast all buffing spells (see Casting Spells).
Cast [name of spell]	Attempts to cast spells up to and including circle 4. The only higher spells henchmen can cast are bless and magic reflection.
Come	This tells your hireling to come to you. This will not stop him from attacking, following, chasing or any other commands.
Drop	The drop command will cause your hireling to drop all items in their back pack to the ground.
Follow [target/me] All Follow [target/me]	The follow command puts your henchman into follow mode. He will follow you (or who you target) unless he is targeted or attacked. At this point he will chase off after the MOB. Some points about follow: must be in 'follow' mode for you to recall and have him go with you. will follow you regardless of how fast you move. If he can't get to you in 10 or 20 steps or if you move farther than 15 tiles away, then he teleports to you. calling him again when he is attacked will also stop him from chasing after his attacker.
Guard [target/me] All Guard [target/me]	Puts your henchman into guard mode. He will stay within 5 spaces of your original location and attack any creature that attacks you. He will not chase any MOB that runs off past the 5 spaces. He will automatically target the next MOB once the first one has run or is dead. If you want him to follow you while guarding, use in conjunction with the follow command.
<name> Guard Here	Guards a location and stay there, unhidden even when you're logged off, killing any monsters that wander by them. They will ignore most other commands except the special guard commands until issued to follow again.
Heal [target/me]	Makes the henchman heal you or another if they are close enough to the target. They will not move to the target. Also, the henchman begins applying a bandage to himself as soon as he takes damage. He can not heal you (or any other) if he is healing himself.
Mount [target] Dismount	Tell your henchman to mount a tamed horse, llama or ostard. Mounted henchman are much faster in keeping up with you and thus harder to stop. The dismount command will allow you to tell your henchman to get off the creature he is mounted on.
<name> poison	Will poison their weapon if they have poison in their backpacks. Their poisoning skill is the same as yours and they will inform you if they success or fail poisoning their weapon.
Rearm	Makes the henchman cycle through all holdable items (weapons, bows, candles, fishing poles, etc) in their backpack with the first weapon/shield he finds.
Status	Display a gump showing your henchman's skills, stats, virtue and number of deaths. Skills are not exact - they are given as an approximation of their skill level by describing them as journeyman, master, etc. Stats are shown as xx [nn] where xx is their current stat value and nn is their base value (no buffs, jewelry, etc).
Stop All Stop	The stop command tells your henchman to stand in place. The stop command cancels out the follow, guard, attack and kill commands. This is one of two ways to stop a hireling from chasing after a monster. Note: henchman are a bit hard of hearing and may not always hear you right away.
Undress	Removes all items that your henchman is wearing and places them in his pack.
Redress	Redresses the henchman with the first items found including weapons. Items can also be placed in a bag.
Wear [target]	Allows you to target an item of clothing or other wearable item (like jewelry or weapons). The item will be immediately equipped by the henchman. Henchman can also wear your .owned items.
Openpack	Opens your henchman's backpack.

Guard Commands

Command	Description
Attention	Turns towards you.
About Face	Turns around.
Right Face	Turns right.
Left Face	Turns left.
Forward March	March forward.
Halt	Stop marching.
Present Arms	Salute.