When do they take wounds or die?
Oh, you make moves on them like anything else.
So, when the players present you with an opportunity, or when they fail a move.
A soft move might be like, "The tiger growls at Mikael " - Mikael's the adept, you see - " and begins to lunge. What do you do?".
Or like "Jonah " - a priest - " is looking a bit green in the face. Maybe whatever was in that swamp got to him?".
Then, if nothing is done, the adept gets mauled, or the priest begins vomiting blood.
A harder move is just "The tiger pounces on Mikael and rends two great slices into his chest. You might be able to save him, if you get the tiger off and patch him up quick." or "Jonah starts to wobble and stumbles to the side of the trail, and then begins to vomit heavily. There's blood in it, and maybe pieces of intestine...".
A really hard move is "The tiger pounces on Mikael and begins chewing his throat out. His screams die quickly once the skin breaks." or "You break camp in the morning and Jonah hasn't come out of his tent." and (when the inevitably check on him) "He's lying dead in a pool of bloody vomit, and weird blisters coat his face and neck.".
If you have multiple henchmen with the same skill, how do you apph they bonus? IE If you have two bodyguards protect you from a goblin, what do you do to adjudicate that?
How do you apply? Well, first, could they conceivably both work together at once? Like, two protectors can most likely defend the same person.
So, I would apply the benefit of one bodyguard (dropping his skill by one), then, if damage remains, I'd apply the second (and drop his skill by one as well).
A level 5-10 skill seems like it would overshadow a PCs contribution. If I roll d8 + 10 damage, that d8 seems Sort of unexciting.
This is really only an issue with the warrior, and maybe the burglar. But, even then, these characters are incredibly frail, and lack the other skills of a player. If you have a skill 10 warrior, he's nearly a PC and probably a legendary hired sword anyway. He *should* help you kill things really well!
If the NPC wants to get paid, how much should they get paid?
I would expect it to be consummate with their type and skill, as well as the PC's recent hauls.
I would expect adepts, priests, and minstrels to maybe expect slightly more.
Escort for a day along monster-infested roads is a whopping 54 coins, but unskilled labor is only 10/week.
So, as a rough estimate, I'd say about 10 coins / 2 ranks / week as a general retainer, plus an additional bonus if danger is involved (which should usually be a percentage of the total treasure retrieved, but no less than 75 coins / adventure).
This is only based on the amounts given in the equipment chapter, maybe it's too high?
This is the sort of thing that a DM should just decide! :)
- Alex