Slight Tangent & Clarification (since I never got back to that asterisk next to "Henchmen"): A "Henchman" refers to a character who gets a Wild Die, might possibly get Bennies, but doesn't get Wound Levels. So, he's competent, has chances of success at a basic action comparable to the PCs (minus a giant stack of Bennies or Adventure Cards, of course), but if the PCs clobber him, he's not going to linger around and take multiple hits with wound levels.
"Henchmen" aren't defined in the core Savage Worlds rules. I first ran into the term in Slipstream. A few other Savage settings/sourcebooks have revived the same mechanic, but given it some other name. (I've never been terribly satisfied with the term. "Henchmen" as a term evokes the idea of "minor underlings" or "extras." I'm not sure what WOULD be a good term, though.)
In my games, I end up using "Henchmen" an awful lot in lieu of true Wild Cards as the leader of a group of raiders, as a semi-formidable monster, etc. -- basically as any sort of adversary who's meant to provide some sort of threat to the PCs, but isn't designed to take a hit and then go, "Mwahahaha! *smoke bomb* I flee to fight another day!" and rush off before the PCs can do anything about it.
All too often, the "raider leader" is the guy at the back of the pack, and the PCs have to battle through his underlings before they can land a solid punch on him. And if they can do THAT, then they've probably already dealt with most of his lackeys and they're just mopping up anyway, so why drag it out with a mid-level baddie who can linger around, taking hits, but can't actually pose much of a threat anymore because he's suffering wound penalties?
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2017-08-29 06:22 pm (UTC)"Henchmen" aren't defined in the core Savage Worlds rules. I first ran into the term in Slipstream. A few other Savage settings/sourcebooks have revived the same mechanic, but given it some other name. (I've never been terribly satisfied with the term. "Henchmen" as a term evokes the idea of "minor underlings" or "extras." I'm not sure what WOULD be a good term, though.)
In my games, I end up using "Henchmen" an awful lot in lieu of true Wild Cards as the leader of a group of raiders, as a semi-formidable monster, etc. -- basically as any sort of adversary who's meant to provide some sort of threat to the PCs, but isn't designed to take a hit and then go, "Mwahahaha! *smoke bomb* I flee to fight another day!" and rush off before the PCs can do anything about it.
All too often, the "raider leader" is the guy at the back of the pack, and the PCs have to battle through his underlings before they can land a solid punch on him. And if they can do THAT, then they've probably already dealt with most of his lackeys and they're just mopping up anyway, so why drag it out with a mid-level baddie who can linger around, taking hits, but can't actually pose much of a threat anymore because he's suffering wound penalties?