So far we've been thinking of a morale move for groups, such that a group can split up when it's attacked too much. Hadn't really been looking at it for hirelings, since I ther Order moves covers that pretty well.

Hey DW-ers. I'm seeing some odd stuf with the Adventurer's Guild Google Group. If you think you should be part of the guild, but you haven't seen a Google Groups invite, please email gm@dungeon-world.com.

Okay, this thread inspired Adam and I to do some writing. It's not in the PDF yet, but here's the idea:

When you drop to 0 HP, you're dying. You can't go negative. Immediately make the dying move.

When you're dying, you catch a glimpse of what lies beyond the black gates of death, roll (just roll, +nothing). On a 10+ you're stable. On a 7-9 death offers you a choice, give Death one of your moves and live to see another day or pass beyond the black gates into whatever fate awaits you. If you give a move to Death, mark it off your character sheet, you can't regain that move unless you undertake a perilous quest to wrench it from Death's grasp. On a 6-, you're dead.


Someone who's stable at 0 can be healed normally.

Natural healing takes place whenever you Make Camp, or when the GM thinks you've had enough rest to heal up. You heal your Con modifier plus your level in HP.

"Too much" is an odd beast in Dungeon World. The Cleric, in general, does less damage, so letting them start doing that damage at first level isn't game breaking, but it does weaken the Wizard's niche protection a bit. I think racial moves are probably allowed to break niches a little, after all if I decide to play a half-orc cleric we may not even have a Wizard (no niche to protect) or the Wizard can focus on other things.

Some of these exact moves have been added to the text. We'll send out the update soon. The Thief in particular is getting a lot of love, there's one new move that I cannot say enough about. Adam and I worked out something really cool.

Inflict - Yeah, it should be. I've been rebalancing (for a pretty vague definition of "balance") damage, that got missed.

Halflings - Yup, same move, intentional, but only because I couldn't think of a better one. I had a hell of a time figuring out what a halfling does that makes them special that I can easily reflect in the rules. I need to come back to that some more, and suggestions would be great. The +1 Armor was written before Dodge existed, a bonus to Dodge seems like a good idea.

Humans - You're right, 5 gold is pretty lame. And now I'm looking at the starting Thief moves for inspiration for the human move, and I'm hating them. Blah. Rewrites coming.

Half-orcs - +1 Piercing makes sense. +1 damage isn't a big deal, but it does suck that they wouldn't see the bonus until second level at best. So maybe Half-orc clerics get Inquisitor for free, possibly +1 damage as well? There's also nothing that says you couldn't write your own dice rolling spells for those levels.

Lots of stuff for me to mull over here. Thanks for the suggestions.

That's definitely some good stuff, Tony.

My thinking thus far is that only hirelings with Skill: Warrior add to damage. That NPC healer just isn't that useful in a fight. Maybe a few other Skills also add to damage to a lesser degree, like tracker.

What's in my head so far:
PC Class -> Hireling Skill
Bard - > ?
Cleric -> Priest/Healer
Fighter -> Warrior
Paladin - > Protector
Ranger -> Tracker
Thief -> Expert
Wizard -> Adept

Healer Skill adds healing to Make Camp, and/or speeds up natural healing (which isn't in the rules). Maybe also can provide combat healing, at a cost. Possibly something like "When you call for healing from a hireling in combat, take -2 forward as you try to get their attention. They heal you X."

Warrior adds damage to Hack and Slash, maybe also some bonus to positioning or something. Some variation on Bend Bars?

Protector at least allows you to redirect damage to them, maybe something more as well? Might even provide a Dodge bonus.

Tracker has Follow Trail in some form. I guess it could even be keyed off of Make Camp, like "When you Make Camp, choose one trail leaving your camp site, the tracker can follow it until a significant change."

Expert can pick locks and disarm traps. This one might have to include a roll. Something like "When an expert picks a lock or disarms a trap, roll. 10+ they do it quick, 7-9 long enough to cause some trouble." Tracking and disarming are hard to fit into this model.

Adept could add damage to Cast a Spell, or maybe have some kind of on-demand buff/damage along the lines of the healing, above.


Promotion and demotion should be pretty easy, assuming I can some up with something for Bard. Especially if some of these abilities scale with level, so having your friend's 5th level character as an NPC is better than some 1st level hireling.