Good class choices for marketplace guards

[doc the grey]

I'm in the middle of building a marketplace in an american west style setting and I'm looking for interesting builds/concepts for marketplace mercenaries, guards hired by merchants to protect their wears and themselves while they sell various (and often expensive) gear to customers. The area also has a rather substantial lost tech/archeo techsmith who sells his wears in the city as well so concepts along those lines work as well.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you can keep builds or concepts at levels no higher than 5.

[LazarX]

Keep in mind that guards have to be paid. The amount paid for those guards comes out of the merchants's profits, so they have to be cheap enough to be hired in the numbers used. Individual merchants may have safeguards of their own.

So for the most part, simple Warrior 5 or gunslinger 3 should be all you need. If your players however are murderhobos of higher level, then you need to rethink your marketplace.

[doc the grey]

LazarX wrote:

Keep in mind that guards have to be paid. The amount paid for those guards comes out of the merchants's profits, so they have to be cheap enough to be hired in the numbers used. Individual merchants may have safeguards of their own.

So for the most part, simple Warrior 5 or gunslinger 3 should be all you need. If your players however are murderhobos of higher level, then you need to rethink your marketplace.

Yeah I already got that hence the max 5th comment. Realize the murderhobo thing is not really a worry here, right now I just want to hear what interesting ideas people have for mercenaries who are hired to protect these sort of goods.

[Renegadeshepherd]

The ideal guard in my eyes is the ranger. Depending on level he gets a pet to aid him, is skilled at both ranged and melee, has perception skills, and can get a LOT of weapon choices. Pretty solid stuff.

[LazarX]

Renegadeshepherd wrote:

The ideal guard in my eyes is the ranger. Depending on level he gets a pet to aid him, is skilled at both ranged and melee, has perception skills, and can get a LOT of weapon choices. Pretty solid stuff.

Again, the more competent the character, the more he gets paid. One such ranger might serve as a guard commander, a bunch of them get rather expensive.

[Melkiador]

The vanguard slayer is likely intended for something like this.

[Tzimiscar]

The amount of guards is propotional to the worth of the goods and the risk involved. Someone trading with food won't usual have the need of protection.
Also depends on the guy, the wizard selling magical weapons might not have guards, what he has is a statue from the last guy that tried to steal from him.
I'd say one of the main jobs of the city guard is to keep the marktplace safe. Most would rather trust those they hire permanent than some mercenaries, so why have marketplace mercenaries at all?
*Bodyguard - taxes, pay, luxury goods, discussion with competition
*Thugs - agressive negotiations with competition
*Caravans - profitable but dangerous trade route

High end would be additional protection of magical artifacts, low end would be someone hired to guard the stand while the merchant haggles with the guildmaster about the costs. Mid tier might be the two big guys hired by the guildmaster to get an edge in those haggles.

Most class choices would fit, though marterial classes like fighter or rouge would fit more than the rest.

[Bard of Ages]

I once attempted to run a game set in Parsantium (great book, very byzantine/constantinople) and I had a set number of classes for guards.

Cavaliers (that rode white lions) - Lieutenants/Elite Guards of the Noble Estates.

Scimitar and buckler Fighter - Captains

Bow Fighters - Rooftop guards

Spear Fighters - Standard troops

Gunslingers / Slayers / Rangers - the masked Janissary

Halberd fighters with heavy armor - the "Ulfen Guard", set of foreigners who were part of a long tradition of protecting the king.

Rogues - Investigators / Detectives

Alchemists - the odd "magical support", rare, but powerful.

[VRMH]

Guards are the biggest threat to the merchants' wares themselves, so I'd suggest two kinds:

• big bad bruisers to maintain a visible presence. They act as deterrents without having the skills (or brains) to pilfer goods for themselves.
• spotters who might have skills as thieves, and are therefore kept away from the goods. Put them in places where they have a good view, and let them warn the bruisers when they see something.

So: Warrior 1-3 as bouncers/mall cops, and Expert 1-3 as spotters.
Plus a Wizard of some sort to mark goods with an Arcane Mark for easier detection.

[JonGarrett]

Depending on just how Mercantile your city is, The Zephyr Guard of Katapesh are probably a good example. They're level three fighters, but pretty solid ones, with higher ranking leaders and occasional specialists. To make matters worse leaders can call up the Aluum, soul-powered constructs with a CR10 rating and a mean streak. Apparently there are larger versions as well.

There's a reason most people behave in Katapesh.