These house rules supersede any of the Pathfinder or D&D downtime rules. They pull together material from a number of sources and rationalizes them into something that seems to be both fair and consistent. It means you can afford to have guards in your home, or your castle, as well as your jewellery shop. When the Soldiers are added - you will even be able to recruit a private army - although it will probably be smaller than you hoped.

NOTE: Military section yet to be completed

These rules fall some way between the Pathfinder Downtime system and the recruiting rules from Skull & Shackles.

1. There is a cost associated with recruiting any team, which covers agents, money spent while looking and minimal equipment for new team members. Team numbers, skills and costs reflect those in the Downtime systems, although there are minor differences.
2. You must also make a good impression on the team that you with to recruit, so there is also an Influence Check. This can be a Bluff, Diplomacy or Intimidation check, the DC is 10 plus 2xLevel of the team, with +2 if the team have a PC class. A team of Watchmen (Commoner-1) has a DC of 12, a team of Elite Soldiers (Warrior-3) has a DC of 16, while a team of Artillerists (Fighter-2) also have a DC of 16.
3. To recruit any of the teams listed below, you must be in an appropriate town or city. You won’t find a team of Elite Archers, etc, in a small village - but you might find a team for The Watch.

Troops listed in the Guards section can only be employed to protect something and cannot be deployed to search out your enemies, fight wars or battles. They expect to be based in a secure areas (Which might be a walled enclosure in the wilderness or on the frontier).

Troops listed in the Military expect to be sent on wilderness patrols, to find and tackle an enemy, or be sent to fight in battles. However, they can also be used to guard something, if you think that is appropriate.

The troops, listed below, are described with a class and a level, however you should note that this is the average ability of the unit. A 'standard' unit might actually consist of an 2xExperts(L1), 2xWarriors(L1) and 1xFighter(L2) - but they will all be treated as L1 warriors. An elite unit will follow a similar pattern. However, no characters in the unit ever have individual character sheets, and they are not considered individually - unless an individual becomes a more important recurring character.

Troops need paying! If they are employed in a successful and viable business, or by a ruler who collects taxes, they are paid for by the business or the taxes. If not, you have to make regular payments to cover their wages. For example, a well run town guard, a toll booth in the right place or the city bank can cover the cost of their guards.

However, if you employ house guards or any sort of private army - YOU have to cover their wages - and they can be expensive. However, if you make a regular Cost of Living payment, you might be able to negotiate a discount with your DM :)

Each troop type has a note of the minimum daily, and monthly, wage for a five-person unit. This assumes the troops are based in a low risk area. However, if you trek off into the wilderness or start a war, the costs will go up - your DM will be able to tell you what each troop type costs, in a particular circumstance, so check with them before you start recruiting!

An armoury costs 390gp and can provide weapons and armour for up to ten troops - and for guards and soldiers it is much cheaper than buying equipment for the troops separately. However, some types of guard (mainly based on Commoners or Experts) are cheaper to equip individually. If you wish to employ more than ten troops, you need more armouries. An armoury can serve different troops and, for example, a single armoury might serve a unit of Elite Guards and a unit of Archers at the same time.

Some of the troop descriptions, below, list the gear most commonly issued to that troop type. However, you can change that, if you wish to. However, your weapon and armour selection needs to be 'sensible' and cost the same sort of money as the listed gear. Anything out of place in your part of the world, or more expensive than recommended, will be rejected.

These troops are the starting point for most people, and probably all the middle classes need. They offer security for upmarket families, homes and businesses in towns, making them less prone to burglaries and theft. Unless you have accommodation space (either Bunks or lodgings) available - these troops go home overnight.

Troops listed in this section can only be employed to protect something and cannot be deployed to search out your enemies, fight wars or battles. They expect to be based in a secure area, although that might be a walled enclosure in the wilderness or on the frontier.

Soldiers expect to fight in battles, conduct wilderness patrols, and tackle an enemy, although they can also be used to guard something, although that is expensive. Because they face greater risks, soldiers expect to earn more than guards of the same ability and the cost gets higher as the risk increases. Soldiers with specialist skills, such as archers, expect to earn more than their counterparts.

Conventional foot soldiers, who march into battle and conduct their patrols on foot.

Cavalry can be deployed quickly and can act as shock troops - but they are going to be very expensive!

This should include Sappers, Artillerists etc.