He was just one day from retirement (NKOG Class: Guards)

I've recently had trouble in one of my games with a busy player, dropping the party from 3 to 2 characters. To solve this I used The Crew class as a support class to represent the parties hirelings (which were, in fact, a pirate crew). This worked fantastically and so I've decided to make my own version, it is designed to be played collectively by the party or by guest players and so has some simplifications compared to other classes in my system.

The Guards

"STOP You've violated the law, pay the court a fine or serve your sentence." Source Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages & Bethesda's ESIV: Oblivion

Starting Equipment: Fancy Armor (Medium), Long weapons, mementoes of their families

Background Question: Who or what did they first protect?

XP Trigger: Special. Guards level is always the average of the parties level.

Starting Stamina: 1d12+6 rolled each time they recover

A:	Guards! Guards! Guards!, Look Out Sir!
B:	Captain of the Guard
C:	Charge! one at a time, +1 Lieutenant
D:	We'll Handle it, +1 Lieutenant

A: Guards! Guard! Guards!

The entire squad of bodyguards are represented by one HP pool which becomes equal to 1d12+6 each time they recover. When they take damage they act as one target. Any effect that would kill or Wound a character instead cause 1hp to be lost as a single guard dramatically dies. Other effects either affect them all or fail completely.

If reduced below 0 HP, the Guards all die in tragic-comic fashion except for the Named Characters. If these all survive to recruit a new crew within 1 session, they can become The Guards again. Otherwise, they disband except for one Named Character who can start to gain classes.

The Guards have encumbrance as a normal character and can only carry the same coin as a regulars character. They will inevitably lose, forget or have stolen from them anything beyond that. Weapons, clothes, ammunition and armor do not occupy inventory slots. Guards need 10 copies of a weapon or item to benefit from it. They consume rations and ammunition as if there were only one of them.

At any one time the guards have as many people as is needed for the scene, if needed the rest can pour from a side room where they were standing guard or gambling.

A: Look out Sir!

The bodyguards can leap in front of an attack that would wound an ally they can see. They take the damage instead as the guard tragically dies.

B: Captain of the Guard

The Guard squad gains ranking members for each template they gain past B, these members have a name, skill and family. They can each act with this skill once per session before fading into the background. The First named character is the Captain, each other character is a Sargent. When a ranked character dies other are promoted to fill the spaces.

C: Charge! one at a time

The Guards can one at a time charge at an opponent and die pointlessly to them. However the opponent will be unable to move until the guards are all dead or they chose to retreat on their turn.

D: We'll Handle it

The bodyguards can sacrifice 1d6+3 stamina, and one ranking character to split off a group to scout, guard or escort something. They will inevitably die but they will be mostly successful in their mission and leave the ranking guard behind to die dramatically after giving the party the information they need.

For example, the guards sent to escort the prince are all found dead but Graham, who was one day from retirement, is bleeding out on the side of the road. He lets the party know that the prince escaped with a ranger they found in a nearby town and is heading towards the capital. He then lets out his last breath, still clutching a photo of his husband.