I've been thinking about an E6 style dark fantasy game, all gritty and grim, and decided that a game based around building a mercenary company sounds like something my players would dig.
I'll breach it with them soon, but I wanted to get a few ideas out even if they decide not to go for it, cause I'm sure someone else can use or improve them.
I'll post in bits and pieces, but please - come and give me your ideas, criticisms, your two cents - whatever!
Classes
The obvious ones are the Martials - Fighter, Barbarian, Ranger, Hunter, Slayer, Cavalier, and maybe the Brawler and Gunslinger.
Rogue-types (the Bard, Rogue, Investigator, Alchemist) are somewhat harder to fit, but can be essential to the group, and would be sought out as specialists and advisors anyway, so they make a good choice for players.
Casters are another odd fit - sure, every mercenary company wants one, and will pay a pretty penny for one, but as a PC, that means special considerations have to be made.
The Magus and Bloodrager, as Martial/Caster hybrids, are worth considering as well.
I might port the Warmage from 3.5 into pathfinder, cause the idea was pretty sweet (if a little lacklustre in execution).
No Clerics or Druids - I prefer my Gods to be a little more distant. Inquisitors may appear as NPCs, but not as PC choices. This means healing will be rare, but I'll cover that later.
One thing I wanted to cover was the idea of the players building their own mercenary company - specifically, they are the survivors of a horrendous double-cross by one of the local governments, and look to rebuild their company for revenge.
This means at lower-levels, they'll be taking odd jobs and such to scrape by, must like regular adventurers. However, as time passes, they can gather contacts, sign people on, and collect themselves a small army to help gain their vengeance on the badtards who tried to screw them.
I'm sure Pathfinder already has rules for some of this, but if they're anything like their Kingdom Building rules, I'd rather fuck a duck than use them.
As the area the PCs will be operating in is a nightmare of skirmishing city-states and dodgy traders, mercenaries are in high demand - meaning there will be plenty of opportunities to gather mad cash!
But, at the same time - the PCs will have to deal with political threats, sever dangers that require a PC's touch, or otherwise be unavailable for every little border skirmish and guard job... So why not send the NPCs?
I'm taking some cues from Assassin's Creed II: Brotherhood here. For those of you who haven't played it, one of the cool little subsystems was being able to recruit new Assassins, and send them off to deal with lesser missions while you deal with the big plot-important ones. As they do so, they level up, can take more difficult missions, etc.
Downtime Activity - Merc Jobs
As owners of a mercenary outfit, you are responsible for arranging squads to head out and work.
Each mission has a base 0% chance of success, modified by the following:
+1 per HD/level of each merc sent
+1 per 3 feats above 6th level (remember this is E6!)
+1 per merc if particularly well-armed (masterwork weapons, high-grade equipment)
+ Unit Commanders ranks in Command skill (something I'm lifting from the Black Company D20 setting)
+1 per merc who is particularly suited to the task (like Rangers in a wilderness skirmish, or Fighters in urban engagements, etc)
-5 for unfavourable terrain
-10 for facing an overwhelming force (like wiping out a Goblin-infested town, or something such)
(I'll probably think of more later, but its pretty easy to make your own bonuses and penalties here)
When you send a unit off to work, figure out roughly how long it will take them to return (a few days is usual), and roll a percentile die. Successfully roll under the difficulty, and your mercs return with payment!
Fail, and someone screwed the pooch.
I'm thinking that for every 5 points the roll is failed by, you lose 5% of the unit (round up and determine the casualties randomly). You also get to roll on the Complications chart, once for every 5 points the roll is failed by (I'll be nice and say maximum three rolls per failed mission). Every time you roll on the failure chart, cross out the result and write a new one in.
I'll write up/crowd source a chart soon...