There’s a good chance that might be a little OSR style mini-campaign (probably Swords & Wizardry) in the near future but it’s going to be for very few people. That got me thinking about henchmen and hirelings.
First, the easy part. Hirelings are 0-Level dudes. They’re the porters, torch bearers, and trap detectors (for an evil party). They have 1d4 HP, a Save of 18, and no bonus to attack. Armor Class and Weapon damage depends on what equipment they have. They never gain XP. That’s it.
Henchmen are either Fighters, Clerics, Thieves or Magic-Users. HP and Save is determined by their class. Only Fighters gain any kind of Attack Bonus. AC and Weapon Damage is determined just like the Hirelings’. They gain one level per two levels of advancement of the party and expect a share of the treasure.
Don’t bother generating any stats for these guys or keeping track of XP. I’m guessing each could easily fit on a 3 x 5 card. Hell. my very first D&D character fit on a 3×5 card.
And I know somebody will bring it up, just use the normal rules for specialist hirelings. This whole idea came up as easy way to throw some help for the PC’s with a bare minimum of bookkeeping.